Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Koteshwar temple at Rudraprayag

Our travels began at Haridwar.  Read about it here.

July 22nd, 2012
I can't get over how hot it is!

9am - and we set out from Haridwar to begin our climb into the Shivaliks.  Destination Rudraprayag. 900m and about 165 kms from Haridwar.

Cheerful Manmohan was all set, WOW badge and all!

Met up with our guide for the trip, Abhimanyu.  He runs Happy Holidays at Dehra Dun, and was thorough, professional and highly recommended to anyone who wants to travel in Garwhal.

About halfway between Haridwar and Rudraprayag is Devprayag.  The confluence of Bagirathi and Alakananda, to form the Ganga.  Bagirathi is on the left and is a little less ferocious than the Alakananda.  About 800m elevation.

At the viewpoint where the confuence picture was taken I saw a pair of Himalayan bulbuls!  My frst sighting of this bird!

It was still blazing hot.  Check out the yellow vent, white cheeks and black crest.

4:30 in the evening, and we arrived at Monal resorts.  On the banks of the Alakananda
Exploring the Koteshwar temple

The grand cliffs towering over the Alakananda gorge

The suspension bridge over the gorge
The river thundered below
Steps leading down to the riverfront.  On our return, the water levels had risen above these steps!
The temple is inside the cave, and is made up of natural rock formations.  Now, some idols have been installed before the steps coming down.
Reptiles and roots!





This dog was having fun in the water!



Ferns growing out of the crevice!



Abhimanyu had brought Dasehri mangoes for dinner and (according to my dear friend Raji), I ate one piece too many.  Result - an uncomfortable night with constant visits to the toilet.  By the morning, I had purged everything out, and feeling weak and tired.

How was I going to make the trek?  Another long road trip to Badrinath awaited me!

Har ki Pauri at Haridwar

July 21st 2012

Arrived Delhi T3 along with Gapi, to join eight other ladies on our trip to Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand.  Three from Gurgaon, two from Bangalore, one from Erode, one from Pondy and one from Mumbai.


Set off in a Tempo Traveller, with Manmohan our driver.  The countryside through UP is full of sugarcane fields, mango orchards and it is quite green. Fed by canals of Yamuna and Ganga I think. Lot of dusty, crowded towns too, traffic is quite bad. We passed Roorkee where the IIT seems to be the raison d'etre.

And guess what,  Baba Ramdev's huge HQs!! It is massive!! We had a stop at a highway resort called Moolchand where we had tea and idli with north indian sweet sambar!! The grilled cheese sandwiches were also good.

We reached Haridwar at around 6pm and went directly to har ki pauri. This is a bathing ghat on the banks of the Ganga where every evening there is an aarti in honour of Gangadevi.
Baba Ramdev posters exhorting Indians to go swadeshi



The huge Shiva, seen enroute to the canal where the aarti is performed.  Receiving Ganga in his locks?
The Har ki Pauri bathing ghats

And what is SC Bose doing here?!
Aarti offerings.  And huge cans for taking back Ganga jal?

The Sringeri temple

Tourists, pilgrims crowd the bridge before the aarti. During the aarti, this bridge is kept clear.

This is the canal, diverted for the aarti purpose I think.  The clock tower was built by the Birlas, and is a landmark.  "Meet me at the clocktower", or to the left of it, or in front of it!
The place was teeming with tourists, pilgrims, exotic hippies, flies, roadside shops, blaring speakers.  I put my feet in the water, and it was chill but muddy! Flows swiftly here.

We went and took our place on the steps to watch. A man next to me was loudly discussing a relation's illness on his mobile phone! By the end of the aarti I knew that he had poor regard for lady doctors, the patient in question being asked to just eat well and not having been given medicines!!

On the river's edge jean clad purohits were helping people do pujas. Raji and I were feeling most irreligious and also mildly worried about the possibilities of a stampede!!

But, every few rows there was a temple administrator maintaining some order. It always amazes me how with these huge crowds and seeming chaos, we go through with these events.

The puja started, it was broadcast on a public address system. And then the "real" pujaris showed up, or so it seemed, with veshtis!!

The MC priest for the evening
As the sun fell lower in the sky, the prayer ended, the aarti lamps were lit, the conches blew and the bells were struck.  I liked this part best.

An interesting modification I thought was the priest asking us all to take an oath promising not to dirty the Ganga, and to work to keeping it unpolluted.  All through the evening, there were loudspeaker announcements asking pilgrims to throw plastic in the bins and not into the river.

Given my knowledge of Hindi there was some comic relief.  This is what Raji, Gapi and me heard - "Sabhi log apne patni ko haath me le jaaiye.  Patni ko nadi ke kinare chodiye math.  Patni nahin chahiye, tho dustbin me daaliye."

What?!  Was this a joke?  Our Punjabi friend Vattsala clarified patiently that they were saying "panni" and not patni.  Panni being Hindi for plastic!! 




Gangadevi murti


By 8pm, we made our way out, finished with this bit of Indian exotica.

9am departure next morning for Rudraprayag! Where the Alakananda meets Mandakini.

Day 3 Andaman - The road to Rangat

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