Explanation:

Not very far from the glitter and grunge of Gurgaon is a shrine that can trace its history back to the late 12th century. Every September, following the monsoon’s retreat, in the month of Bhadra, the shrine’s home -the village of Kasan -becomes the tableau of a fair thronged by many multitudes.Kasan, a settlement like countless others on the plains of northern India, lies just behind IMT Manesar, the old in the embrace of the new. The “mela”, which has been held every year for the last 800 or so years, is centred round a temple that takes its name from a spiritual guru. The Shri Baba Bisa Bhakt Puranmal Mandir is dedicated to Baba Chauranginath, a holy man who lived in the 9th century , and to whom many miracles are attributed.

And the scene today is no different from what it would have been 100 years ago, or back in medieval India, or even to a time before that.Through the ages, such a mela would have stalls selling trinkets, and playgrounds offering some sort of entertainment. Thousands upon thousands would gather from the villages around, and from afar, to experience the fun of the fair, or to pledge, again, their lives to the sacred.