Mystic Himalayas - The Unplanned Plan

Mystic Himalayas - The Unplanned Plan

I woke up a few minutes just before the alarm could ruin the silence. It was 2.30 am and it was time to go. A quick shower and I gathered my belongings to leave. What followed in the next 15 days cannot be described in words, so sharing some of the emotions here.

Goecha La was missed last time, as Baba was not well. The team had successfully completed the trek. I was waiting since then to get away into my comfort zone. Aug Sept may be mid Oct depending on the weather, the time generally I would love to travel the Himalayas. Post monsoon time. Places are a bit less crowded, I think. All the people who were to join in for the journey, started dropping out one by one. But this time, I was ready to go solo and I guess that is something that I need to learn very soon. Zero dependency. It saves time and most importantly a lot of efforts in convincing people to join in. They who can and want to just come. For Sept 17th, I booked my tickets for Delhi.

2012, me papya ani amit nigade had planned a trip from Manali to Leh - cycling trip. A super fantastic journey and an amazing experience. We have trekked together and have been along in the worst of the climatic situations in the Himalayas. Generally, our thoughts match. Unplanned trip plan would have worked well for the three of us. Nigade and Papya joined in, last moment and we left for the journey - Shambho experience.

17th Sept

Early flight to Delhi from Pune, well, left on time for Papya. He was booked on a different flight due to price difference and we were on a different flight. Me and Nigad were waiting near belt 6 as per the message from Papya. There was no sign of him. After a while we called him to find that he was standing near belt #6 on a different terminal. Oh Come on...Funny moment. But that moment we told each other that there is no rush, no hurry, no bus to catch....In life, there is always a bus waiting, there is always that bus what we call as an opportunity, some damn appointment or closing time of a bar, last order and bull shit, meeting time, lunch and dinner time .... damn. हे काय चालू असतं. दररोज, जन्माला आलो की जेवायच्या वेळा असायच्या, मोठे झालो की शाळेची घंटा, परीक्षा वेळ ..... आणि मग वेळेवर कामाला जायचे .... वेळेचे महत्व जाणता जाणता त्याच वेळेचे गुलाम झालो. आई अजून म्हणते कधी कधी 'घटका गेली पळे गेली तास वाजे ठणाणा, आयुष्याचा नाश  होतो राम का रे म्हणाना'असो. आज पासून पुढचे काही दिवस वेळ विसरायची.

Met papya on the other terminal and then decided to catch a bus from Kashmere Gate. All the buses to wherever, leaves from there. There were private buses who offered us tickets and fooled us on the departure time. 10 am departure time was confirmed to 1 pm after the tickets were booked.....so, we decided to fight back and take our money. We did and went straight to the Uttarakhand State transport bus. Our journey started. But before that - right on the bus stop footpath ... POTPUJA.

हा प्रवास आहे तरी काय. आठवणींची पुरचुंडी, वेगवेगळ्या माणसांना भेटायचे, उत्तम खायचे..... आणि मनाला वाटेल ते करायचे. १५ दिवसांचे स्वातंत्र - वेळे पासून आणि काळा पासूनचे. त्या बंधनातून मुक्तता. It is not easy - freedom I think is the most difficult thing to handle. 15 days is fun but try more than that, and if you are not used to it, you will go bonkers. We met a person on the bus and started talking. Another one fooled and recovered from the private bus conductors. He was working in Saudi and was sent back due to visa issues. He got down on the way and also asked us if we would join in for a quick lunch. We passed. We were yet to digest the fact that we had no agenda, no plan. Haridwar - thats where we were heading and decided to check out the place to stay that night. We met a taxi driver there and decided to hire him for the journey. Big mistake, which was resolved in a day, cutting  our losses to bear minimum. Evening, Ganga Puja - wow what an amazing act and nautankee that happens there, robbing the people emotionally - do this ritual and you will get this - Rs 1000, today is this day and this god would be happy - Rs 101, gangamaiyya ki jay.... mahaarti - Rs 5001 +, Mahapooja Rs 10001. I still have never understood how money can save us from the sins. Anyway, dont wanna hurt anyone or any feelings here. गर्व से काहो हम हिंदू है - पण तरी काही गोष्टी पटत नाहीत. असो. Tens and thousands of people along the banks of Ganga watching the arti happen....we three could find no peace, devotion, प्रसन्नता वगरे.

Left the place in an instant. One thing that was noticed, that whatever happens to the economy, there is always scope for this business...people who are poor come here asking god for richness, and people who are rich, afraid of loosing everything, come here for protection. But then, I thought, why would they not do this as a business, instead of fooling people emotionally ? Doctors and hospitals now have a rate card too. We consider them as God as they save lives...if you have an insurance the rates change, the menu card is separate .......anyways. They should be doing the same thing on the banks of Ganga which they do, but its hush hush ... you hand over money to the Pandit and there will be 3 more grabbing it from his hands....me hissa dedo and all. I guess, we pay insurance here which is called Faith. There is an old saying 'गंगेत अंघोळ केली की पाप धुतले जाते'. घंटा, तिथे अंघोळ केली की गंगा प्रदूषित होते. म्हणून म्हातारे आणि वयस्कर मंडळी भरपूर असतात वाटतं. आयुष्यभर पाप कार्यक्रम आणि एकदा भाविक होऊन गंगास्नान. असो, जो जे वांछील तो ते लाहो.

थंडगार पाणी होते आणि पाण्यात पाय बुडवले आणि खरंच बरं वाटले. छोले, पराठे, भात आणि डाळ हे आमचे पुढचे काही दिवस सांगाडी होते. We left the banks of Ganga, ate good food and went back to the Rs 700 per night hotel which we negotiated to Rs 500 for three of us. That became the benchmark for the trip. That night, we downloaded an application called Splitwise, which became our financial controller - The vatekari. Haridwar, not the one in my thoughts, has became just another tourist location. A holy tourist location.

18th Sept

Amit the taxi man came to the hotel bright and early. Last night, after the dinner and a long walk in the town, we decided to move on towards Kedarnath the next day. It was the best thing that happened as later we came to know that the roads were closed and the weather got worst. With Amit we left. Gaurikund is the base village from where the climb starts to Kedarnath. The journey was long. There is a lot of road work in process. Mountains are being literally chopped - development with destruction.

220 Km journey took us almost 11 hours and we could not even reach the destination. We reached a place called Phata which is few km before Gaurikund. The driver and the drive was pathetic, slow. In case you are to hire a car for the whole journey, make sure it is tough ride like a Bolero, Tata sumo, scorpio etc. Small cars would leave you hanging and frustrated. Best way to travel here is via state bus or local transport which is cheap and easy to get.

