Jageshwar, The Deodar Heaven

As soon as the musk of flourishing deodars mixed in the cool air enters into your lungs through a deep breath, you know you have arrived in Jageshwar. The cluster of temples dated back to Chand dynasty who ruled during the 8-9th century, are dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is also said that Jageshwar or also known as Jagnath Mandir is one of Jyotirlinga, of the total 12. However for me, history concerns less and the feeling of being one with the nature matters the most.

Jageshwar Jyotirlinga Temple

It was a friend’s marriage at Moradabad. After much difficulty me and Saurabh managed to hook onto one Uttarakhand roadways bus that was going to Ramnagar from Anand Vihar. Initially the conductor refused to take Moradabad passengers and asked us to cough extra indirectly or take ticket till Thakurdwara, which we agreed too. But soon after as the bus prepared to leave at 4 p.m, the flock of desperate people got into the bus and we found it hard to breathe; but thank God we had the seat.

Scene at Anand Vihar Bus Terminus

After much ado, the driver facing the ire of standing mob, started to pick up with speed but to our fate, it was all jammed in Garh Mukteshwar. We got down in Moradabad around 9:30 p.m. Mohit, saw me and his good ole’ smile touched with warm sense of gratitude. But we both were too hungry for smiles and greetings. I called up my other friends, Anup (curie), Rajendra (ravs) and Deepak (pahari tota) to enquire about their status. Soon all arrived and before the baraat could start, we decided to have some quick snacks, eaten really quickly except for Ravs who preferred enjoying the pegs.

Jageshwar Bazaar

Deepak dropped me and Saurabh to Rampur and left for Barreily. Enroute we saw a corpse with its head chopped and no blood stains on the highway. It was enough to leave us desperate for some moment. Rest the traffic jam got us sulking.

We reached Rampur around 3:40 a.m. Roadways bus dropped us at Haldwani after 1.5 hrs around 5 a.m. We took shared jeep service to Almora, who drove really fast and in another 2.5 hrs we were at Almora, the heritage city of Kumaon.

Cluster of Jageshwar Temples

Next we took another shared jeep to Aartola from where Jageshwar is 3 kms on foot along the neat and fine road or one can opt for paid jeep service. We decided to walk and stretch. Afterall this is what we were there for – to take big long walks amidst the deodars or daruvan. We found ourselves a comfortable place within our budget - Jagadamba lodge, for Rs. 100 a room (N.K. Joshi Ji, 05962-263026). We bathed ourselves in the warm soothing sun and under the cold water from the tap, to prepare to visit the temples that were some 200 mtrs away. We saw fair amount of lodges, and restaurants to our surprise spread within some 500 mtrs towards the temple. This was quite disappointing but then we did not see much people around. And, Saurabh remarked “off season”!

Florishing Cedar (Deodar)

Temples, no doubt, were more than a beauty and much more than delight. A declared national heritage, the temples looked very pious with fine grain of stones chiseled into different pictures of Shiva, all on one single piece of stone, which are nowhere to be found now. We offered our prayers in all the 4 main temples – Mahamrituanjaya, Kedarnath, Hanuman and, most important, Jageshwar Jyotirlinga – alongwith clusters of other temples devoted to the god Sun. We came back to our lodge after taking a hearty meal at a nearby restaurant for Rs. 35 a plate, and slept like monsters. It was when Bisht Ji announced the dinner, at 9:15 p.m we got up and dozed off again. But since we slept early around we got up in the middle of night. First at 2:30 a.m, then at 4:15 a.m, it was still dark; and finally at 6.20 a.m we were out of bed.

Names of Jageshwar Temples

We clicked photographs and offered our last prayer before leaving Jageshwar to reach Vradh Jageshwar. The Vradh Jageshwar temple was some 3 kms straight up to the top of the hill. The route was clean, a bit steep and passes though the thick jungle. It was most beautiful – the feeling of nothingness. And Saurabh remarked “this is the place to be”! I nodded to show my agreement to the statement. We reached Vradh Jageshwar temple around 10:10 a.m in some 1.5 hrs without resting but we occasionally joked about things, with Saurabh caught up in dilemma – whether it was 3 kms, which seemed to him nothing less than 5 kms. But we reached there without any special effort. We met Chokidar, with whom we again confirmed the story of Jyotirlinga of Jageshwar temple. In his words, story goes like this.

