TravelSpiritualYour Space
Trending

বৌলক, কেদাৰনাথ যাওঁ – “Let’s go to Kedarnath”

Guwahati : Mules (local name : “Khachar”) ! Oh ! Even now, I dread their mere presence near me
now. For some they were medium of transport but for us, an absolute inconvenience during our journey.

But hey ! Why am I starting like this ? A precap would be useful to link up this abstract beginning. A travelogue, that’s what I felt was needed to document a journey we took. A journey that took us to the abode of the Gods. A place where it is rumoured that when there is no humans or any earthly beings around, the divine come down to pay their obeisance to the one and only, Mahadev ~ Lord of the Universe, Destroyer of Evil, A supreme being found in our magnificent Hinduism culture.

The “we” in this journey were, in an alphabetical order :- Arnav Bora ~ whom I shall put as an intrepid traveller with a huge appetite to travel. As I came to know more of him during this journey, the most fascinating fact which I came to know about him, and I was pretty gobsmacked to know, that Arnav (with his better half) had travelled some 30 odd countries over the last decade or so. That itself is a story to be documented but maybe for some other time. So, not to go into too many details, but the whole trip, A-Z, was planned by Arnav ; but yeah, ON A LIGHTER NOTE, he forgot to warn me and Suman, about the mules . Anyways, this brings me to the next character in this trip, Suman Nath. A devout Shiva “bhakt” and an IT professional, Suman was the one who introduced me to the idea of this incredible
journey.

And this is where the title of my story unfolds, because on a wintery January day, Suman asked me, in his simple but precise manner ~ “Let’s go to Kedarnath” ( In Assamese “Bolak, Kedarnath jau”). Yours truly always had a fascination for the Himalayas. Growing up, I use to read the adventures of Jim Corbett, the legendary hunter turned naturalist. When reading those novels like “The Man Eaters of Kumaon”, “The Temple Tiger”, “The Man Eating leopard of Rudraprayag”, etc., Corbett use to describe the magnificence of The Himalayan foothills, both in the Garhwal & Kumaon region, of now “Devbhoomi” Uttarakhand.
Those childhood emotions were immediately triggered by this grand opportunity to go to Kedarnath Dham, a holy pilgrimage site in Hindu culture and also located high up in the lap of the Himalayas. Not taking a second to decide upon of the enormity of this journey, I replied positively to Suman’s invite and then it was a matter of time and preparation, to wait for 23 May 2024, when we would start our journey from the OIL Township of Duliajan (Upper Assam) to the high altitudes of the Himalayas.

For doing any trek, a bit of preparation is needed, especially to get yourself physically capable enough, to undertake it. Considering I was, to put it mildly, the “oldest” amongst the three, I started working on my fitness so as to not to fall behind my spritely colleagues, in this “moderately difficult” trek. But on hindsight, if you ever plan to go to Kedarnath, and plan to trek up the Himalayas, physical fitness has to be at a good level considering the extreme weather, the steep & long 23 kms trek and the amount of
time it takes to cover.

Due to resourceful planning by Arnav, our journey’s itinerary was properly laid out. He finalized a travel agent, who gave us good rates, for a pick and drop facility, to and from New Delhi Airport. We got an attached vehicle throughout the journey (excluding the arduous trek part) , accommodations were properly arranged in Haridwar and Guptkashi ; yet what was to follow was something we all had never comprehended. What we had heard earlier literally came true during certain parts of this journey ~ “Mahadev ko Paana Asaan Nahin hain” meaning “its not easy to find Mahadev” !

On 23 May, as our Indigo 6E – 157 flight landed in the tarmac of the IGI airport, New Delhi, we were greeted by hot and gusty summery winds of North India. It was peak summer and temperatures were soaring in the high 40 degree centigrade. These winds, known as “loo in Hindi”, can cause severe heatstroke and dehydration ; so without much delay we quickly jumped into our air conditioned taxi, and started to proceed towards Haridwar. As I crossed the Meerut bye-pass, memories of 15-20 years ago flashed through my head, when I had spend some memorable years in this bustling city of Western UP. Due paucity of time, I couldn’t pay a visit to the city of Meerut this time, but I made a promise to myself of coming back again, and hopefully relive the old memories with some wonderful people, who were part of the time I had spend in Meerut as a management graduate & as a media professional in TOI.

