As the craze of Mahakumbh 2025 has engulfed the country and beyond, its presence was marked at the Tata Marathon 2025 as well with to friends motivating the youth to visit the Maha Kumbh in an ascetic outfit.

The Dream Run category of the 20th edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon on Sunday registered around 25,000 participants running for various causes. While most of them participated for one of the social causes, a duo was spotted walking on the route donning ascetic outfits with trishul and damru, holding placards that read ‘Visit Kumbh’.

Hitesh Parmar (48), who is a tailor by profession, and Supriya Gurung (43), a visual effects artist, are cycling buddies who have been participating in the Mumbai Marathon for three years. While the duo donned traditional Gujarati and Maharashtrian outfits in the earlier marathons, they made a quick switch to ascetic outfits this year asking the youth to free themselves from the clutches of social media and visit the humanity’s largest gathering at Prayagraj.

Talking to The Free Press Journal, Gurung said, “People from across the city participated in this marathon for physical fitness. I wanted to highlight that they should also seek spirituality an meditation for mental peace and Mahakumbh is the place where one can find all three of these. The youth and the Gen Z should take out time from scrolling the social media and delve into spirituality, thereby also learning about the Indian culture.”

The duo has been participating in the Tata Mumbai Marathon post Covid-19 lockdown. Last year, Gurung ran the marathon in a Nauvari saree upholding women empowerment while also attempting to inspire women to step out of their houses, which won her the first runners-up prize. “Covid had done a lot of physical harm to us. I wanted to tell other women that we should not just sit at home and instead step outside the four walls,” she added.

Similarly, Parmar has been participating in the Navy Run along with the Mumbai Marathon and focuses on themes which are more trendy. “This year Mahakumbh was the most trending news across us. Therefore I felt that this was the perfect theme for the marathon. It was a totally different experience as a lot of people were attracted to our look and our theme,” he said.