Uleytokpo - The Riverside

Howdy all! Its been Oh!... so long since this blog was updated but life decided to make us its ragdoll for quite some time. Schedules turned upside down, right side up, brought right down to a stop and accelerated before you could catch a breath… to make it a one liner. Its been a crazy few months!!! First of course was Test1always coming sooner than you want it too, still settling down with the new student council, etc. Then the bombshell of Jaundice spreading faster than gossip on campus, resulting in an unprecedented, not to mention historic, shut down of the campus for about 17 days. Everyone, scrambling asap to get away from the vicinity of the campus. And then coming back. However, unlike most others, of course, the devil in the formof Nettech, a certificate course on network security and management, was set to haunt me. This demon loved to eat away one's allocated time, exhaust them completely and still have them ask for more with enjoyment and the promise of knowledge as the bait! Of course, the lesser demon of project work grew threateningly large one weekend and it was all set for me to trip over them all and land flat on the face. Of course, with all this, you might understand why the blogging monster decided to sit out the free for all for my time and energy.

Coming back to the point though, its time we continued on the journey through my paradise, Ladakh… So after the acclimatization phase, it was time to start the actual journey. Destination - Uleytokpo (pronounced as Uley-top-ko), Banks of River Indus. The day dawned early and after breakfast we set off to Uleytokpo. For the first time ever, the road openedout ahead of us to reveal the cold beauty of this land. What you first experience as soon as Leh is left behind are the army lands. Home of battalions and regiments stretched for kilometres on both sides of the tiny road 2 and then some car widths wide.

Leaving human settlements behind, the loneliness engulfs you totally. Actually it overwhelms you. For as far as your eye can see, the grey snake of a road is laid out on extremely plain land. The sides however are a totally different story. For tens of kilometres its plain barren land and then… there lie the giants. They grab your attention quite forcefully. One of their own definitely caught our full attention when it tried to bend the movement of our over a ton vehicle with all of us sitting inside! Yes, the Magnetic Hill it was called and stayed true to its name. An absolutely still more than a few tons car with passengers inside (including yours truly) was slowly pulled when the car was left in gear with no accelerators or brakes!!! No other word for it but 'cooool!!' Moving on, we had some more breathtaking views of endless mountains and ranges.

First drive-by was the confluence of Zangskar and Indus. Incidentally, the Indus can be viewed throughout the country in an accessible manner only around Leh and then near Kargil before our namesake is lost to out neighbour, Pakistan. Then we stopped for the first stop at a ruined monastery the name of which fails me at the present time. One ends up seeing so many monasteries, that one loses track of all the Gompas and their names! Well, this was a ruin in the strictest sense of the word! Located on a small hill, parts of the monastery cum living quarter cum fort was in completely unconnected parts of the broken hill. Restoration work was on and the best view obtained comprised of how bamboo sticks are used for window sills in Ladakh.

Moving on, we were greeted graciously by capped mountains along the landscape peeking from behind their drier and shorter counterparts. This continued through the journey with the occasional (actually, only) river interrupting the landscape with a burst of green and a small town. After a stop of a few seconds at Uleytokpo for a recon of our campsite, we set off with a packed lunch to Alchi Monastery. That is a tradition it seems for the hotels and camps in Ladhakh - sending the tourists with packed lunches - a quaint one at that for taking care of guests. The location of the monastery was simply beautiful!

It was a small hill (compared to those around) and the valley below was filled with tiny farms and if I'm not wrong green meadows. As we were to learn, the monastery was splendidly colourful. The paintings on the walls were so bright and happy! We were greeted with a paintings was of the four heavenly kings (Lokapala in Sanskrit or guardians of the world), each of a different colour with different accompaniments ranging from a banjos and magic potions to swords! These heavenly kings are guardian gods. The Yellow hued one is Vaisravana (Kuber)meaning "He who hears everything" and protects the North holding an Umbrella. The Blue hued one is Virudhaka meaning "Patron of Growth" and protects the South holding a Sword. The White hued one is Dhrtarashtra meaning "Watcher of the Lands" and protects the East holding a Pipa (Sitar-esque instrument). The Red hued one is Virupaksa meaning "He who sees all" and protects the West holding a Serpent.

After visiting the shrine, we had lunch sitting on a roadside ledge with the whole hill and its vista stretched out below us. The major attraction near the monastery is this one hill which looks like the moon has been brought to ground. It is so unbelievable to observe a mountain whose colours and texture change from core Ladhakhi to the the core of the Moon! You have to see it to believe it! The rills on these 'moon-lands' - as they are referred to locally - are infinite and minute and the colour is that of cheese. This does lend to the theory that the moon is made of cheese (as per Jerry's fantasy!!). Our return route was a jolting shortcut that took us delightfully close to these moon-lands but rocked me (literally!!) to sleep. When I opened my eyes a good hour or so later we were back near Uleytokpo and it was time to settle into our tent.