Me papya and nigad, we were having a great time and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Eating on the way, drinking tea several times and clicking pictures of the places that we have heard in stories, in the past, read in books - Rishikesh, Byasi, Srinagar, Rudraprayag - where you can see the two rivers meet, Alaknanda and Mandakini river. A beautiful village that can be seen from the top of the mountains, Rudraprayag is another holy place that you can visit and spend a day. Many temples and places to visit. 

अलकनंदा आणि मंदाकिनी संगम 

This was the place where we started feeling the presence of the almighty. निसर्ग रौद्र दिसायला लागला होता. त्यातील रौद्र सौंदर्य आणि मोहक सुगंध कुठल्यातरी शक्तीची जाणीव मात्र नक्कीच करून देत होता. त्यात निगडे चे पाकीट एका हॉटेल मध्ये राहिले. काही काळ प्रवास केला आणि कळलं आणि परत फिरलो. अमित म्हणाला नाही मिळणार. पण जाऊ परत. तिथे जाऊन  निगडे काउंटर वर जातो तर तिथे एक माउली पाकीट घेऊन उभी होती. निगड चे पाकीट मिळाले आणि शंभो शंभो ओरडत गाडीत येऊन बसला. There were some spiritual discussions with not much to be written or talked about. Just that we were on this journey and nothing was going to stop us.....was it big deal really. This path is traveled by millions each year, was a part of the Hindu philosophy and culture, something that each wishes to visit. Then why the big deal....I guess it is about YOUR TURN to visit which made this whole situation a little bit more exciting, like we are the chosen one ... ha ha ha ... and at that time we felt like one and we were. With lot of efforts, the car reached Phata. We stopped at a place and negotiated the night stay again for Rs 500 and Rs 40 each for hot water bucket. The owner was ex forces and had been posted in MH and knew few words and surnames - like Waghamare and Godbole and he could'nt stop laughing about some more last names.... He said he really thought that the Godbole is cause they are what there surname is and so and so forth ... It was a hilarious conversation. Anyway, we laughed along and settled in a small room. Good enough place, except for big ass spiders and other unseen insects, which became a part of the night stay. We went out for dinner and met some people from MH, most of them had used the flying machine to reach the almighty - simpler way to reach fast and finish. Sonprayag was a few kms from Phata, where registration happens. From there, either you can walk a km or two or you can hire the sarkari jeep to the base - Gaurikund. Nigade, while talking to the shop keeper in the front of the guest house convinced for a lift to the base along with his raw material distribution channel. Life was good - we took a short walk in drizzling rains, mud and rubbish, which were not even noticed then. Everything was beautiful, everything was just a dream. We were heading for Kedarnath. Packed our sacks and removed unnecessary things in the summit sack and left it back with the ex forces man. He kept it safe. Past two days, we traveled from Delhi to Phata and have seen a lot of difference in the people and their attitudes. The pandes from haridwar to the shop keeper, owners and chaiwalas roadside...this will be discussed whenever.

19th - 20th  Sept - शिव शंभो 

The team was up at 5 am in the morning. All packed and ready to leave. Came out on the road and went for a good cup of tea. One thing we realized then that anywhere you go in this area, you will get a perfect tasting tea. Generally with a bun, your breakfast is sorted at these locations. Or else you always have Maggie by your side. Maggie is the staple diet around here and each and every shop will serve you Maggie. From Rs 40 to Rs 60, with masala or without, with veggies or without, soupy maggie or dry, fried maggie and with onions or without, the options suiting your taste buds. The two minutes magic is sure a savior in the mountains and at times the only option that we had. We left Phata and headed towards Sonprayag, where we finished the registration process and left for Gaurikund. The backpacks were heavy as we had no clue what to expect up there. So, I was carrying all the necessary and not so, things along with me. It was 8.30 am when we reached Gaurikund. The air was cold and lot of business happening in the morning.

Us with Arjun

On the way

लोकांची गर्दी वाढत होती. अनेक टूर्स अँड ट्रॅव्हल कंपन्या लोकांना भर भरून आणत होत्या. त्यातील ७५% हुन अधिक सिनियर होते. सकाळी तिथे घोडे आणि घोडे वाले, आणि घोडा लावणारे असे अनेक लोक उपस्तित होते. सर्व कल्लोळामध्ये अचानक हेलिकॉप्टर आवाज करून जात होते. तेव्हा कळलं की वर पोचवायला हे पण आहे. ७ मिनिटात वर. आम्हाला चढायला ७ तास लागले. वर पोचणे सोपे नाही. १७ की मी वगरे चालणे आहे आणि सर्व चढ आहे. त्यात घोडे आणि त्याचे मालक धक्का देत देत वर जात असतात. हेलिकॉप्टर, घोडे आणि घोडेवाले ,पाठीवर घेणारे, पालखीत बसणारे, आणि मग चालत वर जाणारे अशी hierarchy आहे असे म्हणा. धावत पळत वर जातांना हे घोडेवाले फार काही काळजी घेतात असे काही दिसत नव्हते. दोन तीन वेळा काही लोक घोड्यावरून पडली. तो रस्ता कठीण आहे आणि घोड्याचे पाय सरकतात. काळजी घेणे गरजेचेच आहे. असो. We started our climb. Shiv Shanbho Shiv Shambho.

एका मायावी जगात, अदभुत दुनियेत आणि अर्थात महादेव भूमीत प्रवेश केल्याची जाणीव झाल्याशिवाय राहत नाही. जाणीव, भास, काही तरी वाटणे, मनाला भावणे  हे अत्यंत वयक्तिक असल्यानी इथे जे काही लिहीत आहे तेच तुम्हाला होईल आणि वाटेल असे नाही. देव धर्म अध्यात्म अथवा इतर काही मला नीट कळत नाहीत. So, in this case whatever I felt, and am still feeling was something that I did not question at all. We often hear people say that you can hear the sound of the Damru and Om when in Himalayas. If you ask me, that was the only music to my ears and was with me all the time. Just kept my ears open and my brains - the questioning part, shut. Me Papya and Nigade, on our way up to Kedarnath, could still see the remains of the old road, the structures and some buildings that were washed away in 2013. This is the place where there is no excuse. You obey or you die. We took a couple of breaks and reached the top of Kedarnath after 7 hours hike, and it was tiring. Last km for me was a bit difficult, but I made it. It was a beautiful day. We could see the Kadardome, the peak right behind the temple. Vasuki Tal on the left side and some more beautiful mountains on the right.

