It was an 8 weeks course by NNRMS(National Natural Resources Management System) sponsored by ISRO-India held at IIRS-Dehradun. The period: mid May-July 2019. Professors/Scientists from various Institutes all over India were shortlisted for this course. Diverse Indian culture all in one campus for the entire duration. Most of them being Geographers, explorers and fitness freak; their main aim was to explore Dehradun and the Himalayan Region as much as possible in the busy schedule. Weekends was the only time, one could spare to venture out. Regular classes, projects and field work kept us busy the rest of the days.
The ‘Char Dham Yatra’ was on everyone’s mind. Starting from week1 of the course, I could see groups flocking around to visit the Kedarnath. And these were the enthusiasts who would trek all the way. Been born and brought up in the valley, little had I explored or even thought of ever reaching there. This could possibly be the complacent notion that being my home town, I could visit anytime. The flip side being that time was never planned or decided! NNRMS batch was the biggest motivation for me. Four of us decided to book the chopper tickets and plan our travel to Kedarnath. We paid the money to the agent and were all set packing for the trip. On the day of our scheduled departure, we were shocked to learn that our tickets could not be confirmed and the seats got filled. It was Jun 13th, 2019. I felt devastated. It had taken a lot of convincing from my side for my parents to allow me visit the holy place. They felt it to be very risky, having been shaken by the Uttarakhand flash floods in 2013. Thousands of pilgrims had lost their lives during their visit. Booking chopper tickets is an ordeal. Depending on the weather conditions, the helitaxi companies open up their booking sites only a few days before the travel, usually 4-5 days. These slots get full no sooner than they open. We never came to know the real reason for our ticket not getting booked. One of the reasons could also be our tight schedule and availability only on the weekends. Thankfully, our agent was an honest man and returned all our money.
The Kedarnath is one of the most remote of the four Dham sites. It is located in the Himalayas about 3,583m above seal level. Situated near the ‘Arun Glacier’, the source of the ‘Mandakini River’, it is flanked by snow-capped peaks, notably Kedarnath mountain. The nearest road head is at Gaurikund about 19kms away. Kedarnath temple is closed during the winter months due to snow; November to April. The gates of the temple opens on the day of ‘Akshya Tritiya’ in the month of April or May and closes on the day of the Karthik Purnima in November.
Every day, henceforth the only thing on my mind was how it could get worked and how I would get an opportunity of ‘darshan’. One of my closest friends; my sister in law whom I call ‘Priyanka dee’ gave an affirmative response when I asked her if she would accompany me to the solo trip I was planning to Kedarnath. We were set. With only 2 seats left in the chopper for our scheduled trip, we got a confirmation.
‘ऊँ नमः शिवाय ‘ !!
Our departure from Dehradun was scheduled on 21st June, Saturday early morning 6:00am. I couldn’t sleep all night out of excitement. The cab driver was supposed to pick up my friend from her home and then pick me up from mine, thus heading to Rishikesh. We were up and ready by 5:00am. Both of us constantly checking on each other, excited to begin our expedition. You won’t believe it when I tell you ,the first shock came to us when we kept tracking the driver on call starting 6:00am and it was already 8:00am without any response. I had spoken to the driver, got his details and everything was confirmed the previous evening. But, he was nowhere. I kept calling the agent and he assured me another driver was on the way, but our patience and trust was dying. It was a 3 days trip and getting a driver at the eleventh hour was quite an unplanned affair. Needless to say, our parents were worried with our plan. The only thing I felt like doing was to start my ‘Mala Jaap’ and so I did endlessly. A driver called me and assured he would reach our place around 9:00am. My home being on Haridwar Road, Priyanka dee came over to my home and we decided to instruct the driver to pick us up from my place. Our intent-save time and avoid traffic.
The driver reached my home at 8:50am. Why so specific mention about the time? Well, it is important. More will follow.