Now, this tent was nothing short of 5 star in my opinion simply because to me tent has always been cramped space and sleepin bags with and the only attached toilet being the great outdoors. Here we had double sized bed with a space for a third and an attached bathroom complete with a prettily shaped wash basin and hand showers! The view, on walking a few steps out of the tent and peeking, entailed the flowing Indus as we were on her rather high banks. I instantly fell in love with the setting. The air about that place had something so lazy and relaxing about it and the mountains all around were like a protection from the everyday world. The few wisps of clouds in the sky threw a nice display of shadows on the ground with the mountains as a canvas as the river gushed down below. The caretaker was delightful Nepali whose energy at those altitudes was very amusing to watch. On talking to him later, we found that he was a sherpa who has climbed Mount Everest more number of times than I care to admit. He works as a guide in mountaineering expeditions in Nepal during winter. He half helped us plan a trip to Nepal too!

Warm food on a cold night was a welcoming sight not to mention a bonfire after that! The place had predominantly foreign families and a large group of youngsters who seemed to be from Australia and another group of three whom we were going to run into quite often. It was a night to relish. Cold and yet warm due to the bonfire and the sound of the river above it all. The cherry on the icing of this cake had to be the night sky! I never believed one could see the Milky Way in our sky when we were in it but its true! The faint and blink and you miss it band of white running across the sky made me happy enough to dance around in glee. Its impossible to ever imagine how infinite infinite really is until you look at the unhindered night sky. What more does one need for a peaceful night's rest...

10 Years Later...

As I watch the TV on 26th July, flipping channels, the headlines are the same, Remembering Kargil, the war that happened in my lifetime, affecting my country. The images shown now are of barren hills and clear skies, of forgotten heroes and forgotten times. However, over all the discussion of the current status of the army, its soldiers and machinery, what struck me more was the discussion of the terrain and weather there. Somehow, I could envision what Nature would have looked like then, mainly because of the holiday to Leh-Ladakh from which we had returned just a couple of days before. A life-changing and humbling experience that showed me that Nature just can't surprise one enough.

The last few days of Practice School were a whirlwind what with personal commitments and the trip to Leh looming faster than the comfortable pace. However, more than a few late nights went by and 16th July dawned. Rushing some 20-odd kilometres in the morning, I submitted my reports and the final documentation of my project to start packing for the evening flight to Delhi, our stopover on the way to Leh. I breathed easy only when we got to the airport, tight as the timeline was. The journey went without a hitch and Delhi welcomed us with a blast of hot air late in the night.

We must have taxied for about 15 minutes before coming to a final halt. An old friend, living in Shankar Vihar, the Army Housing Colony, nearby, put us up for the night. Interestingly, it might have been easier to have asked the pilot to drop us on the taxi-way as a jump of the airport compound would have brought us to our home for the night. We tried to get as much sleep as was possible as it was already past midnight and the flight to Leh was at 6:15 am. Don't ever think you're going to catch sleep on the Delhi-Leh flight. The tiniest clarity in viewing would just take one's breath away. One think I found out was the reason the crown of our country is called Himalaya - Abode of Snow. Some time into flight and food was served as usual. However, for the first time, no one seemed interested in eating. Anyone with a picture capturing device was too busy hogging windows and clicking away to glory. The perfect start to a holiday.



From perfect skiing slopes with zero access, to small deliciously green lakes, to chocolate brown cones with vanilla icing we saw them all. Waves and waves of endless mountains glinting in the sunlight and peeking from the foam factory created by the clouds. The flight sorely seemed to be too short. So, imagine my delight when the pilot announced that a defense aircraft was going to take priority in the landing order. By now, of course, the field of vision was consumed by the majestisity of the world's youngest ranges in all their glory, barren and brown, imposing themselves on the tiny white aircraft trying to reach the burst of green in the valley below - Leh. And I was already thanking my parents for getting me a camera of my own for my last birthday.



The one thing I had to thank God for though was the fact that, this day had the clearest skies I would see through all the days spent in Ladakh. Curiousity mounted as the plane descended, on how this new landscape - a cold desert - would look like, how the holiday would go and how well I would be able to handle the high altitude and low oxygen. As we deplaned, I took in deep gulps of refreshingly clean air but could find the slight light headedness. It disappeared almost as soon as it came, making me wonder if it was just imagined, who knows? As per medical advice, we each took half a Diamox pill used to treat altitude sickness. A car was waiting to take us to our hotel. The scenery around Leh was breathtaking considering we had Delhi to look at about 2 hrs ago. Leh, the valley, is surrounded on almost all sides by mountains, I mean mountains of mountains. They just don’t end and redefine how BIG big can really get.

Ten minutes later we drew upto a hotel built in a traditional style where the roof and windows are buffered with bamboo shoots between wooden/cement blocks. We were welcomed with the traditional silk scarf sacred to Buddhists and had some tea and cookies. Small talk with the manager and people working there revealed to us that almost all of them were non-natives. Just before Leh closes down, they move to Goa or Kerala to continue to work in restaurants and shacks there. Hence, they manage to work through off-season as well. As per advice we decided to rest for the better part of the day in an attempt to acclimatize to the altitude by sleeping it all off. The food at the hotel was predominantly vegetarian thankfully. We ventured out towards the evening.