“After Parvati dedicated herself to Yagya-Kund, Shiva got depressed and started to roam in the daruvan (deodar) of Jageshwar as a nude sage. Saptkeshwar’s wife who was collecting the kandmool phal (beat roots) got horrified at the sight of nude sage and reported this to husband. The sage Saptkeshwar agitated on this and without knowing that it was Shiva, cursed the nude sage. This place is called Dandeshwar Mahadev – a km before Jageshwar temples. Though it didn’t affect the lord Shiva but then to honour the Saptkeshwar’s word, Shiva himself disintegrated his linga. The 12 jyotirling’s are where Shiva’s linga pieces fell. One of which is here in Jageshwar Mahadev”.

Jungle Trek to Vradh Jageshwar

Though I wasn’t taking much interest, Saurabh was recording this all in his diary, every word cautiously and as being told by this old man in his seventies.

I was rather enjoying the D 80 in my hand to click the great Himalayan ranges visible well from Vradh Jageshwar temple courtyard. We sipped upon tea with Bhatt Ji, the Pujari, after offering our prayers at the temple and bathed in the sun conversing with Pujari and the old man. It was deserted completely – no tourist, no village people. Pujari told us about ‘Bhog’ to the deity at 12 p.m. This is a regular feature at Jageshwar temple as well.

Vradh Jageshwar

But it seemed he didn’t want us to wait for the pua (wheat flour mixed with jaggery and fried in oil), neither had we time. Our future awaited something as per to our plan – to reach Chitai Golu – the famous deity of Kumaon Hills and offer prayers to the lord. We started to depart from Vardh Jageshwar, along the road. After walking some 3 kms, we had our meal at Himdarshan, a lodge, whose owner cooked us Jhuli-Bhaat (kadi-rice), on our request.

We clicked and bathed in the sunlight of the bright afternoon Sun in leisure, ate our meal in the open and in sight of the great Indian Himalayan peaks like Nanda Devi, Panchachuli and many more. We spent some 2 hrs there and by 2 p.m started again to come down to Almora via Panwanaula. We walked some 7-8 kms with our bag-packs and again stuffed ourselves into a jeep. The nothingness, feeling of void, which is scientifically using no brain power and no hence “no-mental load”, was still very much there with us.

Vradh Jageshwar to Panwanaula

Nanda Devi

Panchachuli Peaks

At Chitai Golu, we refreshed ourselves in the slowly setting sun, and chillness of the air. We offered prayer, clicked few photographs and sat quietly. After a while, we found ourselves on the road again walking and searching for a jeep ride to Almora which is some 6 kms from here. This is when a car stopped and the guy popped out of the window asking us to get in, offering a lift. We got in. They were returning from some marriage and and were headed for Rampur. This is how we reached Almora around 6:30 p.m. We thanked them and thanked Golu as well for this comfortable arrangement.

Golu Devta

The trip was a cakewalk this time (if you have read account of my other trips). It gave us ample opportunity to let loose ourselves. To simply become a man self-sufficient in thought, self-contained in mind, and self-sustained in action, in the fertile land of Nothingness and Deodars.

Itinerary we followed:

Friday (evening): Delhi (NH 24) - Moradabad - Rampur - Haldwani (260 kms).

Saturday (morning): Haldwani - Bhowali - Almora (100 kms), took shared jeep @ Rs. 100 each. Again, the shared jeep from Almora to Aartola (35kms) @ Rs. 70 for two. Aartola to Jageshwar 3kms on-foot. Night Halt at Jagadamba Lodge.

Sunday (early morning): Vradh Jageshwar (3kms on-foot), and to Panwanaula (some 8kms on-foot), along the road. Shared jeep to Almora.

