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Dubki-Prayagraj

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Day 1-Lucknow Airport :-  So finally it was that time of year when all you read, watch is about Kumbh mela. This was our third Kumbh, as the dates of Shahi snan were published we booked our flight tickets to Lucknow to witness the Kumbh magic in Allahabad (Kumbh was held here after 12 years) . It was a misty winter morning when we landed on Lucknow airport.  Lucknow to Allahabad:-  We booked a car and headed to Allahabad which is around 5 hours drive. After reaching Allahabad, we hired a boat and started  our journey to Triveni Sangam,  it is the meeting point of three rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati (which is a mythical river, supposed to have dried up more than 4,000 years ago). Sangam itself is a beautiful and peaceful place to visit and the boat ride is pure bliss. The slightly brownish Ganga meeting the slightly greenish Yamuna is indeed a view to look after. If you take a boat ride to the gently flowing waters of Ganga and Yamuna, you'll be able to make ou

Dubki- Ujjain

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After Nashik kumbh in 2015, next kumbh was immediately in 8 months. So, we had decided as long as possible lets witness the magic of kumbh. As the dates of shaahi dip were nearing we booked the train tickets from Mumbai to Ujjain and the journey to another holy dip started.  Ujjain So, this time apart from kumbh there was another reason I was excited to visit Ujjain. From the day people started asking me meaning of my name, I knew my name was kept based on Avantika Nagari ( Former name of Ujjain city). It was ruled by King Vikram Aditya, who was  a legendary emperor of ancient  India . Often characterized as an ideal king, he is known for his generosity, courage, and patronage of scholars, with his capital at Ujjain. I grew up watching Vikram -Betal stories on TV and thinking to visit Ujjain sometimes in my life. So, coming back to mystery of my name, it was kept based on a new train which was, and it still is running from Mumbai to Ujjain named "Avantika express"

Dubki

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So I was in office like every other weekday, first thing I do is read news about today , and I was reading the news about Nashik kumbh mela 2015 , was receiving different messages in social media about the important dates associated with shahi snan. I was more curious about Kumbh mela now. It was happening in Nashik which is just 4 hours’ drive from Pune. So I decided to join a friend who was planning to go as his guruji and parents were coming all the way from Jammu for the 2 nd Shahi snan at Nashik. Kumbh mela {“ in my mind I m thinking about twin brothers getting lost due to the huge crowd as we see it all old Hindi Bollywood movies :) } , Story behind the kumbh goes like this, we all know the story of ‘Samundra Manthan’. So a long long time ago, the Devas lost the battle with the Asuras . Devas proposed to the Asuras to work together to get this Amrut out so that they could both share it and live forever. However, when it came out after much difficulty, fighting ens