First stop was the Shanti Stupa founded in 1985 by the Dalai Lama himself. It is located on the hilltop of Changspa and is one landmark seen even as a flight lands into Leh's airport. A short climb brings one to a small prayer hall flooded with colour. We were greeted with the monotonous thump of a drum and what I think is Japanese chanting that went like so: 'Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Gen Ke'. A further climb flattened out into a huge plane base for the statue. Endless climbing it seemed on that day, but the stupa structure was finally reached. Colourful pictures adorned the perimeter including one with the Buddha turning the Dhamma wheel and the symbol of the Ashoka Chakra. Coming down from the stupa, the panoramas afforded at the base were simply breathtaking. Almost all of Leh with the gorgeous mountains were laid out at our feet. From the stupa, we moved onto more worldy things like a tour of the market and some shopping and scouting of other items that could be brought after further comparisons. Tired, we soon returned back to the hotel and after a quaint dinner (the altitude succeeded in reducing my appetite quite a bit), we hit the sack. That day was just the trailer, the next day would be the start of the movie.

Oh! He is so Perfect.....

And that’s what's been running in my head ever since I came across Arulmozhivarman ('zh' pronounced by rolling the tongue as far back as it can go) the scion of the Chozha clan, in the words of Kalki himself. These holidays have been the perfect time to catch up on all the reading I have been missing out on. Lost in the worlds the authors describe is an immensely satisfying feeling. So this holidays it’s a mixed bag of books I have so far sampled.

First up, is the Rainmaker by John Grisham, though this was on campus. I have become a fan of litigation and law thanks to reading his books. Extremely engaging and quite informative too, his lead characters are almost always upcoming lawyers…at least in the books that I have read. So, this book talks about a guy who accidentally finds the case of a lifetime against an insurance company that tries to rip off its customers and all the topsy-turvy things that happen to him in the course of fighting the case. Also made into a movie, it’s a good read. Another book of his that I read was The Associate, about some guys blackmailing a newly become lawyer on revealing trade secrets had a good pace but the end was too abrupt and the continuity seemed suddenly cut off.

Next up is Crisis by Robin Cook about medical malpractice and a concept called concierge medicine. Patients who can afford to pay a retainer fee to the physician who then makes himself available to them at all hours of the day with house visits if necessary too. Not so much to my liking as there seemed too many loose ends left. It seemed to drag on for longer than what was necessary in my opinion.

A new author in my list is Amitav Ghosh a new age Indian writer. The book, Hungry Tide, describes the tide-country of West Bengal, the Sunderbans. An extremely vivid description of scenes and leisurely paced, I have come to enjoy this book though still half way through it. Two parallel stories in the first half of the book involve a cetologist looking for dolphins in the Sunderbans and a man from Kolkata come to visit his aunt who lives on one of the 'islands' that form the delta of the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers. The intertwining of their paths is the second part of the story.

Last but definitely not the least, I have been re-reading the Kalki's Tamil epic 'Ponniyin Selvan' a story par excellence that has everything to make it the perfect script. Based loosely on historical facts and the few inscriptions found, this book will keep you engaged throughout the read. Of course, I am reading the English translation and not the Tamil version which might take me eons to finish! The first surprise of the book is that the hero of this story, in the author's own words, is not Arulmozhi Varman the 'Ponniyin Selvan' but Vandiyathevan, a Prince of the Vana clan who leads the reader throughout the story. The characters in this book just jump out at you as you are drawn into a world that probably existed millennia ago…..

Intrigue, mystery, revenge, greed, kingdoms, wars and warriors, kings, queens, ministers, commanders, devotees of Siva and Vishnu, conspiracies, conspiracies in conspiracies, counter conspiracies, not to mention spies and counterspies, magicians and bewitchingly beautiful women (all if them look like heavenly damsels! Damn that gives one such a complex!!) and the heart-throb of the people-Arulmozhivarman who gained fame as Rajaraja 1. You name it this book has it. From Kanchi to Thanjavur and Pazhayarai to Lanka, the book travels the extent of the Chozha Empire and each book reveals a new secret of the ruling dynasty.

This book, a work of fiction, is based on the youth of Arulmozhi and last days of his father Sundara Chozha. It mainly deals with the question of succession that arises at that time as Sundara Chozha was the second son of Arinjaya Chozha. He succeeds as his elder brother died on the battlefield. Arinjaya himself was the younger son of Parantaka Chozha 1 who took over from his elder brother Kandaradhitha Chozha as his nephew was still a baby. A great devotee of Siva, Kandaraditha did not want his son to rule (but lead a life devoid of material attachments) and convinces his brother to anoint Sundara Chozha as his successor.

At the time this story begins, Kandaraditha's son Maduranthaka has started to desire the throne against his mother's wishes and takes part in a conspiracy against the Crown Prince Aditha Karikalan, Sundara Chozha's eldest son, and his younger brother Arulmozhi Varman. With twists and turns, and the dead Pandya king Veerapandyan's bodyguards seeking revenge as well thrown in, it seems like the dynasty will not survive all the traitors in its innermost camp. History records a mysterious end to Aditha Karikalan's life with no info on his murderers and the book only throws suspicion on half a dozen people present in the room when this act occurs.

