The man I call Ringo

Ever wondered how they come up with these exciting stories and plots in the movies and books? I believe that most of these "great" stories are loosely based on real life situations and characters. Life is always stranger than fiction. Interesting ideas for a story are there all around us, we just need to keep an open eye. Spot those characters, observe what they do, fill in those missing details, use a little imagination and you have a great story!

I have been doing a small experiment on these lines, trying to profile someone I met during my morning jogs. As I don't yet know his real name, I call him 'Ringo'... I have seen him a few times in a Beatles T-shirt. I first noticed him a few months back as both of us were wearing the same model shoes. He should be in his late twenties or early thirties, with short hair and occasionally wears an Arizona State University pullover. He had an air of carelessness about him, the way he run, the way he sing loudly, the way he wave his hands in the air with the music as if he is conducting an orchestra.

Ringo was one of those joggers I meet everyday, just that he liked to play his music loud. But then one day as he passed me, I could recognize the piece he was playing... Slash's guitar solo from November Rain. 'Guns N Roses so early in the morning.. interesting', I thought to myself. Then on, I used to pay attention to his playlist every time we passed each other. As the time I get to recognize a track is too short when we cross each other, I decided to change my pattern. I started jogging right behind or ahead of him, than running in the opposite direction. I used to switch off my mp3 player once I position myself by him, but keeping the earplugs intact. Soon I figured out that he plays pretty much the same set of songs everyday. Over a period of time, I managed to identify some of the songs in his playlist.

Guns N Roses - Patience, November Rain, This I Love, Don't Cry
Placebo - Every Me Every You, Song to say goodbye
Breaking Benjamin - Diary of Jane
Duran Duran - Ordinary world
Aerosmith - Amazed
The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
Roxette - Crash Boom Bang
The who - Behind Blue Eyes

I don't know whether you can re-engineer a person's life from his playlist, but I believe it might open a window to his mood or state of mind at a point in time. Yes, you can argue what if these were all the songs he had... or what if he borrowed the collection from a friend. I agree, but from the point of view of my experiment, they are irrelevant questions.. I am going to assume that the list was indeed put together by Ringo himself! One look at the list made me realize this is no random list... it had a common thread - melancholy, grief and lost-love. Oh, the list isn't complete without the track which I took a while to identify. This was one with a nice rhyming verse which goes something like ...'out of my life.. out of my mind.. out of the tears we can't deny..". I recently got hold of that track as well - 'Fairytale gone bad' by 'Sunrise Avenue'.

I put together these tracks and listened to them, and trust me, the effect was terrifying.... I felt miserable for a long long time after that. Memories and faces I was trying to ignore and forget all this while, suddenly started gushing to the forefront. You have to feel it to understand what I am talking about. If you ever nursed a broken heart and wouldn't mind revisiting those days, pick up your music player, load these songs and take a walk. The only addition I would have done to make this THE BEST playlist for the broken-hearted, is the track 'Where the lost ones go' by Sissel.

Coming back to Ringo, the playlist portrayed the picture of a young man trying to get over lost love. But then, a simple playlist isn't sufficient evidence to pass a verdict. There was another peculiar thing I noticed about him. Everyday on his way back after the jog, he used to pick up a red flower, one of those lying on the pavement, fallen from a tree called 'the flame of the forest'. All those typical movie scenes came to my mind - the hero picking up a flower every day for his beloved, or the Devdas dropping a flower in front of Paro's house, after she was married off to someone else. I followed him to see what he does with the flower.. it was easy as both of us had to walk back in the same direction. I saw him dropping the flower near a temple, like an offering. I had noticed him walk across another temple in total irreverence everyday... so this action of his did not make any sense. Later I found out that he does not drop the flower in front of the temple, but beside the temple.

He repeats this flower delivery everyday, dropping it at the exact same spot every time. There are no houses in the vicinity and I even waited around to see whether anybody comes for the flower... nobody picked it up ever. Now I got a gap in the story. It was all going smooth in the Devdas direction, the dejected lover trying to sooth his injured soul with music, and dropping a flower in front of his beloved's house as a gesture of his everlasting love. But then, now I am in need of a new twist to continue the story. Perhaps, that is the spot where he met her for the first time? Or it is the temple where they exchanged wows of trust and commitment for the rest of the life? It even might be the place where she told him that she is going ahead with life, as he doesn't seem to care about taking up responsibilities any time sooner. Or is it the spot where they spent some memorable time together? I have to choose one of the options above to take the story forward... but I have somehow decided to wait.

