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<ul><li>India has kicked off the ‘Ardh’ <keyword id="52356" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</keyword> 2019, expected to be the world’s largest religious gathering with over 130 million visitors </li><li>The Ardh Kumbh or ‘half’ Kumbh Mela is held every six years at the confluence of the rivers Ganges, <keyword id="6354936" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yamuna">Yamuna</keyword> and the mythical river Saraswati. </li><li>This year’s Kumbh Mela is being held at Prayagraj in <keyword id="6357713" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uttar-Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</keyword>, promising to be a huge source of tourist revenue for the state </li></ul>Millions of people have gathered at Prayagraj in the India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh for Kumbh Mela, the country’s iconic Hindu festival that is celebrated every six years, for what is likely the largest religious gathering in the world. Here are some pictures from the on-going Kumbh Mela 2019- 
	
	
	<div type="Slideshow" msid="67535217" hostid="261" title="Kumbh 2019: 14 spectacular photos from India’s legendary Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious festival" firstImageMsid="67536662" slideCount="14"></div>

Kumbh 2019: 14 spectacular photos from India's legendary Kumbh Mela, the world's largest religious festival

The state of Uttar Pradesh in India is attempting to get a spot in the Guinness World Records for “The Longest Parade of Buses” on Thursday, amid the ongoing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/kumbh-2019-14-spectacular-photos-from-indias-legendary-kumbh-mela-the-worlds-largest-religious-festival/articleshow/67535979.cms">Kumbh Mela 2019</a>. "The parade is also to demonstrate the traffic plan which worked very well during the ongoing <keyword id="52356" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</keyword> where 1,300 hectare of land was used for parking of vehicles, 20,000 police personnel were deployed for security and safety of the Kumbh Nagar and the millions who visited the congregation," Additional Chief Secretary (Information and Tourism) Avaneesh Kumar Awasthi told IANS. India’s <keyword id="6401155" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kumbh-mela-2019">Kumbh Mela 2019</keyword>, the world’s largest religious gathering taking place in Prayagraj, is a 55 day long fair that began on 15 January 2019 and will last until 4th March 2019. Nearly 130-140 million visitors, pilgrims are expected to visit the Kumbh this year. <div type="Slideshow" msid="68199143" hostid="261" title="In Pics: This Indian state is trying to set a world record by parading a line-up of 500 buses" firstImageMsid="68199144" slideCount="5"></div>

In Pics: This Indian state is trying to set a world record by parading a line-up of 500 buses

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/naga-sadhus-or-naked-hindu-holy-men-bathe-on-the-banks-of-news-photo/96606519">Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images</a></div>Some 100 million mostly Hindu devotees are expected to gather in Allahabad for the <keyword id="52356" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</keyword> festival, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21006259">according to the BBC</a>. 
Hindu pilgrims flock to the confluence of the river Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati to bathe and wash away their sins and achieve salvation. Ten million pilgrims are said to have bathed in the river on the first day, with the entire event said to last 55 days.
<a href="##slideshow##">Click here to jump straight to the photos &gt;</a>
One of the biggest spectacles of the festival is when naked Hindu holy men wearing marigold garlands and ash on their faces run to the river. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21006259">From the BBC: </a>
"The Kumbh Mela has its origins in Hindu mythology - many believe that when gods and demons fought over a pitcher of nectar, a few drops fell in the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar - the four places where the Kumbh festival has been held for centuries."
On observing the festival, Mark Twain is reported to have written in "Following The Equator: A Journey Around The World":
"It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold whites."
The Kumbh Mela itself takes place every twelve years, but the BBC says this year's festival is the Maha Kumbh Mela which occurs every 144 years and is determined based on astrological calculations.
The festival is said to cost authorities $210 million but will create $2.2 billion in revenue.