The reader has no time to feel bored in this book as secret plots and side stories keep one engaged throughout. Of course, the complete effect of the poetry written in Tamil is, I guess, lost in translation. However, every other description is quite vivid and colourful. The way Kalki talks about Arulmozhi in the books even before the readers meet him is in such superlatives that the picture in the reader's mind is of a superhuman character! Girls swoon for him all over the land, he says no when presented with opportunities to usurp the Lanka throne, has an amazing way with animals, is wise beyond his years, an amazing warrior, very righteous and just, totally unpretentious though being the second in line to the throne after his elder brother, model son and brother and an extremely dependable friend. In other words, a perfect persona!!

The last part of this epic novel is the cherry on the icing on the cake. A prince giving up his right to rule, not for promises made to anyone but because it was the right thing to do when someone elder than him had a right toe ascend the throne, especially when everyone around wants one to be crowned is no mean feat of sacrifice! From certain historical records the confirmation that such an act did take place in history, in itself, speaks volumes of the man who was crowned as Rajaraja Chozha I, truly a King of Kings.

Would we ever find anyone else remotely close to the character etched in the mind of thousands due to the pen strokes of a certain author, in history, fiction or the future? Maybe not but then I guess that was the point after all…..

Badrinath - The Picturesque Tranquility

Who takes which post? Who will be the kingmakers and the who gets to grab the power? Think I'm talking of our elections?? No. This in short is the hottest topic in BPGC with the committees and clubs deciding their leaders-to-be for the next year, passing the baton for the successors to carry forward. This has been discussed with as much intensity as the news channels talk about elections. Since the power positions are held by third years which will be us, there has been more than enough gossip, speculation and bated breaths to spice things up just before the dreaded compres (our semester exams).

Continuing on the journey of the Char Dhams, next stop is Badrinath…….

Late evening saw us landing at Ukhimath, the stop for the night. As soon as my feet hit the floor on getting down from the car, it felt like a sleeping dragon was awoken. Muscles I never knew I had were screaming with pain. Yeah, 32km in about 40hrs is a mammoth wake up call for the body!!
Settling down, we ordered for some food and that’s when it hit me, the nausea. There was another family who had a similar itinerary to ours with a pretty experienced guide and he put the nausea down to some form of altitude sickness what with the constantly changing conditions at Kedarnath and all. The smell, let alone sight, of food was the last thing to be tolerated. Thankfully, the property albeit small had a delightful garden.

Facing a valley, the garden opened to the mountainside on the other side of the valley we had crossed while coming to Ukhimath. Stunning greenery and a quiet peace endeared the place to a tired body. A little later, we decided to take a small walk to Kedar Baba's winter home (hence the name Ukhi-Math). Strangely, walking though painful was more satisfactory to the muscles, all that stretching gradually helping to reduce the pain. The nausea still stubbornly persisting meant I couldn’t even walk into the dining room. As my parents took dinner, I took the time to savour the garden again. The opposite valley was all a-twinkling with the town on the other side lighted up and smaller lights scattered along the mountain side indicating the existence of humanity. The stark loneliness of those lights just then brought home the distance that some people still have to metropolitan life. A life possibly without televisions and one definitely far off from laptops iPods and iPhones, an essential for so many of us now! Sitting on a chair with my feet on another sipping some buttermilk (about the only thing that my mind agreed to then), with the cool mountain air of the night kissing my face and for company, the roving thoughts that could carry one to the stars and beyond. Silent Contemplation. Now that's a life I could get used to!

Next morning was a rush to catch the earliest gate to Badrinath. Yes you read right, a Gate. The path to Badrinath is slightly treacherous for two way traffic and gates at different points help to regulate this. This is what happens. There are three gates , one at Badrinath, one at Jyoshimath and one half way between these endpoints. The ride is for about an hour if memory serves right. So a gate opens simultaneously at Badrinath and Jyoshimath. The traffic from both sides meets about half way where its wide enough for the transition. Then its one way all the way to the other gate. A pretty effective method, the goal is always to make the open gate or be first for the next one. Luckily, we made it to the gate without delays and made the first afternoon gate. The scenery is absolutely surreal here and now river Alaknanda is a major portion of it. Some dam being constructed made for a bumpy ride for some parts. There is this one absolutely terrifying stretch our driver called the Rambagad or some such thing. Of all the landslide prone areas this is supposed to be the worst. It definitely looks like giants have played with giant legos and forgotten to arrange them properly. Mounds of precariously held up rock and soil weakening even more with all the construction going on, the place in all of silence has a spooky feel to it. Towards the end of the drive to Badrinath, we spotted by the riverside, a puckered piece of rock eroded in a weird manner and it turned out to be a piece of unmelted glacier dirtied with soil on it!

Entering Badrinath, our driver exuded extreme jubilation and the reason for it was the most majestic visage ever! Neelkanth Maharaj he was called. Clad in pure white snow and benevolently towering over the Badrinath valley with a perfectly cloudless sky behind him, Mt. Neelkanth left us all in a revered silence. So huge was he that in a moment of inspiration, he looks close enough to be scalable. Only the trek to just the base would be a victory let alone climbing the mountain since the base was at least 50km away. The temple itself in all its splendour is decked in what I like to call the happy colours. Bright yellows, oranges and reds greet you in the first glimpse of the temple. A darshan in the evening was decied on as an early departure was essential next morning. Not very crowded, we even afforded a double darshan. Dinner in a Badrinath version of South Indian food and it was time to head back to the hotel. Early next morning, we tried to glimpse Mt. Neelkanth again but to no avail. Angry clouds cloaked him and I could have almost sworn there could not be anything hiding behind them. We left Badrinath, the last of the Dhams amidst a slight drizzle and made it back to Jyoshimath in time for breakfast. The cable cars and Auli called to us.

