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14 January 1906 — Allahabad | |
Sunday. 14th [January 1906]. We got up early & Mr Sarabji called for us & took us to the cathedral to attend the 8 a.m. service. There was a very small congregation. I had rather a headache but tried not to think of it & dressed to go at 10 oclock to the Fort to see the procession of the Mela. Mr Sarabji took us there in his carriage. Col. & Mrs Jennings received us kindly & we found a splendid view from the ramparts down on the river where we could see the 2½ millions encamped on the sands at the junction of the Yamuna & the Ganges. There were several other ladies & gentlemen looking on some of them I had met at Mr Sarabji’s tea party. After long waiting a procession headed by mounted police appeared coming along the cleared space on the sands. After the police came howling dancing fakirs brandishing their staves & even knocking each other about– But his seemed to be a false start & they all went back to the starting point. At last they came again followed by others carrying furled banners—about 2000 pilgrims tightly packed—then more fakirs & the whole procession was closed by an elephant. The bystanders cheered & shouted, the fakirs danced & lept. The British officers who marshalled the procession rode backwards & forwards keeping order & the whole thing proceeded till it reached the junction of the rivers & at the distance one could see the waters thrown up in the air like a dust storm. All this while my head had ached more than ever & at the last I grew so faint that Mrs Jennings had her daughter take me down into the house & to her room. Here I lay on the bed & dosed till the whole party came back to lunch. Mrs Jennings was most kind & did all she could for me but I felt so ill I was glad when Mr Sarabji offered to drive me to Lady Stanley’s. As it was I disgraced myself by being sick on the way & when I got into the Stanleys beautiful house I could hardly get into bed & required all the attention of Nela & Baker to get better wh I happily did towards night. | |
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