By the evening we reached Haridwar. Thanks to the Delhi-Meerut expressway, lot of time gets saved although the road is pretty busy around Muzaffarnagar and Roorkee. The sight of the Ganges at Haridwar, made all of us enthusiastic and really excited for the divine journey ahead. An overnight stay at a plush hotel at Haridwar, with my extreme snoring abilities proving to be a minor hindrance to
Arnav and Suman to get into a deep slumber, we proceeded early towards our next halt i.e. Guptkashi. By now we were filled with apprehension by hearing the news of huge & unprecedented rush towards Kedarnath dham, and our only concern was to complete our darshan without much ado. That’s when we faced our first stumbling block. Having started early morning on 24 May, with the intention of reaching Guptkashi by late afternoon, our vehicle broke down, as we crossed Rishikesh and Tapovan. After some frantic but productive calls by Arnav to our tour agent, we had a dramatic arrival of a fresh vehicle and driver. With skills of a race car driver, our pilot / operator snaked his way up the mountains ; my heart was
literally in my mouth but the driver’s control somewhat pacified my concerns of going
down the cliff.

Just taking a detour from my travelogue, few important information for travelers. There are two ways to reach Kedarnath from Haridwar. The first is the traditional and cheaper way where one needs to reach Sonprayag (260kms from Haridwar), take a shuttle from Sonprayag to Gaurikund (4 kilometres. Rs.50 each via shuttle which is the only mode of transport here) and from Gaurikund, one needs to trek for 23 kms to reach Kedarnath.

The second route which is a bit expensive is to reach Guptkashi and take a helicopter ride from Guptkashi to Kedarnath (around INR 10000 each during Char Dham peak season and can only be booked online). We would take the former route of Sonprayag-Gaurikund-Kedarnath. Coming back to where I had left, we reached our abode for the night at Guptkashi. A beautiful tent accommodation, high up on a mountain top, with the views of the Himalayas, which we were planning to trek up the following day. As we
checked in, there was excited chatter amongst us about the beautiful places we saw during our journey from Haridwar to Guptkashi ~ (1) Devprayag, where the gushing waters of the Alakananda meets the Bhagirathi, which flows down from Gomukh- Gangotri region, to form the holy Ganges (2) Maa Dhari Devi Temple, located between Srinagar & Rudrapayag, a revered temple, it is dedicated to Dhari Devi (a form of Goddess Kali), who is considered to be the guardian deity of Uttarakhand and is worshipped as the protector of the Char Dhams. (3) Rudraprayag : another confluence place, where the Alakananda meets the Mandakini. But we were met with the news of heavy rush of pilgrims and travellers for Kedarnath &
a feeling of apprehension hung in the air around us. Due to Arnav’s preparedness, we had our online entry tickets done months ago, but even then we were told by the locals at our resort, that we should start very early for Sonprayag, or else we will be caught in the rush. With that in mind, we had our dinner and set our alarms for a 2.30 am start to Sonprayag. That’s when we faced our second stumbling block. As we were about to reach Sonprayag, we saw a massive trail of vehicles blocking the road from Sitapur
onwards. It was around 5.00 am & dawn was breaking.We knew this traffic bottleneck meant we had to now trek some additional 7 kms, as our taxi could never get through this congestion, even in the next 6-7 hours. So, with our backpacks on and with the name of Lord Shiva in our heart, mind and lips, we trekked our way to Sonprayag, somehow got into those shared taxis from Sonprayag-Gaurikund and then
began our onerous trek up the steep pathway towards Kedarnath Dham.

This is where we came face to face with the Mules (“khachars”). The route used by pilgrims, who walk towards Kedarnath, is also used by these Mules and also by “pithoos” (carry on back transport) and also by rickety looking palanquins (“palki”). As we three trekked up the high altitude route, the challenge was just not physical but at a mental level too. The whole route was filled with shops offering various amenities yet due to the jam-packed nature of the route, we were not exactly moving at a past pace. It
was rumoured that due to the extreme rush,which was due to the opening of “kapath (temple doors)” on 10 th May 2024, some 30k plus pilgrims were commuting daily up and down the steep tracks of this alpine region. As you can see in the map, which I have shared, from Gaurikund to Rambara, the trek takes you to a height of around 9000 ft above sea level. But then we were greeted by the sight of a continuous loop of pathways, that looked like reaching the heavens i.e. almost 12000 feet above sea level.
This portion of the trek, from Rambara to Kedarnath dham would literally test our resolve. It took us overall 9 hrs to reach Kedarnath Dham from Gaurikund, a 23 kms trek where we were literally gasping for breath as we reach the cooler heights of the Himalayas, leaving behind the hot & sweltering lower regions ; but a place with exquisite beauty yet harsh for everyone due to low oxygen levels. Along the entire trek,the mules gave us a hard company but we were supremely motivated each time we
saw elderly people walking up to pay their respects to Lord Shiva. After covering more than 30 kms since early morning, we were greeted by the sounds of an evening aarti and as we lifted our heads, drooping with exhaustion, we saw the striking image of the Kedarnath Temple, shining out of the darkness like a pearl in the ocean.

