Early that morning, Anand had decided on getting a bike for the day. We were out early enough but got delayed because the rentals were not yet open until 10. We hung around and checked with multiple rentals till we finally settled for 2 Avenger bikes. Bikes are a significantly cheaper option compared to the cost, availability and convenience of taking autos there.
Pramod wanted to visit the Beatles ashram and I, the Rajaji national park for a change of scene. We followed the map for a pleasant drive passing by a sadhu starving himself, plenty of greenery, and several other pilgrims. The ashram was taken over by the Forest department and the guard told us we may not really see animals, so both our destinations were the same. Just beside the entrance of the national park was an area with 5-6 sadhus and plenty of college kids. They were surveying the area for a college project, and just beside this was the Ganga, yet again. We spent some time there and Anand (the introvert?!) managed to get friendly with the sadhus who even offered him a smoke at their home at the cremation ground! We whiled away some time there and then returned. We agreed that the beautiful ride was worth it even without even checking out our original list of places.
The starving sadhuThe National park and the Beatles AshramA view of the GangaChillums a’plenty
We were quite hungry by now and headed to Nirvana Café that was rated quite highly online. And it delivered, a cozy bamboo cottage reached by the bylanes of the town and yummy food in tow. Note : They are generous with their cheese. So we were full before we knew it. And we loved their music.
Nirvana Cafe
As tempting as it was to spend all day there, we made a quick pit stop at Laxman Jhula but the weather was too hot for us to really enjoy it much. We packed up and headed to the Dehradun train station for our return to Delhi.
At Delhi the next day we had just enough time to make a stop for an hour to shop and then were happy to return to a place that will always be beyond compare, home.
We effortlessly woke up by 6 30 and revisited the temple, this time in daylight, so A could take some pictures too. A breakfast of eggs and poha later, we decided to do the trek to Tungnath, despite our earlier decision not to trek anymore this trip. We’d by now resigned ourselves to landslides being the new normal during the hours drive to the base of Tungnath.
It is the highest Shiva temple in the world and a 4 km trek didn’t seem formidable after what we’d done in the last few days. But well, it was a good lesson in how nature doesn’t care about your plans, she has enough of her own. It started raining the moment we alighted from our car. As we went higher, the cold increased and so did the wind. It was too misty to see anything around either. The place was mostly desolate except for a few tea-shacks that were still operational despite it being the off-season. The weather pulled our motivation levels down and by just about a km to the top, a couple of us had lost all will to push through and tried to keep one unwilling step after the next. Lout, Pramod and Prashant made it to the top and came down to tell us about it but also that the last 500 meters were steeper. The cold and the rains had not abated.
We decided we’d be happier just getting back down and half-disappointed, half-relieved, made our way back. Anand and I walked slower to be kinder to my knees and the others walked significantly ahead. And in just a little while, in a lovely surprise, nature decided we’d had enough.
The view cleared, the rain reduced to a very mild drizzle, and the harsh wind moved on too. We looked on in awe at a new bewitching scene at every turn – 4 gorgeous wild dogs who decided to accompany us all the way down once we fed them a few biscuits, a shepherd and his handsome mountain goats looking on suspiciously at the dogs with us, trees with trunks in all shades of red, clear meadows with horses grazing away aimlessly, the tall trees all leaning towards one side covered with just enough mist to make it seem like a scene out of Lord of the Rings. We walked down with smiles pasted on our faces unable to get over the sheer beauty we had just been able to witness.
Just look at that goat’s expression!
On the way back, we developed an increased respect for the ones clearing the debris from the landslides. They repaired it for vehicles to pass, often, in less than 15 minutes saving vehicles from being backed up for hours. We travelled on the side of the Mandakini river throughout to get to Rudraprayag. She supposedly gets violent in the monsoons, and we could definitely see potential in her waves thrashing and pounding throughout. The 2.5-hour drive seemed such a joy as we were simply lost in her enthralling company.