Incredible Photos Of The Hindu Festival Expected To Draw 100 Million Devotees

<ul><li>India’s Ardh Kumbh Mela, 2019 which kicked off on 15 January is reportedly going to get the Uttar Pradesh government a $150 billion return on investment. </li><li>Kumbh Mela at <keyword id="3481192" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="prayagraj">Prayagraj</keyword> has already engaged over 600,000 people in commercial activities ranging from hospitality to logistics. </li><li>This year’s festival has been a boon for local traders as the authorities are expecting 130 million tourists from within the country and outside India. </li></ul>India’s <keyword id="6401155" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kumbh-mela-2019">Kumbh Mela 2019</keyword>, the world’s largest religious gathering taking place in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh is expected to make the local state government as much as $150 billion in revenue, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/kumbh-to-generate-rs-1-2-lakh-crore-revenue-cii/articleshow/67609608.cms">reported</a> Press Trust of India citing the Confederation of Indian Industry, a national trade body. Millions of pilgrims both from within the country and around the world visit the festival to take a holy dip at the confluence of three Indian rivers -- the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. Here’s an insight into the economics of the world’s largest religious gathering: 
	
	<div type="Slideshow" msid="67622721" hostid="261" title="The world's largest religious gathering is a $150 billion business" firstImageMsid="67622932" slideCount="5"></div>

The world's largest religious gathering is a $150 billion business

The <keyword id="79070" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Maharashtra-State-AIDS-Control-Society">Maharashtra State Aids Control Society</keyword> (MSAC) has expressed fear of possible spreading of <keyword id="63552" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="HIV/AIDS">HIV/AIDS</keyword> in the run-up to the Kumbh Mela because of shortage of condoms. 
 

	The project managers said if the condoms did not reach the sex workers, the efforts taken during the past decade to reduce infections and spread of HIV would go in vain.
 

	Yogesh Pardeshi, the district programme officer, MSAC, told TOI that some hospitals have run out of stock and condoms were being brought in from rural hospitals and primary health centres. "A meeting was held on Friday and a request for more condoms has been made to the head office," he added.
 
 

	Another official from MSAC said the district now has a stock of about 50,000 condoms for the female sex workers and the men-having-sex-with-men (MSM). "The stock will get over before Kumbh," he said.
 
 MSAC officials said the <keyword id="86950" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-AIDS-Control-Organisation">National Aids Control Organisation</keyword> (NACO) has stopped the supply of condoms, leaving the AIDS control society with a stock that can last only for a week. Kumbh Mela is beginning on July 14 and nearly a crore people, including lakhs of sadhus, are expected to visit <keyword id="42738" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nashik">Nashik</keyword> to participate in the mega religious congregation. 

	The city has an estimated 2,000 female sex workers, 560 MSMs and 70 transgenders, while there are one lakh migrants in the district that has a monthly requirement of 1.5-2 lakh condoms. Given the current situation, the officials fear that the current stock of condoms might not be enough to cater to the huge number of people visiting the city.
 

	The average annual requirement of condoms estimated for 2015 is 24 lakh, including those received through social marketing. Stating that an equal number of condoms was expected to cater to Nashik's requirement during Kumbh Mela, the officials attributed the crisis to the Centre's order of curtailing funds for NACO. "This, in turn, compelled NACO to curtail its funds for the MSAC and other NGOs," an official said.
 

	Kuldeep Pawar, the project manager of the Female Sex Workers Targeted Intervention at Pravara Medical Institute, told TOI that the requirement of condoms and medicines to treat sexually transmitted infections would double during the Kumbh Mela. He said, "As there is virtually no stock left for free distribution from the government, the customers may refrain from buying condoms. This might increase chances of infection. It is also not possible for all sex workers to buy contraceptives for safe sex because of their meager income."
 
 

	Pawar said the proportion of infection among the general population was more compared to the female sex workers. "But with no protection to provide, the chances are that the sex workers may get affected as well. The problem is that the government has stopped the support three months before the Kumbh. As of on July 3, we have a stock of about 22,000 condoms and this will hardly last for a week. The monthly requirement is 1.5-1.8 lakh condoms. Considering the requirement, the government should provide additional contraceptives," he said.

