[IUNKWN]

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

Well, that explains the low numbers reported by NDTV on the number of people who have taken the holy snan so far as majority is stuck on the roads. I wonder who are 0.57 people!
Attachment 2724531

Have a look at this .

https://x.com/NDTVMPCG/status/1888473688242364502

[IUNKWN]

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

Well, that explains the low numbers reported by NDTV on the number of people who have taken the holy snan so far as majority is stuck on the roads. I wonder who are 0.57 people!
Attachment 2724531

Worlds largest traffic jam, say netizens

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../118110216.cms

[nareshtrao]

Originally Posted by IUNKWN

What made me upset is the main stream media is totally suppressing this. If we were aware of it we wouldn't have started at all. Only when you dig comment section of Youtube and twitter you can see people reporting it. And there are several others abusing them not to spread it citing it as misinformation, sounding like IT cell guys

Originally Posted by IUNKWN

Have a look at this .

https://x.com/NDTVMPCG/status/1888473688242364502

Originally Posted by IUNKWN

Worlds largest traffic jam, say netizens

[/url]

Watch these. Now media is definitely covering it. Hard to imagine the plight of those stuck. Reminds me of Beiijing - Tibet Jam of 2010 which is till date, officially, the longest ever.



https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/worlds-biggest-traffic-jam-300-km-congestions-choke-roads-to-maha-kumbh-people-left-stranded-for-hours/articleshow/118104151.cms?from=mdr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLNCPMZd3FY

[Mystic]

All such events have their own share of breaking news which the media is interested.

Let us look at this from a philosophical perspective of those who returned without having a dip at Triveni sangam for whatever reasons. The very intention of going to such holy places itself is a task half accomplished. I feel that one should take a u turn and come back or have a plan B or even plan C. In my case, my plan A is go to Gaya to do Pitru rituals to my both parents who had expired in the last couple of years. This has been getting postponed multiple times due to circumstances beyond my control. The Priest at Gaya told me that it is not easy to enter Gaya even if someone has visited Varnasi / Prayagraj until one is allowed by the supreme. I believed him as I had made multiple attempts but failed. This time Maha Kumbh came and we in the family had a strange desire to participate with a 85 year old mother in law. I told my wife and MIL not to get disappointed if I take a call on the fly and bypass both Prayagraj and Varnasi and take a different route to Gaya. We had our own share of surprises but finally made it to all the 3 holy places namely Prayagraj, Varnasi and Gaya and back at home now reading the unbelievable news of world’s worst traffic jam etc.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...hyderabad.html (With my Jimny to Maha Kumbh Mela | From Visakhapatnam, via Hyderabad)

[autoweirdo]

Enroute to Varanasi now, started yesterday afternoon from Pune with a late night halt at Jabalpur. Right now at Rewa and no traffic issue faced so far. Will plan for Prayagraj on 13th Feb to avoid pournima rush on 12th. Will keep thread updated on traffic situation whenever possible.

[Livinginpresent]

Maha Kumbh Experience - 08-02-2025 - My first post


Started from Mathura at 10 in the night and took the Agra Lucknow Expressway. Google Maps suggested taking exits 76 or 77, but instinct kicked in as it was showing the same to all travelers heading to Prayagraj via Etawah and Kanpur. I skipped the exit and took the newly built Bundelkhand Expressway, rejoining NH19, and then the mess started. There were long traffic jams at each toll plaza, vehicles broken down, and we had to traverse through various shortcuts, especially in Fatehpur, before reaching Arial Ghat via Prayagraj Airport Road.

We took the holy dip at the Triveni Sangam and visited Bade Hanuman Ji Mandir.

We started back for home at midnight. It took us 3 hours to get out of Prayagraj, though our second car was lucky as we guided them to look for an alternative route before they got stuck in the traffic jam. There is a place called Manjhanpur that needs to be entered into Google Maps as the final destination or a stop; only then will maps show the way via that route and skip the traffic we faced. Though the road is under construction, I would only recommend it for those traveling by cars with higher ground clearance.

