Traveling is good
महावत बोल, साहब वो शेर है, वो डरता नहीं है, यही कही झाड़ियो मे होगा, किस्मत हुई तो फिर दिख जाएगा आप कैमरे हाथ मे रखिये, तब हमें होश आया की फोटो लिए या नहीं, उस वक्त कैमरा मनोज के पास था हम सभी उसके पीछे पड़ गए की उसने फोटो क्यों नहीं लिए, वो बोला, शुक्र मनाओ कि मैंने कैमरा नीचे नहीं फेक दिया, वहां अपना होश नहीं था और आप लोगो को फोटो की पड़ी है।
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बिलकुल थोडा सा आगे जाते ही मन एक दम खुश हो गया होता भी क्यूँ नहीं …हम एक बेहद ही खुबसूरत सफ़ेद झरने का कुछ हिस्सा जो देख रहे थे। मन एक दम लालयित हो उठा चलो जल्दी …अरे पर जल्दी तो चले लेकिन चले कहाँ से सामने तो दोनों पहांड़ी नदिया मिल रही रास्ता कुछ दिख नहीं रहा था। एक बार लगता के इन्ही नदी में पड़े पत्थरों से होकर जाना होगा। लेकिन २ दिन पहले से बंद हुयी बारिश अब तक हमें इसी और खड़े रहने का इशारा कर रही थी।
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The magical sight of the alluring waterfall spraying its way across made our efforts worthwhile. Leaving the less adventurous ones with the children to take snaps and shoot us as we climb up the rocks to a certain height, a few of us attempted the last leg of the adventure. We crawled, pawed and dragged ourselves to the overhanging ledge closer to the source of the fall. The water was cold and refreshing. It was already pretty cold outside with temperatures dipping as dusk was thickening. We climbed down and decided to stand under the fall and take an ultimate refreshing bath. But the experience was unexpectedly out of the world. The force with which the water tumbled down on the head and shoulders was tremendous. It seemed like you are being beaten with a pound of grounded sack of rice.
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इधर पिछ्ले कई सालों से मेरी पत्नी मेरे साथ अमरनाथ यात्रा पर जाने के लिये कह रही थी लेकिन बच्चे छोटे होने के कारण कभी जा नहीं पाई थी। बच्चे तो अभी भी छोटे ही थे और मेरी छोटी बिटिया उस समय सिर्फ़ चार साल की ही थी। मेरी पत्नी मुझे इस वर्ष अकेला जाते देख मेरे साथ चलने की जिद्द करने लगी, लेकिन मेरी पत्नी के मेरे साथ अमरनाथ यात्रा पर जाने में कुछ दिक्कतें थी। पहली, आज तक बच्चे कभी भी,कहीं भी मेरी पत्नी से अलग, अकेले नहीं रुके थे और दुसरी, हमारा उनके स्कूल खुलने से पहले लौटना भी जरुरी था। इसके अलावा एक दिक़्क़त मुझे थी्।
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It really gives you a feeling of heaven. We got into the line, but this time, the line was hardly moving, reason, all educated with lot of common sense people were keep on getting into the line. Anyhow, this happens in almost all holy places in India. Anyhow, we were able to complete the darshan by 11:30 am. We came back to hotel, had good breakfast/lunch. We started for the final lap around 12:30 pm. The plan was simple, I will drive as much as possible, and wherever I feel tired, we will stop. As per my calculation, Rishikesh was around 300 kms away, and since the roads were good, we should reach there by 10 pm (if I can maintain 30 km/hr speed). We also planned not to take any break (until required or until the sun goes down). On the way down, somewhere near Chamoli, on one turn, we were stopped by cops and they put a fine of Rs. 300/- for over speed. I was driving around 30-32 km/hr and the limit was 25 km/hr. He also advised me to go slow on ghats as you never know what comes on the next turn, and I jokingly asked that are there more cops waiting somewhere. But anyhow I followed his advice for next 15-20 kms, maintaining about 25 km/hr speed, watching others overtaking me and vanishing after some time. We crossed Rudraprayag by 5:30pm. Rudraprayag, you have a new bypass (I guess) which was a pain, with lot of traffic from both side and too many turns.