I tried to talk to Ringo a couple of times, but the conversation never progressed beyond monosyllabic utterances like 'Hi' and 'Hello'. We smile at each other every day, but looks like he is not interested in spending no more energy than that to entertain me. Who knows, perhaps one day we will start a conversation about Labradoodles and Unicorns, then might meet for a drink and I get my story! I can wait.

Faces and stories behind 'em..

Life is like a train journey.. every stop some faces get down and some other faces get on board. Everyday we meet a lot of people, but how many do we notice? We already know too much about the familiar faces, which makes them dis-interesting subjects while we don't have time to look at the new faces. But while traveling, you end up staring at every face that comes your way. This is not because they are any special than the ones you see everyday, but because you have time to look at them, imagine a story behind them and in some cases talk and know something interesting about them.

I came across few interesting faces during my trip to Uttaranchal. Some of them are already fading from memory after a week, some are still afresh and a few I know will linger on for quite some time. Some of them are faces I saw with a side glance during the journey, while others I got a chance to interact with. Irrespective of the extend of interaction, all of them were different, unique and had a story to tell.

Connaught place at Delhi was one such location with lots of interesting people. While we were having milk shakes at Keventers, where they serve them in huge bottles, there was an old man with an infected feet, sitting on the pavement and writing something on a paper plate, in beautiful English. I tried to get close and read what he is writing, but he crawled away before I could figure out the small lettering. He must be one of those people who dreamed about a beautiful life at some point in life, but got derailed in the journey towards realizing them. He was unaware of the commotion around him and moved around the pavement with much difficulty. Or perhaps he was trapped in a moment from his past, reliving it every second, without bothering about the passage of time.

Then there was Ivan, an ex-Indian Railway employee, who was stuck there fighting some case regarding his pension. He said that his two sons are well settled in Vancouver, canada and his only daughter is married to an Iranian diplomat. Yet he was wandering the streets like a beggar there, clothed in some old dirty trousers and shirt, begging people for food. He did not want to bother his kids with his problems, and refused our help in getting in touch with any of them. Its strange how life unfolds for some. When you think that all is fine and going great, life will throw one of those surprises at you. It takes no time for your dreams to fall apart, your life to be turned upside down. I don't know whether you can simply categorize all of these twists in life as consequences or accidents!!

I also met a person who offered to clean my ears for Rs. 10 per ear, never realized you could make a living out of other people's ears!! He offered to take a look at my ears for free and afterward promptly reported that they are full of shit. I wanted to tell him that all the shit I hear everyday perhaps got accumulated inside... but I did not. For me, he was representing all those people who refused to bow down before the harshness life dished out to them. He was the champion of the undying human spirit, the thing that urges you to carry on in face of cruel realities. Sometimes life tries to knock it out of you.. striking you down unexpectedly with bolts of surprises. But then you refuse to accept defeat and crawl back into it... that's life in the real sense of the word.

Every face you see, every person you meet, shows you a new angle of life, one you otherwise don't even acknowledge. It teaches you that life is much more profound and vast and is not just made up of the trips to office and shopping malls. Shut in cages like animals, we seldom recognize the world that's outside our immediate surroundings. But then, to live a truly meaningful life, its always good to acknowledge people and situations beyond the well we live in.

The swami who gave me one rupee..

They say time is a great teacher and I cannot agree more. But if you are looking for a short term, crash course, I recommend travel. Every journey is like a miniature Mahabharatha, letting you come face to face with people and situations of all possible kinds. There are no theories there, everything is learned by practice and the learning continues every minute. If you want to understand something, what better way than to feel it and pass through it?