	 
	 
	(image credits: kumbhmela-nashik)

Shortage of condoms raises fears of spread of HIV/AIDS before Kumbh Mela

<ul><li>The latest <keyword id="52356" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</keyword>, the world’s largest religious gathering, struck three world records. </li><li>All three records were performed before the team from Guinness World Records from February 28 to March 3. </li><li>The host state of Uttar Pradesh earlier successfully set a record for the “Longest Parade of Buses” lining up 500 buses in a row. It also set a new record for “most contribution in hand painting in 8 hours.” </li></ul>India’s iconic Kumbh Mela 2019, the world’s largest religious gathering, is about to conclude, setting up no less than three new records. 
	
	<div type="twitter" handle="PrayagrajKumbh" handlename="Kumbh" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1017758238618673152/-Kus1y-K_normal.jpg" favoritecount="488" retweetcount="93" status="#Kumbh2019 has made a Hattrick under the Guinness World Records, a new record of &amp;quot;Most People Sweeping the Floor (M… https://t.co/9fnzsOMFhN" createdat="1551590106000" id="1102074899819040770"></div>




 The latest fair, held in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh visited by an estimated 130- 140 million people, set up records for largest crowd management, largest sanitation drive and largest painting exercise of public sites. The exercises were performed before a team a Guiness for four days, from February 28 to March 3. "Around 503 shuttle buses were pressed into service on the highway in one go for the team on February 28. Several people participated in a painting exercise on March 1 and 10,000 workers engaged in cleaning at the Kumbh, all performing their duties together," India’s Ministry of Culture said in a statement. On March 1, over 10,000 people engaged in cleaning and sanitation activities at the same on different venues, setting up a record for the "most people sweeping the floor.” 
 
 <div type="image" title="InfoDeptU2" msid="68250503" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;Twitter/InfoDeptUP&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 
 
 <div type="image" title="InfoDeptU" msid="68250517" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;Twitter/InfoDeptUP&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 Just a day before, the state of Uttar Pradesh set a new record for “The Longest Parade of Buses”by rolling out a fleet of 500 buses lined up for nearly two miles. 
 
 <div type="image" title="Fleet of buses" msid="68250525" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;Twitter/InfoDeptUP&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 The Kumbh 2019 concluded with one more record for "most contribution to a handprint painting in hours," featuring 7,664 people participated. The last record for handprint painting was held by Seoul in which 4,675 people were there. 
 
 <div type="image" title="PrayagrajKumbh" msid="68250463" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;Twitter/PrayagrajKumbh&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>




 
 
 <div type="image" title="PrayagrajKumbh3" msid="68250484" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;Twitter/PrayagrajKumbh&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





 The Kumbh festival, which began on January 14, will conclude on March 4 with the sixth and final "Shahi Snan" (royal bath) on the occasion of Maha Shivratri. The previous five royal baths were held successfully with more than 220 million pilgrims taking holy dips, the Minis
try said. Held every six years, the Ardh Kumbh or ‘half’ Kumbh is held in four of cities at the confluence of three rivers - Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical river Saraswati. It is visited by pilgrims, tourists and Sadhus, holymen. (With IANS) See more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/in-pics-this-indian-state-is-trying-to-set-a-world-record-by-parading-a-line-up-of-500-buses/articleshow/68199100.cms">In Pics: This Indian state is trying to set a world record by parading a line-up of 500 buses</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/miscellaneous/kumbh-2019-14-spectacular-photos-from-indias-legendary-kumbh-mela-the-worlds-largest-religious-festival/slidelist/67535217.cms">Kumbh 2019: 14 spectacular photos from India’s legendary Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest religious festival</a>

Kumbh Mela: The world’s largest religious gathering sets 3 world records

The <keyword id="52356" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</keyword> sees around 100 million people gathering over three months to celebrate the fact that Jupiter and the Sun have aligned themselves at certain positions. It undoubtedly creates a matchless opportunity for companies to showcase their brands. 
 While most of us who have not been to the Kumbh may not know about any of these, the ingenuity and expanse of these <keyword id="1925174" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="branding-campaigns">branding campaigns</keyword> would surely take you by surprise. Here’s a list of some of the craziest things companies did at the world's largest religious congregation. 
 
