This story is from June 16, 2019

Devotees from India, abroad throng Kainchi Dham on annual fair

Thousands of devotees, including foreigners, congregated at the annual fair at the Kainchi Dham near Nainital, seat of the mystic Neem Karauri Baba on Saturday.
Devotees from India, abroad throng Kainchi Dham on annual fair
Neem Karauri Baba, who passed away in 1973, had set up the temple in 1962
NAINITAL: Thousands of devotees, including foreigners, congregated at the annual fair at the Kainchi Dham near Nainital, seat of the mystic Neem Karauri Baba on Saturday.
District police and administration made arrangements for the event which included several traffic diversions and security measures in a 10-kilometre radius of the shrine.
Devotees had walked for over 8 km as vehicles were not allowed near the temple to avoid traffic congestion.
“We would walk even 20 km if we had to. Baba ji’s blessings are always there with us,” said Sandeep Shukla, a devotee from Lucknow.
Selena Bright, a resident of Phoenix, United States of America (USA), who was at the temple, said, “I am a believer and have faith in the saint and his healing powers. I will try to come again.”
Neem Karauri Baba, who passed away in 1973, had set up the temple in 1962. Tales of “miracles” performed by him still reverberate in the Kumaon hills. The word “Kainchi” (scissors) for the dham is used to describe two sharp “hairpin” bends of the roads.
Kainchi Dham had shot into the limelight after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, in an interaction with PM Modi at the Facebook headquarters in 2015, mentioned that he had visited an Indian temple on the suggestion of Apple founder Steve Jobs. The temple was later presumed to be Kainchi dham.

Jobs had visited Kainchi Dham Ashram in the 70s but didn’t find Neem Karauri Baba there.
The temple’s present structure was built gradually over the years after its inauguration on June 15, 1964. In 1962, the ascetic, who died on September 10, 1973, built a chabutara (platform). The current temple is based on that foundation, along the bank of Shipra river.
Popular fables recite that the saint left his home in 1958 when his youngest daughter was all of 11 years old. Total 108 temples dedicated to him are also built at several other places across the country and the world, including Lucknow and Texas, USA.
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