The Pilgrim-Tourists

It’s hard selling moksha in the land of oriental mysticism. Or maybe, not so hard. A microcosm of India, an event the Guinness calls history’s greatest assembly of humans. The millennium’s first Mahakumbh-or the great festival of Elixir-will start on January 9 next year and will continue till February 22 at Allahabad. So when you join in the salvation journey early next year, there will be a fair tinge of modernism on the banks of the Ganga, which meets the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at the Sangam to create the once-ideal place for the holy dip.

There will be the usual makeshift canopies crowded with sadhus, bards, magicians, pilgrims, astrologers and snake-charmers on the sandy banks of the Ganga. But jostling for space amid it all would be swanky Maharaja tents. Designed in traditional craftsware-each with a tulsi at the entrance and alpana on the floor-these will offer the best of royal comforts: nicely decked beds, mahogany tables, cellphones, laptops, heated water, Kerala ayurvedic massage, haldi bath, daily Gita path, lessons in blowing conchshells and playing the sitar, foreign exchange counters, credit card swipe machines and even in-house astrologers. Hinduism gilt-wrapped in a new market mantra. All in all, Kumbh 2001 seems fated to blur the borders between pilgrimage and tourism.

"We wanted to make it easier for people to visit the Mahakumbh and understand Eastern thinking," says the lanky Lakshmi Singh Tikari Sinclair, a travel expert who, with former bitv programming head Bhaskar Bhattacharya, is helping Cox & Kings complete a unique exercise-comprising 60 tents aimed primarily at foreigners, NRIs and Indians who can afford the Rs 9,000 two-night package.

"It’s a great festival...thousands watch with bewilderment and fascination the encampments of Nagas, the holy men most revered and feared at the mela. We need to tell visitors that besides their long, matted dreadlocks and naked, ash-laced figures in meditation, there is also a lesson of asceticism," says Singh, adding: "We are not selling tents...we are selling a dream."

Singh knows her business. Winding their way through serpentine queues of millions of pilgrims, caparisoned elephants and gilded chariots could be global celebrities like popstar Madonna, who included Sanskrit words in one of her recent albums and had planned a visit to the iskcon temple in Mayapur last year, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, rock star Sting and actress Goldie Hawn (of Private Benjamin and Duchess & Dirtwater Fox fame). Efforts are also on to lure celebrated writers Gunter Grass and Dominique Lapierre, both familiar with India, its many-hued landscape and people. For the first time, Camp Kumbh mela 2001 from the world’s oldest travel agency could also have corporate bigwigs from the families of Ambanis, Birlas, Modis and Goenkas.

"We will open up a complete new horizon for the visitors and explain there’s more to India than sadhus and snake-charmers.. both, the woman in the kitchen and the white collared corporate must visit the show and understand the nation and its values," says Bhattacharya, a man well-versed with the ways of sadhus who has also handled production assignments for some of the world’s best film and TV crews (Jewel in the Crown, A Passage to India, The City of Joy) during their India shoots. Krishna Wattal, senior executive of Cox & Kings product development section, adds the package will also include daily workshops on the New Age attended by celebrated writers, ecologists and spiritual thinkers. Besides, craftsmen will produce their wares (lacquer and papier mache from Kashmir, brasswork from the South, Nagaland’s narrow loom weaving and miniatures from Rajasthan) at the camp and sell directly to the guests.

The mood is not just restricted within the precincts of the country. There are serious efforts to get NRIs to participate in the fair. To this end, tourism minister Ananth Kumar is likely to visit a number of countries to generate enthusiasm (among expatriates as well as foreigners) about the significance of the Mahakumbh mela. The minister will be aided by a package of literature and films produced on the festival by the Department of Tourism. A budget of Rs 60 crore has already been sanctioned by the government for the massive publicity blitz. Besides the central grant, the government of Uttar Pradesh has also earmarked another Rs 130-odd crore to make the fair a memorable event.

"The fact that the fair is in the months of January and February helps us immensely as that is the time when tourism peaks in India," exults tourism secretary M.K. Bezbaruah, adding: "The central machinery is working in tandem with the Kumbh mela secretariat of the UP government so that we can get the maximum number of people, not just from abroad but also from across the country." Bezbaruah says there’s serious networking going on among NRIs about getting together and visiting India during the fair and is confident that the minister’s move would help increase such awareness.

That’s the pull of religion. For those oriented more towards things material, the Kumbh represents an equally vital event. Expectedly, FMCG giants like Hindustan Levers Limited (HLL), Coca Cola, Colgate, Britannia, Procter & Gamble will be there, rubbing shoulders with desi giants like Dabur, Videocon and BPL. It’s natural for the suave Coke marketing chief Sanjiv Gupta to call it a touch of India on the riverbank. An area which gives the cola giant a tremendous chance to connect with consumers. Coke has already activated a task force of senior marketing, operations and distribution people and, like the previous occasion at Haridwar, hopes to paint Allahabad red in its trademark colours.

"It’s more than a fair...it’s a makeshift town visited by millions where a company can do wonders with promotions and sales," admits Arun Dey of Cityad Communications, which has been holding direct marketing exercises for a host of domestic and international companies at the melas for years now. Others are not far behind in their efforts. The Burmans of Dabur call it the best place to check the real Indian consumer and will be there in sizeable strength, while the Dhoots of Videocon will also be there, as they have been for many, many years.

So this is the time for market salvation. Madonna, Mick Jagger, Naga sanyasis and, of course, Coke. The alternative is also there: the Sangam. The choice is yours.