Belief

Every age has its beliefs, and belief by its very definition, excludes rational analysis. 

People believe that a dip in the Ganga will wash them of their sins. A dip in the Ganga where it meets Yamuna and Saraswathi will do the same thing, except perhaps more potently. A dip at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj when the stars are favourably aligned, which happens once in twelve years, is even more potent, the best of the best. 

That is a belief that has carried forward since ancient times, and it is in our DNA. We saw the result of that in the Kumbh. No rational analysis is possible here, so let us just assume that India is about the most sinless place right now, since so much sin has been washed away. It won't help, because people will take that as an opportunity to commit fresh and newer sins; after all there needs to be enough to wash by the time the next Kumbh arrives in twelve years! 

Meanwhile, statistics say that fifty crore people visited the Kumbh in the last forty five days. 

Now that is a big number. It is forty percent of the population of India. 

I know many people who visited the Kumbh, it is by far the biggest event in terms of people I know attending it, yet, and here I have to pause... Have four out of ten people I know visited the Kumbh? The ten people here includes children, senior citizens, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, everyone in the population. 

Seems a bit of a stretch. 

Ok, start applying the caveats. First one is that people who go to take the dip twice in their visit are counted twice. I don't know what the other caveats are, I am sure there are some. And then tell me the adjusted number in terms of number of visitors counted only once. 

The Kumbh that is just  concluding is by far the biggest, best organised, most inspiring gathering in human history. Of that, there is no doubt. 

But the way people bandy about that statistic of 30 crore, 40 crore, and now 50 crore, is amazing. They just accept that number, there is no attempt to grasp it, understand the magnitude, critically examine it, parse it, or question that number in any way. 

Personally, I would be equally impressed if the number was 10 crore or 50. The scale still is awesome. 

But I am amazed at the capacity of humans to believe anything without questioning.

That is what I call Belief.