Mela over, Sangam city residents return to favourite haunts, routine

Shorn of curbs and crowds, it was back to life as usual for residents of Prayagraj now that the 45-day Mahakumbh has concluded and the Sangam city has returned to its normal, easy pace.

One such Sangam city resident Ravi Pandey, 46, once again feels at home in his ‘mohalla’ (locality). After weeks of living under self-imposed restrictions, he is now free as the barricades that dotted every crossing and were cordoned off by police and paramilitary personnel are gone.

He is now free to drive, meet friends and visit his favourite sweet shop ‘Bhagwan Das Mishtaan Bhadar’ nearly 300 metres away from his house to savour his favourite morning delight of “dahi-jalebi”—simple pleasures that he never could think of living without but was forced to forsake, as his hometown hosted the world’s biggest religious fair of Mahakumbh-2025, attracting millions from across India and even abroad.

With the mega fair over, Ravi Pandey on Friday morning took a break from his advertising business, brushed clean his Golden Brown Wagon-R in his garage and left his two-storey house at Nai Basti in Kydganj locality of Prayagraj to drive around his beloved hometown, which is back to its well-known and much-loved, albeit slow-paced routine.

With his wife Anita, 44, children Anshika, 23, and Yasharth, 21, in tow, Ravi drove around his favourite haunts at Katra and Civil Lines markets. He had a lunch at a restaurant in Civil Lines, collected his wife’s salwar suit from tailor shop on Mahatma Gandhi Marg. Then, in the evening, he took a round of the Sangam that hosted over 66 crore people from across the globe between January 13 and February 26.

Pandey said, “We finally went to Sangam, did “aachman”, made an offering of flowers, “sindoor” and lit earthen lamps – simple rituals we were unable to perform owing to heavy pilgrim rush and stringent traffic restriction during the Mahakumbh.”

He also said that during the fair, he performed the role of a host and now that the Mela was over, he was back in his role as a Sangam city resident, proud of its ancient culture as well as the modern infrastructure that came up in the run-up to the mega fair.

Munendra Srivastava, 55, a computer hardware engineer, resumed his over 14-year rigorous practice of offering prayers at 5am at the Mankameshwar temple of Lord Shiva, located on the banks of the Ganga, near Boat Club, around 16-kilometres from his double-storeyed house in Preetam Nagar locality of the city.

He returned home with a feeling of satisfaction, proudly sporting sandalwood tilak on his forehead.

“I went all the way on my old Bajaj scooter through the same route that I took for the past 14-years, every morning. There was no barricading, a new-normal of route restrictions and thousands of devotees teeming on the streets during the Mela period. I reached the temple within 20 minutes like before, offered prayers and managed to return home, all within an hour, unlike the past six weeks, which made me stall my practice from January 14 onwards, a day after commencement of the Mahakumbh,” he said.

Dr John Sylvester, 70, of the Allahabad Pentecostal Church in Civil Lines locality of city said, “Owing to the huge devotee rush and traffic restrictions, our routine Sunday church service was converted to the online mode since the last two weeks. It was becoming tough for the faithful to reach on time. However, now with the Mela over, from the coming Sunday (March 2) onwards the Church service, as usual, would be held from 9.30am onwards at the Civil Lines,” he said.

Deeply appreciative of the mega arrangements put in place for the Mela, Dr Sylvester said, “We should be proud to see Prayagraj going global with the Mahakumbh. All praises to our government for handling the world’s biggest religious gathering so efficiently. The security arrangements, the sanitation measures which kept the city spick and span every day despite over 66 crore footfalls in 45 days, something phenomenal without anyone’s imagination, deserves a heartfelt applause.”

For another Prayagraj resident Ali Bakht, 41, director of Bishop George School and College, resuming his daily gym routine, besides his educational institution on Kamala Nehru Road in Civil Lines opening after nearly a month of online classes, was also a welcome change.

“After nearly a month’s break from my daily morning and evening exercise schedule, I went to my gym on Sardar Patel Marg, around a kilometre from my home on Kamala Nehru Road. The workout was relaxing. Finally, felt like I was back home after a brief period of restrictions. Our educational institution also opened today with the first paper of the final examination held between 7.30 and 10.30 am,” he said.

Indeed, residents of Prayagraj are nostalgic but relieved after Mahakumbh Mela. For weeks millions of visitors thronged the city and there were restrictions on movement and traffic.

During the Mahakumbh, many locals said they were happy to see the pilgrims but wished the city would become free for them to move. The families who earned extra by providing pilgrim services are now returning to their normal routines as the streets near Sangam and city centre become quieter and the tent city that housed millions of pilgrims for weeks starts being dismantled.