(Image credit: Indiatimes)

Top 10 crazy stuff companies do
at the Kumbh Mela

The world's largest religious congregation <keyword id="52356" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</keyword> has created an unbeatable opportunity for companies to display their brands. The 2015 version will start this week at Nashik in Maharashtra with over 100 million people gathering over three months. 
 <keyword id="6391475" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Coca-Cola">Coca-Cola</keyword>, <keyword id="44672" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Pepsi">Pepsi</keyword>, <keyword id="15492" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Vodafone">Vodafone</keyword>, <keyword id="6357073" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="ITC">ITC</keyword> and <keyword id="44863" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="HUL">HUL</keyword> are some of the major companies gearing up to tap this huge potential market. This year's mela is likely to generate around Rs 10,000 crore for Maharashtra. 
 
"Call it a brand mela. From umbrellas to ropes, every inch is branded during Kumbh”, Harish Bijoor, a Bengaluru-based brand expert told ET. "Religion and size is a fantastic combination and Kumbh has both. The Hajj at Mecca is also comparable to the scale and size of Kumbh, but there, brands have to be conservative. Imagine Woodstock or soccer leagues in Brazil and the UK, and multiply the scale by 10. That's Kumbh for you." 
 
(Image credit: Indiatimes)

Companies dive in for a bite of the Kumbh
pie

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A second <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> wave is devastating <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, where a new "double mutant" virus variant emerged.</li><li>Insider spoke with people on the ground and experts about the threat and ways to address it.</li><li>Politicians so far have largely been unwilling or unable to apply strict restrictions.</li></ul>Hospitals in India are overwhelmed as the country grapples with a second wave of COVID-19.There is a severe shortage of beds, the drug remdesivir, and medical oxygen. Desperate patients have been traveling hundreds of miles, searching helplines and social media, to find hospitals with enough capacity. The worsening situation forced British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week to cancel a visit to the country. The UK and the US have also issued strong travel advisories for India.On Saturday, when 261,394 new cases were reported in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi <a href="https://twitter.com/ndtv/status/1383419909128933377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1383419909128933377%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloombergquint.com%2Fcoronavirus-outbreak%2Fhope-and-heartbreak-on-indian-covid-twittertter">boasted</a> about the size of his election rally in West Bengal, where a huge crowd was crammed together.Rallies have taken place in West Bengal and three other states, with thousands attending, without much adherence to COVID-19 precautions.This reflects how dramatic India's turnaround has been with the coronavirus. Early this year, experts hypothesized that this country of 1.3 billion people had reached herd immunity as cases steadily fell. The government's own modeling study suggested the country's outbreak would be over by February. In January, a health minister <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-has-flattened-covid-19-curve-no-new-cases-in-one-fifth-of-country-govt-11611824857809.html">said</a> India had "successfully contained" COVID-19.Weddings, functions, and political rallies resumed as politicians encouraged a return to normal.Now, India has more than 2 million known active cases, compared with 200,000 in January. Daily reported cases are three times as high as the peak of the first wave in September, with 314,835 announced on Thursday.<div type="image" title="COVID Daily cases India graph" height="2400" width="3400" msid="82202329" hostid="261"></div>A "double mutant" variant - which contains notable mutations that had been separately identified in two previous variants of the original virus - has taken hold.Insider spoke with people on the ground about the extent of devastation this wave has caused as well as the constant challenge of enforcing restrictions at mass gatherings."Things have worsened this time around," said Dr. Sonali Vaid, who previously worked for the World Health Organization and is now helping patients find beds in New Delhi."Many patients with severely low oxygen-saturation levels have had to manage at home, some with dire consequences, due to lack of beds," Vaid added. "Things weren't as bad last year."Despite this, the country's largest religious gathering went ahead. The centuries-old Kumbh Mela sees tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims travel to bathe en masse in rivers in a ritual meant to cleanse them of their sins. It has brought millions this month to Haridwar, north of Delhi."The flow and blessings of Ma Ganga" - Mother River Ganges - "will ensure that coronavirus does not spread," said the chief minister of Uttarakhand, the northern state where the event is taking place for all of April.The <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/992233/kumbh-mela-cant-be-compared-to-nizamuddin-markaz-claims-uttarakhand-cm">government</a> shortened the event from four months to one and insisted it was following Health Ministry guidelines on containing the coronavirus - such as mandatory negative test results and discouraging older, more vulnerable people from taking part.But Deepak Rawat, a government official who runs the event on behalf of the state government, said these were impossible to enforce during the days of Shahi Snan, or royal bath, when devotees bathe in the Ganges.