I was lazily cruising when I get call
from unknown number. I seldom respond to unknown numbers but somehow I picked
the call. The caller speaking in heavy accented hindi questioned “When are you
coming to Uttaranchal?” He identified himself as someone from Uttaranchal Tourism
Dept and further stated that my name is included in list which is seeking
special darshan at Kedarnath . Totally flummoxed I excused by mentioning that I
would get back to him.
pensive mood in airport: cancelled& delayed planes
Sometime ago my brother mentioned that they might travel to Kedarnath in October for which I wanted to be part of. However later my brother said, that trip has been advanced by a month and would be held that very weekend which for me was impossible to accommodate as I just returned from 2 week home leave. Then I realised , my name was included in registration trip. However my name was last of 5 members . By quirk of fate, all above 4 members refused to pick calls on that day and the call came to me in end. However I rejected to be part of the trip at such short notice.
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| At JollyGrant airport, Dehradun |
I call my brother just to let him know
about the phone call from Uttaranchal Tourism as and called brother about the
call where he speaks on his soon to be held trip to Uttaranchal along with his
4 friends visiting Kedarnath and Badrinath with important tourist spots in
between. The visual imagery of snowclad mountains of Kedarnath captured my
imagination now which has already gone wild. I desperately wanted to visit
these places for over decades. I still have Uttaranchal tour guide book I
purchased many years ago hoping to travel to these places such as Rishikesh,
Haridwar, kedarnath etc which are spoken so often in tales and folklore.
But the main problem arises from fact, I
just took 2 weeks leave from work and asking for another 10 days would incur
Bosses wrath, probable rejection and over all guilt for myself as well. However
now I felt, this is once in lifetime trip and now or never moment coz my brother
is well experienced traveller and good at managing logistics. Without further ado, I booked my flight that
night itself to Dehradun. Somehow I took the phone call as sign from cosmos aswell.
Next morning, I dashed leave letter clearly mentioning my intent of visiting
religious places like Kedarnath (hoping Bosses are religious and wont reject my
application).
By 11 am next day, I received my
permission for trip from HQ (first challenge scaled successfully). Taking it as
further indication from Cosmos, I pack haphazardly and rush to airport. Just
before I reach airport, I get message that flight has been cancelled.
Immediately outside airport I book another flight to Delhi at exorbitant price,
leaving the part Delhi to Dehradun travel and also chopper ride to kedarnath to fate.
As I was lazing in airport for midnight
flight, another message blinks on phone. The current flight has been
delayed. With nothing to do , I drink
much hyped Dalgona coffee and cookie at airport. I feel road side 10/- chai and
5/- biscuit would tase much better than inspid airport fare. Sitting idly, I
tried another flight/train/bus from delhi to Dehradun. Not in mood to rush with
luggage , I just book taxi from Delhi to Dehradun which costed same as flight
from Delhi to Dehradun. For first time I realized how blessed I was, that I had
enough cashflow to book flights & taxis thus making life comfortable. By
0800 am I was at Jollygrant airport in Dehradun, waiting to recive my brothers
and his friends who were coming from bangalore.
From Dehradun, we board Innova which was booked in advance with 1st stop in Haridwar , to Sirsee following day from where we had to take Chopper ride to kedarnath temple.
Holy Ganges at Haridwar 
Ganga aarthi 
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| Street Art@ Haridwar |
Daksheswar temple: where daksha was killed
Frankly I had different image of Haridwar and Rishikesh. I imagined it with lots of saints and spiritual aura. Though there were many Ashrams of renowned and lesser knowns Saints, it has become highly commercialized and sweltering head added to misery.
Cottage At sirsee 
Chopper ticket booked last minute 
Falls by roadside 
After witnessing Ganga Arti , following day we zoomed towards higher altitude. We reached Sirsee , from were chopper takes us to kedarnath temple. Last 20 kms road to Kedarnath is unmotorable. Either we have to trek or go on mule or hire Doli ( porter would carry us all 20 km).
Finally reached kedarnath 
1st glimpse of temple
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| In night |
As I was last minute entrant, my chopper ride was not booked. Mentally I was prepared to trek 20 kms. If anyone is intending to trek, better they practice in advance as its bound to be ardous considering high altitude & less oxygen. However my brother pulled jugad and were able to book 1 extra ticket.
