"Have One Puri Sir, for Our Good Sake"

The Ganga has been written about in 50 millions books and staying in the city you might think she must be dirty by now: ash from pyres being thrown into her, lepers, beggers and sadhus taking a dip into her or any other presumptious thoughts living in a city can give you. No matter how much one writes about her or praises her, one has to see her by oneself to understand how great she is. People dont revere Ganga... Ganga makes people revere her. Magnificent. She will humble you. She will leave you awestruck. Yes, she is holy. She will make you go down on your knees, forget life and get disconnected. Yes, she will wash away all your sins. She will give you a high without hashish. You can just sit along the banks of her canal at Haridwar with a blank mind forever. It’s romantic, it’s bloody addictive, to sum it up it's intoxicating.

They say, “I am spirtual, but not religious”. I ask what is wrong with being religious anyway? Rishikesh is both spiritual and religious. Just at the base of the hill, with its beautiful suspension bridges making it a lovely pit stop before you proceed higher up to the Garwhal hills.

Some 250 kms from Rishikesh is a small town called Joshimath where Adi Sankaracharya is believed to meditate before he attained enlightenment. ‘Kalpavriksha’, the tree under which he meditated is one brilliant banyan tree. The stories of the temples of Joshimath are quite fascinating. 8 kms from Joshimath (connected by road and ropeway) is Auli. If you go to Auli,make sure you just start walking randomly into the woods, lose your way and follow a couple of forest officers to discover the most beautiful pastures on the top of any mountain you must have ever seen. Absolute serendipity. Suresh offered them our packed lunch. "Have one puri, Sir, for our good sake." They aren't any great words of wisdom from a saint but they were kind words from a thorough gentleman - ones, which I will always keep in mind and assosciate with this trek.

Gobindghat is 30kms from Joshimath and it is a strenous 13 km trek to Ghangaria at 10,000 feet. The furious Alaknanda accompanied us all along the trek. Ghangaria is like the base camp up there, where one can go to the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib.

I am not a flower person. Ask me what my favourite flower is and I will think you doubt my masculinity. Valley of Flowers. I found my "favourite flower", the Blue Poppy. Its petals were made of glass. It is a piece of fine artistry. It is believed that Hanuman had taken the sanjivani for Laxman from this valley. Honey bees must be loving this place. Honey bees must be coming for their honeymoon over here!

The toughest part of the trek was the one to Hemkund Sahib which is at 14,000 feet. I remembered something from my 9th standard English textbook. It was an article by Bachendri Pal in which she said "Its not just about getting up there, even mules do that." True, that.Contrary to popular belief, that it is a dirty walk where you can smell horse dung, I would say it is a walk where you can see stunning landscapes of the lush Himalayas, characteristic of the Garwhal range. These are colours that an artist will crave for and kill for. No matter how good a camera would be, it wouldn't be able to reproduce those colours. Along the path, one can find the flower Bramhakamal. Google it for its mythological relevance. It looks like a cabbage but smells better than any perfume from Arabia. Chants of ‘Satnam Wahe Guru’ and people reciting ‘Ek Onkar Satnam, Kartapurak' keep you going up the steep. With stumbling legs and a dehydrated body, you somehow reach the top. Just the sight of what is on the top, quenches your soul. Take a dip in the lake – it’s freezing. It will make your skin and mind, both go numb. It will relieve you of all the exhaustion experienced will climbing. Speak about experience of a lifetime and this will be definitely be one of them.

On our way down from Hemkund, we saw, no, we experienced the Rabbit Mouse. Funny little cute creature, the mouse does not have a tail, has big ears and feeds on grass!

Back to Gobindghat and to Badrinath, which is 25 kms from Gobindghat. With Tibetan architechture and the diamond embedded golden crown to adorn him, Bhagwan Badri Vishal sits royally in the ranges of Nar-Narayana.

Mana Gaon is the last Indian village in the region which is 3 kms away from Badrinath. On the outskirts of the village, emerges the mythical river Saraswati. No one knows where its origin is, it just comes out the rocks! Triveni Sangam at Allahbad is supposed to be the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, where Saraswati is believed to coming from under the ground. The Bhim Pul is a huge rock, believed to be put across the river by Bhim since Draupadi was too afraid to cross it. The road further leads to Vasundhara falls. Locals believe this was the same path taken by the Pandavs on their way to heaven. I couldn't but help notice the agility of mountain goats on the way. Fearless, i say… they run down vertical slopes. Mad creatures.Landscapes with white round stones and glaciers can be seen from Vasundhara, and when the sun rays fall on them, well, one needs to go there, putting it in words would be an insult to the beauty of the great Himalayas.




Photos at :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zii