"Bol bam ka nara hai, baba tera sahara hai."

As soon as the monsoon arrives, these people carry bamboo sticks with small containers on their shoulders, prepare themselves for a faraway journey from UP, Bihar to Haridwar, Gangotri or Gaumukh to fetch holy waters of Ganges river and later, offer it to Lord Shiva as a gesture of thanksgiving . You must be thinking what's so unusual about this? Well, it is. They walk barefoot in prickly heat, some also have bandages tied around their feet, some even limp because of blisters but still, they don't give up and keep walking. These people are the Kanwars.

Well, I have been staying in Uttar Pradesh for quite sometime now and on every monsoon, I used to see them walk and very few, around negligible, ride on bikes to fetch Holy waters. I, first found it very unintelligible to walk barefoot in such hot weather..we all know how hot it is in Delhi, Up, etc. I mean God doesn't say to cause pain to yourself? Does he? I am not a very religious person, I believe you should have utmost faith in Almighty and that doesn't have to be shown to the world. Loud bhajans at 2-3 in the night, traffic jams, etc really annoyed me and made me castigate them even more.

 But, this time when I came back home from college on vacation, it was different. This time my perception about them changed. I observed them, even though they were limping with blisters on their feet, exhausted, burned-out, they didn't stop. They would've easily found so many excuses to stop travelling and go back home, rest but they didn't. 

Who was I to judge them? I stood nowhere in front of them. Yes, I had faith in my God but I'm sure I couldn't have walked day and night with a heavy bamboo stick on my shoulder and still not showing a sign of tiredness or pain; continuing my journey with great enthusiam. 

You need a lot of patience, faith, devotion for such a long, tiresome yet  the most beautiful, peaceful journey. Hats Off to them!