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Like millions of devotees across India, seven men from Bihar's Buxar district wanted to be a part of Maha Kumbh - the world's biggest religious gathering in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj. However, with reports of massive traffic jams and unprecedented rush in trains, they were presented with a daunting challenge: how to get to the destination? It was then that they came up with an ingenious idea. They reached the river banks of Prayagraj on February 13 after a boat ride spanning two days.
The men, from Kamharia village of Buxar, completed the journey of 550 km across the river Ganga in nearly two days. Their journey amid difficulties faced by several devotees has become a topic of discussion.
On most days since the start of the six-week festival (from January 13 to February 26), massive traffic jams were reported on almost every road leading to Prayagraj and even trains running to the Uttar Pradesh city are witnessing heavy rush. Railways have started several Kumbh Mela special trains to avoid overcrowding.
To bypass these issues, the men installed a motor on a boat, packed some food, water, another motor for backup and money and began their journey on February 11.
Despite the motors, each of the men in the group had to take turns to row the boat for five to six kilometres as the motor would heat up. They also had to stay awake at night during their journey to keep the boat afloat.
"We are travelling to Prayagraj by boat," one of the men was heard saying in a video.
Finally, they reached the river banks of Prayagraj and took a dip in the early hours of February 13. By 10 pm on February 16, they were back home.
"There were huge jams on the roads leading to Prayagraj so we decided to go by boat. We didn't we will go viral. We decided to undertake the trip just because we wanted to take the holy dip," said another man.
However, he said, that he thinks only those who can row a boat should go for this route because "rowing is physically draining".
"Our mobiles also stopped working after a few hours and we faced issues while navigating the boat. But we finally reached the destination," he said.
Suman Chaudhary, who was a part of the boat ride, said the entire trip cost them around Rs 20,000, which included fuel, ration, water and other expenses.
Their unique trip comes amid a stampede at the New Delhi Railway station that killed 18 people. The death count included several women and children. The rush at the train station broke out on Saturday as crowds struggled to board trains to Prayagraj.
More than 52.83 crore devotees have taken a dip at the Triveni Sangam - where the rivers Ganga, Yamina and now dried-up Saraswati converge - since it began last month and the surge of pilgrims at the festival - which happens every 12 years - shows no signs of abating.
Devotees continue to throng the railway stations, undeterred by the tragedy.