The Pilgrimage.

Religion is big in India. Everybody knows that and I've been tasting it first hand. The ever-presence of temples and ceremonies of all faiths, purges, festivals and pilgrimages is as natural and common as the air you breathe. Yet, there are some occasions where I find myself surprised and disorientated. Overwhelmed I should say.

Holi in Mathura had a couple of moments like those and the pilgrims we kept driving into in Kachchh had the same effect on me. There's an annual Muslim pilgrimage, around 200km long and in the Indian fashion it's done on foot. Tents with blaring music as makeshift resting stops, a sea of discarded plastic chai cups around and the endless river of people walking as if forever. Some carrying suitcases, others only green flags, families or single youngsters on their mobile phones. And camels, horses, carts and rickshaws. I counted a few hundreds in 15 minutes and they were walking for days. In the desert. All this commitment, the energy, the faith. All I could do was stare.

Two Pilgrims And a Dog.

My first pilgrimage was on a Monday night. The big temple of Shri Ganesh at Dadar is where thousands of people gather to pray, offer flowers and ask for favors in return. You're meant to walk there, barefoot, from wherever you are and then wait in line for the 3am opening. Once the doors open everybody races through the grounds for an extra quick praying and offering session.

And this is exactly what we did. Walked for nearly three hours from just before midnight and waited patiently for the signal. Got offered rose water like marathon runners from roadside stalls, bumped into a double wedding by a slum, made good friends with a brave, cute dog that followed us, walked under flyways and through clouds of burning rubbish, passed a beautifully lit mosque and praying youngsters and merged with the streams of pilgrims from every direction. The temple unfortunately I didn't see but that's another story. Nevertheless, after 5 hours, black footed and knackered we dropped dead for a long dreamless sleep. A beautiful night is was.