Beautiful Kedar Dome and Kedar Peak

This place is over powering, this place is filled with supernatural energies, this place is filled with the presence of God - the presence of Shiva. I could not believe my eyes and couldn't stop staring at the peak. It was the moment and we had not even been to the temple. Lets settle here - rooms on one side and tents on another. Rs 250 per head. Not bad.

 Young fellow in his 20s, was standing outside the so called reception. Travelling is about meeting new people and this dude was the first one to meet at Kedarnath. Arjun - a student of management in one of the colleges, we started talking. He came to Kedarnath a day earlier and was staying in the tent. When asked why here, he told us that he went home for holidays. His Dad told him not to stay home and waste time and that he should travel anywhere. So he was travelling, alone. We checked in, secured our corners, set our sacks and relaxed. It was still day light. We rested for an hr or two and were ready to head towards the temple. Arjun came along and then was a part of the team for the next 36 hrs. On the way to the temple, on the left hand side, you can see the Mandakini river flowing, making noise, roaring - while enjoying the light and sound show of the beautiful water and the setting sun, we saw something covered with orange, right in the middle of the river. A big rock and on that a sack covered with an orange, भगवं वस्त्र. After a close observation, we found that babaji was in meditative state. Well, this was the first hand experience. Afterwards when we discussed this with one of the Yogis we met, he mentioned that its very common and that he would sit there all night and vanish in the mountains. We crossed the bridge and moved towards the temple. मंदिराच्या डाव्या बाजूला काही RSS चे कार्यकर्ते ध्वज वंदना करत होते. आम्ही जाऊन रांगेत उभे राहिलो. सर्व कार्यक्रम सुंदर उरकला. एकमेकांकडे बघून वंदे मातरम म्हणालो आणि निघालो. मंदिरात तिथे पोचल्यावर असे काही आमचे स्वागत होईल याची कल्पना नव्हती. त्या मंतरलेल्या संध्याकाळी, सूर्यास्त होत असतांना जेव्हा आरती चालू झाली, तेव्हा मात्र फक्त डोळे मिटले आणि त्या सर्व अनुभवाला आत अडकवून टाकले, जपून, परत परत घेता येईल अशा ठिकाणी. अवर्णनीय जागा आणि अनुभव आहे. इथे यायचे तर धावत पळत नाही, हेलिकॉप्टर सुटायची भीती न ठेवता, आणि घोड़ा पळून जाईल का याचा विचार  न करता, तर खरी मजा. मंदिराच्याच आवारात आम्हाला एक बाबाजी भेटले. त्यांचे नाव ब्रिजकुमार. अनेक वर्ष त्यांची साधना चालू होती. निगडे त्यांच्याशी बोलला आणि गप्पा चालू झाल्या. काही वेळ गेला आणि त्यांना आम्ही रात्री जेवायचे आमंत्रण दिले आणि रजा घेतली.

कोपऱ्यावरच्या टपरीवर, जिथे पुढचे दोन दिवस आम्ही अनेक चहा प्यायलो, तिथे जाऊन बसलो. 

We were searching for the prasad - the babaji prasad. While sipping the tea, i smelled something familiar. In the corner, looked at the dude who was smoking and I smiled. Umang - he was the dude from Bhopal. His family left him back as there was no room in the helicopter. The last one got cancelled due to bad weather. I smiled and asked him - Prasad hai ? He said yahi lelo baiyya. Take this one. We smoked the small bd together - all four of us. Umang was alone and didnt had a place to stay. So, 4 became 5 in the tent. We went back walking and talking, discussing about the journey, sharing the experiences and looking for new places to visit. The weather was not so great. We had dal paratha and went inside the tent. After a bit of freshening up, we came outside the tents and smoked another of the babaji prasad, all of us together. "Hey guys, whats up - dude this is really crazy man, is there a place where i can take a nap - need to leave early tomorrow". Aditya, a photographer popped up from no where. He was riding his bike for 15 days and had ended up here. Started from Jodhpur or some place, he was a good story teller and good photographer from what he had shown us. 10 ish, we went back to the tent and slept like a baby. The first day and night at Kedarnath was full of memories. I fell in love with this place.

Early to bed and early to rise came very naturally here. We woke up again with the noise of the Helicopter and saw that the tent was almost empty. Aditya had left already and so had Umang. He got the ride back and after a couple of days I got a message from him that he had reached home safely. Today we planned, first to visit the temple, then to the Maun Gufa - Modi Gufa as we all know and then the Bhairav baba mandir. It was raining a bit, and we left straight for the temple. There was a queue and we were a part of that. Standing for less than an hour, we reached the entrance of the Kedarnath Temple. Stepped inside the temple to see the statues of Pandavas and beautiful carvings. The temple is 1000+ years old and billions have visited this place. Took the darshan, sat down with eyes closed in the noisy gabhara and came out.

During the flash floods, the stories of which we heard from the locals, the whole kedarnath was washed away. It had killed more than 5000 people which was the official figure, but the locals believe that was mere a small number...During the peak season, the same time for darshan is more than 8 hrs. The number on deaths is more than 25,000 to 30,000 at the least. 15th and 16th of June, God decided to clean his home. With the water rushing down from Gandhi taal, it swept away anything that came its way. Water dislocated big, huge boulders and crushed large establishments as they tumbled down the mountains. Defying gravity, science, momentum and whatever that we reason with, the laws of Newton, one huge boulder came tumbling down same as all others. Crushing everything in the way, destroying whatever is can. The direction of the travel was straight towards the temple.....10 mts approximately before the temple, this BheemShila what its called now, stopped. Right there. Everything following and flowing behind was shielded from destroying the temple. The water passed from both the sides and the temple was unharmed. The faith was restored. Lets not question how did this happen, when everything else was washed away except the temple. We went round to see this miracle and were actually stunned. अंगावर काटा आला. तेव्हा काय झालं  असेल याची कल्पना पण करणे अशक्य आहे.

