Travel junkies nowadays are always on the lookout for unique experiences to add to their bucket lists. Well, look no further as the jail administration of Uttarakhand’s Haldwani has come up with a novel idea of starting a real-time jail experience for those eager to spend some time in jail and has thrown a serious challenge to those seeking once in a lifetime kind of adventure at a nominal fee of Rs 500 a night.
The few hours of jail feel can be experienced in Haldwani’s prison which was built in 1903 and is situated in the foothills of the Kumaon region of the state and falls in the Nainital district. More than a century old, the prison has an old armory with six separate staff quarters which has been lying vacant for some time now and is already being transformed to receive guests.
This one-of-a-kind scheme will soon cater not only to tourists but also to those who have been advised by their astrologers to spend some time in jail in order to do away with ‘bandhan yog’ in their horoscope which may lead to a jail term.
The prison’s deputy jail superintendent Satish Sukhija told a news daily, that the jail frequently received orders from higher authorities to allow recommended candidates to spend a few hours in barracks. He added, “I had moved a proposal regarding the matter earlier too, to the inspector-general of prisons. He not only appreciated it but asked me to send him a project report.”
Mrityunjay Ojha, an astrologer based in the hill state said, “When three celestial bodies including Saturn and Mars are placed in an unfavourable position in one’s horoscope or birth chart, it becomes an equation that predicts the person may be taken into custody. In such situations, we advise the individual to spend a night in jail to the extent of having the same meal as that served to the actual inmates such that they can bypass the bad effects of planetary positions.”
The Haldwani jail which is gearing to welcome its guests soon will not only provide accommodation but will also provide jail clothes and actual jail food for the purpose of keeping the imprisonment experience as real as possible.