We reached Rishikesh in an hour. By now we were also a little hungry as the entire morning went fasting due to the crazy situation. Our driver suggested we’d avoid taking a halt before Devprayag as the road would get blocked due to traffic and we should avoid getting stranded. This was indeed a wise decision. An all weather road under construction, the entire stretch of our travel was very dusty and rugged at places. Big boulders all the way, it was the driver’s skill driving such a terrain. The young fold mountains that the Himalayas are, landslides are common and with the Monsoon creeping in, small stones would roll down any time down the ranges. He would be extremely cautious and keep a watchful eye whenever he would park the cab anywhere. Our first brief halt was around 1:00pm at ‘Devprayag’. ‘Devprayag’ is the sacred confluence of the two heavenly visible rivers: 'The Alaknanda' and 'The Bhagirathi' to form the 'Holy Ganga'. The sight was mesmerising. We had our lunch at the 'Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, Srinagar'. It was a decent meal served with ‘Tawa Rotis’. At higher altitudes, the lighter you eat the better your health. Thus, ‘Tandoori rotis/naans’ aren’t part of the menu. The entire region is a vegetarian food zone. Eggs excluded.
We wished to visit the ‘Dhari Devi’ on the way. 'Dhari Devi' is a temple located on the banks of the 'River Alaknanda' between Srinagar and Rudraprayag in the Garhwal Himalayas. The original temple of the Goddess was demolished on June 16th, 2013, to give way to the construction of the dam for the Alaknanda Hydroelectric Power Project. Incidentally, hours after the idol was moved, the country faced one of the worst natural disasters. The 2013 North India flash floods originating at Kedarnath caused by a multi-day cloud burst resulting in havoc. Locals and devotees believe, Uttarakhand had to face the Goddess’ ire as she was shifted from her ‘mool sthan’ or the original abode. Another interesting fact about the shrine of the deity was that it took three forms throughout the day. Early morning, it reflects an innocent, childlike face of a ‘kanya’ or a girl child. By afternoon the deity represents a strong, married woman, a ‘bharya’ geared up to face the life challenges with vigour. As dusk approaches, the deity renders an elderly woman appearance, a 'vriddha' who wants to retire having fulfilled one’s duties to the fullest. Coincidentally, the time we visited the temple was 3:00pm, and the deity was in her full vigour and beauty. How do I know these details? Well, one of the aims of my travel was an open mind, lot of communication with the local folks and an all inclusive attitude. I was not bound to any notion, prejudice or doubt. I opened myself to the experience and submerged completely. Hence, one of the temple 'pujaris', a fine gentleman 'panditji' was ready to answer my queries about the place. It is believed that one can tie a bell on the walls of the temple if one has any ‘manokamna’ or wish to be fulfilled and once it is achieved one should come back to open the bell and take it home. In one corner of the temple, a new couple was tying the sacred knot around the fire; taking the ‘saat fere’ and sealing their marriage. It was lovely watching the entire family and relatives celebrating the occasion without any noise or disturbance. This temple is built in the middle of the river on pillars avoiding it to get washed away by the flow. I climbed down the path, treading carefully (having been instructed multiple times by my father to be extremely vigilant near the rivers and the mountains!) to touch the sacred River Alaknanda and seek its blessings. It was freezing cold! My friend honoured me by clicking my candid pictures.
Our next quick halt was at Rudraprayag; the point of confluence of rivers Alaknanda and Mandakini. We were now 2,936 ft above sea level. The Mandakini River water looked a gorgeous bluish-green and the Alaknanda reflected a sandy grey. The confluence was crystal clear. What a spectacular view! No sooner did I see the Mandakini, the devout me felt a rise of emotion moistening my eyes. I now felt I was almost there. Just about to reach Kedarnath. My ‘jaap mala’ was handy throughout the travel. I would keep my mantras on and keep enjoying the landscapes, the gorgeous Himalayan view and feel the fresh cool air captivated by the gentle showers.
And finally we entered the town, Guptakashi.