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The temple and surroundings were so beautiful that for a movement I thought to stay there for a day or two, but then, I changed my mind, as I remembered that I am from IT industry. We do have weekend offs but don’t know how many of us can take more than 5 days leave just to roam around. Anyway, we stick to our original plan, that we will ride down and I will try to drive as much as possible (and allowed). We started back at around 6:30 pm, it was already started getting dark, the panda told me that it will take around three hours to reach Gaurikund, but as it was getting dark, it might take 4 hrs. The pony ride was very comfortable, when we were climbing up, but now when we were coming down, the experience was totally different. The ponies were skidding frequently (you can see spark, when the horseshoe skids on the rocky track). To increase my fear, the panda informed me that I should sit carefully, and tilt my body backward, when the pony gets to a steep slope, because in past he has seen many fall down and got injuries. Though the track was pity empty as hardly people were coming up, but time by time bunches of running empty/free ponies crossed us, injecting more fear. Due to all this, I kept my legs very stiff, and after an hour journey, my back and thigh started giving pain. I asked the panda to stop the pony for 5-10 mins but he didn’t listen. He kept on saying that we will be very late if we stop in between. By the time we reached Rambara, I have completely given up and asked him to stop for some refreshment. We stopped, and there I found it was not only me but all others having the same problem. We were not tired, but the ride was taking its toll on us. My wife was almost about to faint. We had tea and some snacks. I asked the panda’s also to have something, as it will give us more time to take rest. Gaurikund was still 7 kms away.
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We checked into our room by 6:30 pm, took bath and slipped into the quilts as it was quite dark outside and there was no mall or market to stroll around. By 8:00 pm, we thought to go out of the hotel and check the nearby areas. It was so dense dark just outside the hotel that even the valley on other side of the road was not visible. There was no light glow coming even from a distance as the entire population of the region is just 3,000. We went back to our room, ordered the food, surfed television for sometime after having dinner and slept thinking to wake up early in the morning to enjoy the sunrise at Chauli ki Jali. As usual, my slumber broke late at 8 in the morning, so we hurriedly took bath, packed our baggage, checked out of hotel and move towards Mukteshwar Mahadev temple—a famous temple of Lord Shiva. We parked our car at its gate and decided to first visit Chauli ki Jali and explore the surrounding areas. We started climbing up the hills from a pathway aside the temple periphery, and after half a kilometre distance the view of the Himalayas were unbelievably stunning. We were at an altitude of 8,000 ft. with a 180-degree viewing sight of Himalayas and as we moved on, reached a place where there was no road ahead except the deep valley and the lush green surroundings. I had never experienced such a beautiful view of mountains, even though I have travelled to a number of hill stations.
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Upon reaching Mana and standing atop Bheem pul I recalled my 15 year old memories when I had come here for the first time with two of my friends after visiting valley of flowers. Vishal too was amazed to see the water gushing out of the mountain and flowing with such ferocity under Bheem pul. 15 years ago I was not able to make it to Vasudhara falls as we were too tired and had less time in our hands but this time although Vishal insisted that he could make but I did not want him to take stress. At Bheem pul we met a Naga baba named Barfani Das who was preparing for puja when we reached there. He had two rabbits with him who he called Radha and Krishna.
