In my dictionary of contemplating thoughts trekking is synonym of life, because our life is exactly how trekking is. Every human being experiences different things in different stages of life. Trekking also unveils various new things that a person hasn’t experienced in life. The initial distance covered in order to reach any destination is like the first stage of life. We are new to this world in real life in first stage and new to the world of nature and panoramas while trekking. Even the smallest thing could make us happy and go crazy during this stage, be it toys, dresses and cartoons in real life or streams, butterflies, birds, spider webs and plants while trekking.
The excitement of the trek moves on to the second gear of seriousness after covering 1/4th of the distance. This is similar to the second stage of life where a person gets career oriented and starts taking life seriously. The tension to reach our goal (in life)/ destination (in trekking) increases with every step we take. Suddenly we start believing that every step taken towards the trekking destination is taking us away from it; so is the struggle for achievement in real life. The trail goes up and the trail goes down, just like the ups and downs of life.
The third stage of life makes us old and weak, which is comparable to the final distance while trekking. Near to end, every single moment in life and every step while trekking weakens us constantly. Finally, salvation is attained and the beauty of the surroundings is absorbed by us, after reaching the destination. A person wishes nothing more in life after reaching the desired destination, behind which lies courage to make it possible and an unforgettable experience. The life of a human ends up in the similar way, where our soul becomes free from material benefits and leaves our body.
While walking back on the trail, a trekking enthusiast senses a new beginning with cleansed soul and in context with the life, human soul searches for a new body to reside in after the death - for a new beginning in different form of life.
I don’t know if I have done justice towards elucidating my thoughts, but this is what I strongly believe in. If you find it all confusing, I suggest you to go for a trek and after experiencing that you will be able to comprehend the meaning of what I wrote. Seven days of trekking might teach you more about life, rather than simply living seven months.
The planning that started in August was on its full flow in the first week of October, 2008. Our next destination was the holy Rudranath Temple, 4th of the Panch Kedar temples of Lord Shiva. Bhupi, Saini, my brother Deepak, his colleague Aseem were all set for another adventure. Wait a minute, I forgot to mention myself, but if I am writing this blog post, it only means that I joined them too ;-). After doing enough research about the destination and its nearby places we finalised the date to depart from Delhi. The meeting point was McDonalds of ISBT Kashmiri Gate. Because of the unbearable traffic jam that particular day, we had to change our route and travel half the distance by Delhi Metro. All of us gathered with our backpacks and jumped on to the burgers, at least for a week we can’t expect any good junk food. We took a bus to Rishikesh and reached somewhere around 4 in the morning.
In order to save time we wanted to leave Rishikesh ASAP and move ahead, luckily a minibus from Rishikesh was ready to leave for Srinagar. My friend Monty was supposed to join us for the trip from Srinagar, so we decided to have our breakfast there. Even though we were hungry and the route from Rishikesh to Srinagar was of 4hours duration. I managed to control my hunger, but last night’s burgers started giving me hallucinations. We ordered Chai and paranthas at a restaurant in Srinagar, and greeted Monty. 6 of us took a bus to Gopeshwar and reached there around 2 o’ clock in the afternoon, had a good lunch there in Shangri La restaurant. Situated 5kms from Gopeshwar, Saggar is the starting point of the trek to Rudranath Mandir. It’s strange that instead of taking a jeep we planned to walk these 5kms, kind of warm up for the next day battle of 20kms trek. We reached Saggar and stayed at a small and affordable home stay run by a retired Army person.
Me, Bhupi, Saini & Deepak (Standing)
Aseem and Monty
Karnaprayag
Women at work
That 5kms walk
Bhupi, Saini and Aseem went to a small ancient temple of the village, where Ramlila was being performed. Rest of us stayed and even felt glad with our decision when the three muskeeters returned totally exhausted climbing up the 300stairs that took them down to the temple. We called home informing that we have safely reached upto Saggar, and that the adventure was to begin the next day. Some of us took the advantage of amenities like hot water and took a bath in the cold temperature of Saggar. People who skip such activities in hot and sultry conditions of Delhi, usually perform these activities outside :P. We had our dinner, discussed a few issues as if we give any shit about it and went to sleep after setting 4am alarm on all 6 phones. We woke up next morning bundled our stuff, left a few things back that were not required and packed aloo paranthas with achaar. ‘Om Namah Shivaye’ and we commenced our trek to Rudranath. The trek to Rudranath is considered as the toughest amongst all the Panch Kedar temples. Initially we were planning to take a guide with us but later we dropped the idea, a thought strike up my mind that very moment and I jotted it down.
‘The path that is followed by self instinct takes you to the desired destination, no matter how the journey may be’, the destination can be counted as one of the explorations, but what stays close is the essence of the journey made.
Temple at Saggar
the 3 muskeeters
all set for adventure. retired army person in red tracksuit
the Gang
The route from Saggar to Puu was quite tiring. Yes you got me right that place was named as Puu, a small meadow where we rested for a while. Saini bhaiya left a sign of existence at this place in the form of shit :P. We pulled up our socks and head towards the dense forest which ends at Lyuti Bugyal. Next 6-7kms were completely covered with dense forest and cascades. A group of 4 boys and 2 girls from a nearby town were behind us, but they followed different route. We were not sure that who was going wrong, and we weren’t worried either.