भीम शिळा 

भीम शिळा 

मोदी गुफा 

Kedarnath From the top

भैरवबाबा मंदिर 

त्यादिवशी मंदिराच्या आवारात परत ब्रिज कुमारजी  भेटले. काही वेळ गप्पा झाल्या. परत टेन्ट मध्ये येऊन बूट घालून आम्ही गुहेच्या दिशेनी निघालो. Vasuki Taal, a 10 odd km trek starts from the left side. The caves are on the same side of the mountains. There are two caves, one which is where Modiji visited and the other which is located just few meters away, seems to be a private cave which can be rented - thats what I heard. Both caves and the locations were super. The same path will take you to Bramha Gufa which is located, well far away and the Gandhi Taal. Me Papya and Nigade sat there for sometime, with the usual, sitting with the eyes closed and just soaking everything in, while Papya wondering around waiting for us to move. It was a funny scene, and Papya use to call us - Bhogis acting like Yogis, which was funny actually.

The view of Kadarnath temple, town and the development that is happening was breathtaking. Now this was the same place from where people started to come up the hill during the flash floods. Triyugi Narayan is on the other side of this mountain and we heard stories from the locals there, that people came down from this mountain and the village took care of thousands there. Lot were killed and they still find skeletons at times. The small trip to the GUFA was worth it. Now to go on the other side. Bharav Baba. The temple is located bank opposite, on the right hand side mountain range. A small walk to the temple and you can see the panoramic view of Kedarnath from the other side. Quite place, there was a sadhubaba that was staying in the cave there. Could see his assan. Trishul and all that is needed.

This is the place where we met Rahul - the traveler and blogger. Talkative and full of energy, came along with his sister. They were traveling for a long time shooting every little moment and capturing everything on his Go Pro - he was hooked up totally. Go through mountains, his blog name. Anyway, a good person we met, he told us a place called Triyugi Narayan. This was a place some 30 km away from SonPrayag where Shankar Parvati got married. He told us only good things about the place and we thought why not. Towards the end of the day, as we were experiencing the nature's changing landscape, the clouds started hovering the place. Kedarnath Peak was not visible anymore nor were the caves that we saw few hours ago. The place was swallowed in clouds. We checked in the tents to find a bengally babu Vishwajeet Ganguli waiting. He had reached the town and was the new member to the family. Started talking and discussing and he went on to tell his story. His parents passed away and he decided not to get married. He had a well paying job a beautiful house and a collection of books. He decided to quit the job. Whatever money that he had, and his dad left was good enough for him to survive. He said, he is searching for Shiva and will do so all his life. That evening, we had a long talk on sadesati and he narrated the story of Shani, and how sadesati came to being. A very religious man, he was alone on this journey. I guess alone on all the journeys. All three of us were listening. After the story telling session, I asked him if he wants to join us for dinner. He passed our invitation. Along with rain gear, we left the tent to spend time near the temple. The crowd was on its way back, either to the helipad or to the way down on the horse back. A day before, we had some good parathas and daal along with Arjun and Umang. Since it was raining, we decided to check some other joint with a decent roof to cover us. Didn't find any. So went back to same tapri - to our surprise, we saw Brijkumarji walking toward us. Nothing planned and it was a mere coincidence for him to be there at the same time we reached. He smiled and said, here I am. We were thrilled to see him. Had a sumptuous dinner and ordered a hot tea.

Brijkumarji was a sadhu, a sanyasi. He was staying in and around Kedarnath, now for more than 20 years. 5'8, long beard, black eyes - bright and glittering, might be 50+ years of age, simple dhoti and an orange robe wrapped around, what caught our attention was his smile, the expressions of contentment. There was nothing that he wanted and was seeking for nothing, there was no rush and there was no hurry, there were no intentions of wants or possessions. All of us sat on the table with a small umbrella in front of Brijkumarji.

Nigade asked his first question about yog sadhana, ashtangayog, kriya yog - can you throw some light on how you meditate ?

He smiled and said actually i dont know anything of what you are talking about. I connect to the lord by focusing all my energies right where you see Mahadev's third eye. Thats all. It will hurt for the first few times till you get used to it. You all can practice that. But there is something that I dont have that you have which restricts you from practicing this. Thoughts - your mind is never empty, your brains and your heart are working continuously towards supporting the millions of thoughts that come to your mind every minute of the day. I have no thoughts of family, money, society, health, appreciation etc .... so, the major energy that is required to get over the thoughts is focused on something else. With no thoughts in mind, no desires in your heart and no intentions of any gains, you can meditate and experience the state of consciousnesses. Consciousnesses of mind, of your soul. But, it all comes through practice and until you do so, each and every distraction will catch your attention and thoughts will flow like water....the body is a mere object to carry the soul towards the journey of Moksha. If you cannot do it this life, it will flow in another and try to follow the same...and then another and then another till you are free from the cycle of life and death.

Babaji, we went to haridwar and saw all these pandits and sadhus, looting people, looting them with the emotional blackmail of how Ganga snan will clean all the sins, and how the Ganga puja will help the Pitru -what are your thoughts and is there a right or wrong in this.

Ganga, the source of power, source of life for millions is a holy river. The same people you mentioned are polluting the river. The same people you mentioned are using this river as an excuse to make money. As for the sins and moksha, tell me something, if a 'Snan' in Ganga, clean you of your sins and help you with Moksha, what do you think of all the fish in the same river ? Have they attained Moksha already - they live and drink and bathe in the Ganga. Its not so my friend. Your sins should be washed even if you look at Gangamaiyya. Nothing to do with bathing but its to do with your Karma. You have to pay for your sins. If you do not do your duties, whatever they are, you will pay for it.

He was talking everything not from the God's or the religion or the adhyatmik so called perspective but with a practical approach, with examples that one can understand, common man can relate to. Or too much of truth which we are not aware of anymore. We live in a very superficial society, that we try to please or pretend, may be not all, but yes most of us. Either to have harmony or then the ego which has to be massaged, either ways, live our lives to a point when we are tired of this pseudo living. Then the journey of self realization or consciousness starts. He was mentioning to that I think. Therefore, what i feel is meditation and other sciences are far fetched unless we are true to ourselves and true to the being to the core. Till then, you think something, talk something and do something and pretend the meditation part also.

The discussions turned to Kedarnath and the flash floods that happened in 2013. We asked him if he could speak about it.

He said ' I was up the hill in the ashram with Guruji. We saw it happening way before it all happened and so it did not come as a surprise. This is the place where Mahadev, Shiva, Rudradev lives. Humans had made this place a shit hole with people drinking and Nepalis doing all wrongs things here. There was a point when enough was enough. The pandits were looting, serving the wrong people and allowing much of the things which are prohibited around here - the sanity of the place was in trouble and we knew the Pralay is coming. It happened and wiped all the traders, businessmen, Pandits and people who were injuring him. And yet again, I say, its going to happen. The noise of helicopter is vibrating the surroundings and yet again its going to happen". We were stunned listening to the story. The reality. Dont come to this place during season, come after Diwali when everyone leaves this holy place. All remains is us with our Shambho. Come then, visit us then and you would know. Its beautiful here.