<div type="image" title="Shahi Snan April 12 2021 water bathing" height="2595" width="3900" msid="82202332" hostid="261"></div>On a single day, an estimated 2.1 million pilgrims were taking part, most of them neither wearing masks nor socially distancing."Enforcing COVID-19-appropriate behavior during these processions would be a folly, and we would be risking a stampede," Rawat told Insider.A senior official at the festival <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210416-top-seer-at-india-religious-mega-festival-dies-from-covid-19">told AFP</a> on Friday that they had "around 2,000 positive cases" in the previous four days. That week a senior priest was taken to a hospital from the site and died after a positive test.Facing a backlash, Modi later tweeted appealing for the Kumbh Mela to be scaled back.Dr. T. Sundararaman, the global coordinator for the health-activism network People's Health Movement, said the Kumbh Mela should have been restricted in line with religious ceremonies elsewhere like the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca."What you now have is a runaway celebration with a great potential to act as a superspreader event," he added.In Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, which neighbors Uttarakhand to the south, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/video/rows-of-burning-pyres-in-lucknow-authorities-place-barricades-around-crematoriums-1791333-2021-04-15">videos</a> emerged of crematoriums full of rows of burning pyres, raising fears official figures were missing many who were dying without having been tested.The double-mutant variant of the virus that emerged in the country, B.1.617, may be behind the surge in cases.Authorities don't yet have the data to prove this, though the variant has mutations that were found in others to make them more transmissible and less likely to confer immunity on people who recover, said Gautam Menon, a physics and biology professor at Ashoka University."This wave is far more transmissible than the first one," said Dr. Lancelot Pinto, a consultant in respiratory medicine at P. D. Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, which was badly hit during both waves.During the first wave, it was common for only one or two members in a family to be infected, but Pinto said he was seeing entire families testing positive now."We are getting many younger patients - those in their 30s and 40s - with moderate to severe disease," he said, adding: "This could be because of the new strain or just because of the sheer numbers of infection this time."<div type="image" title="Public meeting" height="2656" width="3992" msid="82202334" hostid="261"></div>Vaccination has offered other countries a glimmer of hope, but while India has been able to vaccinate millions of people in a single day, only about 8% of its enormous population have had a first dose so far.<a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/covid19-at-current-vaccination-pace-india-won-t-reach-70-coverage-until-yearend-11618797627025.html">At its current pace</a>, India would not vaccinate 70% of its people until December. It has authorized Russia's Sputnik V for use, amid severe shortages of Covishield and Covaxin, which are made domestically.Two political parties campaigning in West Bengal have called off rallies, while Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/elections/west-bengal-assembly-election/bjp-limits-rallies-to-500-people-in-west-bengal-amid-surge-in-covid-19-cases-101618844234707.html">decided </a>this week to limit its rallies to 500 people, two days after the prime minister boasted about the size of his crowds. The Kumbh Mela is continuing until the end of the month.In a Tuesday public address, <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-modi-to-address-nation-on-covid-19-situation-at-8-45-pm-today-live-updates-101618929630164.html">Modi said lockdowns</a> should be only a "last resort" because of the damage they would do to workers' livelihoods. He said making everyone over 18 eligible for vaccination starting in May would ensure laborers were inoculated sooner.He asked states to focus instead on containing specific sites of outbreaks.Delhi began a weeklong lockdown on Monday - closing businesses and ordering people to travel only for essential reasons - saying the city's health system had reached a "tipping point." Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, is severely restricting travel until the end of the month.Dr. Srinath Reddy, the president of the Public Health Foundation of India, who sits on national committees on COVID-19 management, said that for six weeks the country should ban gatherings of more than five people and require masks to be worn outdoors - the type of measures the country eschewed when it thought it was all over.