Puu
'Python, Cheetu (leopard) and Ballu (Bear) aaja beta kab tak chupega', these were the words we rhymed throughout the jungle hike. We all knew that one glimpse of any of these was capable enough of making us run madly in different directions. But the truth is that animals don’t like surprises, if you pop into them accidentally, it might piss them off. So, it is important to show your presence by making sounds. But however, if you are desperate enough to watch them live and bear the risk then go quiet. The vivid green colours and sound of numerous cascades added to the exhilarating experience of the jungle walk. The route was getting steeper and exhausting. Lyuti Bugyal was visible and a cottage was also there. We had tea, Maggi, another glass of tea, rested for a while and then started trekking again. Fatigued by the 2km vertical climb from Lyuti Bugyal, we finally managed to reach Panar. The sight was stupendous, depicting vistas of nature. The clouds were playing hide and seek with the mountains, and at that instance I memorized the Misty Mountains of the Lord of The Rings. 12kms journey upto Panar was completed, and we sensed an achievement, but what lay ahead of us was another 8kms trek to be covered the same day.
into the wild
Lyuti Bugyal
Monty, totally exhausted
on the way to panar
The local people told us that the route is difficult only upto Panar, and that rest of the route is easy. At Saggar the board tells that Rudranath is at a distance of 18kms, but my legs have passed a signal to my brain to mention that the trek is no less than 20kms. After clicking pictures on the edge of a precipice we head towards the Rudranath Temple. The mountain breeze soon turned out to be harsh and the route was covered with mist and clouds. We could barely see around 20-30mts of the rocky route, the feeling was like Frodo and Sam walking the Secret Stairs into Mondor. Enough with my Lord of the Rings locations, but it somewhat resembled. The walk seemed to be never ending and it felt like Lord Shiva was examining our devotion. Even an atheist will change his/her opinions after visiting such beautiful places which are difficult to reach.
Cottage at Panar
View from Panar
on the edge of a precipice
We crossed a ridge named Pitrodhar, the highest point of the trek. The only thought disturbing our confidence level was the very truth that we had to trudge back every step that we were taking. A glimpse of the beautiful Himalayan Monal on our way boosted us with energy, and we madly ran after the bird in the bunch of rhododendron trees. The sun was about to set, so we started walking again without wasting the time. After constantly hearing the sound of the wind, it was hard to believe that the valley also rejoices with the other melodious tunes, 'the ringing of temple bells'. We finally made it, Rudranath temple was visible and the temple bells were calling us. After keeping bags in a cottage, some 100mts before the temple, me and Saini went to the temple. The evening Aarti at the temple along with the constant ringing of bells was very pleasant to hear in this quiet and remote place. After reaching Rudranath, we started believing in the quote said by the locals, 'Rudranath ki Chadai, German ki Ladai'. Because the trek is as tough as fighting Germans in World War II.
Misty Mountains
May be its Bear Skull
Rudranath at far end
We returned to the cottage and started checking that whether our knees are in place or not. I could hear my legs abusing me because of the cruelty that I performed on them. The group that I mentioned about in the beginning reached in the dark, they wouldn’t have made it without torch. While checking the pictures in the digicam, we came to know that the words used by Aseem to define his camera were exaggerated. Bhupi bhaiya also had limited batteries and the continuous drizzling most of the time, prevented us from clicking lots of photographs. I washed my hands after dinner and by chance I looked above at the sky. I wasn’t able to believe what I was actually seeing – the stars, they were countless. I never saw these much in my life, and it felt as if I had telescopic eyes. Yet another discussion started about the existence of god, some sticked to their thoughts whereas some contradicted. No matter what we discussed, everyone sensed the positive vibes at Rudranath.
Every individual with a bottle of water was preparing to sit alone and attend the natures call. It was sheer pleasure to behold the beautiful sunrise from Rudranath. The alpine meadows, snow capped peaks, ancient temple, clear sky and pure environment makes Rudranath special. We visited the sacred temple of Rudranath, where the pandit was about to start the Shringaar Aarti. Twenty minutes of aarti at the temple revitalized and purified my soul to unfold a new beginning. After clicking a few pictures on auto mode we returned back to our cottage to have breakfast. We kept on gazing at the unparalleled beauty of the region and wished the place goodbye, with a promise to return back someday. Without showing least bit of pity towards our crying legs, the gang started trekking back to Saggar. Panar was easily accessible and a few climbs were to be crossed, the clouds again came in our way toughening the journey. The mist was stunning to watch in the beginning but later it was pretty annoying because we couldn’t get a good look of Panar - Too much of something, sooner or later will definitely exasperate. Tea, Maggi and drizzling was a treat at Lyuti Bugyal. The person who runs that small dhaba lives all alone there. It feels great to meet such people who live in the isolated places, only to serve the avid travellers like us. It is my desire to live at least for 2weeks all alone in a remote place, where I can hear the sound of the breeze & chirping of birds, where I can see the panoramas of nature and experience total solitude.
the enchanting sunrise
Himalayan Range
Rudranath Mandir
We trekked back through the most unlikely shortcuts where our legs were going through the durability test. Finally after the struggle of hours, we returned back to Saggar, and left for Rishikesh next morning. Exploring the streets of Rishikesh, Ram Jhula, Laxman Jhula in the evening was a good experience. One advice, dine in German Bakery near Lakshman Jhula, if you want to see beautiful foreigners (quite expensive) ;-). Some shopping in Rishikesh and we left for Delhi.