© Himanshu

For pics please see www.flickr.com/myth_drinker

The Roopkund Story – Silence, Observance & Perserverance

It was one of those lazy afternoons of May (2009) when I found myself struggling for breath. I occasionally after lunch, try to read some blog. Inside office the AC worked fine, but it was my mind which was dwelling.

Roopkund (shot from Bhagubasa)

I was reading the ‘Almora Boy Pensive’ however not for the first time, I generally do it to browse through pics the blog has. Wonderful! I said when I reached the few last pages of Pindari trip that the Almora Boy mentioned (http://almoraboy.blogspot.com/). Snow all over; it looked so beautiful even to think. And I begin to plan.

Road from Lohajung to Wan

Then just same day after returning from office, I tried to think hard what job and roles might have made me happier. The one, which they show on Discovery or NatGeo with a complicated mix of fun and adventure stuffed together to create excitement. And I said to myself, can I be there? And, I started to search for my Outlook Guide on Uttarakhand. Other morning I started devising plans sampling websites, blogs, looking for ‘rock and a hard place’. Saurabh helped in zeroing and final selection. And we decided it has to be ‘Roopkund’.

The itinerary was soon made but for preparations we had no time. And we – three of us - me, Saurabh & Sanjeev left for the ‘hard place’ with 'rock in our mind'. Sanjeev and I left from my house and Saurabh met us at ISBT, Delhi. Soon we boarded the bus to Rishikesh around 9 p.m. Our hopes to reach Rishikesh by 4 a.m shattered when we found bus driver was not very much keen to drive and frequent the ‘brakes’.

Sauarabh (L) & Sanjeev (R) Gearing Up for Trek

We reached finally around 5:30 a.m and started to walk towards Tehri bus stand.

My eyes were desperately searching for the bus with the fine chalk print neatly written on windshield ‘Lohajung’. But it was not there. Next we looked for the word ‘Karanprayag’. The bus to Karanprayag was full and next bus would go around 8 a.m. And we started to look for shared jeep, cursing the Roadways bus driver who was to be blamed reasonably. 7 a.m and we were still looking. We took auto and went to Dehradun Chowk which had the sort of jeep stand. We paid Rs. 10 each with arguments with the auto driver for some 2kms.

A House At Wan

Atlast we got one taxi that would go but after he has ample passengers to carry, so we wasted time sipping on tea and gossiping. Around 8 we started for Karanprayag finally. Around 2 pm we reached there, and immediately boarded the bus going to Tharali. Then, a jeep that took us some 15 kms from there and we changed bus again for Deval. On reaching Deval, I started to look for the bus.

Sanjeev Enjoying with kids at Wan

One with the board we were looking for – ‘Lohajung’ with fine chalk print on its windshield. It was 4 pm and the bus started for Lohajung. By 6 pm we were there, at GMVN, asking for accommodation and for our guide ‘Mohan Bisht’.

Saurabh @ Forest Rest House, Lohajung

We got the message that our guide could not come and we need to take the equipments on rent and meet him at Bedni Bugyal. We were upset quite much now and tired too. And we decided to look out for a place to rest. We were given the Forest Rest House at Lohajung which was next to GMVN and was not finished yet. The caretaker didn’t give anything but a kerosene lamp in the name of accommodation and charged us Rs. 100. And we came back looking for sleeping bags, tent and mattress at Pujari Hardware Store. Then approached us a lean, tall man who was a guide too. He said he has a group for Roopkund and that we could follow him. He also offered a porter to us whom we found ‘high on attitude’, and ‘low on enthusiasm’ to take us. After deciding on the arrangements, we went to eat and came back around 8:30 pm to our hut, rolled out our sleeping bags and went to sleep.