Indian politicians encouraged a return to normal as COVID-19 cases fell. Now hospitals are overwhelmed as a 'double mutant' variant takes hold - but mass gatherings continue.

There are two types of places in this world. The one where you are happy. The one where they are. 
 

	Our places are yet to be conquered. Even the ones who, among us, claim to have, are still in the process. Because happiness also, is just another step cousin of perfection - always a work in progress. 
 

	The places that are theirs are coveted, well-respected, and the holiest. In any way, I am not talking about run of the mill temples, mosques, monasteries and other mundane places of worship. I am picking a bone with the Woodstock of the Meccas and Medinas. 
 Very recently, the headlines from this year's <keyword id="404503" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Haj-pilgrimage">Haj pilgrimage</keyword> grabbed the balls of our Amygdala - the rag-picker who hopelessly and endlessly rummages through the colossal garbage of fear-evoking data dumped by media corporations across the world to see which one specific news item increases our heart rate and decreases our chances of escaping, were we to encounter "something" like that. 

	First of all, these are the holier than thou places, right? Which means Satan will have his rear kicked by the bouncers here. So does any form of evil. These places have the greatest form of insulation, from the bad things and blah blah. 
 However, what happens when the one you are going to take the purest form of blessings from, considering the place, is actually the bad boy in disguise? How can you verify the authenticity of the <keyword id="6357370" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="god">God</keyword> in that region? Or the miracle one is to receive from visiting such a spot at such a time (read:sacred) of the year. Take for example, the very recent Haj (1,000 dead), <keyword id="6356611" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amarnath">Amarnath</keyword> 1996 (256 dead), <keyword id="52356" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</keyword> 1954 (800 dead), 1990 Mina Disaster (1,426 dead). We, somehow, have come to believe that taking a dip, touching the stone, kissing the Pope's ring is going to glorify the virility of our wishes and therefore, a better reality for us. It is a beautifully civilised shortcut. No doubt there. 

	The hard truth is that these places are so little in their land size radius, it makes it impossible and very inconvenient for the prodigal numbers of people trying to live their moment of pious obligation in the G-spots (God Spots) set out in their mythological records that is deemed very legit and appropriate even to this date. 
 

	When we were kids, our fathers and mothers would tell us don't do this and don't do that. Back then, we were kids. We had to listen to them. If we didn't, we were grounded or spanked. Then as we grow, we listen to them less and less. Eventually, we listen to them to nothing at all. 
 

	Our Gods have never been shy in asking for blood offering. Be it from Abhraham. Be it from Muhammed. Be it from Jesus. I feel bad for Jesus though. Because in his case, he was the offering. 
 