The longest and highest situated cable cars covering 3.96kms and an altitude change of approximately 500mts is the only way to Auli, one of India's most famous ski slope. The mountains extend into the Nanda Devi National Park and are India's very own Switzerland. Breathtaking panoramas to feast your eyes on while fighting the biting winds and occasional clouds that rush up (oh yes, we are higher than the clouds) to greet one, it is a unique experience in itself. With a small horticultural strip, a mini food stall and a menacing forest reminiscent of the Fangorn from Middle Earth (Lord of the Rings fame) a few hundred metres away its almost like paradise is just around the corner. Especially, when one can hold onto a steaming cup of sweet black tea too. After lazing around to our hearts content it was off to the Jyoshimath (also called Jyotirmath) where Adi Shankara gained enlightenment. Apparently, it was him who pushed for establishing Badrinath after barbarians had destroyed the older temples there. And in almost no time we were heading to Dev Prayag.

Witnessing the birth of a river is an amazement in itself and when it’s a river as big and important as Ganga Maiya as she is fondly called, all one can say is that the smile on the face and sparkle in the eyes stays for a long time. To our left was the Alaknanda and to our right was the Bhagirathi and right before our eyes, the waters were mixing and creating the Ganges. Much more peaceful was her flow than either of her predecessors. And suddenly, with the Ganga for company, the miles flew and after a quick lunch, the familiar sights of Rishikesh were looming ahead. After dumping luggage at the riverside resort, we took the share auto to the lakshman jhoola for the evening aarthi and prayers offered to the river viewed amidst rainfall and a swelling river. We relived a lot of our previous trip to Rishikesh with dinner at the Purohit.

Then it was off to Haridwar to catch the Shatabdi to Delhi, then a flight to Bangalore the next day and back to civilization as we know it. All that was left was relief that the trip went without too much incident, sadness as it was a goodbye to nature's mountains and rivers, happiness that it was one of the best experiences of my life and might be for a long time to come, pride for all that I can say belongs to my culture and my country and as an afterthought some glee that Kedarnath would have let me lose some weight big time.

And they lived happily ever after……

Two and a half days to go for my penultimate exam and I am ticking off the days to pack and leave for the summer break and PS1 (Practice School 1 - BPGC's Summer Internship Course). More on that coming soon…especially since I shall be back in home.

Kedarnath - The Challenge

Hostel life is not the most conducive environment for regular blogging thanks to all the distractions on campus especially since this is the "Fest" semester. Oh yes!! 3 fests (Techfest - QUARK, Cultfest - WAVES, summer edition and Sports fest - SPREE) in one semester and we'll all be packing bags before your head can stop spinning around.

Coming back to Uttaranchal, however....

From Gangotri to the next Dham, Kedarnath, there was to be a stop overnight at Tehri. This was to be among the longest single stretch we were to cover. This warranted for an early morning which though uninviting turned out to be quite good actually. As the sun rose, the splash of colours was just breath taking. The clouds still threatened to disrupt life and our journey but as they broke apart, stunning snow covered ranges could be seen. It just feels so thrilling personally because that is one thing I've never experienced - snow, with the snow fights, snow man and all. Deserts, mountains from the Western and Eastern Ghats, tropical forests are all fine but it is snowy areas that have eluded me till now. Seeing snow covered peaks just like one sees in television just, well, just makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Tracing our route from the previous day, we reached Uttarkashi for a late brunch. Then headed off and reached Tehri with a grouchy driver who refused to eat for God only knows what reason. So, the last leg was done in a RUSH! I think the GMVN at Tehri was the worst with pretty poor positioning and a hard-pressed staff, very few in number. We got through the night just fine especially since I got to the see the Formula1 race in the room....The next day dawned pretty early and saw us heading to Rampur our base camp, of sorts, before the climb to Kedarnath. And as we were getting used to the loveley scenery around us, we suddenly got a feast for our eyes in the form of the Tehri dam. Huge is a gross understatement for this stately man made form! And if that weren't big enough, the resorvoir created because of it is a mini sea in the middle of the Himalayas! It stretches for all your eyes can see and then some. Whole villages and towns have been relocated due to the water level rising and thus came New Tehri into existence.

Moving on, there was a drastic change in the scenery back to the lush tropics and we had for company now the Mandakini river, a tributary of the Ganga. The skies seemed to have cleared up for a few more days and the blue skies were a welcome sight. We reached Rampur without incident around lunch time and it was suggested that we go to a place called Triyuginarayan nearby, it being the marriage ground of the Divivne couple Shiva and Parvati??. The sacred fire is still burning today and is fed by devotees constantly as well. The manager of the GMVN property we stayed in was from the village of the temple and offered to take us there. After lunch and a short rest, we drove to Triyuginarayan.