Scene at Wan

Next morning, we were up by 5:30 all set to go but our guide cum porter came at 7. This angered us. Then he started to behave in an awful manner and got choosey about what he’ll lift and what he won’t despite we agreed to lift out own things. It agitated us and we kicked him out. We took our stuff on our shoulders and began to walk towards ‘Wan’ along the road. It was a bright sunny day. We could already feel the coolness in the breeze and tips of the mountains looked more than green, more closer than they appear. We were quite much enjoying without focusing on what is next?

Kunwar Singh Bisht (L)

Sanjeev was leading, it was strange see him sitting and chating with a villager, and that’s when he said to me ‘someone asking for us’, here after we had walked some 6kms? As I came forward, I was told by the stranger that he has been sent by Mohan, to take us to Bedni Bugyal where he will be waiting for us. We at once rejected him and made him realize the damage caused to us by Mohan. This guy in his mid thirties, looked sober and simple, typical villager, smoking beedi and with his horse on his left, grazing upon whatever stuff it could eat in haste. The guy’s name was Kunwar Singh Bisht and he was Mohan’s Uncle, though looked almost of Mohan’s age, i realised when we met Mohan in Bedni Bugyal.

Valley View of Wan

With small interaction, soon we included him in our pool, decided to have him as our porter-cum-guide and on condition that we pay him Rs. 1200 for this trip including his food who he only will cook. We had everything with us now. But best part was we three were off the load and the tension now. We had ‘Ramu’ the horse carrying our stuff from Kuling onwards now. And we took out the cameras that we were in bags. We reached Wan around 12 pm, we were fast.

We ate our meal here and waited for the showers to stop. At 1 we resumed our quest to reach out for grand Trishul views that I had seen in many pics at flickr.com back in Delhi. Roopkund started to fascinate more and more as we get closer. Bedni Bugyal is some 18kms from Wan village which is land’s end and locked from 3 sides, while Bedni was big grass meadows (alpine meadows) stretched on acres of land (hence called bugyal).

Trishul

We saw the first view of Nanda Ghunti as we started to climb the last ridge and appear out of jungle on a big patch of grass. The sun was settling down fast, and clock showed 6 pm. We hurried to search for a place to camp among the quite few visible. We were too tired for dinner and soon dozed off and after lights went dim from all sides – we started to talk. This was Sanjeev’s and Saurabh’s first time experience in tent. The wind was blowing hard and last I remember was it started to downpour. We were not sleeping, just resting. Saurabh was scared just when Sanjeev said – "looks like wind might blow our tent". To both suddenly Delhi started to look better. After few hours, the sun streamed in and morning was a different day and different story – Delhi again became vulgar and criminal.

Our Campsite

We observed that during our this tour we had less time to talk about self and our attached issues but has much more to observe and walk. I remember Saurabh commenting, “On hills, we actually are constantly fighting with our mind”. The context came from our tiredness and hunger that was proving obstacle in our physical ability to meet our limits. But later we analyzed that we did nothing but the walking and our abilities have actually improved. And now we think of its perseverance, as we mentally prepared ourselves for the next day to Roopkund.

Sanjeev lazily remarked, “I think I would stay back”! I looked at him to confirm from him again. He was not in the mood to walk and therefore we started to walk towards the path to Kali Dak. Kunwar Singh is now leading us. We walked slowly with D80 to capture the best moments of our lives. And after walking for some one and half hour we reached Kali Dak standing upfront before us. It was cloudy and sun was playing hide and seek, though hiding mostly.

View At Bedni Bugyal

We sat to click few pics and then stated to move again towards Kalu Vinayak pointed as a spot by Kunwar using his finger. Tough walk on steep slope and narrow sideways didn’t bother us. It was the food that we didn’t had. We just brought some ‘gud ki sev’ and ‘namkeen’. Though we had eaten ‘kichri’ before starting in the morning.

We reached Kalu Vinayak soon and offered our prayers to lord Ganesha. It was refreshing. I could feel the wind blowing onto my face. Chill it was, but chilling was the view of snow filled valley on the other side. It was all white, the mighty mountains all over.