This evening with Brijkumarji, was memorable. It was an evening with the mystic. While leaving, he said, it was great meeting you. You all are different. People come here, visit the temple, pay money and leave to the next destination like someone is making this compulsory or they think that the sins are wiped off. I am going to offer you to come along with me to Vasuki Taal, and further to the place where we meditate, where we stay. It was a tempting offer but looking at the weather it seemed impossible. He told us the weather will be fine, but dont know when he will come back to Kedarnath. We passed the fantastic opportunity and I am regretting that till now. I will go back, find him and walk with him someday soon. May be next year itself. It was a mesmerizing experience, a dream and million dollar lessons that we learned on the river banks of Mandakini looking at the temple and the Kedarnath peak behind. Our day came to an end and we went back to the tent. Our friend, the bengali babu was fast asleep.

21/ 22nd  Sept Triyugi Narayan

 It was time to say goodbye to one of the most beautiful place that I have visited in my life. Packed our bags and started our journey towards Gaurikund. Breakfast of Maggie on the way, we reached the foothills in around 3.5 hours. Rahul, the Gaziabad dude had mentioned to us about Triyugi Narayan and how beautiful this place is, where the Vasuki river flows. So, we decided to visit that place. Phata, where we had kept our luggage was still there. The road to Triyugi is way before we reach Phata and therefore we were trying to get in touch with the hotel owner to make sure he keep the bags alright. Left the thought as we could not get through and went straight to Triyugi. This is small, typical village in the Himalayas with a temple, very significant as Shankar - Paravti wedding place. So the destination wedding happened here and the Guruji was Vishnu himself. All the Gods, Devils, Aghoris and animals came to the wedding. In the temple, there is a homekund, where the perpetual fire burns and its said to be burning since the wedding. We reached the small village and found a beautiful place to live - It was GMVNL guest house, well with hot water and a shower. We checked in and relaxed. This was a very expensive hotel and we had to shell out Rs 350 per head for the stay, but Oh well :-). The temple which I can say is smaller version of the Kedarnath temple was just round the corner. Pilgrims are seen visiting this temple, but not many know about this place and I dont think anyone stays here much. This is a touch and go place along the way. We freshened up and came down to see Rahul and his Sister (Didi) standing in front of us. The Uncle's Place - Super luxurious restaurant, Veg, with a panoramic view of mountains from the rooftop sitting, a wonderful blend of inside and outside seating arrangements, delicious tea, parathas etc and stories to listen to. We laid our bottoms here and made sure that we filled our tummy's with good food, that evening we had some daal rice and roti - manda like bhakri but with different ingredients. Super tasty. The night was young. We were joined by another man there and Rahul Nigade Didi and the other man got into a conversation. Papya was listening and I left, 5 min after the noise. Came back after an hour to see the Man was gone and all were peaceful. Rahul, a blogger showed us a lot of his recordings and pictures. After the dinner, we sat outside with some nice music on the side and smoked the remaining prasad listening to Guruprasad, the son of Uncle and a cricketer. Life was good. Now, we were able to see the Kedar Peak and the dome from the other side and could actually see the height of Kedar Peak to be much much more than the Kedar dome. As the story goes and was narrated by the people here which i have mentioned earlier was told again that night by Guru. Pointing to the exact location, he told us how horrendous the whole experience was.

From the Hotel

Nigade - जाऊदे 

Uncle's place 

Rahul and Didi

Colorful Rajma - Farm Fresh

Gauri Gufa

A relaxed day after the 3.5 hrs of downhill walk, we slept with our stomachs full and happy.

It was quite late when I got up the next morning. I think 7 ish. Asked Nigade if he wants to join me in the temple. There was not a single soul there. The fire was still burning, and the Guruji were performing the actual puja not the nautankee that happens during the day. Here, I found that these people have books that they have kept for years. When pilgrims come there, they are asked to write the name. The pandits would ask if your father, grand father etc had ever visited this place, and if the answer is yes they will find the name for you in their own handwriting. Thought it was pretty cool, ofcourse for a price. In the temple, we sat there with our eyes closed, peacefully. When we came back to the Uncles tapri, Rahul and Didi were ready to leave. Didi had taken charge of the kitchen and made us some good paratha with achar. After the breakfast and when they both left, we started our small hike towards Gauri Gufa. Its a small cave in the mountains. I really did not find anything interesting there and also not much of any history. While narrating a story, Guru the son of Uncle mentioned about some experience he had as a boy, while roaming the mountains, and near the Gauri Gufa. He said a Sadhu Maharaj who helped him to find his way back. The baba was narrating each and every thing that he was thinking back to him. Guru and Nigad went back to the Gufa and near by location where Guru had met the sadhu baba. 

There was a thought of leaving that day and find another destination. While Rahul was talking about new places, and one of our friend Chamba had mentioned TungaNath, we decided that it would a good trek to Chandrashila Peak and Tunganath. But, that day when we came back to the village from Gauri Gufa, we could not leave, for one there was no transport available and second, all three of us did not wanted to leave this place. So we stayed that night. A very quite day so to speak.

23th  Sept TungaNath

Papya has this irritating watch which I hate. Every hour it makes this shrill sound, which will disturb your sleep, anywhere. The same watch has an alarm, which for some reason just goes off at random times. With all the efforts, there has not been a soul who could shut that thing up. So, I requested him to set up the alarm for 5 am. There was a milk van - Bollero ofcourse, which was to leave at 6. We jumped on to the vehicle and started our wonderful journey to a place called Chopta. On the way, we had to pick the bags from Phata. It was a good 80 KM ride which means 3 to 4 hours at the least. Sonprayag - Phata - Guptakashi to Rudraprayag road. Just before Rudraprayag, there is a road towards Chopta. Had heard a lot about this place. Switzerland of India and all. We booked a private taxi as there is no alternative - no public transport per say. Amazing road and a super fantastic surroundings. I have not been to Switzerland, but this place was very close to some of the best places on Earth. Surrounded by beautiful mountains, snow capped peaks, trees touching the blue skies, hectors of greens, and the fragrance of freshness, this place was truly a romantic destination. Oh well, for a while we all went in to the zone, thinking about all the things that males would think about, and then came back to reality. There are many places and resorts where you can have a very comfortable stay.

