Last word
Humanity’s largest
gathering Rabbit punch in
Halle
Some 120m visitors are expected to have
attended India’s Kumbh Mela Hindu
festival in 2019. It is humanity’s largest
gathering, and draws to a close on 4
March.
Hindus believe bathing at the rivers
will cleanse their sins and bring
salvation.
The Naga sadhus are the biggest draw
of the festival - held in the northern city
of Allahabad. Thousands go naked and
wear marigold garlands around their
necks and are escorted by police to the
river as they chant slogans invoking
Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.
Many waved tridents and swords.
At the last Kumbh in 2013, female
ascetics were allowed to bathe at the
confluence of the rivers - known as the
Sangam - for the first time.
More than a million foreign pilgrims
also took part in the festival, which
dwarfs the annual Hajj pilgrimage to
Islam’s holiest sites in Saudi Arabia.
It is also a big logistical challenge for
organisers, with a temporary tent city,
spread over 32sq.km and 120,000 toilets.
More than 30,000 police and
paramilitaries were deployed to provide
security and manage the crowds.
The next Kumbh Mela is in 2025. A German rabbit show in Halle hit the
headlines for the wrong reasons after
after a punch-up between breeders.
One rabbit owner was hospitalised, it
was reported after a 51-year-old man
from Wurzen in Saxony apparently
insulted the quality of rabbits exhibited
by a 33-year-old rival at the show. The
younger man was pushed against a cage
and, when two other men
intervened,
the older
man punched
one of them in
the face and kicked
the victime on the
ground.
“I’ve done
more shows than
I can remember
and I have never
witnessed anything
like this before,” said
organiser Mike
Hennings.
50 /
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
Terminated
Japan’s Henn-na ‘Strange’ robot hotel laid
off half the 240 robot staff after they created
more work for humans.
Robot room assistants tasked with
answering questions about local businesses’
and flight schedules turned out to be not up
to the task.
Two ‘velociraptor’ robots at check-in were
also decommissioned because human
workers essentially had to do their jobs for
them and photocopy guests’ passports
manually.
Two robot luggage carriers could only
reach 24 of the over 100 rooms in the hotel
and failed in inclement weather. They would
also often get stuck trying to pass each other
in corridors.
/
ISSUE 99
Pope in Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways, the national airline of
the UAE, flew His Holiness Pope
Francis home after an historic three-day
visit to the capital Abu Dhabi. The trip
was heralded as a triumph in inter-faith
dialogue with the Pontiff meeting Dr
Ahmed Al Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al
Azhar and Chairman of the Muslim
Council of Elders for the Human
Fraternity conference.
In recognition of the UAE’s Year of
Tolerance, the visit was organised to
show Abu Dhabi’s position as a
multi-cultural, multi-faith global capital.
During his visit, the Pontiff performed
mass for a congregation of 130,000
people at Zayed Sports City stadium.