Winding roads, a bad stomach and Badrinath!

Continued from here.

July 23rd 2012. Day 3

We set off for Badrinath, and then Govind Ghat after breakfast.  I was fatigued, weak, and not hungry at all.  Decided that plain toast and black tea was the wisest solution.  All the others were feasting on aloo paratha, poha, buttered toast, and Archana was freaking out with cheese toast as well!!

I took an Avomin someone gave me - Damayanti I thnk - and was knocked out for most of the trip!!  In between, everytime I opened my eyes, there was the Alakananda gushing away!

The Alakananda.  We followed it faithfully.

The hillsides were green after the July rains.

There seem to be many hydel projects, coming up.  These mountains, this water, so precious to the whole country.  We cannot afford to kill this golden goose.  How disastrous would that be.

Arrived at Badrinath!

Around 2.30, we rolled to a halt at Badrinath, and the air was clrisp and clean, and it was such a relief to tumble out of our Tempo Traveller.

What a tough life in these hills, and even for people like our driver Manmohan life is on the edge, I thought.

One mistake, and we could have been in several of the ravines we climbed over.

It was lunch and the temple was closed, so we went to an eatery with this wonderful view of the temple.  3,300m or so we were at.  Roughly the height of our base camp at Ghangria then!

I ate - guess what - idlies!!  I was eyeing Sonya's makki rotis with sarson ka saag!!  Others had Gujarathi thalis, and other such goodies.  Abhimnayu warned us off the lassi, and Vattsala was most unhappy at this!!

Post lunch we set off across the river, headed for the temple.  At this point I decided to walk ever so slowly.  First of all I had no energy and secondly wth the altitude at 3000m+, I decided it was not going to be very comfy doing anything briskly!!

On the bridge across the Alakananda

Looking upstream...

...And downstream....

...and the captivating peaks and clouds

At the foot of the temple!

Sulphur springs - the ladies' pool

So different from our south Indian ones and thankfully no rush.  I actually did two "darshans"!  I went in, saw the Vishnu in the padmasana pose, admired the large Kuber and Garuda on either side, marvelled at the lack of pushing and shoving and the unrushed atmosphere, came out, did a pradakshina, and then met up with the others.

For some reason, I had the urge to go back in, and I did.  I did not have a special prayer on my lips nor was I filled with any feelings of religiosity, but I marvelled at Adi Shankara having travelled all the way up here, and in some wierd sense I was filled with an undescribable awe.

The temple is open only for six months in the year.  This year it opened on April 29th, and as I write this, landslides, flash floods and heavy rain have led to thousands of pilgrims being stranded at the Badrinath temple, and the Char dham yatra (to Badri, Kedar, Yamunotri and Gangotri) has been suspended, currently.

But there we were, enjoying beautiful weather, dipping our feet in the taptakund - it was hot!!  So, feezing cold waters of Alakananda and scalding hot waters in the taptkund!  Quite amazing!  Badri Vishal ki Jai indeed!

We walked back to the Tempo traveller, and I further drank in the views, relieved that my stomach seemed to be settling.

A waterfall gushed down a cliff

We did not go to Manas, the last Indian village before Tibet, as it was getting late.  The upper fork leads there.

Snows, electricity lines and a guest house too!

Water everywhere

The hotel

So we wound our way down to Govindghat and the Bhagat palace hotel, by 5.30 in the evening.  Our resting place for the night, and the start of our trek next morning!!

All the rooms look out into the valley of the Lakshman Ganga river, and we could see pilgrims and mules returning from their pilgrimages!

All of us were nervous, edgy and excited.

The view

Night came, and Abhimany gave us directions as to what to carry in our backpacks - keep them as light as possible.  The mules would carry our luggage up.  Some stuff that we did not need over the next few days, we left behind with Manmohan in the tempo.

Post-dinner, and disaster in the form of more loosies struck me.  Thankfully, Gapi went across to Shreelatha our doc, and came back with orders from the doc that I was to take two tablets of something she gave me - I've forgotten the name!!  She lectured me on how I should have taken them in the morning itself, chided me for not telling her (though I did think that everyone knew!) and instructing me to keep myself hydrated.  I was very obedient, took the tabs, had a glass of electrolyte and went to bed, wondering wondering whether I be able to walk the next morning or would I have to stay back, or would I need to take the mule to Ganghria.

Read about the trek here.

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.

Balcony birding with a rainbow

One tailorbird flitting
Two Bulbuls singing
Three sunbirds twittering
Four barbets cocking their heads
Five parakeets winging and screeching
A few mynahs preening
Several babblers, busily pecking
Dozens of pigeons, gurgling
And of course those countless crows, cawing.

I wonder if they were excited about the rainbow too?

From my balcomy.  To the left of the Millingtoia filled with birds, first.

Then, a sliver of rainbow, above the Millingtonia

And then, the sun caught the raindrops to the right of the Millingtonia

And all this time, the birds twittered and chirped and gurgled and cawed.
And the cars honked in the street below and the motorcycles gunned their engines.
Was I the only observer?

Koel season again

The Ko-el crescendoes last year, inspired me to rhyme.  It's that time of the year again.  Koel breeding time, and the black male birds call out in their what sounds like a desperate bid to woo their mate!

We can vouch for a rise in the Asian Koel population.  Morning and evening, we hear them, tirelessly calling.

But what has been different this year, according to me, is that they seem to be more "bold" than before.  In the past, it would be difficult to spot them, as they called from well-leafed trees, hidden in the canopy.

This last week however, we have seen this chap, in full view of all, calling from the bare branches of the Indian Ash, in my neighbour's garden.  The Indian Ash (Lannea coramandelica) goes through many an avatar.  Post-mosoon, it is full of leaf, and the tree resembles a teenager with overgrown hair!

Lannea in full leaf, post-monsoon.

Lannea in flower!  March/April

In spring or early summer, it looks like this, strings of amber flowers.

Then, it sheds all its leaves through the summer, and looks quite bare.  It is on this bare tree, that this koel sits and sings these days.

He is so regular this last fortnight, that I am tempted to give him a name.

And the lady koel...sometimes I feel she is fed up with his song, as she seemingly flees from one tree going, kr-kr-kr-kr-kr!!  Or is that a "come hither" call?!