Lost and Found at the Maha Kumbh Mela

At the world’s largest religious gathering—the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj—getting lost isn’t an anomaly, it’s an inevitability. In this episode, we step inside the festival’s vast, temporary lost-and-found center, a pop-up institution built to reunite thousands of separated pilgrims amid crowds that number in the hundreds of millions. Through stories like the disoriented Draupadi Devi and the emotional reunions that follow, we explore how volunteers, police, and even facial-recognition tech work together to navigate the chaos. Why do so many people go missing? And what does it take to stitch families back together inside a sea of humanity? We dive into the human side of a spiritual spectacle where getting lost—and found—is part of the pilgrimage itself.https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/world/asia/india-kumbh-mela.html