The lovely Mandakini
Our first view of the GMVN we were to stay at, was from across the river on the other side and it seemed like a town just made for a photo op with the exuberant river.To our utter glee, the GMVN rooms had an enviable view of the sangam of Alaknanda and Mandakini. Like most places we visited post the trek, we were the only guests here too and even got an off-season discount. We spent an enchanting evening watching the aarti from our perch on the balcony.
Front row seats for the aarti
Day 10 :
I woke up to the lulling music of the river from outside our balcony and realised I could easily get used to this. I sat and tried to soak up the view – the ephemeral mist on the surface of the water, the subtle line ahead of the point of merge of the rivers- still separating them till they melted into each other, the gentle waves cuddling up to the rocks on the river banks, the winding roads on the opposite side, and a monkey doing a balancing act on the railings of the bridge across the Mandakini- seeming to pause occasionally to appreciate the view himself. The lone priest in the temple walked down the steps towards the water, braving its icy force. He filled a couple of pots from the water pouring one over himself and took another for the day’s prayers. Moments like these make you wish you had more poetic abilities. Or maybe for some experiences, words will always fall short.
A breakfast of puris and parathas later we headed off on a walk through the busy town that was going about its everyday. We tasted the local sweet called Baal Mithai which was like a halwa coated with tiny pellets of sugar. Since we had to leave early we only walked up to the bridge to the other side. As we stood there we had a sight we almost missed. Shiva’s head peeping out of the water while the rest of him was inside. Try as I might, I couldn’t find the picture of the complete statue even after my return. Reminded me strongly of the story of the King Tantalus. Suitably amused we hung around a bit and headed back to the room. The weather was now slightly warmer and more pleasant than the other places. But we had to leave by 11 to get to Rishikesh avoiding weather changes. Our driver was also looking forward to getting back to his home after these days with us.
Oh Shiva!
We reached Rishikesh and decided to give Haridwar a look since it wasn’t too far off, and was supposedly the point where the Ganga leaves the mountains and reaches the plains. We checked into our hotel and figured we could make it in time for the Ganga aarti since it was just 20 km away. Anand, Pramod and I stayed on, while the rest left Rishikesh with other plans. We took a shared auto to the bus stand and then a bus to Haridwar. And oh, how wrong we were about the time we’d take! There was a traffic pile up the whole duration. By the time we got there, we had just missed the aarti, but decided to explore the place a bit. The Haridwar temple spans a huge space mostly to accommodate the crowds all through the year and specifically during the Kumbh mela. After getting there, I was a little glad to have missed the aarti simply because the place seemed too crowded for my liking! During the aarti with everyone trying to huddle closer to it for a view may have been worse, but that’s just me.
We strolled around, with poojaris regularly offering us their own aartis and some more who were actually annoying by insisting we do a random pooja for our families/ let flower buckets into the Ganga for a fee. The extent of commercialization needs to be seen to be believed. We managed to find the actual temple amidst it all where we were the last visitors of the day before it was closed by the calm priest. We had the prasad and continued to walk around. The place was full of tourists taking selfies on one side and pilgrims dipping in the cold water and ardently trying to keep up with the priest’s prayers on the other. After a while, we were hungry and decided to eat there since most places would close early even if we got back to Rishikesh. Just out of sheer food-home-sickness we ordered a masala dosa and it served us right that it was not what we expected though they did their best. The batter itself was made with the local rice that tasted different and a thin layer of potato stuffing was spread over. Nevertheless, eat we did, and then with some difficulty managed to get an auto back to our hotel.
We had to send our luggage with the mules since the chopper even if it happened, would only carry a total of 5kgs in addition to us. And if we were walking down, we couldn’t carry it without further ruining our knees. We came in early but it was too foggy to fly. We waited for over an hour waiting for the weather to clear up but it didn’t seem promising. However, just like that, it did actually make way.
Our misty view of Ghangaria
We bundled into the chopper and what a view it was. The top view of all that we’d seen and loved over the last few days. The mountains, the milky cascades at every turn, the meandering river, the clouds embracing the mountains and just every shade of green one could think of. It was possibly one of the most scenic places to have one’s first chopper ride. If any, its only flaw was that it was really short, just 3.5 minutes in all.
