Himalayan Jaunt - Part 2

The Next day early morning we set out for Gowrikund...

At this juncture I should definitely tell you about the state and the people of Uttaranchal. This newly formed state is rapidly developing its tourism activities and infrastructure in conjunction with kind of natural beauty it houses. It also has a number of universities like the Roorkee University,IIT – Roorkee etc., The people here are a very contented tribe. Most of them have there owned piece of lands for cultivation and are more than satisfied with what they possess. Highly God fearing people in nature they don’t attempt to step out of their small world. God Bless them!

We were already 8000 ft above sea level, the constant hurling sound of the river Mandakeni, the sweet herbal smell in every whiff of breeze that touched us more often was a very pleasant phenomenon that followed us almost till Kedar. The journey from Pipalkoti to Gowrikund seemed steeper than the rest of the uphill journey we had undertaken till that point of time. Our eyes were constantly scanning the skyline for the snow-clad mountains we could catch a glimpse now and then. Finally after about 4 hours of very steep climb we reached Gowrikund.

Gowrikund is a TapthKund (Hot-water spring). This place is filled with hawkers, small cottages etc., The taxi cannot proceed after this point. We had to walk about a km downhill to reach the spring. They have manually created partitions for bathing. The men as usual had the privilege of taking their holy bath in open air whereas we women folk resorted to closed quarters. Anyway it was fun.At this point what I was left wondering was - in such high altitudes we were still feeling hot and humid like Delhi. Before I started on this Yatra I have heard people describe this place to be freezing and advised us to carry loads of warm clothes.

After the Holy dip in the kund we proceeded to the taxi to dump our wet clothes and get ready to climb uphill to reach Kedar. As I described earlier after this point we cannot proceed by taxi or any such vehicle. The only way of climbing these 16 Kms to Kedar was either by foot, Goda (horse) or Doli (Palanquin). My mom and others decided to go by doli. The doli is just a chair tied to long sticks which four doliwallas carry. My brother and I alon with our guide decided to walk (I have no idea what on earth prompted us to take this decision). We all set out with full josh and bought sticks to help us tread these 16 Kms. Gasp! Gasp! Gasp! This is what one could hear after a few minutes. We hardly would have treaded about 100 yards and I could not take the next step forward. The brave hearts that decided to walk 16 Kms could not take a few steps. Reason – the Oxygen level in the air is too sparse for the body to support such kind of a steep walk. I instantly decided to go by a Goda. Whereas my brother and the guide (experienced man) decided to continue their journey to Kedar by foot. I bargained with a decent Godawalla and set out. There were hundreds of people undertaking this climb. The feeling at this juncture was wonderful…You feel you are part of a battalion marching towards an ultimate goal but again all-alone amidst the colossal mountains the deep valleys. I was thoughtless, speechless my mouth was simply uttering the 11 names of Lord Shiva as if it was programmed to do so. The air is filled with Spiritual fragrance throughout. These are times we realize that man is such a small part amidst God’s beautiful and flawless creation.

My Goda (named Beeru) and the Goodawala treaded the narrow ways with precision. The road is too narrow and some times covered with Ice. In some places I could see these Ice blocks are cut to make way. The Goda slipped in many places - my heart reached my mouth. As the journey progressed the weather too changed. The temperatures were falling at a steady rate. I pulled out all the warm clothes that I could lay my hands on from my bag. It was freezing. The journey continued. The Godawalla and the Goda took their lunch in a place called Ram Bada. I was sitting stretching my legs after a tiring 3hours journey (imagine the goda’s plight). Then I saw somebody wave at me Hmmm it was my brother and the guide…they also midway decided to go by Goda and hired couple of them.

The second half of the journey was a very steep climb…Snow-clad peak…the river which was flowing alongside till that point, was actually frozen after a certain altitude. The water was seeping out of the glaciers, which originates from Kedar. The water which seeps out from these glaciers flows down till RudraPrayag and is called Mandakeni. It is also called Kedar Ganga as it originates from Kedar.It was almost like tracing back the rivers origin. After 5 and half-hours we finally reached a plain surface on a mountaintop. I assumed we reached Kedar and I was right. The place again is filled with natural beauty. There were a lot springs, gras lands etc., My mom, brother and the guide reached after an hour’s time. I was fully clad in woolen clothes.

We reached a small gali were there was a cottage kind of a hotel booked for us already. Breathing becomes even more difficult here. Even if we had t take a few steps we had to halt for a few minutes. As soon we reached the room we dumped our bags and went to the temple. The temple is very unique and surrounded by mountains on all the sides. (Remember that one of these mountains is a sakthi sthal su-meru). It was time for aarthi in the temple. We went inside the temple and had the darshan of the Lord kedarnath. The lord is a Swayambhu (self originated). The sanctum was warm unlike the outside world. The darshan was beautiful.> > We came out and stood amidst a huge gathering for the aarthi. There a number of Nagas and sadhus who gather around the temple at that time. It seems these people live here throughout the year. They all looked so divine. Some of them have Damaroos (the small drum that Shiva is suppose to adorn). This temple is supposed to be covered with snow for about 6 months of the year. At that time the local people say that the Devas come and do the pooja here. At aarthi time all the gods and goddesses descend here to have a darshan of Lord kedarnath. The local people say that even when the temple is closed during winter and is covered by snow they still here the aarthi pooja everyday.

The aarthi began …A huge bell was constantly ringinging, songs and vedic chants filled the whole place..The nagas in turn played their damaroos. The whole place was charged. The feeling cannot be explained in words. I felt even the mountains around the temple (it was nightfall and all the snow clad mountains had a beautiful silver lining) joined us in worshiping the lord…> > After this divine experience we resorted to our rooms…we could hardly have dinner as all of were freezing inspite of our warm clothes. Throughout the night we of kept awake, as it was too cold. Our bodies were tired of shivering…My mom fell sick as she was constantly throwing up.. Anyway at 2:30 am we went to the temple for performing pooja as that was the time allocated for us. We could perform the pooja in whatever way we wish to. Lot of them were hugging the Shiva lingam. Even I had a chance to do it. > > After the pooja we rested for sometime and started towards Gowrikund again this time three of us by Goda and my mom in Doli.It seems the temperature reached -10 degress the previous night. No wonder my entire body was feeling numb!!!