Diminished or vanished snows on mountaintops and valley,
thin forests on hill slope and dried up fountains indicated a relative rise
of temperature as compared to my last visit, about ten years back. However, a partly melted and slided huge ice capping at
the road attracted the Yatris. At about 3 Km from Kedarnath, the Arati
of the falling setting Sun rays on the Snow capped mountains kept us spellbound. I told her the Folktale about Kedarnathji. We were very eager to Visit Kedarnath us but unaware of the shock and disbelief
waiting for us.
(links to other parts 1to 8 are given at the bottom of the page)
YATRA FROM GOURIKUND TO KEDARNATH
With two backpacks on our shoulders and sticks on our hands, we
started climbing up the narrow road with hair- pin bends from Gourikund to Kedarnath.
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The traffic jam from Rampur
Although failed to manage incoming vehicle parking, the state
govt. made nice arrangements of prepaid Horses, Palkis, and Dollis ending all
the bargains.
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Depending on the weather clearance, there are regular
helicopter services throughout the day, which takes about 14 minutes to reach.
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Like our population, every other thing on this road such as the no
of Pilgrims, Horses, Palkis, tea shops etc increased exponentially since my
last visit on the same road about ten year’s ago. However, the width of the
road remained the same because of slope cutting restriction.
Keeping in mind, the altitudes, and the total climbing distance on
a hilly road of average gentle gradient, we planned our halts at every 1.5 Km
with fruit juices, dry fruit, and Biscuits and occasional coffees.
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We plan in a similar way while exploring for minerals on a hilly
terrain and I worked in both the Eastern and Northern
Himalayas .
Susmita accompanied me on those trips and we both were used to
climbing up for longer distance in tougher Himalayan terrains.
However, this time the plan based on the entries of my own diary
failed badly as the entire set up of climate changed abruptly.
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To make up the loss of time we skipped two halts but compelled to
take rest beside a semi dried up hill spring. Our light woolen garments and the raincoat were wet not by the usual
occasional rains of early May, but by our own sweats. We kept them in the
backpack in a plastic bag and wore Jeans and T- shirts.
We trickled into Zigzag ways amid the crowds to
walk faster but the incoming and outgoing Horses coming continuously along with the
smell of their urine and heaps of stools made the traverse real uphill and tricky task.
We reached Ramwara, just at the middle of the trek, before our
expected time, wiping out the loss of time. This place with no. of restaurants,
Dhabas and few Hotels appear as a small town.
Unlike other Pilgrims, we avoided any lunch but consumed only a
pack of date, roasted cashew nuts, and coffee to keep us fit for the remaining
trek of six Km, steeper than the rest.
Just lifting my head from the map I did not find Susmita and a
cold wave ran in my spine. The valley side here is very unstable.
She called me before I could yell. She was there, about 50 m up,
just near a culvert on a tiny hilly tributary. A big hard icecap from the
mountain probably rolled down the slope few days ago and became standstill just
before that culvert. The ice melted partly and now appeared as several ice
caves.
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When I reached there, she was already inside the cave and busy taking
snaps.
I had to remind her that till then, we were doing excellent progress and only if
we keep it up we might reach before the evening Arati at Kedarnath.
The last words as if brought her back to reality and she said “Arati
at Kedarnath! We must see that. Let’s
move then.”
Completing the
last steep part of Garud choti, we both looked at the watch and felt
comfortable. Kedarnath is just a Km
away.
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We were in a
valley surrounded by snow-clad mountains on all sides. Within another hour,
darkness would set in. The flow of
Pilgrims reduced to trickle making the valley silent enough to hear and enjoy the
resonated duet sound of, cold wave blowing from the Ice capped mountains, and
the flow sound of Alakananda.
Covering us with
woolen garments and Jackets, we sat comfortably on a culvert for the last two
cups of coffee. Susmita picked up a bunch of wild flowers and I tucked it on
her long black hairs.
Right then the dim sun rays appeared for a moment. The snow-capped peaks changed color from white
to Pale orange red but we maintained the silence, clasped hands of each other,
and saw the Arati of the nature.
As we started moving
towards the bridge on Alakananda she broke the silence with a mild voice “Dear Pundit
ji, Tell me something about Kedarnath
Temple
I said, “I know
very little, mostly from the Kathak thakurs narrating Shivpurana through their
lyrical performance and something from the Net.
It is so said
that Bhimji of Mahabharata was meditating hard for a darshan of Shivji who
appeared in the disguise of a Buffalo temple of Pandavas
We checked in at
GMVN’s Devlok lodge, took a refreshing warm bath, and left for Arati darshan at
the Kedarnath Temple
Possibly, there
is an invisible halo of divine attraction, the moment you see the top crest of
the Kedarnath temple and many persons including us felt it.
We were
unaware that at the same place shock and disbelief were waiting for us. links to other episodes from 1 to 8 are given below.
For Part 1
For Part 2
For Part 3
For Part 4
For Part 5
For Part 6
For Part 7
For Part 8
http://pradipwritenow.blogspot.in/2013/09/a-trek-to-dev-bhoomi-for-devas-part-8.html
1 comment:
So far so good. Great pics too.
I am glad about the prepaid dollis...
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