When Jayan and myself returned to Ghangaria from our Hemkund trek, we noticed a small gathering in front of a tea shop. Curious to know what is happening, we peeked in. Inside the shop, a swami was sitting on a chair, wrapping shawls around his head to make some kind of a head gear. He was able to create some drama around it with his swift hand movements and fierce look on the face. He had at least two rings on each of his ten fingers, bangles of different colors and sizes covering his entire fore arm, and a bunch of chains around his neck as well. He was wearing a faded saffron rob with a waistband made of clothes and rope. Few anklets and toe rings completed his attire. I asked a local guy standing outside the shop about this new character. According to him, this swami was new in town and nobody knew where he came from or where he is going. Everybody huddled around seeing his interesting look and gestures, in anticipation of some theatrics for which the swamis are famous for.

Though another guy said "sab naatak hein", I thought the guy is an interesting subject for a picture. I took the camera and stood behind the crowd to get a clear shot, I did not want to venture out to the middle and gain his attention. He was reaching the end of his turban making routine, following which he cracked all his fingers together by pressing them against his face. All the 25 odd rings were visible on his fingers, and I clicked the shot. To compensate the slow shutter speed in the dim light there, I had to hold the cam still for a few seconds. The moment I lowered the camera, I noticed that the swami was looking straight at me.. so was the crowd. I could sense the anger in those eyes, not the kind which says 'how can you invade my privacy', but the kind which says 'how dare you disturb me'. The crowd waited for something to happen as I tried to walk away from the scene. The swami called out 'hey' and asked me to join him in the middle of the crowd with a hand gesture.

I had read stories about angry swamis and their terrible actions once disturbed... the object of disturbance was often transformed into an animal or stone if not instantly burnt to ashes by opening their powerful eyes. My plight looked like the former, as this swami had his eyes opened for quite some time and by the third law of thermodynamics, all the burning power would have been lost by now through convection or radiation. So as I walked towards him, I was weighing my chances in my mind. In case his plan was to transform me to an animal, I wished I get at least the time to make a plea - 'please don't make me a pony..anything else would do'. I had seen the plight of poor horses weighed down by the fat asses seated on them!! Anyway, I approached the swami and sat on a chair across him. While the crowd waited for their 'value-for-money' moment, the swami turned towards me with a twinkle in his eyes and said..

"Ek aur photo kheech lo na..." (Take one more picture of mine)

The collective 'huh' from me and the crowd was loud enough to convey the relief and disappointment it contained. While I sat there explaining to swami how I can take a better picture in the bright light outside the cafe, the crowd was slowly dispersing, dejected at being failed by yet another yogi. The swami himself had lost his grip over the crowd once he uttered those words. For the crowd, a swami who got excited by a camera did not fit into the definition of a real yogi. But he didn't seem to care about all that's happening and happily came out of the tea shop for the photograph. He stood there giving me the Shiva pose - one leg bend over the other, a thrishul fitted with a small drum in one hand and the other hand raised in a blessing gesture. His eyes were twinkling with delight. I took a few pictures of him and some with Jayan and him. He was more like a kid who had just been given a big candy bar.. nothing like a yogi or swami.

After the photo session, as a gesture of gratitude, Jayan gave him a 10 rupee note. He refused to accept it and asked for a one rupee coin instead. We did not have a one rupee with us. So he said that he will give us one rupee. He searched through his pockets and retrieved a coin from one of them. He again got into the Shiva pose, looked towards the heavens with the coin in one hand, chanting something. After a minute of chants and hand gestures he gave the coin to me. He asked to put the coin in milk the coming Tuesday and then keep it in my valet. According to him, my valet will never be out of money and all my wishes will eventually come true as long as I don't lose the coin. I thanked him, accepted the coin and walked towards our hotel while the swami went back inside the tea shop.

We saw him again the next morning, sitting and having a smoke in another cafe. When I thought of the whole episode later, a lot of questions popped up in my mind. Why did he risk his reputation among the crowd by showing his excitement over a photograph, one which he didn't even get to keep? Why didn't he accept the 10 rupees we offered him and instead gave us one rupee? What was all the theatrics at the cafe about?

But then I could almost see him smiling and asking me another question, like the Joker in The Dark Knight - 'Boy, Why so serious?'

Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore

A long journey awaited us that morning of 14th August.. 12 hours bus ride from Badrinath to Haridwar. After a few stops at Govindghat, Pipalkoti and Rishikesh, we finally reached Haridwar by 8 in the evening. As soon as we reached Haridwar, Subbu, Jayan and myself went to Har ki Pauri, to see river Ganga up close and personal. It wasn't but a pretty sight.. owing to the rains Ganga was all muddy and dirty. Subbu had to think twice before even dipping his hands in the water, even though he wanted to take bath and wash away all his sins. He decided its better to live with his sins than acquire some new ones by bathing in the dirty waters. By the time we returned to town, Rob and Yuvraj had arranged for our transport to Delhi. We had dinner at Big Ben hotel and soon embarked on our journey to Delhi.

We were traveling by Qualis and all of us were damn sleepy including the driver. So we took a few stops on the way for short naps and finally reached Delhi by 6 in the morning. Being August 15th, there was heavy checking as we entered Delhi. The policemen wanted to see what's inside our bags, but the stench of used clothes helped in speeding up the process. We reached Rob's house at Saket by 7 after dropping Subbu on the way. Subbu wanted to visit his relatives at Delhi while the rest of us planned to roam around Delhi, before starting for Bangalore the next day morning. It was raining for the past few days in Delhi and the weather was pleasant this time around. Soon after breakfast we started our Delhi tour in Rob's car. We visited the Qutab Minar, India Gate and finally Connaught Place. Independence day celebration was going on at India Gate and it was great to see so many people out in the streets in spite of the Swine Flue scare and the terror attack warnings.

The next day morning Yuvaraj left for the airport to catch his flight to Bangalore. Rob dropped myself and Jayan at Hazrat Nizamuddin station from where we took the Karnataka Sampark Kranti express train back to Bangalore. I had picked up a book "A Goddess in the stone" by Norman Lewis, from the used books market in Delhi. It was on his travel across Bihar, Orissa and Andhra during the early nineties, an interesting read infact. The weather was pleasant throughout the journey as we traveled through 6 states - Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The train had just 5 scheduled stops at Jhansi, Bhopal, Nagpur, Bheemavaram and Kachiguda.

I did meet quite a few interesting people during the train journey as well. There was this doctor from Dehradun who is having a clinic near Mysore, there was an Agriculture Science graduate who is on his way to join a renewable energy products company in Karnataka after working with a Diary products company in Ludhiana. Then there was this guy who is doing his Aeronautical Engineering course at Delhi on his way to meet his sister and brother-in-law at Bangalore. In short we had a nice group of people and chatted for hours about anything from energy crisis to the swine flue scare. I also got few lessons on cattle management and setting up gober gas plants for cooking and lighting purposes. It is interesting how people whom you meet for a short while, make big impact on your way of thinking and outlook towards life. We are actually indebted to every moment in our life, for the lessons learned and insights revealed.

Once we reached Bangalore on 17th evening, I knew I just had the trip of my life... the kind that happens once in a life time. But this one trip had given me enough to go on for a few lifetimes. Afterall I had two more lives to live - one for my dreams and another for my fantasies!!

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Day 0 : Valley Trek - Team & Itinerary
Day 1 : Bangalore to Rudraprayag
Day 2 : Rudraprayag to Ghangaria
Day 3 : The Valley of Flowers
Day 4 : Hemkund Lake
Day 5 : Auli
Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana & Vasudhara Falls
Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore

Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana and Vasudhara Falls

One of the most difficult thing in life is getting up early in the mornings. But this is never an issue when you have something exciting awaiting you. All of us were up and running by 5 that morning, and by 6 we were on the road again. We got a shared sumo to Badrinath and after a roller coaster ride, reached there in less than 2 hours. Mount Neelkant was visible, shining brightly between the Nar and Narayan peaks. We checked into a small hotel (Priya) and by 9:15 we started towards Mana, the last Indian village before the Chinese border, some 3 kilometers from Badrinath.

Mana is a beautiful village nestled between the mountain ranges. The road to Mana is well maintained as the Indo Tibetan Border Police has got a prominent presence there. There were potato fields all around and the plants were in bloom, giving a nice contrast to the deep blue skies and Grey mountains. You get some pretty amazing views as you walk towards Mana. We found an injured little barn sparrow on the road. We couldn't find any visible signs of injury on the body and hence left her on one of the bush, in the care of her mother who was flying around, chirping all the time. We reached mana in an hour's time. There are two caves in Mana - the Vyaas gufa and Ganesh Gufa, the place where epics like Mahabharatha were written. According to legends, Vyaasa used to sit in his cave and recite Mahabharatha while Ganesh used to write it all down sitting in the other cave. It is a profound feeling when you visit places like these, places that had a significant impact on life as we see it toady.