Now, this place was about 10km from where we were staying and was high up in the mountain where Rampur was. It was a treacherous road, almost broken with places where a landslide was waiting to happen. Interestingly, there was a bus service to the place everyday though how buses climb on those roads eludes me. We finally reached the temple, offered our prayers and a tidy amount for the "spirituality" enterprise happening there and were just entering the clouds when big drops rushed to the ground. Then of course we were told by another driver that a stone had just rolled down the slopes and quite a few people had laboured together to remove it out of the way. And to top it all, the conversation on the way back between our driver and the GMVN manager was of happier times when cheetah had been sighted on the slopes, how the car had suffered damage with a rock hitting the door on the driver's side and had to be replaced and how rocks the size of a car's roof were seen falling on the roads! Of course, they were oblivious to the increasingly alarmed look on my face. My parents conveniently ignored the conversation I think!

We did reach back in one piece, the car and all, finished dinner deciding to sleep in preparation for "The Climb". Leaving very early next morning, we were dropped 1km away from the start point thanks to a traffic jam and then began the ordeal. For more than 1km from the start point, we were in the middle of people wanting to get onto Mules and into Planquins(Dholis). All one can smell is tobacco smoke, occasional stench of mule dung/urine (yuck!) and an even rarer whiff of uncontaminated air. As you go higher though, the tobacco smoke becomes the even rarer whiff though the smell of mule dung/urine taunts you throughout the whole journey. An unwanted "souvenir" of the experience. Soon you try to break out of the packs of people, settle into a pace navigating through people and mules(moving up and down). A four laner would have still been small what with having to constantly let the dholis go through and mules being the among the dunces of the animals. Firstly, their trainers don't care if people are thrown off the roads as they lazily stroll behind their mules. Secondly, the mules have mastered the art of bumping into people very efficiently either themselves or with their burden. Lastly, and not least, not much place is left to trudge ahead on after the mules use most of it as part of the biggest toilet in the world!

Speaking for the steepness of the path though is the fact that these problems soon start seeming minor compared to the effort required to put one step in front of the other after 5-6km. A few kilometres into the climb though bought a scare when my mom started feeling dizzy. I have never felt so freaked out in my life! I held onto her and she in turn held on to the rock wall and waited for the bout to pass. In that moment I forgot that I could have asked someone to stop my dad ahead and ask to come back for us. So, it was almost an eternity when a few minutes later he came back for us noticing our absence behind him. Luckily, it was just one of those things that happen when your a bit hungry, so a chocolate and a rest later we were back on the road. 5km into the climb the crowd does start thinning out and left with your own thoughts there is time to take in the scenery, the Mandakini river and the occasional last bit of ice that somehow survived the sun and didn't melt, and even click photos amongst other things. 7km brings with it Rambada. Breakfast and comprehensive rest point and we had been climbing about 3hrs if I'm not wrong. Resting for more than half an hour, I was so loath to leave that place! We were visited by the occasional sprinkle when we started but thankfully nothing worse than that threatened our path.

This climb has been the ultimate test of resilience and sheer willpower because there was nothing else to drive me forward! Personally, the reason for my climbing had nothing, I think, to do with a temple being at the end of the journey. The one thing that made me continue the climb after a point of time was the simple but hugely helpful fact that it was too far to go back and I can't stay the night in the middle of nowhere! I just realised how hugely motivating a roof over your head, warm food and dreamless sleep can sound. One way to while away the lonely (because even talking, which we love to do incessantly other times, starts eating into the energy required to climb, at least did so for me...), not to mention tiring time, is by thinking of repetitive slogans or something on the lines of the Gayatri Mantra to intonate your steps. Surprisingly, that throws your brain a task better than concentrating on the pain and breathlessness as it does become rarified as you climb! As we trudged the breaks were lengthier and more in number (like how about every 500m or less??). About 2km from the destination the road does flatten out(i mean there is horizontal visibility along the road for more about a km) in comparison to the monster slopes one has crossed previously.

The view is stunning enough to make you forget 14km worth of trekking!!! The mountain on both sides of the river have carpets of immaculate green all the way to the top. Everywhere except the walking track!! A delightful herd of sheep with a shepherd were found grazing on the other slope. They looked amazingly healthy and nimbly jumped their way across to the lush grass. It was like almost seeing black and white darts on a green dartboard! Look carefully, and the grass is not so immaculate anymore. Interspersed in between, with skill no Persian carpet maker can match are clumps of the most vibrant flowers exactly how one would have drawn them in art classes. And then when you were thinking how satisfying it all looks, the clouds parted to reveal a breathtaking mountain of snow hiding behind there. And no, of course, it could not be just one mountain, it had to be a whole range still playing hide and seek with the clouds so much so that you are tempted to crane your neck thinking you can see behind the cloud! It sure makes all the trouble taken worth it.

