Traveling is good
After reaching Lamuney campsite, I went inside my tent to nurse my sprained ankle with volini spray and a bandage. Here as I lay down for an hour looking at Pandim, I was reminiscing the heavenly sunrise of Goechala viewpoint. Prasanto came over to my tent. I narrated to him the experience while going through the pictures in the camera and having breakfast.
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Thangsing is guarded by Pandim on one side and a swift river flows noisily close by. One flank of the mighty Kanchenjungha shone brightly ahead of the path towards Goechala. Thangsing easily qualifies as the best spot enroute to Goechala Pass.
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We gathered in small groups in the tents to chat and while away the time. Dinner was served at around 8 p.m. at the one- room camp house which was occupied by cook Sumit Rai and his men. When I had ventured out of my tent around mid-night to go to the toilet-tent, I was awestruck on seeing small silvery snowflakes dropping from a clear sky. The moon shone in its silvery best.
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In Hindu tradition Triveni Sangam is the “confluence” of three rivers. Sangama is the Sanskrit word for confluence. The point of confluence is a sacred place for Hindus. A bath here is said to flush away all of one’s sins and free one from the cycle of rebirth.One such Triveni Sangam, in Prayag (Allahabad) has two physical rivers — Ganges and Yamuna — and the invisible Saraswati River. The place has religious importance and the site for historic Kumbh Mela held every 12 years,
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One can see many venomous and non venomous snake which were rescued from the forest near by. The park had a collection of variety of birds also like Turkey, Emu, etc. Some days ago before we reached there a thunderstorm made havoc and the park was disoriented a bit.
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There were many Kamat Upachar all the way through, but we chose to stop near tumkur. Immediately after the tumkur toll there was this Kamat. The lunch was excellent . They also serve in the traditional banana leaf. Enjoyed the food, the quality was very nice. We took quite sometime at this restaurant and left by 2 p.m. to Bangalore.
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It was close to 9.00 p.m. and with hunger cramps, I told Rajah to stop at a good eating place in the next town en-route. We landed at a small time restaurant – Shanti Bhawan (?) at Sayalgudi, a very small Panchayat town. The place looked clean, but the restaurant owner told us that the place was “full”. There were around 40 Ayappa Swami Devotees already seated and they were to be served first and our waiting time could be more than half an hour. While talking to the owner I was surprised to see the pictures of Kabaa, the holiest place for the Muslims along with some of the Hindu Gods. I asked him if it was a Hindu hotel. He said it was a Muslim Hotel. When I pointed to the wall hangings, he said “Sir, we worship all the Gods”. I was touched by his reply to the hilt and almost embraced him. I wish people all over the country had the similar feelings and then this divide between the religions would probably be non-existent. Thankfully the things appeared to be much better in Tamil Nadu as people of all the religions eat the same food, drink same toddy, speak Tamil and wear the same dress – lungi / dhoti and shirt.
Outside the restaurant, a group of Swamis (devotees of Lord Ayappa) were standing. I was told that they were coming from somewhere in North Tamil Nadu (after a couple of drinks, one tends to forget the names sometimes) and were heading for Kanyakumari,
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There are two different legends that explains the origin of Kheerganga – One says that Lord Shiva meditated here for thousands of years and another says that Kartikeya, son of Lord Shiva and Parvati meditated here and the natural spring was emerged when Shiva struck the ground with His trishul on Parvati’s request as she was worried that her son wouldn’t get anything to eat here.
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Presence of the Gulf Stream in this bay area lent a very diverse element to the foliage, extremely distinct from the other coastal regions of the British Isles.
This is the little mountain that we climbed…not exactly the steep climb but we hiked all around it to reach the other side.
Finally the day came when we had to get back to Delhi. We went out for an early morning walk again. It was quite sunny although there was nice breeze so really did not feel the harsh effect of sunlight. I was just observing around myself and could not help but admire the charm of this place over and over again.
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• Girls should consider wearing something very appropriate as the crowd consist of good as well as cheap public.
• As a couple you should consider not carrying much luggage as there is no one to look after it.
• Please be careful of the broken bottle glasses all over the place.
• Please be prepared with the right type of footwear since the place is slippery.
• The water currents are very mild and the fall is amongst the safest fall in the state.
While leaving for top we again got a share cab for us with the same fare. We trekked from Dasturi to our hotel this time. Yeah! Now I am planning to add trekker in my resume..lol. The rest of the day we spent inside our cozy hotel.
At about 1 p.m. Tara took his first halt at Teesta Valley. Very near to this place is the point of White Water River Rafting on Teesta. The area is dotted with a few small eateries run by the local villagers. Tara took us to one named Tashi Restaurant. All the eateries here, as this one, are very basic. I am a bit apprehensive about eating at small joints as the hygiene factor is low, but had no other alternative here. However, the good food coupled with the beautiful Teesta flowing beside the eatery made me set all thoughts aside for a few moments. Had it been some other place, such a beautiful locale would surely have been commercialized and turned into a Mc Donald’s or KFC with the wealth again going to the rich hands.
Our car moved on towards Jorethang. Tara was true. The stretch from Malli to Jorethang was in really poor condition. Although it was for wider and better roads in coming days, the ride was extremely stressful for us. Clouds of dust engulfed us at short intervals. We are much more impatient than our counterparts residing at higher altitudes.
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