We got off and went to the restaurant next door to the helipad where I easily devoured a breakfast of a vegetable stuffed omelette when a gentleman there informed us that Badrinath was closed. Our plan had been to visit Badrinath and Mana village over the next couple of days. We had been hearing noises of it being blocked but were hopeful till that point. Even then, we decided to think of a different plan at the time we leave if it was still blocked.
Tip : Have a backup plan or be flexible in places to visit on a trip to Uttarakhand. Landslides are as common as traffic jams are in Bangalore. They are frequently harmless but can leave you blocked if you insist on going that way. Trust locals and get an idea from them at each leg of the journey. However changed plans are not at all a downer here, since it’s so easy to find other places that are just as inviting. 🙂
We walked over to the Gurudwara in Govind ghat to pick up the prasad that we’d paid for at Hemkund. We picked it up and sat for a few minutes at the gurudwara. Though stuffed, still sat for the langar as lunch so we wouldn’t have to stop again. Anand and I were intrigued by the fun contraption they used to fill up glasses of the seated devotees while standing themselves.
The cool water serving contraption
We waited not-too-long for our luggage to arrive on the mules (ours arrived on one named Deepa,I had to ask), picked them up and bid a warm farewell to our impeccable guides. Dinesh also bagged us a driver for the rest of our journey – Diwanji. We have to recommend our guides simply because they went above and beyond. Do check with them if you’re looking for Himalayan treks.You can find them here. We headed towards Badrinath and the jam had built up to just 3 mins away from where we started, so finally gave up and headed towards our other option, Auli.
Auli is a skiing resort, so we were initially hesitant since it was off-season there with no snow. Nevertheless, we headed off in that direction and got there in an hour except for a case of motion sickness.
Tip : Do not look at your phones in transit if you’ve any history of motion sickness. Even the anti-nausea pill didn’t work when I happened to do so. And try getting a seat facing ahead and keep an eye on the drivers driving.
The Auli Ski resort won us over even as we just got there. A quick enquiry of the rooms and we were happy even with the basic ones. And off-season meant we literally had the whole resort to ourselves – a private hideaway.
The beautiful Auli- The pool-like area is a snow making contraption
With a renewed sense of appreciation for flowers post our treks, we noticed there were those we’d not seen before that seemed local to the place itself. To make the best of the clear weather and visibility, we immediately headed off to enjoy the cable car- Asia’s longest at 4km. A short walk up the resort and a climb of a few floors of a tower later we sat first in the chair-lift up the slopes and then into the cable car. Even the operators were sweet natured and friendly.
The villages around the resort
We had an exceptional view from atop. My favourites were the pines that looked wispy and dreamy. Kids waving to us from below, imposing trees in deep green, apple trees heavily laden with crimson fruit, the Himalayan mini sunflowers and dahlias in all hues effortlessly brightening up the yards in homes, endless layers of mountains in the distance made up some of the sights. It was a perfect ride to get lost in the view and just gape in wonder.
New found love for pine-trees
Once on the other side, post a swig of rhododendron juice (tastes like a toned down cough syrup, in case you’re wondering), we headed off in search of a legendary creature we hadn’t seen in all the past days. An ATM! We were all close to broke and needed one. Mercifully there was a functional one in the town and we left with happier wallets. We strolled around the town and Pramod and I went ahead looking for the Shankaracharya temple. However, by the time we reached it, we just had enough time to return to the cable car before its closing time and so gave it up. We enjoyed the return in the cable car too, and after some rest, had a lovely dinner pre-ordered (since we were the only guests in the place)- stuffed potatoes were delicious but peanut masala simply stole the show! It was amusing how open-mouthed everyone looked at the lone TV in the restaurant, simply because it had been that long we’d seen a TV on our trip. I, for one, was not complaining.