[skyfall09]

Originally Posted by autoweirdo

Enroute to Varanasi now, started yesterday afternoon from Pune with a late night halt at Jabalpur. Right now at Rewa and no traffic issue faced so far. Will plan for Prayagraj on 13th Feb to avoid pournima rush on 12th. Will keep thread updated on traffic situation whenever possible.

I'm planning to visiting Kumbh Mela on Friday, 14th. Initially planned for Air travel. Changed plans as couple of friends wanted to join. So taking the road instead on a Fortuner. Would be starting from HYD on 13th early morning with overnight stay in Jabalpur. If you could post your experiences, that would be great. Thank you

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by IUNKWN

Just after crossing jabalpur about 30 mins drive disaster stuck. Massive traffic jam. We came to know people are stuck since night with family and small children.

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

Well, that explains the low numbers reported by NDTV on the number of people who have taken the holy snan so far as majority is stuck on the roads. I wonder who are 0.57 people!

Originally Posted by IUNKWN

Have a look at this

Originally Posted by IUNKWN

Worlds largest traffic jam, say netizens

Originally Posted by nareshtrao

Hard to imagine the plight of those stuck.

Originally Posted by Mystic

now reading the unbelievable news of world’s worst traffic jam etc.

I have been part of this This massive jam which took place on weekend falling on 8th-9th of Feb.

I started on Saturday, 8th of Feb at 6.30 am from Jaipur with my wife and my cousin couple for my 2nd trip to this Mahakumbh where the total distance is around 720 odd kms on well laid multi-lane highways-expressways and was supposed to reach at my parking at 10-11 pm factoring the typical jams inside Prayagraj city. But ended up reaching at 4.30 am next day in the city due to getting stuck at massive pile up at Kanpur which was more than 2 hours, then again got stuck at Fatehpur for long and kept getting stuck till Praygraj.

I got familiar with Kumbh city and Prayagraj during my first visit so I already had plan to escape the main routes so I managed to beat the majority of jams in and around Prayagraj but never thought I will end up getting stuck on highways.

After reaching Prayagraj. I learnt that many were still stuck on highways and could not enter the city even till the Sunday (9th) evening.

I also noticed that many of the eating points enroute were jam packed with massive number of cars and ran out of food. We also could not find dinner at any eating point but somehow managed to find a small shop and got some bread-pakodas with tea which were sufficient for us. Although we also had few packets of snacks which we came handy during our return as breakfast after exiting Prayagraj.

This route is also shared by people coming form Delhi side so lot of CNG vehicles also contributed in the jams since they queued up in typical Indian way by making two or more lines on the flowing highways. If this is the situation with CNG then imagine the plight when we will be in the EV era in our country when existing charging points area already occupied for hours and hundreds of EVs are waiting for their number.

Two major reasons behind such large number of vehicles as per my understanding:


1. Everyone wanted to avoid the Shahi/Amrit Snan after the Mauni Amavasya incident and wanted to beat the crowd but ended up building extraordinary crowd on highways on the coming weekend. FOMO was another contributing factor here.

2. There may not be the Shahi/Amrit Snan around this weekend but the 9th of Feb was falling after Ekadashi which is considered as major auspicious Snan/bath for many Indians, especially in UP, MP and Bihar.

This was my 2nd trip to this Mahakumbh which I attempted in my car with my wife and cousin couple. First one was with my relative by air in the beginning of Mahakumbh when I stayed there between 10th to 14th of January and shot a documentary film on Kalpwasis. I also covered some facts about Mahakumbh in parallel. Total three stories running together here, Kalpwasis, Akhadas and visitors.

This is Hindi version but I am also working on English dubbing where I will also add few more scenes shot during my 2nd visit.

