PRAYAGRAJ: To the list of superstitions linked with ‘unlucky’ 13 has been added the lucky coincidence of a presumed Maha Kumbh stampede victim from Prayagraj trudging back home this Tuesday to find the neighbourhood commemorating his ‘tehrvi’ – the ritual performed on 13th day after a death.
Turns out 60-something Khunti Guru, nonplussed at the fuss over his rumoured death in the Jan 29 stampede, had had one chillum of ganja too many with some sadhus and lost track of time.
A mourning ritual turned into community feast in celebration
Almost two weeks would go by before he remembered that his 10×12 room in Chahchand Gali of Prayagraj’s Zero Road was waiting for him. By then, Khunti Guru’s extended family comprising almost the entire locality had organised elaborate religious rituals in memory of the much-loved local jester.
“I slept rather long… could be a few days,” the ‘Dead Man Walking’ said, responding to the barrage of questions and curious looks that greeted his arrival. Khunti Guru’s tehrvi was quickly forgotten in the euphoria of seeing him alive, but not the food. What was meant to be a mourning ritual turned into community feasting in celebration of the popular, happy-go-lucky character’s ‘rebirth’.
Abhai Awasthi, a social worker, said Khunti Guru, stepped out on the evening of Jan 28, telling whomever he met in Chahchand Gali that he would be back after a dip at Sangam on Mauni Amavasya.
“The stampede happened early the next day and we got worried about him. We looked for him everywhere we could but there was no trace of him. Finally, presuming him dead, we organised prayers for him,” Awasthi told TOI.
Just as the rituals were nearing completion, a familiar figure alighted from an e-rickshaw. “Our beloved Khunti Guru asked us smilingly, “What are you people up to?’ It’s hard describing how we felt,” Awasthi said.
Locals say his father, Kanhaiyala Mishra, was a reputable lawyer. Not much is known about what happened to the family but Khunti Guru apparently didn’t complete his education and stayed back in the area.
The room he now lives in is apparently what remains of the Mishra family’s ancestral home. Shopkeepers in the neighbourhood give him food and clothing in return for their daily fix of gossip, peppered with anecdotes delivered in Khunti Guru’s inimitable style. “Although he has a bed in his room, Khunti Guru prefers sleeping in the compound of a local Shiva temple,” a resident said.