Tip : You can blindly book GMVN rooms across this part of Uttarakhand. We’re huge fans post this trip. We had good service and clean rooms throughout. In case of weather or other issues, they even let you transfer your booking to other GMVN hotels in the state for a fee. The fee was waived for us since it was the monsoons. Also, their support is fantastic and we received clarifications/resolutions with remarkable agility.
Day 8 :
While A and I lazed around in the one day after a while that we didn’t “have” to wake up early, Lout and Pramod had a short walk to the temple within the resort. They had stunning clear views of all the surrounding mountain ranges with the Nanda Devi and even a rainbow to add a touch of colour to the scene.
Just a little later the 2 of us also made our way to it. It is a small Hanuman temples with rows of brass bells inside. By the time, however, the clouds had decided the show had closed and so the hills were barely visible. Nevertheless, it was quite a charming spot to just stare into nothing for a while with the mild breeze and the flapping temple flags.
Who doesn’t love bells…
Drama in every view
A breakfast of fries, sandwiches, eggs and a repeat order of peanut masala later we relaxed around the place reading, clicking photos indiscriminately and exploring. We had requested the cook to make local dishes for us for lunch and he obliged with Jhangora ki kheer(a pudding of barnyard millet) and Thechwani (a dal like dish made with potatoes). The staff were very accommodating with our food requests and even suggested next places for us to visit based on the weather. A even got a juicy apple in return on tipping them before we left 🙂
We had to leave to reach the next pit stop before dark (rains are more frequent in the later half of the day too) and Diwanji agreed to take us around for the next few days. Over the next few days, we’d appreciate him immensely. He was an expert driver, calm and collected with no shows of bravado but only quiet confidence that we were grateful for over and over again over roads that were sheer drops on one side, on roads that were just parts of water streams, roads with boulders recovering from landslides and narrow roads with 2 way traffic.
On the way back, who should we meet, but our own 3 guides from the trek who were on their way to Auli. It was such a warm reunion and they gave in their 2 cents on the rest of our trip too. After assessing options, we decided to make a stop at Ukhimath. The route was long but breathtaking in more ways than one. – waterfalls spilling over to the road ever so often, horses grazing in grasslands amidst the woods in a photo-ready-scene, terraced gardens over the hills, tiled houses dotting the majestic mountains, moss covered trees dripping with the remnants of the drizzle, rivers gushing with unbridled energy and empty roads that seemed paved for us- we barely saw 2-3 vehicles on our way in our 5 hours on the road.
Perfect routes
We finally landed at our small GMVN hotel that had just 2 rooms and a dormitory [A whole new building was under construction where the rest of this hotel had been]. We took all the rooms to accommodate all of us and the driver for the night.
We then went on a short walk to the nearby Omkareshwar temple. We were intrigued seeing writing in Kannada in a place so far from home. As it turned out, the priest was Kannadiga and had a chat with the group about the place too. The idol of Kedarnath is brought here during half the year, so our group was in agreement that we could consider half a Kedarnath visit done! The temple though not too large has an interesting bunch of stories around it [http://www.kedarnathindia.com/Ukhimath%20Temple.html]. Inside the temple, at a lower level is the platform where the wedding of Usha(daughter of Banasur) and Anirudh (grandson of Krishna) is supposed to have been conducted.
Once back, since we were again the only guests, we had the luxury of being asked what we wanted to eat and had picked something we were all craving- bhindi and chicken curry[Most places had only vegetarian food]. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and then spent the rest of the evening watching agonisingly bad Telugu movie scenes that had been dubbed in Hindi.
We were woken up early by the sound of the downpour that only receded at dawn. Still nervous about the weather, we headed off at 7 AM after a hearty breakfast of alu parathas. The very first flower we saw was that of the tobacco plant.
The whole walk was characterised by the larger pieces of angular rocks that made up the path. With my recent muscle tear, they did make me a bit nervous over whether my foot would get twisted at some point or if my toes would hurt, but my shoes did a good job at keeping them safe.
We spotted the pink Himalayan Balsam flowers that would be the mainstay of the landscape, early on. As we continued to hike up in the light drizzle, the wonderland gently opened up to us. It was magical, lush green and positively dreamy throughout with moss-covered boulders by our side and mountains with their conifers still sprinkled with snow ahead.