	God, as we have come to see, is no less than a bloody dictator. He wants this. He wants that. He tells us that if we didn't give him what he demands of us, shit will fall on our heads. Or we will fall into shit. Either way, we are shit out of luck. See the obligation that the Gods put us through. Yet somehow we still want to bloody please him, even if we are grown, old and haggard. Where is the dignity man is supposed to have? He is after all, a form of the God, right? We are made in his image. We may not be as broad, and magical and mystical as him, because for one thing we are here and bloody bleed. Whereas, he is hiding somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and simply follows the Rockefeller PR and exhibits that he is just planting his good seed for the human feed and that's him doing his good deed without a shred of greed. 
 

	I think God is dead. Really. If those big stars up there have a shelf life, so do the Gods. They may be eternal. Again, eternity has a validity too. Ask your mobile service provider, he will tell you. They know what lifetime means. Even Hancock's people died. I say - God's live up to a maximum of 1000 years and that's it. They get bored of life too. Whether like the Egyptians they had their own personal, eccentric and artistic 'book of the dead' or not, eternity does also have a coffin. 
 

	Remember the 40 days and 40 nights? That's what is happening here. The wars, the pilgrimages, the natural calamities, the deadly viral infections - all of these are established protocols of cleansing. In one way or another, we end up being a casualty in their headlines. 
 

	The new technological superlatives which we spit and rhyme every other morning is only as strong as the last prayer we just made. I think as long as we have blood flowing through our veins, we will be superstitious. Because praying is believing that you may be, and you will be looked after by him. 
	 
	Image credit: Gonzalo Malpartida

Why does God want us to take the fall?

India's largest software services company <keyword id="6357585" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tata-Consultancy-Services">Tata Consultancy Services</keyword> (<keyword id="6357150" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="TCS">TCS</keyword>) will now solve social problems in local communities via an open innovation centre that it has opened in Nashik, Maharashtra. 
 
At the centre, TCS will look for ways to reduce the number of school dropouts, improve soil and water health, and ease parking woes in the city, among other social problems of the locality. The innovative solutions to these problems can be offered by students, early-stage start-ups and even individual entrepreneurs. 
 
TCS had also launched the physical and online initiative Digital Impact Square (DIS) on March 1, and as of now, 40 innovators are working on 11 projects under DIS. 
 
Hasit Kaji, who heads special initiatives at TCS, told ET that the number of innovators working under different projects would go up to 100 by June. "We have selected seven social themes based on interactions with local community and administration and crafted a set of challenges," he added. 
 
These seven themes are: health and hygiene, food and agriculture, citizen empowerment and transparency, transport and housing, education and skills, energy, water and environment, and financial and personal security. 
 
It was during TCS’s involvement in Kumbhathon, a project that was aimed at ensuring an incident-free Kumbh Mela in Nashik in August 2015, that the officials thought of DIS. 
 
"Most companies have innovation centres within the boundaries of the organisation or in partnership with academic institutes or other organisations but we wanted to create an open innovation platform, which is why we set up the DIS in the heart of Nashik," said Kaji. 
 
For the projects, the first cycle will run for six months, after which the successful prototypes will get another six months to mature their solution. Within another year, the innovations will be deployed to the first set of users within the city. 
 
<a href="http://www.tcs.com/about/corp_responsibility/corporate-social-responsibility/PublishingImages/GoIT-4.jpg">Image source</a>

TCS aims to solve social problems with its open innovation platform

<ul><li><keyword id="70141" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Justice-Katju">Justice Katju</keyword> mocked the <keyword id="95895" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="UP-government">UP government</keyword> by posting a list of 18 Indian cities which could be given a new name. </li><li><keyword id="200296" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Markandey-Katju">Markandey Katju</keyword> recommended that the central and state governments could rename other cities that are also named after Mughal emperors. </li><li>The UP cabinet cited that they only changed the name due to popular demand from the people of the city. </li></ul>In an attempt to ‘restore’ the Indian culture, <keyword id="43254" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yogi-Adityanath">Yogi Adityanath</keyword> announced ‘<keyword id="3481192" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="prayagraj">Prayagraj</keyword>’ as the new name for <keyword id="17425" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Allahabad">Allahabad</keyword> on Saturday. Since then, the decision has been criticised by many political leaders and eminent personalities. One of those being the former Supreme Court Justice, Markandey Katju, who <a href="https://twitter.com/mkatju/status/1052079927183302656">proposed</a> changing names of 18 more Indian cities and replacing all the names that are attributed to ‘Babur ki Aulads’ (the sons of Babur). 
 <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Text"><cdata><![CDATA[
 