The last 2km was like a sprint compared to the previous 5km and we flopped thankfully onto the beds in our hotel room. Hot food and a nap later we went out in the evening for a Darshan if possible. On the way we discovered a tea shop which became our personal hang out joint during the next 15 odd hours of our stay there. Then came the waiting in the lines to enter the temple. It wasn't crowded considering crowds are defined as the human traffic in Tirupathi. Once done with the visit to the Almighty, we returned back, had dinner as it was dark by then, and hit the sack in what must be a personal record in at least 5 years as far as an early bedtime goes. Just for the information, the temperatures to merely 5 degree Celsius at night. Boy, weren't those quilts a godsend!! Early morning saw us getting ready for visit no.2 to the Almighty. This time the lines were long, winding into and out of makeshift stay areas. And this of course means, the essential Indianness surfaces in certain people. Cutting into lines by the family not the individual! Feigning faintness and age as an excuse to go ahead. And a certain person who thought she was being extremely smart when she moved from just in front of us to the other arm of the hairpin queue. This hairpin was going through a room and coming out and this esteemed lady had apparently (unknowingly), decided she wanted to go through the room again when she cut into the other arm!! I thought I might collapse with laughter what with the jelly legs (effect of the climb) and all.

Nothing short of entertainment. Well, the clouds had parted that morning and we saw all that had been brushed under the carpeted heavens, a huge range of the most breathtakingly exhilarating snow-capped mountains. I couldn't help but let my mouth open up in awe of God's creation in his backyard (Literally!!). Nothing has ever made me so speechless ever (Yes, there now are degrees to speechlessness after this trip). The Darshan happened without much more incident and soon we were rushing on our way down after the delay at the temple.

The climb down was like flying over stones, gravity lending more than just a helping hand with it. Caution was of utmost importance as the smallest slipup might mean at least a broken leg and at the most, broken everything! A painful knee for dad meant we paced the descent steadily after our break at Rambada. Luckily, it didn't worsen too much later on. After the appropriate number of breaks and shoving those mules out of the way, the Kedarnath experience was suddenly over and I was sitting in the car with the most numbest legs I have ever had. They were constantly throbbing but never seemed to belong to the same body as the rest of me. Well after a few stretches after the mammoth trek down, feeling and circulation returned to them. Lunch at Rampur was the last stop before heading of to Uttarkashi, the stop for the night.......

Everyday Conversations

Taking a break from the travels to Uttaranchal, I would like to narrate this true story....

So campus life is an experience of its own-a highly recommendable one at that! Hostel mates and campus friends are your kin(as far as campus borders are concerned at least, and then some). Hence, you share with them your deepest fears, thoughts, happiness, burdens of sadness and spend close to 24 hrs with them. They know your likes, dislikes, when you get the stock of good food, new clothes and so on...

In between all the work that is done on campus, there is time that is stolen for the essential, profound life improving, perspective changing conversations and trains of thought that mark our entry into adulthood(hurray!). Following is the excerpt from one such conversation on change, innovation, liberty, freedom and everything a student holds dear.....enjoy!

This is where the conversation stands: availability of hot showers in the bathrooms will be a great convenience.

She: I so agree but bathtubs would be even better.
Me: Oh yeah...and with bubble baths and champagne (or fruit punch if you will) too.
She: How about television with like 160 channels under the sun?
Me: The 40 inch plasma kind on the ceiling so we can watch as we enjoy the tub.

Pause (Time taken to envision such welcoming thoughts)

Me: Our own personal maids/valets, and a limousine (available on exclusive booking) for each hostel
She: You bet! And an awesome wardrobe for every occasion.
Me: With dresses from the world's foremost designers. Becouse that would become the dress code. And of course personal suites for all the students (we will be generous enough to share it with a few students.....)
She: Yes, with attached kichenettes and bathrooms and our own butler, if necessary, and the ability to cook(ooops, order) the most delectable food could be settled for too.
Me: Oooh yeah now your talking....
She: The worlds best known nightclub will be located on our campus with free entries for us.
Me: The world's celebrities would be dying to crash here but if we say NO sometimes they would still understand (they can't help it anyways because it would have become "The Place" to be).
She: They better, we'll become the hottest location in all of Goa and Fame will love to stay with us.
Me: And the icing on the cake is that academics and the technological advancement of the campus won't go down.
She: Ya since everything else is taken care of, we can concentrate on the academics not survival.
Me: Then colleges all over will realize what they should do to get the maximum from their students.
She: And soon they'll start emulating us. There will be educational and psychological models on this new implementation of grad level education.
Me: Autobiographies on our life in the Ideal Campus will be written, movies made on it.
She: Accessories, T-Shirts and mugs will be made and sell like crazy. And we'll get 75% of the profits as royalty!
Me: And all this for the same fees as before!!!!!
She: Oh no! it will be subsidized as the admin is testing this method which has only been on paper till now. For the 5 years they want to conduct the test at least.
Me: It just gets better and better.
She: Our campus will become the best engineering college to attend...
Me: People fighting tooth and nail and anything else left to get in.
She: As the 1st batch passing out of the new "method", we'll be sought after by kids and media on "How We Did It?", staying focused on studying with all the glorious facilities being offered.
Me: The succeeding batches wont perform so well as they come in with the sole attraction to the material facilities and not the joy of knowledge and education...
She: We will be the "Golden Era", the perfect Students to be found.

Right then, of course, the impeccable clock had to chime and our castles were lost to the winds.....

Me: Hey even in the remotest future will this ever be implemented on our campus?
She: Nah! Utopias (especially for the students) don't exist, least of all here.

Then with a stiff nod and firmly set jaws, we parted ways to the more grim and mundane reality of studying for the next Examination straight from Hell.

