On 27 September
at 3 am I left my hostel for the trekking. I was a part of the trek of 9
students to the valley of flowers, considered as one of the place which you
called heaven on earth. We all were very excited, especially the first yearite
who was going on such a trek for the first time. Our group was total of 9,
three 3rd yearites, five 2nd yearites and one facchha.
27 September-
the made journey
Well it was
the day we spent our day in bus. Starting from the roorkee at 3:30 am, we
reached rishikesh in 1.5 hr and then from there, we caught the bus to govind
ghat and that was a long journey of about 12 hrs. In the first couple of hrs I
was sleeping in the bus when I was awakened by the seniors for some breakfast
and then only I saw that we have entered the green lash area of uttarakhand.
After having my breakfast the real thing begins which you may called my natural
romance. After that my journey was completely submerged in nature, amidst the
beautiful hills, the narrow uneven wet roads which at some places allow only
one vehicle at a time and in the danger of falling of bus at any moment.
Afterall journey in such areas is risky and it could only be made in day and
all passes are called off after 4 p.m. Many a times our bus jumped on hard
rocky roads, sometimes passes through some water fill areas and sometimes
tilted to the extent that I actually screamed for help and then the next moment
laughing at my own move.
As we were going up and up, it was like moving towards the sky. At one point I saw the clouds
very near to me and the very next moment I find myself among the clouds,
completely surrounded by mist and fog and yet still I could see clouds above me.
I was like completely absorbed by the darkest of clouds and yet screaming
for more like a 2 yr old child who can never be satisfied by toys. I could even
find myself completely melt in the warm arms of mother nature, hugging me by
its soft soft hands and kissing softly on my forehead. It was like no desire
left to return to that fake world I belonged to. I just wanted to hide myself
here forever. No pains, no agonies and no apologies. It was just “you and me”
thing. Muuuahhhhzzz..!!!
Our journey
ended at about 5 p.m after a great time in the arms of nature and yet in it. If
you are not familiar let me tell you that there, in govind ghat is a famous
gurudwara. We decided to stay there for a night in a room. We went inside the
gurudwara, where aarti took place and took god’s blessing though I hardly
believe in god. But I was feeling taking blessing from the mother nature and
the kind people I have ever seen in that gurudwara. We ate our dinner in the
“langar” in gurudwara itself. Due to tiredness I actually slept at 8 only as
the next day we have to leave for trekking at 4 a.m.
28 September-the
toughest day of trek
Now it was
happening. We left gurudwara at 4:30 in the morning. It was going to be 13 km
trek to gaangria. None of us bathe as the temp there was less than 0 and the
water could actually freeze us out of our assess. Early at that time it was
dark and only one of us had torch. So one torch and nine climbers (as I wanted
to call all of us... rest our bags and state will tell you). I took the path
recklessly in the starting but within first 15 minutes the torn up part had
come and I realised after strucked by up-down path itself in the dark that I
have to take it seriously. After one hour it was dawn which made our path less
difficult. We all were moving enjoying the beauty of nature stopping at some
points, taking some energy sources we brought like biscuits, chocolates and glucon-D.
At such places you will find some unusual silence. Wind was the most noisy
thing there followed by the sound of water, full of energy, splashing and
thrilling itself against the hard rocks tearing apart the toughest of rocks and
making its way. It seemed like teaching something to me, inspiring and
motivating me. The path was very uneasy for us, at some places slope tending to
45 degrees and the path was never like a road. It was completely uneven and
rocky as if walking on the rocks. We ate nothing except some snacks till 10 km.
There we found a kind of open restaurant. Actually I found it like beach though
there was no sand there. But there was a platform kinda thing above the flowing
water. I must say damn sexy..!!! :P We had our lunch there which was more of a
kind of supper and none of us could digest it to our stomach. The last three
kms were the hardest I had ever travelled in my life. Those were like moving in
some construction area or some broken stairways of stone or wat else. We were
not even able to put our palms straight there and to travel those 3 kms it
actually took us 2 hrs. Atlast we reached gaangria at about 2 pm and booked a
room in some hotel. Then seniors suddenly changed their mind and told us that
we have time so we should also go to hemkund which is 6 kms more from here. So
all of us placed our bags in the room and decided to go there. Lemme tell you
that those 6 kms to hemkund was not a easy job. The actual height of it from
here was 1 km. So you can estimate the slope of the track. Further, a sardarji
told us that it’s quite late to go there as last entry there is around 3 and
you cnt manage to reach there in a hour and after 4 its dangerous to travel
those roads because of the stormy weather and wild bears and monkeys. But still
we didn’t change our minds. But there was a clear difference in our speeds as a
result of which we split into two groups one consisting of physically strong members
(5) and other 4 physically weak (including me). So those 5 were climbing very
fast and we were left behind moving or better say trying to move our legs.
