Tuesday, February 24, 2009

My encounter of the first kind

I started this post with the weird heading because i have recently done something that i had not done earlier. I saw snow capped mountains and that was a wonderful experience. I had been to Auli for a three day holiday and came back yesterday evening, I would try to recount the experiences of my journey in a roughly the same order in which i could show through the few pics.

Uttarakhand is a beautiful state, and the journey turns out to be pleasure along with the destination. Here are a few pics of the beautiful journey that we could capture on the way.


The view en route


The view en route


The view en route


The view en route: the path that leads to heaven...

On the first day we traveled from Roorkee to Joshimath, reached there at around 7 in the evening. The hotel that we stayed at had a name that was meant to be confused with Kamat, but rhymed with Comet, was named "Kamet"... :-) ... Could not find out why it was named that way. Anyways, after the day long journey, owing to the fact that one is not allowed to travel at night in these ghats, we had to give up one whole day for the journey. By the time we reached it was pleasantly cold, and had an early dinner because the shops close very early, around 9 there. We did not call it a day immediately of course, there was some rounds of dumb charades and some fighting, friendly ones, before we called it a day and dozed with the hopes of a wonderful tomorrow.

Day 2:

The day 2 started with most of the people with me going to the temple in the morning(i was sleeping). Finally after some breakfast we checked out of the hotel and left for Auli, though the distance isn't a lot, after going for sometime we come over no claim land over with the roads are terrible and it was a real pain to be driven in the mud roads, because there are no charted roads in that area. Here are a few pics of the time from Joshimath till we reached Auli.


First impressions
In the pic above bottom right is the base camp for mountaineers.

So far all the sights had been from the confines of the bus, Now having finally landed in Auli, the snow capped mountains were invitation enough to get started right away.

We started on our way, it hadn't been a very long trek until now, but enough to make us realize that it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. We had not taken the time for acclimatisation into account. And the lack of oxygen was making us fight for our breath every now and then.

The place is famous for skiing and so the first question that one gets on getting there is whether u would like to give it a try, the price quoted for the same was Rs. 350 but the bargainers in the group brought in down to Rs. 250. Now if that is low enough can only when someone reading this goes there and is able to settle at a better price... :-) ...

I myself did not go for skiing, i preferred the trek to learning another balancing act... :-) ...

Every step on the way was worth the journey that we made to the place, cant explain it in as many words, It would be better if u have a look at the pictures below.
The beginning...

The white that covers it all...

White and white all the way...

We were trying to get used to the weather, but needed frequent stops to have our heart beats return back to normal.
As for the feeling of doing something new,.. we did find some snow near the top that has not been walked upon, at least we were the first ones to have come there since the last snowfall... :-) ...


Its the last lap of the journey that's said to be the toughest, but when something can be as beautiful and breathtaking as this, all the hardship seems worth it.

And finally the view from the top,...


The view from the top was nothing like I had ever seen for real, and then to realize that you have climbed one of the peaks similar to the ones in the pic. One would certainly feel good. And there I was, taking in my share of conquest... :-) …

But like all good things, even this had to come to an end, we found our way back to our waiting bus as the sun started to go down, there was some tension in the end because a few of our companions got delayed in getting back, and we were getting apprehensive that they may have got lost in the slopes, which beautiful as they are, would have been inhospitable after nightfall. But eventually and fortunately things got sorted out and we started on our way back.

We came back from Auli and didn't stop at Joshimath again, there is one thing which one must keep in mind if one visits these parts. The roads leading from there to the plains are still being constructed and are extremely prone to landslides. We came to know that just just after we had come there a day earlier, there had been a landslide on the route and the road had been blocked for almost half a day, we saw the remains of the landslide on our way back.

In a way we were fortunate to have crossed over in time, had we been a lil more delayed we would have been stuck there and would have had to cancel our plans. So all in all it was a good trip, we were lucky, had a great view of the place, no injuries so far and everyone was happy.

So we moved on and made the night stop at Mayapur, Chamoli District. The name of the lodge was Him anand(I think he meant it to be Heem anand, meaning icy pleasure). We had a lil bonfire there. The night fell, and we were tired, a few fell asleep, and the rest stayed awake till late at night, cherishing the day when we had set foot on the paradise on earth, we lit a fire that soon died away in the chilly air. And the dying embers reminded us that we had to move on, with the memories of the day.

There was a bridge nearby the hotel, and after dinner and the fire, people walked around, we sat on the ledges trying to figure out the meanings of dark outlines, of faraway lights, and of anything that cast a shadow. But in general there was not much talk, it was so quiet that i think the fear that we could do something wrong by breaking the silence, was more than a thought. Its a strange thing that we don't really know what silence is, in cities and in homes, there are so many things that don't ever let us know what is it like to hear nothing, what is it like to have a loud thought and be afraid that someone might hear it. It was the occasional passing of a vehicle that broke the reverie. Eventually everyone crept back to their rooms and gave heed to their tired bodies which readily acknowledged the need for a few hours of rest, for we had a days journey to go.

Day 3:

We started back as early as was possible, and got back into the bus. The journey back was as picturesque while going back as we had found it on the way fro if not more, a lot of it was spent in silence, possibly because there was a regret of going back to the daily grind, and also of leaving back something so beautiful.

The day was more or less uneventful, people were not as troubled by altitude sickness as while coming, Apart from a few breaks every few hours we kept going forward. We did stop near Devaprayag for lunch, and the restaurant was opposite the river Ganges. So while the food was prepared we waded through the cold water. The bottom of the river was slippery with algae and it was quite an effort not to fall down, i finally managed not to fall, against all my premonitions.

After the lunch, we headed forward again for home, stopping only for some evening tea.

It was a great trip, the company was wonderful, the view was fabulous, the journey comfortable, the stay cozy, the timing perfect, the organizing flawless, and finally the memories. unforgettable.
The End: Its life that awaits on the other side of the bend,
but memories stay to make us come back, to make a new pact,
to cherish the feeling so good and few,
and wait for every moment that begins anew.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Hoping for a change...

There have been days when i am down, disappointed, not interested in doing what i was doing. But these last couple of weeks have been worse than that. For some absurd reason i don't feel like studying, and reading just the headlines make me wish to throw the paper away. The way i see it i live with a simple principle, tit-for-tat. I do what i expect, and i let everyone do as they wish as long as they are not getting into my face. And i believe that's the principle that India is built upon, everyone to their own believes, though the real principle is that being so diverse there is no single idea that cant be voted out by the rest of the ideas together. But it had worked out pretty fine so far. But following this approach has made us overly tolerant, we tolerate things we may not like ourselves and that has done a terrible thing to us. We don't know when to say stop. When some hooligans try to take over our daily lives for a day, we take it as a holiday and accept it. That gives the illusion that they can get away with whatever they want, this cant go on. We in the new India need to start being more tolerant as a person as less tolerant as a society. The real challenge is to make every one of the 100 crore plus citizens realise that. Its not easy and i wont call it possible, but i am sure i am young enough to be there when such a day comes in the life of India.