A city that rises from nothing- appearing only once every 4 or 12 years, and that too for less than two months. A certain celestial alignment that happens once every 144 years. A place where a few hundred million pilgrims, not just from the subcontinent but from across the world, gather, to take a sacred dip in the river they consider holy, seeking salvation. And then, the very land that hosts this grand spectacle is claimed back by the mighty river, submerged and washed away with the arrival of the monsoons.

Prayagraj, February 2025.