Here is the documentary film, watch in 4K:

https://youtu.be/O33F-oDXkHA

[Ninja75]

Inadvertanly we were a part of a Guiness Record. We were 10 (6 ladies and 4 gents) in two cars (collectively 3 drivers) for Blr-Prayagraj. Our plans were many at Prayagraj but the quintessential plan was to take the Snan. We started from BLR on 8th morning at 8am and halted at Adilabad for the night. Proceeded on 9th with the intent to halt at Rewa. That's when we heard the news of major traffic jams, right from Rewa. We couldn't get any accomodation at Rewa (calls were made enroute itself) and decided to detour to Satna for the night stay. Traffic was so dense near Tolls (Maihar) that it extended to over 3-4kms. People were crisscrossing to opposite lanes creating even more chaos. We decided against that and google was quick to re-route us through village roads or dry fields to get ahead. Literally offroading. The oldworkhorse Innova made it comfortably.At Satna we met few local reporters during breakfast and they informed us of these major traffic jams, however they encouraged us to proceed armed with sufficient water, snacks and food. Based on their advise we packed lunch and rotis for dinner from the same hotel that we were put up (Sai Chaayya) and started at 1pm from Satna. We all accepted that we will encountered heavy traffic all the way to Pryagraj and thus with this knowledge set forth to become part of this 300kms traffic jam. We started at 1pm from Satna and could only reach Praygraj (Arail Ghat) at morning 6AM. However, what we noticed was that nobody was frustrated and overtly honking. People found some measure of humor to easen this harrowing traffic snarl. There were lot of locals who were selling water, tea, snacks and meals and were reaching out to all throughout this melee. Some 36kms away from Praygraj we were allowed to go in and it was as if we all took a lungful of air and the cars lunged fwd as if they broke free. It was a free run till Arail Ghat. We parked at Tenduavan parking and were lucky to get a Toto that took us to the Arail Ghat Sangam point. From there we walked for about 2kms. Vehicles were not allowed any further inside so we joined a sea of humanity in the walk to the Ghats for the Snan. Everyone were chanting JayJaykar of Ganga Maya, Mahadev and other Holy figures. We were surprised to hear JayJaykar's of Yogi and Modi too. These were rural people from far of states and were delighted to land here. We completed our Snan thanking the Supreme powers for making it feasible to come here and take the Snan. We had accomodation at Sector 6 for the night but none of us dared to cross the Yamuna bridge and enter that side. We had a longer walk on our return from the Ghats as none of the Totos were ready to take us back to the Parking. Madam President had just arrived and more restrictions for autos as certain roads were cordoned off. We had some snacks for lunch and walked a little distance, got auto for some more distance and finally took a bike ride to our parking. All modes covered. We took the car and proceeded straight to Jabalpur for the night stay. We didn't encounter any traffic. It's phenomenal crowd gathering at one place, administration and arrangements no matter how elaborate would breakdone from time to time. However, the right intent to facilitate would ensure that the breakdown time is minimal. The autodrivers were fully supportive of the administration and have heard stories on how the locals were trying to support/faciliate the mammoth visitors. Yes, those who wanted to make money from this situation did so.

One of us decided to take a flight from Nagpur so that he can reach Blr earlier to report to work, so we dropped him at Nagpur Airport and proceeded to Hyd for the night of 11th Feb. We started early hrs from Hyd on 12th and reached Blr by the evening. Once again Thanking the Supreme powers for bestowing us the opportunity to not only take the Snan but also be part of this largest traffic snarl that we learnt later in news on the 11th. Upon reflection and extrapolating it appears that if hardships are to be encountered in life as per karma, you will go through it but will not feel the brun,t if you are in Satsang or communion with God. As our Guru used to say (giving an analogy of a banker) if you are burdened with carrying 100 1 re coins as per your karma, the Guru would accept all that and give you a 100Rs note, light to carry but you are still going through your Karma.
If you treat the intent to go to MahaKumbh please do not deviate from that Intent, to entertain anything that gets dished out your way, such as traffic jams, inconveniences of sleep, food etc. when you are at despair there are some angels that come by encouraging you little by little to remind you of your Intent that you began your journey, complete it and return safe. Thanks for your patient read.

[skyfall09]

I’m on my way to Prayagraj. It was smooth sailing till Ghurpur(less than 20 kms from Prayagraj). Now we’re sitting in a very long parking lot for the past one hour or so. I believe the authorities are controlling in flow of vehicles with multiple check points. This is second such check point we ran into.

