A cousin had come all along from Chappra (Bihar) to Delhi on a road trip with his friend. They had been to Varanasi and Allahabad on the way. They had left home for some work in Banaras but since they don't get much opportunity to travel they thought of taking full advantage of the situation and travel as much as possible. Before reaching Delhi they had planned to go to Shimla from Delhi and post that return back.
On a Saturday early morning they reached my place. Completely exhausted by such long journey they quickly took to bed and slept well. After waking up they wanted to go to many places in Delhi. Their excitement was more of kids. They wanted to do everything and visit every place they can. So the itinerary had to be decided. Shimla had to give way to a trip to Hardiwar and Rishikesh. I suggested since you are doing a Ganga Darshan (went to banaras, took a dip at sangam) why not continue with Ganga darshan and visit Haridwar and Rishikesh too. They liked the idea and wanted to leave immediately in this hot weather (excitement, you see). Had to calm them down. Told them we would leave late night/early morning. Its almost a 4 hour drive from Delhi so need to relax. These kids, they wanted to make the best use of visiting Delhi so buying clothes, taking a massage, having beer was all that they did on Saturday.
Next morning around 3.30 am we left for Hardiwar. We reached Haridwar at around 7.30 am. Taking a dip in the Holy and Mighty Ganga was the only thing in mind. So we went to Har ki Pauri for the dip. The water was freezing cold and water current was fast. The entire stretch was filled with people. It was just like another day when 1000's of people had come to take a dip in Ma Ganga. We were taking a dip and enjoying this when i heard a very holy chant. A holy chant coming from nearby, a chant carried out by 7-8 men in their 30's. All taking a bath/dip and chanting this holy name. The holy chant was "Modi, Modi....." Curiously many started looking at them. Some in shock, some amused, some laughing, some just staring.. everyone had their own expression. My cousin a strong Modi Bhakt (yes he is and he is a true example in my eyes in whats wrong with today's youth who follow anyone blindly without rationality) just got an adrenaline rush hearing this. Hearing his leaders name here was more satisfying to him than taking a dip in Ganga. He said to me "Dekh rahe hain bhaiya, Modi ka power. Man prasan ho gaya yeh sunkar". I asked " toh Ganga mein dubki lagane se man prasan nahi hua, par modi ka naam sunke ho gaya". He didnt reply, he was more thrilled to know that people were chanting his leaders name here in Haridwar.
Yes, 7-8 men were shouting Modi's name when around thousands of people were bathing in this river and hardly paying attention to this group. But anyways these few people outnumbered the thousand others because they shouted Modi while the other thousand were just taking a dip and enjoying the flow and blessing of Ma Ganga. In the middle of this i was standing in the river and thinking "so jisko Ma Ganga ne bulaya hai aaj unka naam liya ja raha hai Ma Gange ka nahi, kya modi Ma Ganga se bara ho gaya". Then I heard someone saying nearby "Jai Ganga Maiya" and i looked around, someone was taking a dip and worshiping Ma Gange. And then i noticed all around everyone was saying "Har Har Gange" "Jai Ganga maiya" and i could just smile. Everyone was here in the lap of this river. This holy river which is a mother, this river which relinquishes you from your sins. I prayed to her "Sab tumhare sharan mein hai ma, kinke paap dhona hai kinke nahi yeh tumhe pata hai, aur kuch nahi to sabko sadbudhi do ki tumhe saaf aur swach rakhe" Jai Ganga Maiya"
