Mark Twain braved the long travel – and the fact that there was a major cholera outbreak in the prior Kumba Mela – writing this, based upon his experience at the 1895 festival: “It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold whites.”

The photos almost speak for themselves…

This gentle man graciously posed for mulitple pics

Blanket as fashion accessory

Next life I want to come back as a stately-looking saint like this man who welcomed us into his camp

The Barfani camp leader befriended us multiple times

Young men also bond in this Mela experience

This sadhu was very curious about America

So many looks within this montage of Indian culture

This teen was the pride of his family and they asked me to take a series of his portraits

This fellow has a future in Bollywood if he wants one

It was very hard to get individual women to pose for a portrait – especially older women – but this charismatic lady had 5 men in tow

In my upcoming post on Colors, you’ll see multiple women wearing stunning colors as a tapestry ensemble

 I struck up a nice conversation with these two sisters that were on the back of a guru-mobile in a parade

The sadhus can be strikingly garish with their cosmetics and colors; met this guy in Varanasi who was on his way to the Mela

One of the friendliest people I met – he wants to visit San Francisco some day

I wish the photo of this man and his wife wasn’t over-exposed as they made a striking couple

Friends meet who haven’t seen each other in years; these two were walking down the street hand-in-hand

This friendly and wise man told me why Kumbh Mela had been important to his family for at least 6 generations

Fhoola – assistant to guru Brahamrishi Maunibabaji – was so gracious in his hospitality spirit during the 4 days we spent with him and he had some of the best karmic energy I experienced at the Mela