Himalayan balsam
Just a few of the legends of the place were that it was Lord Indra’s garden, Nandan Kanan. Another belief tells that it is here that Hanuman found Sanjeevani, the magical herb that helped revive Lakshman and some more legends were about the locals believing for several years that it was inhabited by ghosts and fairies of all sorts. There were rickety bridges across different streams that we crossed as the water rushed downhill from the mountains.
Pushpavati
It was a delight to spot every type of flower that welcomed us into the valley. I was particularly moved by the sheer perfection of the relatively common, perennial Milk parsley. Since it was early in the day, some of its segments were yet to bloom and the others were out and proud. Each segment would exactly mimic the size and shape of the other as the day passed by.
Milk Parsley
Jacquemont’s Ligularia and the Horned lousewort added spots of brilliant yellow to the landscape.
Horned LousewortJacquemont’s Ligularia
The Large bellflower had a shade of purple that I instantly loved.
Bellflower
Our guide offered us some Himalayan Snowberries, warning us not to consume more than a couple. It had an aftertaste of a medicinal cold balm and was otherwise quite watery.
Himalayan Snowberries
The Geraniums in brilliant hues dotted the landscape.
Geranium
The unique ones were this brown thistle(that looked dried up but that was just the colour of the flower) and the bulbous delicate bloom of the Bladder Campion.
Bladder campion
We had a packed lunch beside the gentler bend of the lovely Pushpavati river and rested there just trying to imprint our surroundings onto our minds. As we headed back on our way, we took a deviation within the valley itself to the tombstone of Joan Margaret Legge, the botanist to whom we credit the discovery of this haven. As we sat on the bench beside her, it was so clear to me why she’d never want to leave 🙂 But well, we had to, and after a while ,trudged down, now with our eyes a little more observant and appreciative at spots of beauty along our path.
We got back to our rooms, too exhausted, with an almost unanimous decision to skip the Hemkund trek and instead relax in Ghangaria the next day.
Day 6 :
But of course, we didn’t. By 6AM except for Lout, everyone else had a change of plans to actually do Hemkund too. We could possibly attribute it to the optimism of daylight. The trek felt relatively easy in comparison to Valley of flowers mostly because the surface was much smoother. With the rains, however, on the way down we’d have to be careful since it was also slippery. The people along the way were friendly and even jovial despite their fatigue. The higher altitude also meant we had to be careful with our hydration, breathing and pace.
What helped us, however, was the guide-Dinesh’s comment that we just might see a Brahma Kamal here. While nothing showed up along our way we plodded along till at some point when I happened to look up, I broke into a wide grin and pointed to Anand- there it was. Just by itself. It’s comforting that in an age when we can look up anything on the internet in a few seconds, the sight of something can still stir such joy in our hearts. Its petals had the appearance of crushed tissue, the outer ones tipped with a tender shade of green. We didn’t have our camera to capture it because of the rain, but sometimes your eyes are enough.Further ahead as we pushed ourselves almost towards the summit, we saw a small stretch covered with them, the white pods against the green of the grassy floor making up a pleasant contrast.
We were relieved to see a touch of civilisation right at the top. The volunteers dishing out runny hot khichdi and tea. They even had warm water to drink which was a pure luxury at that point. We helped ourselves to 2 servings each amidst the other devotees. The air seemed loaded with the kinship of a shared journey, both the exhaustion and the understanding smiles were in abundance. I realised I had the highest respect for the guys doing the dishes in that cold tirelessly. I managed to win half a smile from his tough appearance as I thanked him.
Khichdi Ambrosia!
We went around to see the Hemkund lake but there was so much mist that we could just barely see a couple of feet off the water’s edge and nothing else. Those who had reached a half hour earlier had managed to have a great view, though.
We entered the Gurudwara, reluctantly taking off our footwear in the cold. However, the area was mostly carpeted and to our utter glee the main hall even had thick blankets to wrap ourselves with as we sat there a while and listened earnestly to the 3 performers on stage singing hymns in their powerful voices. The warmth of the place and the soothing music were quite an intoxicating combination in themselves but after a while, we had to leave and make our way back down.