Nandaghunti Visible in the Back (moving from Bedni to Kali Dak)

And we resumed towards Bhagubasa. From here we just walk along the path in the shadow of mountain. Along the way, we saw three young boys with their guide who had plans to stay at Bhagubasa. To my mind, it was rather not a good idea with temperature subzero and wind blowing us apart. I was feeling sorry for not bringing my other jacket and I already have lost one of my gloves, getting busy with photography. After walking some 2kms more I realized it makes no sense to continue.

Kali Dak Shining High

It could start raining anytime. And I after given it thought again, stopped to sit and see the scenery around.

Kalu Vinayak

The purpose was to not to miss the beauty in walking and reaching nowhere because I knew we would never be able to make it to Roopkund. The reason is not the distance. Infact it is not even 2 km for here. The reason rather is big snow patches that we might not be able to cross. But Saurabh was adamant to go. He continued like a Private in war who is told to march forward, come hell or fire. He crossed one with less effort but then another patch was too big for him and I shouted “Come back”!

It was 2:30 p.m, clouds all over, quite chilling when we trio stopped to take one last view of Roopkund as pointed by Kunwar Bisht. In another 10 minutes, it started to snow and we resumed our journey back towards Bedni, quite satisfied with what we saw.

Scene At Kalu Vinayak

We didn’t stopped anywhere in between until we reached Kalu Vinayak with snow flakes still floating in the air. One last view, a heavy breath and with folded hands to bid goodbye to Ganesha, we started again to comeback to reach Bedni Bugyal by dawn.

Some Views from Bhagubasa

Roopkund (down under gorge)

At Bhagubasa (we met 3 trekkers) Last Shot from Bhagubasa

Valley View from Kalu Vinayak

It was sun shining high at Patal Nachunia, near Kali Dak. We took the short cut following Bisht. Here we took out whatever we had to eat and basked ourselves in the sun though it was not pleasant.

Coming Back to Bedni

The wind was still piercing us. It was around 6 pm when we returned back to Bedni. With us came the dark clouds chasing us, and soon after it started to rain. We quickly went into our 2 men tent that has 3 of us inside in our sleeping bags. Kunwar made us some tea which we sipped delightfully but I had almost lost all my appetite by now. All night it rained, it kept us up though with eyes closed. This is when I tried to recall the scenes that have left impression on my mind. Kali Dak, Kalu Vinayak, the Clouds, the Wind, the Mountains and the Snow, they all are beautiful.

Fog came all along with us to Bedni

But why this ‘night’, and we ‘three’ started to wish for this night to end without speaking to each other. The next morning was bright, sun warming us up but wind continued to blow. We started early around 7 to reach Lohajung. We chose the Ali Bugyal route to come back (not from Wan). Ali Bugyal reminded me of Rudranath trek, vast grasslands, herds and flocks of goat and sheep, open valley view, and complete silence. If you have been there, you would have known how the sweet breeze soothes the brain, leaving you with no thoughts.

My eyes absorbed all that it could do – the parrot green colour of the grass without patches and in perfect symmetry, the path that looked craved out with a chisel, and all I could think of is that

it takes a price to be here surrounded by these mountains and land.

Beautiful Ali Bugyal

We came down crossing the long Ali ridge stretched over some 9-10kms and found ourselves into a thick jungle that is referred to as Tolpani. Coming down was hard and tough. The body was aching, it was slippery all over due to dry leaves and moist soil, and Saurabh slipped again for 3rd time. We again crossed Neel Ganga. It would have been good to rest along the shores. But unfortunately, the rain started soonafter we got to Tolpani. We hurried our way to climb up again towards Kuling, which required some 6kms to be covered.

Last Slope At Ali that we crossed before decending into jungle of Tolpani

Rain was at its best, clouds all over, not willing to let us go. When rain slows down we start to walk with our sheets of plastic covering our body. We touched Kuling at around 2p.m. The scene was different by now. From Ali’s pleasant weather to cloudy and windy, we took it as it came. At Kuling we sipped tea, call our homes and stared again to hit Lohajung. It was almost near so we had nothing to worry except the place to stay and pity for other people who had plans to do Roopkund today. I remember it was snowing at Bhagubasa, forcing us to come back to Bedni.

