TRAVELOGUE OF A BAREFOOT PILGRIM
“Are you coming?” asked my friend, gazing into my eyes, looking for an affirmative answer. “Do you have the balls?” is what I heard. His proposition - a 120 kilometer long pilgrimage trek, starting from the banks of holy Ganges at Sultanganj, traversing across the villages of north-eastern Indian state of Bihar and Jharkhand, and finally ending at the holy shrine of lord Shiva in Devgarh, Jharkhand. The catch – to complete the trek barefoot. Every year, in the month of Shravan –Indian rainy season (July-August), lakhs of devotees of lord Shiva , wearing saffron robes, undertake this insurmountable pilgrimage, carrying the holy water of the Ganges to bath the Shivalinga at Devgarh. An ancient tradition, the infamous trek is filled with perilous conditions and an unforgiving path. The austere rituals to be followed along the way are no respite either. Sunny and I have been friends from childhood. And much of our friendship was cemented in the play groun...