Travel

Its been ages since i wrote my last blog, which was actually my first, and a lot has happened since; one of them my trip to kedar-badri with my folks. I later wrote an article on it for my company's magazine. Thought I should put it up here, so here goes............
First things first: My trip to Badrinath and Kedarnath was to accompany my parents. They had their religious sentiments involved, and me, I just never leave a chance for any kind of such adventurous trips. My only motive was to trek 14kms one-way to Kedarnath temple in a single day, without a  single break. Am so proud of it that I think I might put it up on my CV!! So basically I covered about 1500kms of distance from Bengaluru to Kedarnath just for that 28kms of trek :)
We went by those conducted tours that numerous travel agencies conduct. Ours was a week's trip, from Delhi and back by a mini bus. Just to make sure that I don't miss Bengaluru while am away for a week, my daddy dear had chosen a agency for south-Indians, so we not only got south-Indian food in the entire trip, in fact we were the only north Indian family in the bus.

Badrinath Temple

Badrinath is a Hindu holy town and a nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand. It is the most important of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage. It has an average elevation of 3,415 meters (11,204 feet). It is in the Garhwal hills, on the banks of the Alaknanda River. The most remote of the four Char Dham sites, Kedarnath is located in the Himalayas, about 3584m above sea level near the head of river Mandakini, and is flanked by breathtaking snow-capped peaks. Kedarnath hosts one of the holiest Hindu temples, the Kedarnath Temple, and is a popular destination for Hindu pilgrims from all over the world, being one of the four major sites in India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage.

All this is just to give you an idea about how significant these places are according to the Hindu mythology. But what really disappointed me was the fact that none of them were well maintained. On the way up to Kedarnath, one has to share the path with the ponies, which some devotees use to climb up to the temple.

Kedarnath

The ponies have the mind of their own, and are plenty in number, so you really have to watch out as they keep coming at you from left right and center and leave little space for those on foot. If you aren’t watchfully enough they might just bump into you! The narrow stoned path becomes filthy by the end of the day covered with their dung, especially when it rains. Maybe that’s why people climb up on the ponies. Few even prefer to reach to the top via helicopters, which sounds cool, but then I strongly believe in "have feet will trek”!! There is also an option of taking a palanquin [doli], which is carried by 4 doli-carriers and usually costs more than the pony. No matter which mode you opt for, everyone are left speechless the moment you reach the top. I felt so very charged and rejuvenated by the scenic beauty around me. It’s a sight that’s going to stay in the memory everlastingly. Both the temples are surrounded with snow-clad mountains, which really is a glorious sight. Unlike in the case of Kedarnath, where the motor road stops at Gaurikund, one can go right up to the Badrinath temple by road [which was a bit heart-breaking for me a bit because I really wanted to trek all the way up again!!]. At Badrninath, allegedly some might experience tiredness or uneasiness due to the dip in oxygen levels. But then just forget about the temples. The world looks so different and IS so different at the height of about 3500m above the sea level!! One can see the Dhauladhar range from my grandparents' house easily, and all this while I used to think they are the best of the lot the Himalayan range has. But the mountains at both the places are just so amazingly bigger and better! Just looking at them is so mesmerizing; it used to gimme the strong urge to climb each one of them!!
 On our way we covered lots of other places with religious significance as well, especially all the sangams of rivers/distributaries. The blending of two water bodies of different colors is another astonishing sight. But what interested me more were the numerous adventure camps near them. There are loads of adventure clubs in Rishikesh and places around, which conduct all sorts of adventure camps, mostly for river rafting on the Ganges and its distributaries. One place which deserves a special mention is the Mana Village: a little self sufficient village just 3 kms away from Badrinath. Located just few meters inside the Indo-Tibet border in the Himalayas, this village is referred to as the last village of India on the Indo-Tibet border and has been designated as a ‘tourism village’ by the Uttarakhand government. With 10,248 ft above sea, Mana village holds a lot of mythological relevance and one can actually see traces of the Mahabharata scattered across this small village. Another interesting must-see is Bheem pul, a huge rock formed as a bridge across river Saraswati. Legend has it that when Pandavas were crossing this river on their ‘swargarohana’, Draupadi was panic-stricken. Bheem then lifted a huge rock and placed it over the river to form a natural bridge, thereby making it easy for her to cross the river. After climbing about a thousand odd steps to reach to the top of the hill at Mana the air becomes more rarefied and it is difficult to breathe. There a board announcing ‘India’s last tea shop’ and every tourist get excited to relish a cuppa "high tea" from the shop!
 All said and done, I would definitely like to recommend this trip to all of you. Me, I’ve already noted down the numbers of popular adventure clubs and am definitely going [purely for river rafting and trekking though] once again!!! :)