We reached Chopta and decided to look for a room. Again were lucky to get the Rs 500 a night room. Packed the required material and left for TungaNath. This is the highest Shiva Temple in the World. There is a proper trail to go up. No rush at all. I think it took us a couple of hours to reach the top. On the way, on a beautiful day, the nature was at its best. Since we did not know anything about this place, the curiosity was increasing and we all were looking forward to reaching the top. It started raining, but we had almost reached the summit. Panch Kedar - this was a new concept that I heard. The Panch Kedar, all of them were the creation of the Pandavas. Kedarnath, Tunganath, Rudranath, Madmaheshwar and Kalpeshwar.

When we reached the summit, we went straight to the temple. The structure was similar to the Kedarnath mandir, but much smaller.

After a nice cup of tea, we decided to stay here, experience the heavenly sunrise from the Chandrasheela Peak and then return back. Ramesh, one of the care takers offered us a nice place to stay. Charge - Rs 1100. Nigade offered him Rs 400 and was thrown out of the place :-). Since the room was alright and he had his own small hotel, we went back and negotiated the price to Rs 700 and promised that we will spend the same on food. Ramesh had also mentioned not to get that friend of yours back, but we convinced him that he is a good person, which ofcourse we lied :-).

We were in the clouds....literally. TungaNath, a small place with about 25 to 30 houses, this place is well developed. I think you can see the glimpses in the movie Kedarnath. That evening, we requested Ramesh for some Rotis and not Parathas and I cooked बटाट्याच्या काचऱ्या. Potatoes, in short. A woodcutter came alone with a fresh set of woods and some real fresh prasad - he rolled a joint and we had it peacefully. It was one of the best tasting joint i have ever smoked, and you can compare with the one at Kheerganga or tundabuj during the Pin Parwati trek. Dal roti and potatoes filled up the stomach and we all went to bed.

24th Sept - Chandrasheela

3.30 am and we were up and about. Got ready, had some hot water and left for the Chandrasheela peak. Fortunately, the sky was filled up with stars and the milky way was visible. It was a beautiful clear day and Shambho was with us. 4.30 am we left for the peak as it was a 1.5 hrs hike. On the way we met some people who were on the same journey. To our surprise, we reached there in 45 min. A 360 deg view of the Garhwal  Mountain range -

Chandrasheela - meaning the moon rock is located at about 13000 ft. From here you can see the Trishul Prabat, Kedar peak, Nandadevi, Bandarpunch and Chaukhamba. Now imagine, you at 13,000 ft looking at these 20,000+ feet peaks when the sun is rising. Well...CANT EXPLAIN.

As the sun rises, all these mountain peaks turn into Mackenna's gold peaks. They shine like they are on fire. Those few minutes are the best moments in your life and some that you would never forget. We were lucky to experience it and most importantly, the weather was on our side.

We sat there, eyes closed and soaking whatever we can inside and started our journey back to the base after eating Paratha and Achar at the Ramesh's place. It took us an hour to get down. While descending, in  my own pace, there could have been an accident and that would have ended my journey. But fortunately it did not. We reached Chopta and went to the room that we had booked, which we did not use at all. Me and papya picked up the sacks and came running as there was a bus at 8.30 am, very much the only bus that can take us to the next destination which we did'nt know where. We were on time. When I came back with sack, I saw Nigade sitting besides a foreigner and chatting with a cup of tea in his hands. She was travelling in the same direction. The mini bus came to the spot and we loaded our sacks. 15 min later, the bus started and we decided to head towards Badrinath. It was a good 7 hour journey. Tawney, the foreigner was on our bus and got talking. She was a 23 year old Australian and was roaming my country alone for past 11 months. She had been more places in India, than we three combined. From Kochi, where she started her journey, she had been to Vipashchana, visited most of the south India and some parts of Maharashtra like the Ajanta caves, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal and then here to Uttarakhand. Tawney had already earned our respect. Stories of her journey and how in past 11 months she actually had 3 marriage proposals, found her soulmate, the love for food and then the spiritual journey that she has been experiencing in India. 7 hours passed by, singing and talking and eating and we reached Badrinath. 

Tawney and Us

To tell you the truth, did not find this place interesting at all. There is no feel no energy there is no charm - ना सौंदर्य आहे ना रौद्र रूप, ना भव्य दिव्या मंदिर आहे ना तिथे काही शांतता - बाजार भरला आहे हे जरी खरं असलं  तरी त्या त्या ठिकाणी मनाला काही तरी भावून जाते. आता आळंदी ला जा. तिथे गर्दी चा महापूर असतो. पण ज्ञानोबांची जाणीव झाल्या शिवाय राहत नाही. तिथे गर्दी घाण सर्व असून त्याच्या कडे लक्ष्य जात नाही. बद्रीनाथ ला मला असा काही झाला नाही. We searched for a room a dorm so to speak and settled there. Till then, there was no excitement about this place. More so we were sorry that we came here. Tawney was a part of the team and were travel buddies now. In the same dormitory / room we rested for a while and then went straight to the temple.

Neelkanth

One thing that caught our attention before we left for the temple, made this visit super special. Outside of the room, there was a sitout and I went there searching actually for nothing. When I saw the temple, and the background, the scene was serene. Right behind the temple you can see the Neelkanth Peak standing tall. There is trek to the Neelkanth base and an expedition to the Neelkanth Peak. Shambho - well worth coming to Badrinath I thought. While walking towards the temple, which we all thought that it was the Shiva temple, Tawney reveled that it was a Lord Vishnu temple and not a Shiva temple. तिच्या बरोबर चालत असतांना तिथे लोकं लोम्बत होते तिला. त्यांना आम्ही सांगत होतो नका वेळ घालवू कारण हिच्या कडे काही नाही. अजून सुद्धा, इंग्रज जाऊन इतकी वर्ष झाली, तरी गोरी चामडी दिसली की भारतीय लाळ गाळतात.... त्यांना का वाटतं की याच्या कडे पैसे खूप आहेत का कुतूहल म्हणून फक्त, माहित नाही. ती बरोबर असल्यानी चार लोकांना आम्ही आहोत याची जाणीव झाली इतकच. त्या गाभाऱ्यातल्या देवाला पण तसेच वाटले नसेल ना ? अर्थात गाभाऱ्यात आम्ही काही जाऊ शकलो नाही. तिथे जायला तिकीट आहे आणि वेळ पण. हिंदू धर्म आणि त्यात बद्रीनाथ, म्हणजे चारधाम यात्रा वगरे वगरे. कधी तरी वाटते की इथे फक्त श्रीमंत लोकांना येता येईल. एक गरीब हिंदू ला इथे काय कुठेच जाता येईल असा वाटत नाही. सर्व कडे बाजार. असो. So we ended in the Lord Vishnu temple and could get the glimpses of the black idol standing tall with diamonds in the crown. There were 100s inside and the arti was on. We walked back. Roaming through the bajar, we had a nice cup of tea and a little bit of maggie and headed back to the room. We did not do much after that, but spent time discussing and talking about the journey and sharing experiences. While we were talking, Tawney was already in her dreams. She said, the room was Rs 500 and I was alone, so if I share it, I will have to spend just Rs 200 and that is in my budget. :-) we talked about Osho and Sadhguru and the lectures and the teachings, till she asked about J.Krishnamurthy. That raised eyebrows and we knew then and there that she is a unique traveler we have met and that her journey is way different. A graduate in Creative Writing, we had met a wonderful person today. We slept that night without dinner, did not feel like eating.