After travelling 1.5 kms two of us quit and decided to return from here only as
they knew its impossible for them to travel that distance. I and other fellow
still continued on our way. After travelling another half km we felt thirsty
but we had only empty bottles with us and there was no shop on the way. That
was the time when we realised its better for both of us to back off and we
returned from there to our room. Till I reached my room it was 4 and after that
what I remember was that I was awakened for dinner and then in the morning for
moving. Rest of the time I was sleeping, everything morbid and I was unconscious.
29 September-the
journey to valley of flowers
On 29 September
we left our rooms at 6:30 in the morning for valley of flowers which is 3 kms
from gaangria. It was less tough and more interesting journey, as I expected.
At some places the road was as narrow as a man’s hand. At other place, there
was no path, we actually had to jump some over the stones. Though the valley
had no flowers because of the odd season but still it was appreciable. We
roamed in the valley, travelled a distance of about 7 kms, saw many things
including a grave of a women who died there when she was doing research on this
valley. We sat near the water stream, appreciated the mountains and wat not.
Then we moved back to gaangria where we had lunch. I had to repair my shoes so
in the process me and pawan lost contact with other group members. Thinking
that they had already left for govind ghat we continued and we actually found
them in a dhaba on the way. After having our lunch there I and pawan continued
the down journey of 13 kms. We stopped at many places, appreciated the beauty
of nature, jumped out of the track to enjoy the company of waterfalls and water
flowing in the streams. When we were 6 kms away from govind ghat we met a saint
in the way. Actually me and pawan were talking about ego (actually we were
talking about ego in girls :P) and on listening to that that saint interrupted
us and then three of us had interactive conversation. We got the company..!! He
told us that he is a doctor and he also works in Ramakrishna association. He
was a medical student who later in his life chose this as his path. He told us
about many things giving many examples and gave us lectures on life and death.
It was a two way conversation, actually three way, three of us interrupting the
other. Whenever he told us about god, I interrupted and asked whether it really
exists and did Ramayana and Mahabharata actually happened?? Those 6 kms were
the shortest and we had endless conversation, sometimes boring and sometimes
enthuastic. When we split he gave his phone no. and email id too, though I
never cared to contact. After reaching govind ghat we spend the night in the
same gurudwara.
30 September-
to badrinath
On 30th
September at 5 am we left and we were on our way to badrinath. One good thing
about badrinath is that you don’t have to walk upto there. A bus or taxi will
escort you exactly at the place you want. after one hour we were in the
badrinath. We bathe there in hot water stream and visited the temple, had our
lunch in a restaurant and enjoyed the place. We actually spent our most of the
time standing idle looking at natural beauty. Then we left for mana village
which is just 3 kms from badrinath and it took us hardly 10 mins to reach there
through taxi. It was a damn admiring place. I could hardly believe my eyes when
I saw a bridge naturally made from fallen rock. Below it was a waterfall and
sunrays falling on it producing a rainbow. We also visited temple in a cave and
had tea in the last tea shop. In the evening we stayed in a room in badrinath
itself. We had then best supper of the journey in a restaurant and we went to
sleep in the evening itself. I was not feeling sleepy as it was my last night
here and from the very next day I had to return to roorkee and I will be lost
again in my life. I wake up and roamed in the streets for a hour, not caring
for the cold. At about 10 pm I went to bed.
31 September-
way back to roorkee
We left at
about 5 in the morning and got in a bus to haridwar. We again met the same
natural scenes on our way back but this time they were screaming and asking us
to return here some day, someday when you fail to find yourself, someday when
you want to know yourself or someday when you will be sick of your life. Maybe
this place could give you what you want. The 12 hour bus journey was
tiring. Atlast we reached haridwara and from there to roorkee in the evening at
about 7. This was the end of the trip but not the end of the memories which will always float in my mind and will continue to be mine forever.
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