Some saint
Next day luckily weather was supportive
and chopper flew on time carrying all of us. (Again luck/Grace supported me in
chopper ticket we can say)
The
mountains, green or snow clad dotted by multiple water flows, were too
exotic and intoxicating. Enormous they were that they reduced humans to
insignificance. Somewhere in those mountains are saints who gave up their lives
insearch of enlightenment. These saints stay in their caves even when snow
occupies entire terrain for 6 months when entire temple and locals vacate to
lower areas. All the streams from upper Himalayas gushing downstream are real
joy to witness. The roaring rush barging through landscape so powerfully.
2013 flash floods in Uttarakhand saw
around 6000 dead. Floods came with such force that they washed everything in
its path. However temple was left intact as huge boulder came and stopped behind
temple which saw the fury of flood diverted sideways leaving temple unharmed. If
we look at pictures of that boulder (now called as Bhima shila), its amazing or
miraculous that such huge boulder stopped strategically thus protecting temple.
Both at Kedarnath and Badrinath temples,
we found ourselves lucky with no much rush of pilgrims . We had ample time to
spend in Sanctum sanatorium to our hearts content. Hardly there was any crowd. I
really wondered what to pray. I felt iam blessed with so much abundance that
all I was filled with immense gratitude.
Moreover I wondered why a person would
visit a temple? Seek or give up or grasp or thank? Well, I don’t know. Moreover
this entire trip made me drop some of spiritual fantasies I harboured for long.
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| Adi Shankara- The Jagatguru |
Adi shankara statue is often seen across
the trip. Such a superman that he traversed across India multiple times, re-established
Hindu dharma which was on decadence back then. What an amazing person. He is
said to ultimately take samadhi behind Kedarnath temple where now we have his
huge statue on Sri chakra yantra.
 |
| Trigunarayan temple |
Apart from Kedarnath and Badrinath
temple, we also visited Ukhimath (where deities of kedarnath & Badrinath are
placed during winter), Tunganath and TriguNarayan (Where Shiva wedded Parvati
with Vishnu as witness) temples and also pancha prayags (where two rivers join,
viz rudraprayag , devprayag etc). Tunganath is one of pancha-kedars , one of
highest Shiva temples at 12000ft, below Chandrashila peak where Ravana is said
to have worshipped Shiva.
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| Tunganath temple. One of panch kedars |
From Chopta, some trekked to Tunganath
temple while I went by mule. Those 5-6 kms on mule was so frightening and
painful to back which left me wondering how do people race on horses. These
mules often walk on edge of hill sending fears. After paying our obeisance at
Tunganath temple, I went on trek to Chandrashila peak which is said to be only
1 km high.
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| finally at summit of chandrashila |
Though its said to be 1 km, during high steep
gradient, thick fog, less oxygen, it was sheer pain . I had to take break every
3-4 minutes to catch air. No matter how much I climb, I don’t find reaching
summit. Moreover I was all alone. This also made me nervous as if I slip or
sprain , there is no one to know my location. I really wondered if its really 1
km as it appeared more than 5km. Several times I wanted to give up and walk
back, however human ego kept pushing and mountains kept teasing me to walk up. Morever
regret would be more painful emotion than pain of climbing. That made me decide
to scale it no matter if it takes even full day. Its said, we can see all peaks of Himalayas from
top. But due to fog and clouds, nothing was visible. However reaching the
summit was satisfaction inexpicable. But while scaling down, hill appeared
quite small and distance less than 1 km.
From Badrinath, 3-4 kms away is last village Mana Village. The entire village seems more a prop for tourism than actually anyone dwelling . Entire village inhabitants (rougly 500 families) would vacate to lower areas as it gets buried under snow. Only Govt agencies & ITBP hold their posts as lie beyond this village is Dragon menace China. This village also has mythological angle. This is place from where Pandavas had ascended heavens and cave where Mahabaratha was written by Lord Ganesh while narrated by Vyas Maharashi. With so many holy places (Kedarnath, Badrinath,
Chardham, Haridwar, Rishikesh etc), no wonder Uttaranchal is called as Devbhoomi-The land of Gods.
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| feeding dogs with sentiment of Bhairava |
When I look back, the entire trip was based on luck or what others say, Called by Lord Himself. Since beginning , with flights cancelled, friends health shaky, altitude sickness &motion sickness, ATMs out of cash (only 1 ATM at kedarnath), delayed, weather suboptimal, leave-permission under doubt, less crowd, easy darshan. When Grace is on your side, all challenges & wrinkles get ironed out. Like saying in Tiruvanamali goes “You cant visit Arunachala unless Arunachala Himself wishes you to visit”. Same holds true here I believe
