ALLAHABAD: While a sea of humanity swarmed the Kumbh Mela area on Monday with over five crore pilgrims taking a dip in Sangam on Mauni Amavasya, the fear of getting lost and separated from their dear ones inspired people to adopt innovative ways to stay together . In the age of global positioning system, people used their conventional GPS, not to lose track of each other.While members of one group held aloft a neem stick, which doubled as ‘datoon’ for brushing teeth, high in one hand to keep track, others used a cloth as rope to stay together in the maddening rush.In the biggest shahi snan on Mauni Amavasya at Kumbh, the pilgrims used their belongings in ingenious and interesting ways as signals to identify each other and not getting lost in the crowd of crores of faithfuls.Some devotees put woollen caps and mufflers atop long sticks to act as guiding light and help others follow the group heads.When TOI asked one such devotee the reason for holding a big leafy neem branch high in one hand all the way to Sangam, he said that it was his own traditional GPS system.“I am here with my father, mother and two aunts. They can get lost in this massive crowd hence I decided to use this long neem branch which my family members can see to keep track,” said Brijesh Singh.“Not all people have smartphones or they don’t know how to use GPS. Moreover, we cannot rely on mobile networks solely. The chances of getting lost in this heavy rush are huge, so I have tied my muffler on this stick and am holding it high so that my family members can see it and follow me,” said Rajneesh Yadav.Women devotees also found out easy ways to stay together and tied the ‘pallu’ (end of saree) with each other. “It is so much crowded that we lost grip even when we held our hands very tightly. It was then we decided to tie up ends of our sarees to stay together,” said devotee Susheela Kumari.Many parents used ‘dupatta’ to tie hands of their children with their own.

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