It was 3 p.m and rain stopped but wind still blowing hard but we three were carefree. We were glad that we are almost near to Lohajung. We finally reached the place around 5 p.m in our perfect leisure. We went straightaway to Pujari Hardware to return his tents and sleeping bags. The old man himself checked up each and every thing that he had rented and after some 25 minutes of examination, he gave us our cautious money back. This time he was polite in behaviour.

Towards Tolpani

We checked in Garhwal Mandal Rest House, and hit the beds in the dormitory. The caretaker was good man from Wan; he gave us the room that has 5 beds for Rs. 100 each. And it started to rain again with voices in the sky. Sanjeev and Suarbah went out in rain around 6:30 or so to get some hot paranthas and tea. We enjoyed till the last piece of it, though our taste buds were not allowing us to say wow! We again got into our beds and started to browse pics in our 3 cameras. Sanjeev missed out the adventure and beauty since he didn’t go to Roopkund (or Bhagubasa), stayed at Bedni. We dozed off before 10 p.m.

A Distance Board At Lohajung

Somebody knocked our window, I got up. The voice said bus leaves at 4A.M. By now Saurabh and Sanjeev were up too. We washed up and packed our stuff. At the sound of the bus horn, we came out and settled in the bus to Rishikesh.

It was one of those wonderful experiences and trips that I have savored and cherished except the nights that are sleepless, and reminds you of home sweet home. And I thought, looking out of the bus window at the river Pindar flowing with us, my footprints of this journey will last for ever, even when I am not around.

Itinerary we followed:

Day 1: Left Delhi at 9 PM for Rishikesh, reached around 5:30-6 A.M (Some 250 kms).

Day 2: From Rishikesh at 8 A.M around took Jeep to Karanprayag, reached at 2 P.M (some 180 kms), boarded bus to Tharali (another 35 kms), jeep to Deval (some 12kms), Deval to Lohajung (50-60kms) reached around 6 P.M.

Day 3: Started from Lohajung (forest rest house) to Wan (some 12kms) via Kuling (centre between both), Jeep road but really a mess; contrary a pleasant walk, Had lunch at 1 P.M at Wan, which is last village enroute. Reached Bedni Bugyal by 6 P.M covering some 28 kms. Pitched our tents.

Day 4: Had breakfast at 7 A.M, started towards Roopkund. Passed Kali Dak, Patal Nachna, Kalu Vinayak and Bhagubasa. (some 13kms one-side). Came back to Bedni Bugyal.

Day 5: Started around 7 A.M towards Ali Bugyal, Tolpani, Crossed Neel Ganga and reached Kuling at around 3 P.M (it started to rain after we cross the Neel Ganga barrage). Reached Lohajung around 5 P.M.

Day 6: At 4 A.M took bus to Rishikesh. Reached by 4 P.M. Had Poori-Choley at Geeta Bhawan followed by sweetmeat at Ram Jhoola, took bus to Delhi around 10 P.M. Reached early morning.

© Himanshu
For pics please see www.flickr.com/myth_drinker

Into the Unknown/Kedarkantha

Kedarkantha is located in the district of Uttarkashi, however the city is some 190kms from place called Sankri (saan-kari) from where the popular trek to Har-Ki-Dun also starts (jeep goes till Taluka, then on foot trail starts Seema/Osla and Har-ki-Dun). Sankri can be reached from Dehradun via Naugaon-Purola-Mori enroute which is some 170 kms. Till Naugaon, the road moves along with Yamuna and at Mori it crosses the river Mori to move up towards Netwar and then Sankri.