We started from HYD on 13th AM at 6:00 AM. Reached Jabalpur by 6:45 PM. Again started at Jabalpur on 14th 6:15 AM. At the time of writing this, ETA in Prayagraj is 2:00 PM. By and large the roads are very good. The last 100 kms not so much. Nonetheless, it is all part of the experience which has been outstanding. It is amazing how many are heading to one place on the planet because of ancient traditions/beliefs. The excitement is becoming more as we approach the ghat. People also been very civil.

Will post again later this evening if time permits.

[RGK]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

My friends and I completed our Kumbh travel this week.

Guru, I believe you are one among the millions who received the blessings of the Lord for a lovely and seamless snan.

This event has undoubtedly put our road network to the test, and it has held up admirably despite some indisciplined driving (which we hear).

[skyfall09]

Originally Posted by skyfall09

I’m on my way to Prayagraj. It was smooth sailing till Ghurpur(less than 20 kms from Prayagraj). Now we’re sitting in a very long parking lot for the past one hour or so. I believe the authorities are controlling in flow of vehicles with multiple check points. This is second such check point we ran into.

We started from HYD on 13th AM at 6:00 AM. Reached Jabalpur by 6:45 PM. Again started at Jabalpur on 14th 6:15 AM. At the time of writing this, ETA in Prayagraj is 2:00 PM. By and large the roads are very good. The last 100 kms not so much. Nonetheless, it is all part of the experience which has been outstanding. It is amazing how many are heading to one place on the planet because of ancient traditions/beliefs. The excitement is becoming more as we approach the ghat. People also been very civil.

Will post again later this evening if time permits.

Following up my post from yesterday. We reached Prayagraj by 2:30 PM. We parked where we could find parking and walked to Triveni Sangam by foot, the walk was 7.5KM long. We left our luggage in car and walked with backpacks with additional pair of clothes and towel. We could have hired bikers who willing to drop at Ghat for 300/-. We wanted to experience what it is like to walk with crowds. It was an eye opener to see what lengths people went to make the Kumbh. We finally reached the nose of Sangam, by 4:30 PM. Never seen so much crowd at single place. Watching on TV is one thing. But seeing live is another. We’re very watchful for crowds pushing each other. Fortunately, none of that happened. We changed ourselves and took the dip right at Sangam where Ganga meets Yamuna. Left the Sangam at 5:30 PM, reached our parked car which was 7.5 KM walk again by foot. Got my three days workout done in a day 😊. I’m on road now, will post dos and don’ts in another hour or so.

[skyfall09]

Originally Posted by skyfall09

Following up my post from yesterday. We reached Prayagraj by 2:30 PM. We parked where we could find parking and walked to Triveni Sangam by foot, the walk was 7.5KM long. We left our luggage in car and walked with backpacks with additional pair of clothes and towel. We could have hired bikers who willing to drop at Ghat for 300/-. We wanted to experience what it is like to walk with crowds. It was an eye opener to see what lengths people went to make the Kumbh. We finally reached the nose of Sangam, by 4:30 PM. Never seen so much crowd at single place. Watching on TV is one thing. But seeing live is another. We’re very watchful for crowds pushing each other. Fortunately, none of that happened. We changed ourselves and took the dip right at Sangam where Ganga meets Yamuna. Left the Sangam at 5:30 PM, reached our parked car which was 7.5 KM walk again by foot. Got my three days workout done in a day 😊. I’m on road now, will post dos and don’ts in another hour or so.

Dos: 1. You have little control on where you can park. So go with the flow. Best is to hire bike or auto to get to Ghat.
2. If you’re not particular about Triveni Sangam, other Ghats are not that crowded. Easier to change yourself.
3. Do not expect any sort of privacy to change yourself wet clothes. ABSOLUTELY NONE.
4. Be prepared to walk and walk.
5. Plan for minimum 6 hours just for the holy dip.
6. Do not rush, as you will miss the experience.
7. Plan carefully if you’re coming with elders, take your time to transport them.
8. Come with food and water bottles. Saves you time while travelling.
9. It is easier to find places to stay away from Prayagraj.
10. Best time to take the dip is day time. At night, it will be cold.
11. Out of all means to travel (train, flight, car), car is the best as you have no control on wait times.
12. No easy access to wash rooms. Being male I struggled.
13. We stayed in Rewa overnight. Now in Varanasi. Traffic jams everywhere, but moving though.

