Click to play videoSabarimala (Kerala): A month ago before the makaravilakku or the spontaneous appearance of a flame in the hills at Sabarimala, and already more than one and a half lakh devotees are thronging one of India's most important shrines every day to catch a glimpse of the bachelor God, Lord Ayappa.
Official figures say the number of pilgrims is at least 50,000 more than the same period last year.
“I have been coming to the shrine for the last 14 to 15 years continuously. Other than the Makaravilaku day or a week before that, I have never seen such a huge rush of devotees. It’s rather difficult to even get darshan these days,” says a devotee, Arun.
And what could be a nightmare for security agencies, on a given day, there are 1,000 police against 1 lakh devotees here. Add to it hoax bomb scares, and the task is getting tougher for the police.
“Controlling the crowd is getting harder by the day. But the best thing about this place is that the devotees themselves are highly co operative which in a way makes our job much easier,” says ASO, Pampa, Sam Christy Daniel.
What once used to be a five kilometre steady trek from the base camp on the banks of the river Pampa to the shrine on top of the hill has now become an endless wait in long queues.
And there is no guarantee that you will get the shrine's offerings after reaching the main temple complex. There isn't enough stock to meet the demand.
“Previously we used to get Aravana and appam in huge numbers. Nowadays even after standing for long hours in queue, the maximum we might get is one or two,” says a devotee, Baiju.
Sabarimala is set to break all records when it comes to devotee turn out this year round.
With only a month remaining for the makarvilaku, its undoubtedly a nightmare situation that confronts the state administration here.
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