The Top Visible Is KedarKantha

Sankri happens to be the last transport point officially. However hired jeeps go till Taluka which is some 11km from Sankri. Kedarkantha (3810 mtrs) is right above the village Sankri some 9kms steep trek upwards (seemed more than 11kms to me). As one moves up through the dense pine jungle amidst the plateau great Himalayan ranges especially Swargarohini (Badrinath) on the right side becomes visible alongwith Black mountain and the view of Bandarpoonch (Yumanotri) as guide was describing. Sankri

To the front one could see Himachal ranges and guide pointed his finger to the front citing some place called Chang Sheel pass which of course was not getting visible to me. All I could see a 360 degree snow view around me as I stand on a long plateau of farmland to give rest to my aching shoulders from the burden of rucksack. It was for last two times I have been canceling my trips to hills (apology to Manu, Hukum, Saurabh and Kiran for not making it to Gaumukh) due to official purposes that somehow always seem to come just before I intend to take break.
Raju (Our Guide)

And thinking about those 22 leaves I still had in my bag (this is December) and that in March they would lapse, I felt agitated and helpless once again.

Kiran called up on early Wednesday afternoon just before x’mas with his plan, but I still was not sure weather I would be able to make it with him to his dreamland. Thinking about hills was driving me mad and I decided to play a ‘serious performer’ and started toying with ideas that suits best for 2 days leave. Kiran Bhai

And, two days after (on 24th) I fell ‘serious’ ill (the plot worked fine!).

Wednesday 24th night we two met at ISBT Delhi exploring the options we have and Kiran’s idea seem perfect as imagined about a rural cold landscape. Kiran came late so I thought to gather some information from the bus driver who was cleaning the front mirror of this bus to Ponta Shahib. The driver had this flair for singing, speed and chatting which he later admitted and as I experienced (dude was driving between thick fog at 60+ speed) was contrary to other drivers with whom I have been going places.

Har-Ki-Dun Valley

We reached Vikasnagar at 5am in freezing cold. We took tea after getting down. The tea shop owner pointed that we will have to take another bus that would drop us at the place (a famous sweets shop which was some 4kms) from where the bus to Sankri would go. 6 am the bus leaves. We reached some 20 minutes before but the bus left only at 7am with handful of people. I tried to remain awake but soon dozed off. Kiran was already under the spell of sleep (he slept all the way to Dehradun). I didn’t slept much, sun was getting warm and I needed a tea. Me!

The route seemed beautiful with no big towns, no herd of people, and elevated roads with frequent hiccups. We stopped at Naugaon and enjoyed a bottle of Limca each, then another halt at Purola. This halt was for about 1 hour and people rushed into the bus. I guess not many buses go beyond Purola. At 1pm the bus started again and we reached Mori and then Netwar.

Purola

The route after Purola to Mori (50 kms/2hrs) and Netwar (25kms/1hr) was under the forest land and suddenly the civilization started to vanish away. Around 4:40 pm we reached Sankri (18kms from Netwar) and located GMVN. We got the room for 400 bucks with no electricity or hot water facility. It was freezing cold when around 7pm we came down again to market to eat where we inquired for places to visit. Its then only I came to know that Sankri is the place from where the trek to Har-Ki-Doon starts. But we didn’t had time for Har-ki-Doon and the option we were given was Kedarkantha.

Next morning we got up early. While Kiran wanted to walk down and see and picture people around, I was thinking about Kedarkantha. Finally Kiran also agreed for a 2 day trek, and we arranged for guide from the guy we spoke to last night who happens to own the Sankri Himalayan Samiti. Massif of Swargarohini

Our guide Raju was lean and thin man in his 30ties but experienced quite well. He told us about the places he has been to and foreign girlfriends that he had especially the one from Britain who always plan trip with him only. I was rather interested in something else, and said, “Can we please have some tea”! He took us to a hut nearby where we were offered black tea. The guy worked there in fields and lives all alone since he lost his way some 26 years back from Nepal and now works as care taker of fields. Polite and humble with no expressions of regret or thinking of his family (when I asked him about).
Taal along the Way!

We started again and reached a plateau – a big terrace with nothing on it. In front clearly visible were Himachal ranges. I enjoyed what I saw – snow covered and closely arranged mountains with sharp tips. And we continued walking.