Although Arnav told me later on, he had no recollection of seeing the temple, inspite of passing it
on the way to our night stay. That’s what AMS does to you in those heights. Disorients your mind, your senses and physical faculty. The minute we reached our dharmashala (guesthouse), we sank into our beds, but not before praying with gratitude to the Almighty, for helping us completing this once in a lifetime journey. I slept with dreams of alpine forests, cascading waterfalls, the surging Mandakini river, the abominable snowman, spirits of these mountains, etc and zoned out to thoughts like how such an unique temple architecture could have been engineered and built centuries ago, in such a remote location.

Waking up next morning, the first thought that came to my mind was the previous day experiences. Yesterday, during the journey, we were already quite exhausted but after a while the cool mountain air around us rejuvenated us. The steady walk of the pilgrims, the non stop mule rides that kept going up the narrow cobbled lane, lush green meadows all around with waterfalls and river bridges, glaciers, people chanting “Jai Kedar!!” made this journey absolutely blissful. The helicopter ride is said to be easier although it is expensive and fraught with dangers of flying over & between the mountains. But yes! Without an iota of doubt, for one to experience the revered Kedarnath yatra, you have to trek. Period.

After freshening up, as we opened the door of our dharamshala’s room, we were greeted by the amazing sight of the snow capped Himalayas and on the foreground stood the centuries old Jyotirlinga of Kedarnath. I was amazed to see in broad daylight how the entire temple is build of extremely large and heavy grey slabs of stone which were strong enough to withhold the 2013 floods. It is said the stones with which the temple is built, don’t below to this place. I was truly astonished thinking about that and
went into a trail of thoughts as to how were the stones brought here, who build this temple, etc.! The Bhimshila was another unique & revered place that again showed the presence of God in these regions. The temple, a stone edifice, is one of the twelve jyotirlingas in India and believed to be 1200 years old. Inside the temple is the ancient deity of Lord Shiva. The inner walls of the assembly hall are decorated with figures of various deities and mythological scenes. During winter, the deity is carried to a village in
Ukhimat (to the Omkareshwar temple) and again brought back in summer. 

Outside the Kedarnath temple is the large “Nandi” bull statue which is also built of the same stone as that of the temple. After taking some memorable photos and videos of this incredible moment of our lives, we bowed in respect to Lord Shiva and prayed for his blessings. There are a number of shops to buy memorabilia, show piece items, gifts, etc, in and around the temple’s courtyard. We did the needful and by the time we came out from Kedarnath Dham, it was past 9 am and now there was a long queue to enter the temple. We had our breakfast of puri,sabji and tea and started our 23 km downhill journey back to Gaurikund. As mentioned earlier, due to glaciers and frequent drizzles, the road is slippery in certain parts. It is highly recommended to wear good quality trekking shoes, not only to save yourself from slipping but especially coming down, chances of twisting an ankle was a distinct possibility, which all three of us clearly wanted to avoid.

As we scrambled down the slopes (it took us 4 hrs only to reach Gaurikund !), the exertion of the previous day’s journey started getting to us and by the time we reached the comforts of our stay at Guptkashi, high altitude mountain sickness, started showing its sign in all three of us. One thing is for sure and I won’t lie here ; the journey is tedious and sure to give you backaches but the snow capped Himalayas &
the feeling of Lord Shiva, will not let you complain.

By the time, we reached New Delhi, after an overnight stay at Haridwar, we were absolutely fatigued. Thankfully due to breaks in the journey, we could have some rest but I was filled with awe and respect for people who undertake the pilgrimage of doing all the four renowned dhams of Uttarakhand ~ Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. It takes sheer determination, courage, mental strength to undertake these pilgrimages but definitely something to be done in one’s lifetime. Although, I caused enough discomfort to my young friends with my snoring episodes, the fun and camaraderie we had during this epic & spiritual journey, will always remain forever in our hearts and minds.

As I close this article, the sound of the mules, the smell of the beautiful air in and around Kedarnath region, the memories of the hot & tasty Maggi we consumed along the way in one of the many eateries that throng that place, the dip in the Ganges at Har Ki Pauri at Haridwar, the vivid image of the hallowed Ganga Aarti etc. ~ is still reverberating in my mind, soul and body. I guess it will never go off ; it should never go off. Thank you Arnav and Suman for helping me realize a dream of a lifetime.

Har Har Mahadev !! Jai Kedarnath !!

About the Author

Sandeep is a former management professional turned entrepreneur. He has worked in media and telecom domains. He is an avid traveller, cricket analyst, speaker, amateur photographer, foodie and is also into making vlogs in his own YouTube channel “Voice of Assam”.

For any enquiries, you can reach him at sandeep.meet@gmail.com

LP News

Local Post News Network

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button