It was around 5:30pm when we checked into a lodge at Guptakashi. Our chopper tickets were booked for the next day. Most of the helipads were out of service as the government had reduced the air traffic post the flash floods. The lodge was just adjacent to a helipad which was now vacant and used as play areas by kids or by walkers in the mornings and evenings. The snow capped mountains were glowing right above us. I was at the foothills of the destination. I kept gazing at the peaks as I sat in the middle of the helipad doing my ‘maala jaap’. Often, the peaks blurred. Not because of the clouds, but because of the damp eyes!
It was here, I happened to meet a gentleman on his evening walk. Guessing him to be one of the fellow pilgrims, I broke into a conversation asking him his travel experience and how it would be at Kedarnath, our next day’s destination. It so happened, that he was a retired defence personnel now flying helicopters to Kedarnath. Senior citizen, Captain Parmar gave me some very valuable tips as I prepped myself on my first chopper ride. It was truly a blessing in disguise to have met him. The next day, at the crack of dawn we got ready and arrived at Phata. Here we had to get our biometrics done before leaving for Kedarnath. This was a process introduced by the government to keep a count on the number of pilgrims arriving Kedarnath each day. There wasn’t any queue. Perhaps, our timing of travel was the onset of monsoon and thus saw reduction in tourists. Our promptness in reaching our helitaxi Thumba helipad did not earn us any credits. Ours was an overnight stay at the Kedarnath, which meant our departure was on least priority that day. The pilgrims flying to and fro the same day were to be sent before us. Not only that, there was a brute force algorithm manually designed by the office there who would group and send passengers according to a) the head count in 1 round b) the total weight the chopper could carry; this would be the sum of the weights of the passengers c) prioritising the same day return passengers. I literally got involved with the office folks in sorting people into groups and realised it was indeed a cumbersome, unpleasant and a task that left everyone dissatisfied no matter how well it was performed. Why this empathy? Well, because I was trying to squeeze me and my friend in a group as early as possible to fly but considering the algorithm constraints, there was little I could do than wait.
Finally, around 1:00pm, Sunday afternoon, the 22nd of June we flew heading towards the Kedarnath. By now the sky was overcast. Captain Parmar had very generously referred me to Captain Agarwal who gave me the preference to sit in the co-pilot seat. Of course, some minimum criteria like fitness, age and weight was to be fulfilled. To my surprise, I learnt while flying that the temple is not on the mountain peak but in the valley between the peaks where we were heading. The blue Mandakini flowed right below. An aerial view of the landscape was breathtaking. Glaciers and snow on the peaks, some pilgrims trekking on a stretch of 16kms, some on mules. The trek had grown steep and extended by 4kms post construction of the new route after the floods.
As we got down the chopper, we had to walk 2 kms to the temple. There was a bridge to be crossed under which flowed the Mandakini River. The trek was steep. The queue outside the temple extended to 1 km. We checked into a nearby lodge, kept our bags, were greeted by a mountain rat( seriously, both of us jumped and freaked seeing one in our room! We seemed to have scared it more as it ran out of the room in a scurry.) and rushed to visit the temple which was to close at 4pm.
We had purchased the ‘special darshan’ ticket which allowed us entry through the side gates. Huge crowd of devotees were lined up inside the temple. We were among them. I looked at the walls, observed the Pandava figures from the Mahabharata sculpted everywhere. The legend goes that it were the Pandavas who constructed this temple. They came seeking penance from Lord Shiva for their sins of fratricide on the advice of Lord Krishna. Lord Shiva, was unwilling to meet them as he was annoyed with them for their unjust events of the war. He took the form of the bull, Nandi and hid himself in Guptakashi(hence the name of the place- ‘gupt’ means in hiding). But the Pandavas pursued him to Guptakashi and recognised him disguised as Nandi. Bhima, the second of the Pandava brothers tried to hold the bull by his tail and hind legs, and Nandi vanished from Guptakashi, into the ground. He later reappeared as Shiva in five different forms namely, hump at Kedarnath, face at Rudranath, arms at Tungnath, navel and stomach at Madhyamaheshwar and the locks at Kalpeshwar. As I entered the shrine, to my utter surprise there was no ‘shivalinga’. Instead, there was a piece of rock grown from the earth. This was the deity, the Kedarnath that was worshipped. We performed the ‘abhishek’ with the help of a ‘panditji’ whom we were supposed to give ‘dakshina’ ; offering in the form of money after the puja. Many sages, ascetics were sitting outside the temple with ‘bhasm’; ash powder rubbed all over their bodies. It was now getting a bit dark and we retreated to our room. In the common dining hall, we were served fresh light dinner. Mind it, keeping the stomachs half empty is the key to survive at such high altitudes.