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 Katju’s satirical twitter post showcased a list of cities which were potential candidates for a new name. Some of the recommendations include: Ahmedabad to Ashtavakra Nagar, Firozabad to Amitshahnagar, Hajipur to Hastinapur, Jamalpur to Jaiminipur, and even Ghaziabad to Ghatotkachnagar. Apart from Justice Katju, Madras High Court and Chief Justice of Allahabad Delhi have also criticised the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government. Even Congress and the Samajwadi party are protesting the decision. Akhilesh Yadav, the state’s former Chief Minister, <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/akhilesh-yadav-slams-yogi-govt-over-proposed-move-to-rename-allahabad-as-prayagraj-3048451.html">slammed</a> the UP government stating that current political leaders only show their work only by renaming cities. In contrast, some media <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/allahabad-news/allahabad-is-now-prayagraj-says-uttar-pradesh-minister-siddharth-nath-singh-after-cabinet-meeting-1932852">reports</a> claim that Yogi Adityanath has given Allahabad its former name ‘Prayag’ back. Even Kumbh Mela 2019, one of the most-awaited events in the city, will sport banners will with Prayagraj as the name of the city instead of Allahabad. This is not the first time that UP government has altered names. Earlier, Adityanath had renamed Mughalsarai junction in Agra to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction in order to give the railway station a ‘Hindu identity’.

Justice Katju ‘suggests’ new names for 18 Indian cities

The makers of the drone '<keyword id="116774" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rancho">Rancho</keyword>' seen in the movie <keyword id="6373971" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="3-idiots">3 idiots</keyword> have created several <keyword id="6370270" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="unmanned-aerial-vehicles">unmanned aerial vehicles</keyword> that are being used by Indian defence forces and in intelligence and surveillance ops. 
 
A team of four IIT alumni - Ankit Mehta, Rahul Singh, Ashish Bhat, and Vipul Joshi - started a company called ideaForge in 2007 to give their dream wings. They were working on developing technologies back in college and had many ideas they wanted to convert into products by the time they graduated. 
 
In 2008, recognition from government came to them when they won a Micro Aerial Vehicle competition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. Thereafter, they landed with several government projects, one of which wa NETRA – a vertical takeoff and landing UAV built on quadrotor configuration that the team developed in collaboration with Defence Research and Development Organisation. 
 
 This UAV could take off from a small area and could fly over an area up to the height of 400m sending continuous real time videos of movements on the ground. It was this early prototype of NETRA that you had seen during the shoot of 3 Idiots. The movie director of 3 idiots had read about the drone and work by <keyword id="137562" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="IITians">IITians</keyword> in the newapaper. 
 
In 2009, ideaForge developed the world’s smallest and lightest autopilot drone and also came up with India’s first fully autonomous vertical takeoff and landing UAV. In this, a user feeds the GPS location of the required destination, which is then converted into command and instructions and the UAV reaches the location autonomously. 
 The UAV's made by this team are typically easy-to-use, so they can be used easily during emergencies. So far, they have been used by the <keyword id="6354416" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Army">Indian Army</keyword> to look for survivors after the deadly Uttarakhand floods back in 2013, to map the positions of militants during defence ops, for disaster management during the Nepal earthquake, and to manage crowds during the Kumbh mela. One of ideaForge’s <keyword id="94769" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="drones">drones</keyword> also helped in tracking a man-eating tigress in Uttarakhand.

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