Tip : There is one restroom on the way and another at the top. Both very clean. However, the one on the way was open only on our way back.
Clothes : I’m relatively petite and usually need warmer clothes – thermals, a full sleeve shirt down jacket, woollen cap, gloves, warm socks and the rain poncho kept me comfortable all through.
Since he stayed back at Ghangaria, Lout watched the Valley of flowers- documentary screening that happens every day at 4PM and confirmed it was quite interesting. That evening we decided to have dinner at a restaurant he had tried that afternoon, with a menu different from what we had been having since we got there – clear soup, fries, noodles and fried rice. Pragadeesh regaled us with tales of how he grew his hotel business and his encounters with Tamil movie royalty. We fell into an easy sleep that night after enquiring about the chopper ride back. It was dependent on the weather, and we’d only know the next day minutes before the actual flight with any certainty.
We gathered at our meeting point at Lakshman Jhula and headed off in a Tempo traveller to Govind Ghat. We stopped at Kaudiyala for breakfast and stopped for a bit by the sangam at Devprayag where the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers meet.
Devprayag
We by now had an increased respect for the perennial Ganga- her energy, intensity, and immensity had us more in awe at every turn. We drifted in and out of sleep, our eyes always welcomed by a pretty sight despite the warm and sultry weather. We stopped at a roadside shack for tea and cool drinks that felt like ambrosia in the heat. We’d have handsome, friendly canines for our company throughout our trip. The view from the stop was lovely with snaking paths by the side of the river in the distance.
We stopped for lunch at a place we simply decided to call – the good view place. We were surrounded by the hills, trees of all hues, terraced paddy fields in a flawless shade of vivid green and the valley below. A steady supply of rotis, paneer burji, chole, alu jeera later we left with content tummies and soothed minds.
Lunch views
More driving and a traffic buildup due to a landslide later, we got to Govind Ghat in the evening and just had time to relax, have our dinner and a briefing for the next day. We met our guides- Santosh, Deepak and Dinesh, all of who would provide us excellent support over the following days. A big part of the group was made of first-time trekkers but everyone seemed raring to go.
Day 4 : Govind Ghat to Ghangaria
We woke up to the sight of misty mountains just outside our modest but comfortable room at Hotel Gokul. It promised to be a good day. While we were getting ready, Anand managed to walk up to a nearby temple for a few pictures. We hoped the hot puris for breakfast would sustain us well for the longest part of our trek , which was on this day. We chose to send one of our bags via mules and carry the other with essentials for the trek. This trek is rated “easy-moderate” simply because there are mules available for hire for all parts of the journey except for the valley of flowers itself. The mules with their decorated headgear and lovely bells became a common sight here on. Though IMO both may have been extremely annoying to the mule itself.
Our trek started along the side of the faithful Alaknanda who cheered us on along our way. To get us acclimatised gradually, our guides forced stops on us every kilometre so it wasn’t a particularly hard trek. We had the best lemony chana chaat of our lives just before our lunch stop. Anand couldn’t help himself from having a second round of it. In a scene that would have made Kerala cry, the guy was even selling individual pieces of coconut for Rs.10 each! We stopped where we needed to and quickly learnt that sitting down for a break was a bad idea. There were water sources at random intervals, so that wasn’t a concern. We did sweat quickly and had to remember to stay hydrated.
Chaat and coconut
An old lady with a bright red scarf sold us some slightly tart, impossibly crunchy green apples that we enjoyed.Find her when you’re there!
That scarf!
They had also advised us to wear full sleeved tops and full-length trousers, despite which, I leant on a railing at a point and a particularly nasty plant stung my finger!
Beware of this innocent looking villain!
