More are found than lost here. The innumerable lost-and-found camps, popularly named “bhula bhatka shivir” or “khoya-paya shivir”, at the Kumbh Mela are a boon for those who lose their kin or friends at the Mela.
There are more than 100 such camps, many of them run by NGOs and private organisations that help women and children, in particular, unite with their families.
Majority of these camps are computerised and tech-savvy and click pictures of the lost person with webcams and transmit it to the other centres where the families can recognise the lost person.
“Women and children seem to be getting lost all the time here. Since most of them come from rural backgrounds and do not even take the names of their husbands, it becomes difficult for us to locate their kin. In such cases, we ask them the names of others in their groups and then make announcements,” says Nandini Mathur, who works eight hours a day at one such “bhula-bhatka shivir”.
Even as she talks to this correspondent, another announcement blares across the township. “Ram Nihor ji, aapki aurat yahan Samgam tower par hai. Aap jahan bhi ho, jaldi aa jao. Woh bheege kapdon mein yahan par hai (Ram Nihor, your wife is here at Sangam tower. Wherever you are, please come here. She is wearing wet clothes),” says the announcement.
And within minutes, a shivering Ram Nihor, also dressed in wet kurta pyjama, arrives at the samgam tower point — only to realise that his brother-in-law, who was carrying a bag with their clothes, is now missing. And then, begins another round of announcements.
Many may think that the advent of mobile phones has made such camps redundant but it is not so in an event like the Kumbh Mela.
Most of the people here come from the rural interiors and each member in their families does not carry a mobile. “Often we have women speaking in a different dialect or language. In such cases, we ask them to call out to their own kin in their language. This helps because their families can recognise the dialect,” says Nandini.
The children and women, who get lost at the Mela, often pose a problem at the camps. The women begin to cry and children also howl to their heart’s content.