Walking about some 5kms we reached a lake that was completely surrounded by thick forest. Guide lighted some fire and served us hot paranthas and tea but we were filled with too much of water and after 1 and half more we rejected to eat. Tea I have always enjoyed.

Break for the Day

We resumed walking upside slowly and after covering about 2kms we stated to see the snow flakes lying all over the field. We decided to halt and camp near to water source. The temperature was dipping and it was indeed freezing cold. We did a couple of shoots and returned back to camp on the call of Raju and begin to blow the fire to fight the cold and warm our night. Later sometimes we were served Maggi and the tea again. Despite out very best efforts we could not light the fire on the log that we had thought would keep us warm until midnight. Himachal Side of Hills

So we retire to our sleeping bags in the camp. Me and Kiran could not sleep well. It was very cold and the tent had 2 holes through which wind was blowing and hitting us hard. Raju was out by 5:30 and he fired the light to make us some tea. Soon we were also up and started to pack the tent cursing the guy who supplied us the gear.

The morning was fresh but walking on snow was getting hard. It was all up-hill way and the fresh snow was making us slip into small pits every now and then. Campfire

We also had no choice since we did not bring any gear to equip us for this undecided excursion.

Soon after Kiran said ‘No’! We were just 1km away from hill top which was clearly visible with four (actually five) stones on the top. Now that the sun was up too and wind was blowing cool, I was enjoying the feel though tired. Kiran shouted again, “I will be here only, you guys go!”

Walking in the Snow

It was getting hard for me too but certainly I didn’t want to leave it here and I followed Raju, our guide. After some 250 mtrs I gave up to. The peak was near and clearly visible were 5 pillars on it of almost equal height. It was an amazing sight which certainly could not be put into words. And I rested for a while uncomfortably though. The snow was making it hard and then the wind piercing my ears. And we both decided to come back. Morning View of Swargarohini

I recalled that it was not the first time I could not touch the point even being so near to it and suddenly I remembered that during my Gaumukh trip also we faced something similar.

Me and Manu, and the cold October end. After reaching near to Bhojbasa (some 3 kms) we decided to come back to Gangotri due to discomfort. We were without any snacks or food, not even the water bottle and the worst was wind blowing that almost had got us down.

Kedarkantha Visible

We hardly could breath properly forget walking. That day we covered some 22kms of to and fro. Indeed an unforgettable moment. A little different but same we duo experinced in Narkanda during our Hatu temple walk between the think ice.

Hard Walk

So we started to comeback from Kedarkantha but not towards Sankri. Instead we opted to climb down towards Netwar. After walking down for some 6kms we decided to take lunch. The maggi again, which I ofcourse disliked. We resumed again after tea.

We continue to walk till the sun went down. However in between we again took a brief break at a village well known to Raju. He wanted us to end the day there itself. Kiran was also keen to stay. But his purpose was to capture people and village life in his lens, while I had the forest rest-house in my mind which I had seen at Netwar along the road over a small ridge.

Along The Great Indian Himalaya

Unfortunately neither we stayed in the village (I insisted to reach Netwar) and nor went to Forest rest-house at Netwar (we thought what if we don’t find any place there to sleep). We just had quick sip of warm soothing tea. Raju took us to a nearby village just a km before Netwar market. It was his relative’s. We spent the night in comfort except the snoring of Kiran which often annoyed me but then I was too tired to notice properly.

Me & Raju, Doing Our Best

Next morning at 8 around we took the private bus to Purola and then from there Uttarakhand Roadways to Dehradun via Mussorie. At 7pm we reached Dehradun and filled our stomachs quickly. Then we took the night bus at 9pm from the Roadways bus stand. I remember I met the same guy who came with us till Vikas Nagar from Delhi. We chatted for an hour or so and then I dozed off.

Raju, Basking in the Sun in the Village

I might have fallen to sleep but in my mind was with all those people whom I met during this trip and after a while I reminded myself two words –

‘Born Again’.

© Himanshu

For pics please see www.flickr.com/myth_drinker