Anupam Kumar has come all the way from Goa to have a glimpse of the lingam at the Amarnath cave. For three days he trekked several dozen kilometres, on foot, through one of the most difficult terrains in the Himalayas. But he is returning home disappointed. ‘‘I had never been to this place before and it was my lifelong desire to see my Lord Bhole,’’ he said, walking back to Baltal, the base camp for the pilgrims taking this route to the cave. ‘‘The lingam is not like the one I had seen in the pictures. It is small, is not curved and has several pointed flakes.’’While many share Kumar’s disappointment in the wake of the controversy over the ‘‘fake’’ lingam, the general belief among the yatris is that it is a temporary phenomenon, caused by perhaps the weather, and that it shall pass.Ramesh Mali, a teacher from Udaipur in Rajasthan, was also unfazed by the controversy. ‘‘I came to know about the issue through media. But I think it has happened because of environmental changes. It is perhaps due to global warming.’’Around two dozen people have come with Mali for the pilgrimage, including four women and two children. ‘‘Faith has driven us here and we will perform the pilgrimage,’’ he said. After a delay of three days, this year’s annual pilgrimage to Amarnath began last week with thousands of people pouring everyday here to have darshan of the holy lingam of Lord Shiva. Five thousand pilgrims each undertake the yatra on both the traditional Pahalgam and Baltal routes on an average. The pilgrims are confident the controversy about the ‘‘fake’’ lingam won’t hurt those numbers. ‘‘I am certainly disappointed but it may not happen next year,’’ said Rupesh Pinge from Goa. ‘‘The pilgrimage has its own time and since it commenced a month early this year it could be the reason why it is small.’’Covering all this distance, on foot, ponies or palanquins, driven by their faith against hostile conditions, it’s easy to see why pilgrims aren’t giving up easily. As Mohini Devi of Madhya Pradesh says, ‘‘Faith has brought us here and we will keep coming here.’’ Then there were others who were unaware of the entire controversy. ‘‘I do not know how the lingam looked before. I had darshan of Bhole and am returning home content,’’ said Rajinder Kumar from Delhi.VHP wants Sinha to quitJAMMU: Asserting that the sentiments of lakhs of Hindus across the country have been hurt by the controversy over the ''fake'' Shivlingam at the Amarnath shrine, the Baba Amarnath Yatri Nyas Jammu-Kashmir, headed by state VHP president Ramakant Dubey, on Tuesday demanded that Governor Lt Gen S K Sinha (retd) resign on moral grounds. Sinha is also the head of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB). Dubey said that the SASB had failed to give a convincing explanation on the controversy and should clarify what has really been done. He claimed that there were differences within the SASB, which had deepened suspicions of foul play.