The trek was picturesque throughout if one could somehow ignore the pervasive stink of horse dung and simply look up. Devotees coming back from Hemkund Sahib distributing toffees, the river making occasional appearances and local women hauling huge mounds of fresh green fodder for their cattle while we were huffing and puffing with our relatively tiny rucksacks. Our longest stop was just after a creaking “bridge” the gushing Alaknanda enveloping the boulders with her unbridled energy that made a delightful pit-stop. At one point we even saw a chopper shuttle multiple times in the distance.
We reached the tiny hamlet of Ghangaria by evening after the 14km trek and post a short nap realised we still had the energy and enthusiasm to amble along the place. Anand, to his delight, found the perfect gulab jamuns and we also managed to polish off plates of chaat with ease.
Ghangaria : First look
Tips for this trek from our experience (Your guide during your trip would be your best resource to confirm)
Sip water throughout to stay hydrated. Avoid gulping, or you’ll need to use the restrooms often and they are too few where available.
Don’t scrimp on trekking shoes. Your feet will be destroyed if your shoes are not thick enough or provide sufficient support.
Raincoat trousers are a great option to trousers if it’s going to rain all day but make sure they are actually waterproof. We found our ponchos quite useful.
At higher altitudes, breathe deeply and consciously and walk very slowly to avoid altitude sickness. Staying hydrated continues to apply everywhere.
When taking a break, try not to sit down if possible. Stand/lean somewhere and then continue at a slow pace.
Take high-energy, low weight foods- we carried dates, chocolate, dry apricots, ORS. Snacks/tea were available on some parts of this trek.
Bathing every day is not recommended at these altitudes/temperatures. Though I couldn’t resist it throughout, for the other days, baby wipes are marvellous to make you feel human again.
Water bags are a great alternative to bottles. You didn’t have to stop to have a sip. A lot of folks were putting off taking a sip because they had to follow several steps – take off bag cover, open bag, get the bottle, open it up and do the same to keep it back. This was easy-peasy.
I found a walking stick very useful. Anand didn’t. Worth a try, I’d say.
Everyone has a different pace they prefer. It’s not a race.
Smile at people passing by and help out where you can, but not by putting yourself in harm’s way.
A camera gets heavy after a while, and drizzles can deter you from actually using it. Take a call on whether it’s worth it or your phone camera would suffice.
Inform folks at home that you would not have mobile connectivity for quite a long time, and reach out to them when you can, to avoid them imagining worst-case scenarios. 🙂
A rucksack that also has a front opening is extremely useful to avoid emptying it all out each time you need something. Mine was 40 litres.
Good advice with mules/horses is to stay towards the side of the mountain to avoid being pushed by them over the edge of the cliff. They simply do not realise you aren’t as sure-footed as they are, or well, maybe they do.
The weather in the past 5 years had been playing up with my travel plans to the Valley of flowers, and this year’s monsoons and stories of landslides in Uttarakhand didn’t help calm my nerves. However ,a friend had just returned and a quick call with her the night before gave me a bit more hope than I could have mustered myself. Getting on the flight I knew I had to have luck on my side since the great Rajnikanth was everywhere we looked! Painted on the neighboring flight and even “the movie”‘s music on our own. Prashanth, Shwetha, A and I reached Delhi and after a few jumps across Metro lines, reached Karol Bagh where Lout was waiting for us while doing his trek shopping, him being the last day addition to the trip. We picked a few rucksack covers and other miscellaneous items and decided to keep our luggage in the railway cloak room so we could roam the city a lot lighter since we had been carrying the unfamiliar weight of rucksacks with 10 days’ worth luggage.
Such a simple plan but of course, life lessons need to be learnt
New Delhi railway station has 16 platforms and we’d gotten in at the 16th one. The waiting rooms were in platform 1.
The cloak rooms will refuse to take your luggage unless you have a lock on it. It can be a flimsy lock and need not even need to actually lock all sections on your bag. But a lock needs to be present.
You will not be allowed to sit in the waiting room unless you are less than 2 hours away from your train’s departure time.
The last point meant that despite Delhi’s terrible heat (relative measure to folks pampered by Bangalore’s weather), we didn’t have the option of hanging around in the cooler waiting room neither did it support our initial plans of being touristy and visiting a few places. So we headed off to Connaught Place to kill some time.
