(This is the twelfth in a series of insightful reports from the ground, titled The Race From India to Bharat. The author travels all across India as 960 million voters get ready to celebrate the largest festival of democracy in the world: the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. What do ordinary Indians think and feel about the past, present, and future of India? Are they convinced that the old fault lines are healing?)
(Read part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here, part five here, part six here, part seven here, part eight here, part nine here, part 10 here, and part 11 here.)
The author had gone to the Ram Temple and Saryu Ghat at Ayodhya on 15 February at 4.30 am. On 8 March, which was Maha Shivratri, the author went to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Dasaswamedh Ghat at 4.30 am. Three similarities and one difference caught the attention of the author.
The first similarity was the unexpected cleanliness in both places. The second was the sheer number of devotees standing in queues that stretched for miles. The third was the astonishing number of devotees from South India. But there was a difference too.