adc Senior - BHPian



Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Kolkata Posts: 1,349 Thanked: 2,159 Times

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Royal Enfield Bullet ride - Maha Kumbh Mela 2013 -> Kolkata - Allahabad - Kolkata







There are three different kinds of kumbh: an ardh (or half) kumbh is held every six years at one of the three set locations, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik; a purna (full) kumbh is held every 12 years at Allahabad. The 2013 gathering was a much more bigger and auspicious one, a Maha Kumbh and that only ever happens after 12 purna kumbhs every 144 years - and it is always held at Allahabad.





A sadhu and his trishul on a shahi snan day [royal bath] at Maha Kumbh Mela, 2013







2013 is also the year I complete around 25 years of Royal Enfield Bullet riding. It all started at class 8 around on my father's Enfield Bullet, which gave way to my Royal Enfield Bullet Electra, the last batch of those having the neutral finder and left side brake. All these years it has been only a Bullet I have ever ridden. All old trips here and there, solo or we together [with Asmita], were never documented as never had a camera till recently.





So how does a born "Bulleteer" go to the Maha Kumbh Mela - By a Royal Enfield Bullet - celebrating my 25 years of Bullet riding.





Quote: Now why a "born Bulleteer", if there is a term like that!



Getting back to few reminisces>>> In my school days I used to stay at Durgapur since both my parents were working out there at the Steel Plant. My father had a Royal Enfield which he bought second hand, in 1968, all gleaming and with real good chrome rims written "Made in England". It had the original Amal carburetor and so by eight I was riding it up and it was a big thing for someone at that age; it has to be - riding a Bullet at class eight.





This one is still there with us and still an everyday ride for father and also for me - as and when I need that undiluted old style beat! Seen here my father with the Royal Enfield, 1968







As it is said, a Bullet is Bullet and there nothing like that and so never ever gave a thought to the car and it was much that feeling for long. The car experience, in early years, was our Ambassador Mark II.



But those were school days, class 11 and 12, though the car and sometimes a friend's jeep left an impression, - nothing came close to a Bullet for getting that rebel grind. Just loved the way some parents used to cringe when I took their wards for a ride and hear them quietly say - this bugger, no parent discipline and making our child go with the wrong tide.



Well then after 12, 1991, moved out to other places for studies and thus there came up one big hiatus for my 2 wheeler and 4 wheeler rides to back again in around 1990 when I returned back to Calcutta to start my Bullet rides again, sometimes solo, and of course the four-wheel drives came up in a big way as Safari VTT was bought in October 2007.



Haven't even had to try out any other motorcycle till now! It has been a Royal Enfield always from class 8 and it still is now that I am 40 years old. Bullet Electra 2003 at Maha Kumbh Mela 2013 - 25 years of riding the Royal Enfield Bullet.









Having a growing interest in photography and being a little bit more serious about images how I click since November [



I was staying with Paramarth Sadhak Sangha, a very low-key yet quite old ashram led by a 91-year-old yet delightful guruji, and thus documented and photographed many of the ashram's activities during my stay at the ashram.





Paramarth Sadakh Sangh ashram's camp tents for the disciples who came, I was in the tent before where the Bullet is. Sharing the tent with 8 members, 3 families from Agartala, Tripura

The Maha Kumbh Mela, believed to be the largest religious gathering on earth, is held every 12 years on the banks of Triveni Sangam, at the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati. Lasting 55 days, it is celebrated at the holy site of Sangam in Allahabad; in 2013, by the time it was over, around 100 million people had made the pilgrimage to the festival.There are three different kinds of kumbh: an ardh (or half) kumbh is held every six years at one of the three set locations, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik; a purna (full) kumbh is held every 12 years at Allahabad. The 2013 gathering was a much more bigger and auspicious one, a Maha Kumbh and that only ever happens after 12 purna kumbhs every 144 years - and it is always held at Allahabad.2013 is also the year I complete around 25 years of Royal Enfield Bullet riding. It all started at class 8 around on my father's Enfield Bullet, which gave way to my Royal Enfield Bullet Electra, the last batch of those having the neutral finder and left side brake. All these years it has been only a Bullet I have ever ridden. All old trips here and there, solo or we together [with Asmita], were never documented as never had a camera till recently.So how does a born "Bulleteer" go to the Maha Kumbh Mela - By a Royal Enfield Bullet - celebrating my 25 years of Bullet riding.Having a growing interest in photography and being a little bit more serious about images how I click since November [ http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...nal-park.html] , particularly travel & documentary photography --- thought of covering the Maha Kumbh Mela though through a different perspective. Rather than staying in a hotel or a tourist camp at Kumbh Mela grounds, my plan was to embed myself directly with an ashram and along with the general atmosphere of the Mela, see and document also how the lesser known ashrams and the saints and sadhus spend their time in the Mela.I was staying with Paramarth Sadhak Sangha, a very low-key yet quite old ashram led by a 91-year-old yet delightful guruji, and thus documented and photographed many of the ashram's activities during my stay at the ashram. Last edited by adc : 18th March 2013 at 12:15 .