A little after we got there, Prashant managed to see far off on the distance a structure, and A was convinced it was Humayun’s tomb. My interest in the Mughals notwithstanding, I was too dehydrated to want anything other than a drink at the time and so deserted them and headed to a coffee place nearby with Lout. Prashant, A and Shweta headed off in that direction. Just as we recovered, they headed back narrating their own adventure of following the sight on foot and not finding it, a rickshaw driver told them that what they’d seen was just a decorated entrance of a big sweet store there 😀 Ah well. So they joined us and some chaat , momos, photography and dinner after which we got back to the railway station.
Connaught Place
This time, we were close to our train’s time to be allowed into the waiting room. A chat with a sweet Punjabi couple ensued who made for interesting conversation.After the long day, as soon as our heads hit the train berth we dozed off in exhaustion.
Day 2 : Rishikesh
We woke up as the train chugged into Dehradun and picked a bus just outside the station, to reach Lakshman Jhula at Rishikesh. Mercifully our hotel let us have an early check-in and we all could freshen up and feel human again after the previous day’s grime. We then headed off in search of a meal. Though it was the season to visit Valley of Flowers, it was not the season for Rishikesh. And restaurants though seemed open, informed us they weren’t. After several false starts, we stuffed ourselves silly at Hotel Dev Palace. It was also hot and humid here and so we decided to head back for a short nap. Early evening the rest of the group had arrived and we visited them at their hotel.
The Ganga and Ram Jhula
We decided to walk to Ram Jhula for the day’s aarti. The place had a decidedly hippie feel to it. A mini-goa with Sadhu’s, cows and yoga classes added to the mix. It wasn’t too crowded, for a religious place. We ambled along and found spots to sit/stand for a good view of the aarti. The air rang with sounds of chanting for about an hour and people had plonked themselves all around that point. We saw a wide platform jutting into the enchanting Ganga river and wondered what it was for. The aarti was performed facing the platform and the water, though enticing, was bitterly cold.
A quick search later led us to know that the platform had held a tall statue of Shiva in the seated posture but was washed away in the 2013 floods. Pictures show it to be a gorgeous structure but it’s quite a lesson in nature doing her thing. The aarti itself was not as dramatic as that in Triveni Ghat or Haridwar but it had a more intimate air to it with a smaller crowd.
The patient audience awaiting the aarti
Across the temples by the Ganga that we’d visit in the following days, we’d see folks selling plastic cans so people could fill in water from the Ganga and take it back home. The irony that they are polluting the same water by putting in huge amounts of flowers, incense, lamps and themselves in it before they do so, seemed to be blissfully lost on them. The place has people with varying levels of curiosity and devotion – from tourists hoping not to offend anyone, to people in a trance at the chanting at the aarti time. While I could appreciate the allure of the chorus filling up the air, personally I preferred the silence after it was all done. With the waves splashing up against each other, the murmur of people seemed far behind as we paused to really savor the natural treasures of the world we live in.
Finally the aarti 🙂
We took the prasad from the temple (sweetened water and some sugar) and walked back along the busy lane. We stopped at a makeshift oven on a cart for freshly made piping hot nankhatai (butter cookies) that were luxuriously crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth at the same time. The rest of them even tried some hot badam milk from another vendor and we went on foot in search of the German bakery recommended by Neethu.
It was a very long walk. Our first lesson in not trusting the hardened locals when they give estimates to places that they find easy to walk to! We walked and walked, past narrow bylanes, badly lit spots, seemingly endless pathways, and deserted areas. These towns close down early and so there were fewer and fewer people as we got there. There are multiple “German Bakery”s on the way and we were told to search for the Devraj Coffee corner German bakery. We finally got there and the walk was completely worth it. Lasagna, fruit and vegetable salads, vegetable steaks, fruit juices without sugar, and my French onion soup. They all got a thumbs up from the group and we were completely satiated. Another long walk and a shower later we embraced easy slumber.