Heading to ghat now and see Ganga Aarti. Will share Varanasi experience later tonight.

[Linuskm]

Sharing my experience although from a week back.

We started on 7th morning 6am from Hyderabad and reached jabalpur by 7.30pm. on the way we were offered a place to stay at a ghats camp by a elderly person known thru a friend, we were advised to plan the entry to prayagraj after 11pm since cars were not allowed during daytime. So we decided to head to varanasi first.

Next Day morning 4am we woke and started to Varanasi and reached by 1pm. Visited temples and ghats at Varanasi. We wanted to complete kashi Vishwanath darshan but looking at the crowd of devotees and 6hrs waiting time didn't want to risk the prayagraj plan so we skipped the darshan.

We started from Varanasi at 10pm and reached prayagraj like 1am, from one of the parking lots we started on foot for the triveni sangam. It was a decent 5km.walk. took the holy dip at 3.30am and started back to jabalpur at 5.30am. since the whole place was barricade we were essentially locked down in prayagraj and finally at 9am we were allowed to cross one barricade and rerouted by local roads to avoid highway. It was a tough 6hr drive on local roads till we reached the highway.

After driving some distance at like 8pm google maps indicated a 2 hrs delay due to an accident on the highway to jabalpur.. considering the situation we decided to break for dinner and hoping traffic will be eased out by then. After dinner still the situation was same, we tried to book a local stay to get some rest but no rooms were available. Finally decision was made to sleep in the car rather than driving thru the heavy highway traffic. We slept at 10.30pm.

Next day morning 2am we started back to Hyderabad and thankfully the highway was clear. Overall it was a memorable trip driving on the road and taking a holy dip during the auspicious time on early morning hours.

One the way back we could see multiple places the highway was blocked for traffic heading to prayagraj.

[hrishi_dypim]

I started from pune on 5th feb morning, halted in night at Rewa. reached Prayagraj on 6th, stayed in night. Left Prayagraj on 7th evening, halted in Katni, started from Katni on 8th feb and reached pune on 8th night. Few tips from my experience.

1. If everyone can walk, don't stay in prayagraj, hotel and tent tarriff are very high and won't be able to sleep as there are a lot of mosquitos. We stayed in tent and could not able to sleep even for 2 hrs due to mosquitos. If staying is necessary, stay in near by cities.

2. If going by car , try to enter prayagraj especially arail or jhusi area before 7 am as you can go further without much stoppage, chances will be higher to go near arail ghat. Normally mass of police deployment happens from 8 am.

3.Boat prices change as per demand. When more demand , price goes higher. If you like to bath in sunlight like 11 to 2 pm. Boat prices will be higher like Rs 1000-3000 rs. Before 6 am it could be Rs 500-1000.
When more rush and not able to get the boat try offering more price, you will be given 1st priority. No control on price from administrator and they can't help.

4.Don't try to cover Kashi, Ayodhya and Maihar as you will be rushing everywhere and stuck on road and queue. Make a plan any other time. Just visit mahkumbh and return.

5.Drive defensive and carefully , there are many first time driver on highway for mahkumbh, they have no experience or sense how to overtake or change lane.

6. Be gentle to bikers going for mahakumbh especially the family one.they have equal rights to use the road.

7. Have enough food and water in your car for emergency or if you stuck in traffic. There are no good hotels or dhabas for food on highway from Pune to Prayagraj, keep the expectation low. Petrol pumps will be saviour in case you are looking for washrooms.

8. Return with enough gangajal and distribute to your friends and neighbors who could not make it.

9. Bikers are allowed everywhere so if you don't want to walk just stop any biker you can see. Dont hesitate by look of biker , they are normal people like us but want to encash the opportunity. They charge 100-200 rs and can drop you to your destination.

10. Being calm and patient is the key. You can't predict anything. Just go with the flow. You are lucky because you have been called by ganga maiya and bholenath.