Surviving the night was a challenge. The Oxygen levels are low and people with breathing trouble find it hard. Many succumb to the climate. Children suffer the most as they tend to run around during the day and by the time the night falls, they run short of breath. There were paramedics to help the needy. Unfortunately, what I learnt was that on that single day 10 lives were lost due to such conditions. No wonder, the Kedarnath is known as ‘the moksha prapti sthal’ ; or the place where one gets released from the cycles of birth and re-birth. Our experienced driver had mentioned this to us and told us to be extra careful and take all necessary precautions up there. Our driver, Mr. Amit Rana was a thorough gentleman. He was indeed, one more blessing in disguise sent to us at the eleventh hour of the trip. While we were up there fulfilling our ‘darshan’, he waited patiently for us until the next morning in his car parked at ‘Phata’.
I could not sleep that night. Not out of excitement, but there was something heavy I kept feeling in the chest. It was better to sit than to lie down. With thunder and rainfall overnight I could hear heavy water flowing all night. In the morning around 4:00am, I went out to learn, that was the river gushing down the steep ranges just behind our lodge. Something we didn’t notice in the hustle bustle of checking-in the previous evening. It was Monday morning; June 23rd. This day has held a significant place in my heart for over 18 years now. One of the anniversaries my husband and I celebrate and thank God. The rain was still pouring. The temple was about 100m walk from our room. We packed ourselves thoroughly and headed again for the ‘Somvar darshan’. Monday or ‘Somvar’ is the day of Lord Shiva. It was around 5:00am, as I entered the temple and this time I was blown away. The energy was immense. It spread a shiver down my spine. Tears of ecstasy flowed down my eyes drenching my shirt. My logical mind trying to comprehend, thinking hard what could be the cause of the tears. But nothing made sense. All I kept doing was chanting my mantras and soaking in ecstasy. Coincidentally, I received the ‘Goddess Parvati ’s Sringar’; objects adorned by Lord Shiva’s wife in the form of ‘prasaad’ as I passed the deity. The Monday morning ‘darshan’ were the most significant part of my entire experience. I also got the opportunity to whisper in Nandi’s ears. Something which was not allowed the previous evening. And that is me in the picture below, chanting the mantras during 'maala jaap' soaked in tears of ecstasy!
As I took the ‘parikrama’; circle around the temple, I noticed the huge boulder that had saved the temple from getting washed away during the 2013 floods. The devotees believe it was the form of ‘Lord Hanuman’ who did the honours. We touched the rock, took blessings and felt the bliss. It was still drizzling, snow covered peaks all around us. Our feet were soaked in frozen water on the ground, yet our spirit was all time high!
The last I did was gather 3 pieces of stones from the river as a memento for me and my family.
We boarded the helitaxi back to ‘Phata’ at 9:00am. I offered Priyanka Dee to occupy the co-pilot seat but she was generous enough to offer it back to me! We clicked pictures thanking the entire staff of ‘Thumba Helitaxi’ for facilitating our safe travel and return. Back at ‘Phata’, our driver was ready to drop us back safely to our homes. A fulfilled trip, indeed! And the only way I knew to thank the almighty was to pull out my beaded ‘maala’ and continue my ‘jaap’ all the way back home.
