New Delhi: Letters from the Hindi alphabet in bold black Devanagiri script jumped out of a Naga sadhu’s ash-smeared back. The sea of devotees stopped to stare at his back as he walked toward the bank of the Ganges at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.
He’s one of as many as 50 Naga sadhus who have transformed themselves into living billboards for a life-changing cause—preventing blindness—under a campaign called ‘Undekha Eye Test’.
“People visiting Kumbh are doing two things – take a bath and photograph Nagas. The idea of turning the most ogled and photographed subjects into a physical moving outdoor hoarding for health was our only creative intent,” said photographer Rohit Chawla.
The campaign is the brainchild of Swati Bhattacharya, the global head of Godrej Creative Lab, who came up with the idea of merging spirituality with science along with Chawla.
For 15 days till 24 February, camps will offer free eye tests and diabetes screening for devotees and police personnel in collaboration with Godrej Creative Lab and an NGO, Eyebetes Foundation, run by Mumbai-based eye surgeon Dr Nishant Kumar.
“The beauty of this campaign lies in its simplicity and impact. More than any billboard or advertisement, Nagas were our true celebrity influencers,” said Swati Bhattacharya. ”We transformed the act of looking into an act of awareness.”
The campaign aims to reach out to over 40,000 people and generate conversations on health with the help of the Naga sadhus.
“I was genuinely tired of the visual cliche of Naga sadhus. Initially, it only used to be the obligatory western photographers propagating the so-called snake charmers and Naga sadhus as Indian exotica. But now it’s a national obsession of sorts,” said Chawla.
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An opportunity
But getting the reclusive Naga sadhus on board was not an easy task. It’s one of the reasons why ‘Undekha Eye Test’ did not start earlier.
Permission had to be taken from the akharas and senior sadhus needed to be convinced.
“We explained to them that spirituality can be linked with science. And they agreed,” Bhattacharya said. “Now, Naga sadhus are telling people at Kumbh to get their eyes checked because they have understood the seriousness of our campaign.”
Over the last 11 days, Dr Nishant Kumar and his team of 100 doctors have reached out to around 20,000 people providing free checkups for cholesterol, blood sugar, and eyesight. He sees the Kumbh Mela as a once–in–a–lifetime opportunity to reach those who often fall through the cracks of healthcare systems.
“People look at Nagas with great respect. Now, wherever they go during Kumbh, people will come to know about our campaign and understand how important eyes are,” Dr Kumar said.
But awareness campaigns will not end with the Kumbh. Chawla’s photos of the Naga sadhus sporting vision tests on their backs have been made into posters.
“We will send these posters to ashrams and temples. As it will have photos of Nagas, people will not throw them away,” said Bhattacharya.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)