Ujjain: Heeramani Bhairaghi still can’t believe what had happened to her at the recent Kumbh Mela in a central Indian town.
The 66-year-old woman was among some 75 million pilgrims who attended the April 22-May 21 Hindu festival at Ujjain, a temple town in Madhya Pradesh state. They came to get their sins washed away in the Kshipra River that flows through the town.
When Hiramani expressed her desire to attend one of the biggest Hindu festivals, her family members raised objections as she had been confined to a wheelchair for the past 13 years after a paralytic attack.
“At least it will help me connect with God even if I cannot go to the river for a dip,” she had pleaded with family members. She also told them that she could not wait any longer for the holy bath as the festival happens only once in 12 years.
The family from Diwas finally yielded to her pleas and reached Ujjain, 55 km northwest. They looked for a safer place for the physically challenged woman to bathe away from the hustle and bustle of pilgrims.
A policeman directed them to Gaughat, on the corner of the river bank specially developed for persons with disability. “We had no idea of this place, still followed the policeman’s direction,” Hiramani’s husband Premdas Bairaghi, told Matters India.
Unlike other locations earmarked for the pilgrims to bathe, Gaughat had facilities for pilgrims to go straight to the river water from their vehicles. A 2,000 square feet tent, which was covered from all the sides except the river side, provided privacy to the differently abled.
Manning the red-carpeted tent were Catholic priests and nuns who offered help to the Hindu pilgrims with different needs. They also provided wheel chairs, chairs and trained volunteers to help those pilgrims.
Premdas, a 72-year-old retired schoolteacher, said the volunteers encouraged the family to take Hiramani straight to the water front for a bath. He said although the family had attended previous Kumbh Mela in Ujjain, they had never seen such a facility for the differently-abled.
Hiramani says she can never forget the blissful experience. “I never expected such help from anybody. I am blessed now,” she told Matters India.
The family had brought a bucket and mug to fetch water for her to bath sitting on the river bank. They took it back unused.
The tent was managed by Manovikas Special School, a Church-managed institution for the differently-abled. “We had deputed 25 trained personnel round the clock in three shifts to help the pilgrims with disabilities and old age,” its assistant director Father Jose Pullattu told Matters India.
At least six volunteers were available at any time of the day at the tent.
The Church also deployed several vehicles, including an ambulance, to fetch disabled persons from bus stand, which was 5 km from Gaughat where only vehicles with special permission were allowed to enter.
“We take no money from the government for offering these faculties to the pilgrims,” said the 31-year-old priest while helping the disabled in scorching heat of 43 degree Celsius, covering his head and face with a thick cotton towel.
The priest an avid photographer also documents his Kumbh Mela experience with his Canon camera.
Among those helped was Shetand Bai, 80, also confined to wheelchair since three years following a paralytic attack.
“We were surprised with the warm welcome we received,” her son Vikram Singh told Matters India. The 62-year-old man had brought his mother with his sister, Ajab Bai, who said they wanted to fulfill their mother’s long cherished desire to have a bath during Kumbh Mela.
“However, we had a lot of tension how to take her to the river bank. Thank God we got all required help including wheelchair to take our mother to the river” she added.
Another pilgrim Jagdish Trivedi, visually impaired, said he felt blessed and faith increased after a dip in the river. “All that was possible because of those good souls,” he told Matters India referring to the Church volunteers.
Trivedi, in his 30, was among 150 differently-abled people who had come from Indore, 70 km south of Ujjain.
The group had to abandon their buses outside the Manovikas School campus as they did not have the required permission to enter the pilgrimage center. They took the ambulance and other vehicles the priest offered to reach the river bank.
Gyanendray Purohit, a lawyer who works for the rights of disabled, translated the sign languages of the disabled for the volunteers. He said the Church volunteers had done “a commendable job.”
Bishop Sebastian Vadakkel of Ujjain said the special tent offered the Church people experience inter-religious dialogue in action “even with disabled and those in need of our care.”
According to prelate, the Church does not differentiate people on religious line. “That is the reason our diocese was actively involved in helping the most vulnerable section to fulfill their religious obligation.”
More than 1,000 pilgrims such as Hiramani benefited from the Church help.