PRAYAGRAJ: In a dramatic turn of events, a Prayagraj local, in his 60s, who went missing since the Jan 29 stampede in Maha Kumbh, walked back to his own tehrvi on Tuesday. The sombre meal quickly turned into feasting as the neighbourhood and friends celebrated his safe return. When asked where he had been, the survivor said he shared a few chillums with a group of ascetics and lost track of time.
Back from the dead, or rather presumed so, Khunti Guru, as he is known to all, lives all by himself in a single 10×12 room that serves the only vestige of his ancestral house in Prayagraj’s Zero Road locality.
His dad, Kanhaiyala Mishra, was a reputed lawyer, say locals. Khunti Guru received formal school education but lost his way and whiled away his time in the streets of his beloved town as others in his family made progress and left town one by one.
Locals raise toast to Khunti’s return
The single room is what remains of his once perfect past. Cut to 2025, Khunti Guru is a happy-golucky friendly neighbour who is known to all in his locality, Chahchand Gali. Shopkeepers in the neighbourhood feed him and provide him clothing in return for their daily fix of gossip peppered with interesting anecdotes in Khunti Guru’s quintessential style.
Although he has a bed in his room, Khunti Guru prefers sleeping in the compound of a local Shivala (Shiva temple) while chatting up with temple priests. “On the evening of the 28th, he went to the Sangam, telling us that he was going to take a holy dip in the Ganga on Mauni Amavasya, but did not return. Following the stampede a day later, we searched for him everywhere but to no avail.
Finally, presuming him dead, we conducted a small prayer for him on Tuesday, followed by a meal for the Brahmins and locals for the peace of his soul,” said Abhai Awasthi, a local social worker. “However, as the meal was being readied for the Brahmins, our beloved Khunti Guru alighted from an e-rickshaw and asked us smilingly, ‘what are you people up to?’ We were both angry and happy at the same time,” said Awasthi.
“The same puri-sabji and sweets were distributed among locals, later to celebrate his return,” said another neighbour. When asked about his whereabouts for so many days, Khunti Guru’s reply was rather short and nonchalant. “I had a few chillums with a group of sadhus. I slept rather long, could be a few days,” he said. He said he later entered a camp of Naga sadhus and served them the food prepared in different bhandaras and also enjoyed himself in their service. “Now that he is back with us, nobody is complaining,” said Awasth.