He speaks in staccato. Sounds silly and sublime at the same time. And breaks into a delightful impromptu jig. The first week of Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, already visited by over 70 million, saw this unlikely head-turner, Abhey Singh, 34, now a media star identified by the masses as ‘IITian Baba’.Abhey Singh’s life journey is one as unique as the spelling of his name. From science to spirituality — from vignyan to gyan — he is now on a quest to explore the meaning of his existence and purpose of his life.”My existence is unrestricted and boundless. I possess complete freedom to undertake any action, unbound by limitations or constraints,” he tells media persons, now following him in droves.He is a complete nomad even at the Mahakumbh and it’s difficult to spot him at one place. After the limelight remained trained on him at the beginning of the Mela, he suddenly disappeared for a couple of days, but showed up on Friday evening, claiming that seers were spreading rumours about his ‘vanishing’ act due to his popularity.Born to lawyer father and a homemaker mother in Jhajjar, Haryana, Abhey was exceptional in academics. His entry to IIT-Bombay in 2008 was a testimony to this. He completed his four-year degree in aerospace engineering like a normal whiz kid. In came a campus placement at a Delhi firm. Nothing unusual on the surface. But somewhere within there was growing restlessness.“I studied at IIT-Bombay for four years, and also did MDS from there. But there was something amiss. Soon, I developed interest in arts and photography,” he says. He also did a course in fine arts. But equilibrium was nowhere to be seen. Still, despite a tumultuous state of mind, he carried on for some more years.A high-paying job took him to Canada in 2016. But at the same time disenchantment with the material world was on full throttle. In one of the Instagram posts from 2016, he writes in a philosophical post: “There were so many things I did not want to be, but they were deep within me. So I cut parts of me out. With time, more parts I chopped. The less remained. And now I wonder who it is that is ‘left’.”The Covid pandemic revealed to him the unpredictability of life. He left Canada for good. The family, expectedly, was not amused. But, for Abhey, the familial thread had weakened. Parents’ appeal for pursuing a normal life remained unheeded. And he often started remaining outdoors. His passion for photography and travelling added to his spiritual pursuit.Soon he realised his real calling lay in the hills. For the next couple of years, he was off to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh — Rishikesh, Haridwar, Shimla, Mussoorie, Dharamshala. Spending harsh winters at these places triggered his own metamorphosis.”Then I spent a couple of days with an Aghori baba performing week-long sadhna (meditations)… life changed after that,” he says. Crisp suit and tie gave way to saffron rob and Rudraksh. A few months ago, he met Baba Someshwar Puri of Juna Akhara in Varanasi, who brought him to Mahakumbh.Now soaked in ascetic ecstasy and basking in the fame that he is getting here, he says: “I have finally understood the truth. ‘Gyan ke peeche chalte jao, chalte jao, aur kahan jaoge, yahin aoge’ (Keep following the path of knowledge and wisdom. Where else will you go? You will return to your roots).””I don’t want to get stuck, I don’t want to stop. When a man doesn’t get stuck anywhere, then he becomes free,” he says, declaring “I have no friend, nor I am in touch with my family.”He last spoke to his parents six months ago. They, of course, want him back, but deep within they know it’s a difficult demand.
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