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गुरुद्वारा काफ़ी विशाल है और हेमकुन्ड आने-जाने वाले यात्रियों के लिये एक महत्त्वपूर्ण विश्राम स्थल है। गुरुद्वारे में बहुत से हेमकुन्ड यात्री थे, कुछ लोग दर्शन को जा रहे थे और कुछ लोग दर्शन करने के बाद वापिस लौट रहे थे। हमने भी वहाँ लंगर छका (खाया) और फिर चाय पी। लगभग तीन बज चुके थे और हम ऋषिकेश की ओर निकल दिये। रास्ते में एक बार रुद्रप्रयाग में चाय के लिये गाड़ी रुक्वाई और फिर से यात्रा जारी रखी।
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हेमकुंड संस्कृत (“बर्फ़”) हेम और कुंड (“कटोरा”) से व्युत्पन्न नाम है । हेमकुंट साहिब गुरुद्वारा एक छोटे से स्टार के आकार का है तथा सिखों के अंतिम गुरू, गुरु गोबिंद सिंह जी, को समर्पित है। श्री हेमकुंट साहिब गुरूद्वारा के पास ही एक सरोवर है। इस पवित्र जगह को अमृतसरोवर (अमृत का तालाब) कहा जाता है। यह सरोवर लगभग 400 गज लंबा और 200 गज चौड़ा है। यह चारों तरफ़ से हिमालय की सात चोटियों से घिरा हुआ है। इन चोटियों का रंग वायुमंडलीय स्थितियों के अनुसार अपने आप बदल जाता है। कुछ समय वे बर्फ़ सी सफेद,कुछ समय सुनहरे रंग की, कभी लाल रंग की और कभी-कभी भूरे नीले रंग की दिखती हैं।
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Water started to flow down the hill crossing road (damaging it) from multiple points. The turns were muddier and appeared slippery. All of a sudden a silenced atmosphere appeared in the car, everybody was quite including our music player. I could able to sense their tension but said nothing or not even reacted, just concentrated on road. By 6 pm, we started to look for a good place to spend night, as it was too much for the day. We stopped in small village, Dharali, some 18 km before Gangotri and so did the rain. There were around max 20-25 houses, all lodges, I guess and couple of restaurants. After taking 15-20 minutes rest, we came out for sightseeing, as the river Bhagirathi and mountains behind her were marvelous. After roaming for an hour we came back to the village and had our dinner. At the start of the trip only we have decided that we will have dinner no later than 8 pm and will sleep (try to) by 9 or 9:30 max. This will give us enough sleep before getting up again early next morning. I made it very clear that by any means we should be on road by 6 am, keeping IST in mind.
Stats:
From Haridwar to Dharali – 265 km; time taken – 12 hrs; breaks – 3 (15+30+60 mins)
Road condition – Excellent/ Good (occasionally bad patches 2-3 km each)
Tip:
1. There were two roads from Chamba for uttarkashi, I believe I took the long one, but in google maps the another one, which is also the NH seems around 20 km less.
2. Do not rely on mapmyindia GPS device in these parts, they are not properly updated. And the coordinates will always confuse the device as you will be rotating up/down the hills.
ये सब देखकर हम तो मानो जैसे स्कूल से छुटे, छोटे छोटे बच्चो की तरह दोड़ते भागते , गिरते पड़ते जब उस मंदिर नुमा ढांचे तक पहुचे तो एक बार को तो उसे देखकर हम तीनो सिहर से उठे। वो एक लकड़ी का बना मंदिर ही था पर उसमे न कोई मूर्ति न घंटा , हाँ उसमें इधर उधर किसी जानवर के पुराने हो चुके सिंग , कुछ बर्तन से टंगे हुए थे और एक लड़की का ही बना पुतला दरवाजे से बाहर जो की कोई द्वारपाल सा लग रहा था। मन ही मन उस माहोल और जगह को प्रणाम कर अपने साथ लाये मिनरल वाटर की बोतल से उन्हें जल अर्पण किया और परिकर्मा कर बड़े इत्मिनान से वहां बैठ दूर दूर तक फैली वादियों और शान्ति का मजा लेने लगे। थोड़ी देर बाद सोचा के चलो ताल में नहाते है फिर कुछ खा पीकर गुफाओ को ढूंढ़ेगे।
पानी का ताल जो की थोडा और आगे था जल्दी ही दिखाई दे गया लेकिन वहां पहुँच कर नहाने का सारा प्रोग्राम चोपट हो गया। कारण उसमे पानी तो बहुत था परन्तु एक दम मटियाला। सो सिर्फ उसके साथ फोटो खीच कर ही मन को समझा लिया। अब बारी गुफा ढूंढने की तो लेकिन वहां चारो और दूर दूर तक कोई गुफा तो नहीं अपितु मकेक बंदरो के झुण्ड घूम रहे थे। जो की हम पर इतनी कृपा कर देते थे की हम जिस दिशा में जाते वो वहां से दूर भाग जाते थे। हम तीनो काफी देर अलग अलग होकर ढूंढते रहे पर हमें तो कोई गुफा नहीं दिखी सिर्फ शुरू में आते हुए एक छोटा सा गड्ढा नुमा दिखाई दिया था।
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