Gangotri - The Pristine Beauty

Thanks to the wonderful aspect of our education called tests, yours truly could not write the next entry. Well, as that ordeal has been done now we continue on the journey to Gangotri.....

Leaving Yamunotri behind, we had to come back to Barkot before branching out towards Gangotri. Our destination, Uttarkshi, was a valley and the district headquarters of that region. Soon, all we could hear of Yamuna were the faint echoes of her fight with the rocks and only caught glimpses of her glimmering in the welcome sun, snaking her way past the monstrous mountains. Even the forests started changing around us. The tropical mystique gave way to happy coniferous trees and shrubbery.
It was almost as though the forests had become friendlier. The sweet smell of pine cones wafting through the air never lettin you find the source of the scent. Mountains with the latest spiked hairstyles are part of the exhilirating view. The leaves of the pines and other coniferous trees cover the mountain and the gorund making a soft greenish brown inviting carpet.

A few hours into the journey on a beautiful day after the ordeal of the previous night, our company comprised of the occasional insect sounding like a mobile ringtone, the bluest of skies with small white puffy clouds and a smiling sun amongst others. Stopping for a tea break, we stumbled upon this obscure little temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. We climbed about 30-40 steps to reach it. It was the most unique temple I have ever seen. It's situated in a cave one has to climb down to and that's not all. The bottom has a perpetual supply of the most freezing water ever to be found and the stalactites and stalagmites take the form of the idols. There we found Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh and a few others comfortable and still growing in the cold clime.

Moving on, our eyes fell on trees dressed in terraced farms right from the top to the narrow valley below. It kind of makes you speechless and understand the importance of the rivers as all your eyes can take in is a range of mountains with countless farms and fields on them, all of them feeding off the water predominantly from the rivers. It makes you thankful for the bounty of Nature as she selflessly allows us to take whatever she has to offer, of course without hurting her. Soon, we
reached the valley that was home to Uttarkashi's inhabitants. After settling down, we went to a temple through the tiny but vibrant bylanes of the town. By now, River Bhagirathi was our new companion and the town was on her banks. Gangotri, you see, implies the source of River Bhagirathi.

Leaving early next morning, we continued to move towards Gangotri, tracking river Bhagirathi. Apparently, the roads to Gangotri had just opened that morning after being closed for two days due to heavy landsliding. The roads led through the construction of a 600MW Hydel Powerstation in the banks of the Bhagirathi and roads were a challenge here due to the heavy traffic of monstrous machinery. The roads were down to the bare minimum-rugged mud trails- making us very thankful for not getting stuck in the muck with an Ambi, almost as though Providence had intervened to give us the Innova. The mountain had also become very weak with all the blasting and tunnelling occuring for the turbines of the poewerstation. Cracks could be clearly seen and the precariously placed rocks didn't seem to require a reason to break away at any time! Carefully navigating through all of this, the next challenge was came in the form of Sukhi Top.

One mountain, whose peak was called Sukhi Top, was navigated in a very interesting manner. It was kind of pyramidal and to climb, one face of the pyramid was used, and to come back to lower levels anoher face. There had been a devastating landslide on one of the faces, tearing through the various levels of the roads, bringing a big rock right to the bottom of the mountain. At a particular point at every level, the chaos at each level would be encoutered, a mix of muck and water left for a road. Pretty apple orchards adorn the mountain near the top and red and green juicy apples can just about be made out on looking hard.

After Sukhi top, the roads move close to the river in an almost constant valley. We came across this particular rivulet reaching the river a few hundred metres away from the road. A tiny bridge over it is the road. A singularly quaint and delightful place for a picnic, no for anything at all, it had direct access from the road. The water was the clearest one I have ever seen with the telltale greenish tinge showing its origin from a glacier hidden from view. Freezing enough to make one forget the existence of one's limbs, its water is our souvenir from the journey. Its beauty is
quite hard to explain through words except that it was like a very happy place from one of Disney's cartoons. I was loath to move away from but, the journey had to go on. Further on, the pleasant village of Harshil nestling in the river (the river enters the village at 3 points and it is bang in the middle of the river's path), the winter home to the defense forms a perfect picture.

Gangotri was soon reached without any more distractions. A very tiny town, our place of stay was across the bank of the river, reched through a bridge. Nothing could have prepared me for the view! The river was in full spate and much more aggressive than the Yamuna. The cherry on the icing on the cake was this awe inspiring waterfall called the Surya Kund right in front of the GMVN property. One can't observe it from close without getting wet from the spray, or speak softly thanks to the roar of the surging water. The staggering amount of water that has been crossing this point every minute for all of time is beyond the scope of comprehension. It is so large, it just makes you giddy. A small trek of about 1.5 km from the hotel to a cave used by the Pandavas was refreshing. Walking through the forests, the cares of our worldly life seemed so irrelevant. We visited the temple for a Darshan of Goddess Ganga, enjoyed the breathtaking panaroma around us and returned for a hot dinner in the cold that pervaded the area. The sun setting early forces one to hit the sack early. After that getting up early from under the warm quilts was the most unpleasant and cruel task which nevertheless had to be done as we were leaving early next morning for Kedarnath via Tehri.

More on that later though......