25th Sept - Badrinath - Mana

Next morning we had breakfast and started for a small village on the Indo China border called Mana. Its about 5 km from Badrinath on the banks of Saraswati river. There are few places that holds a lot of importance. One of them is Vyas Gufa - its said that this is the place where Vyasmuni wrote the Mahabharata with the help of Lord Ganesha.

Its a small hike and all four of us went to this cave. Nice place, generally crowded. Nigade helped Tawney with some shopping around this area and we headed back to Badrinath. At Triyugi narayan, papya mentioned about a song from Kedarnath - namo namo ji shankara and I had downloaded that song. This song became our anthem. We must have heard this song numerous times, in all the locations and singing along namo namoji shankara just felt good... uplifted our spirits. You know, in my life, for all the special and not so special moments, there is a song associated with it. Sounds funny but, just the song takes you to the location and helps you experience the moment again and again. 'jivan se haar jine wale' will take me to the Dahanu military training camp - J04 Phir wohi raat hai to Dapoli - Jadu hai tera hi Jadu hai to the Journey from Pune to Mumbai when I was leaving for the US first time - Jindagi a raha hu mai while the return journey to Pune from the US etc .... and many more of love and friendship, of deaths and fights, of beautiful vacations and dangerous treks, of cycling, of the evenings in the bars and with some wonderful people I met.......... Songs are everything. Namo Namo will take me there, to experience all that all over again, if I grow old.

We packed our bags and started walking towards the bus stand. The next destination was JoshiMath. Actually, there was a thought of going to Hemkund sahib, but we all decided to skip it. Its a nice trek, about 14 km. May be next time. At the stand, there was no bus available to take us to Joshimath. So we checked the Savari if available, not in booking but sharing. Still nothing. Two boys were standing at the corner. One around 34 and other in early 20s. As usual we started talking. Hi hello how are you, where from etc. "ye foreigner kaha se hai bhaiyya" where is this girl from. We introduced Tawney to him. He was standing there to go haridwar and then take a flight back home from Dehradun. His name was Soni, and had a jewelry store. He was in a big rush. He gave the other kid some money and booked a vehicle to take him to Haridwar. Soni offered us a lift to Joshimath as it was on the way. All 4 of us gladly accepted his offer and patiently waited for the car to come. A cup of tea and some Maggie we started chatting. His phone was locked and we tried to help him with it. He handed over the phone to Papya to take it along with him to Pune and see if it can be repaired. All in all another friend on the way. He and his wife will be in Pune soon for some treatment and they will be our guests alright. On the way back, our journey with Tawney ended. She left for Hemkund and we proceeded to Joshimath. Soni dropped us at Joshimath. We had egg curry and rice after a long time. After potpuja we headed straight to the Math. The office was closed and therefore could not get a place to rest. We left the sacks there and checked out the place.

Jyotirmath is what it is actually called. The four Shaktipeeth established by Adi Shankaracharya, Jyotirmath is one of the them. When we entered this place, it was very much empty. One person guided us to the meditation hall and the cave which is on the upper deck. I was wondering, that if this is one of the four Shaktipeeth and a very important place for the Hindus why is there no rush here. Comparing with the temples, there is God there and out here there is knowledge. What comes first, the knowledge to understand God and then the darshan OR the darshan first to understand and absorb the knowledge that will follow. Whatever it is, here I did not see what I was expecting. I was expecting students and acharya, Pathashala and Ved Pathan, knowledge flowing like the Ganga .... I dont know, but there was nothing. We got accommodation there and rested for a while. We visited the nearby temple and were called for dinner in the Math. 7 people in total for super delicious Chichadi and Achar. Loved it. End of the days play ....

26th Sept - Auli

It was raining all night. Real bad rains. We heard that the road to Kedarnath was closed. Lucky us, that we were able to complete the trek, stay there and come back. There were two places that we wanted to go - Auli to Kauri pass and back which was not possible due to weather and time limitations and the second place was Kalpeshwar. We got up in the morning late, had the morning tea and started walking toward the start point to Auli. A rope way -25 min to Auli. One of the longest in India. They will charge you a 1000 rupees but its all worth it. Auli is famous for skiing.

In winter, this place is full of tourists. Covered with snow, surrounded by the mountains and thick forest, Auli must be the place to go in winters. We reached the top and headed straight to a couple of km hike to a temple near by....once we entered the forest, I heard gun shots, a lot of them. For a moment thought that there was something crazy going on down there, near the canteen. But nothing, all well. Joshimath, the home for the Garhwal Scouts is the closest Army battalion to the Indo-Tibet border. This is the place from where all the rescue operations were controlled during the 2013 disaster in Kedarnath. There is a temple of Gurson Bugyal which we visited. Papya and Nigade did the Shirsasana there in the temple...the upside down yogis. The place was very quite, in the middle of no where, there was not a single soul to be seen. We spent couple of hours there, not much talking to each other, and headed back to the canteen for a delicious lunch.

Towards the end of the day, we came back to Joshimath and decided to check out from the math and check-in in  a small hotel nearby - cheaper version. That night after a long time, we ate some chicken curry, roti and rice and went to bed. On the way down, we met some people from Pune who had completed the panch kedar, walking and were on the way back to Pune after the Auli visit. They happen to be from the Pula Palikadchi Manasa and obviously knew Pappu's family. All in all a relax day spent.

That evening, we found a shop and sipped some rum, talking about love liberty and pursuit of happiness, about our journey from Manali to Leh on cycle, that we three had completed in 2012. The bond between three was forged then and is still strong. There were times when we had fights and mis understandings, but thats the part of the plan, that is a part of being friends, that you fight and fight and fight and then sit down have a drink and its all in the past. Memories between friends are more stronger than the fights. With the understanding between us, there were no arguments as to where to go and where not to...road was calling and we were walking on it. The simple thought.

27th Sept - Kalpeshwar

About 30 km from Joshimath, after crossing the Alaknanda River, you reach one of the panch kedar - Kalpeshwar. We hired a bolero as there was no one going that way. The road to Kalpeshwar was very bad. It took us an hour and half to reach the location. It is a calm and quite stone temple which is approached through a small cave passage - जटा  is what is worshiped here.

The Pujari was cleaning the inside of the temple and therefore he kicked us out. Behind the temple there is a quite place to sit / meditate and Nigad left for the quietness there. 15 min passed by and the pujari called us inside the cave. What we experienced afterwards was divine. Me and papya were holding water and milk and then the rituals started. मंत्र चालू झाले. अभिषेक चालू झाला. पुजारी त्यांच्या खर्ज आवाजात शंभो चे मंत्र म्हणायला लागले. आमच्या समोर, त्या शिवलिंगाला रूप आणले. आधी दूध, नंतर पाणी, त्यानंतर गंध, कुंकू आणि फुलांनी इतकं सुदर  सजवले की काही विचारू नका. निगडे आला आणि आरती चालू झाली. मंत्रमुग्ध होऊन आम्ही तिघे उभे होतो. माझा डोळ्यातुन कधी पाणी यायला लागले कळले नाही. तो क्षण मी कधीच विसरू शकणार नाही. काही तरी होते. तुमचे सर्व इंद्रिय जेव्हा Align होतात, नकळत, तेव्हा काही तरी वेगळाच अनुभव येतो. तसेच होते का ते पण मला माहित नाही. ते क्षण ध्यानात गेले, ना मनात काही विचार न काही धडपड, गोंधळ - काहीच नाही. आमची वेळ इतकी योग्य होती की ठरवून सुद्धा हे घडले नसते. म्हणून न ठरवता घडायच्या त्या गोष्टी घडतात. इथे न कोणी पैसे मागायला उभा न कोणी लुटायला. पूजा झाली आणि अपोआप हात खिशात गेला आणि जे लागले हाताला ते न बघता घडले. दान करायला त्रास नसतो पण तेच दान तुम्हाला धाक दाखवून किंवा देवाच्या नावाची भीती घालून करायला लावतात त्याचे दुःख वाटते. आपण हिंदू आहोत याचा अभिमान आहे. आणि तसे असेल तर आपल्या तीर्थक्षेत्रांना मदत ही केलीच पाहिजे. नुसते हे घाण आणि ते वाईट असे म्हणून कसे चालेल. का आपण सरकार लाच नावे ठेवणार. असो. उर भरून येते ना, तसे भरलेले उर घेऊन आम्ही तिथून परत निघालो. तिथे एक बाबा नी चहा पाजला आणि आम्ही परतीच्या प्रवासाला सुरुवात केली. जोशीमठ ला पोचलो. 

We reached back to Joshimath and relaxed for a while. Had good food, actually real good mutton and rice. We were roaming the streets and landed in another temple where during the winter days Badrinath murti is brought here for the puja archa. Clean temple, we thought, that its enough now. Nothing much happened then and the day was over.

Before heading back to the hotel, we inquired about the transport to Rishikesh. Next morning the bus leaves at 6 am. OK. We were at the stop 5 min before.

28th - 29th Sept - Rishikesh

We were towards the end of the journey. Or may be the beginning of a whole new world, a whole new experience. Wandering around in Uttarkhand, one thing that I learnt about myself was that I can be alone at least for sometime. And I can enjoy my own company. It is so important that I cannot stress enough. We are so used to being loved, judged, hated and all the emotions that you can think of, so used to the fights and the laughter, the company and the general feeling that you have to fit in. The pretense, which has become the part of our life, you have to, whether at home, or in front of the clients or in the society. Anyway, the point is that if you can enjoy your company, you are all set. Society is never going to let you be, so you have to free yourself. The small journeys are like the parole you know, and then these journeys become the rest of your life. I did not miss anyone on this journey, in the last 15 days. I guess this was a big change than before, as I use to rush back home as soon as the trek was over. This time, I enjoyed each moment as there was no one waiting for me.

In the bus, there was a discussion on White water rafting which is very famous in Rishikesh. Ganga Rafting. The waters were no white,  due to heavy rains, Ganga was full, so the rapids for rafting were not so exciting. But still, we found out a location and added the adventure to our journey. We got down at Shivpuri where one of the organizer picked us up and we headed to the camp site. 20 km in the the jungle, side of beautiful river, set the stage for tomorrow. The camp site was alright. There were people from all over India, few just for camping, some for rafting and to our surprise some for the pre wedding party and photo shoots. That night, with a bottle of Vodka, and people singing around, we came back to civilization. Loud music, smoke, dancing and raining cats and dogs, this place was no less than an a party scene. People were enjoying. Me Papya and Nigade, silently enjoying the surroundings, soaking the experience and discussing about the journey, re-living the moments again and again. Panpatia Col - yeah the Pujari trek, thats what we will be going for the next year OR SinLa Pass. So, it was decided and we visited few trekking organizers who told us that they could help us. Both the treks are tough and would need a lot of practice, like a lot. We discussed the what next and went in the tent for a good night sleep. Next morning we left for Rafting, which was a good adventure, got a chance to swim in Ganga, sins washed :-) as they say, and came out of the waters near Ram Jula. We changed and settled in one of the hotels near by. The hotel was right on the Ganga Ghat. On the other side in the evening we could see the Ganga Puja / Arti happening.

We roamed the streets of Rishikesh all the way till 12.30 at night, aimlessly, laterally.

Last couple of days, we were trying to get back to normal I guess.

30th Sept - Back to the Shitville

Dehradun Delhi Pune - Flight delayed, just missed with all the last minute nautankee, racing along with time, every damn thing that we had not to do, we started doing and realized that we are back. Back in the jail, our freedom is gone. Nothing much to write, I came back home and it was quite. Everyone was sleeping and I was happy to see them tucked in. Without making any noise, I changed and went to bed. 15 days had passed by like 15 mins. It was the same time I woke up to leave for the journey - around 2.30 am