There is a third cave called the 'Muchkund Gufaa' about 3 kilometers uphill from Vyaasa gufaa. Because of its proximity to the border, the army opens up the way only once a year, and it was that day of Janmashtami. Legend is that Sri Krishna had been in the cave while pursuing a deadly demon and there is a footprint inside which many believes to be of him. As we had to visit Vasudhara falls which is another 6 kilometers from Mana, we dropped the plan to visit Muchkund. But Yuvraj had other plans. He was busy documenting the scenes around that he didn't notice we walking down towards Mana village. He was under the impression that we had gone to Muchkund cave, and we thought he went ahead of us towards Vasudhara falls. So the rest of us walked towards Bheem pul and Vasudhara falls. We did not forget to have tea and click a few 'been there' pictures at the last Indian Tea shop, which is next to Vyaas gufa.

Mana has lot of legends associated with it. It is said that sage Vyaasa was disturbed by the gushing waters of river Saraswathi while reciting Mahabharatha, and he asked her to go underground. There is a stream in Mana, supposedly Saraswathi, which is visible for a short distance after which it flows underground. Then there is Bheem pul, a big stone laid across the river by Bheem, when Draupadi was not allowed to cross the river as she was married to five people at a time. Vasudhara falls is on the 'Swargarohan route', the path taken by the Pandavas, after renouncing all earthly possessions, to reach heaven. A few minutes walk on the Vasudhara trail will take you to a small temple, one dedicated to Draupadi or Shakthi (whose reincarnation was Draupadi). According to the story, this is the place where Draupadi fell. Like the Pandavas, we carried on towards our destination.

There views are awesome as you walk towards Vasudhara falls. There were some bushes all along the otherwise barren landscape, with bright red and orange berries on them. Though the signboard said 5 kms to Vasudhara, we felt it was more than that.. probably it was just our legs complaining. This trek was relatively easy without any steep climbs. The falls was visible at a distance and we thought its just a hill away. But we had to walk across atl east another 4 hills and a stream before we could finally reach it. Vasudhara falls drops from a height of 125 meters, but due to the height the water falls down like a shower of droplets. It was really cold out there and only Jayan managed to take a shower. The rest of us sat there watching the falls and the mist covered valley below. The tranquility of the place was amazing, no wonder why all the yogis choose to go to the Himalayas to meditate. There were a bunch of goats roaming around the hillside, guarded by two sheep dogs. After spending an hour when we were about to return, we saw Yuvraj walking towards us. He had gone all the way to Muchkund cave, and not finding us there decided to check out the falls. As we had to reach Badrinath by 6:30 to visit the temple, we made haste and in about 2 hours were back in Mana.

All of us took bath quickly and proceeded towards the temple. There was a decent crowd at the temple, but we managed to get Darshan without much trouble. There is something quite captivating about the atmosphere in a temple, don't know whether its all the lights and chants or the crowd. I sat outside the sanctum-sanctorum, watching the pilgrims and their actions while Subbu and Jayan went inside for the third time. The temple compound was well lit with diyas and fires and some special functions were going on due to Janmashtami. There was a board displaying the price list for various offerings to the god, the highest one priced at Rs. 17,000. There were only 4 of the 27 items with a sub-thousand price tag. Even gods seem to be suffering from inflation and recession!! I would have loved to spend a little more time there, watching the proceedings, but the cold was getting to on to us.

Listening to Subbu's explanation on why we accept the 'prasadam' from the temple and put it on our head, and trying to crack walnuts with teeth, we walked out of the temple complex. All of us were hungry and had dinner at hotel Saket. By this time Rob had gone and booked tickets for our return journey to Haridwar the next day morning.

It is said that the sufficient excuse to visit a place is that it exists. I think we too didn't have any better reason to come all the way and walk about 85 kms in five days. But at the end of it all, looking back, we felt fortunate, blessed and happy, being exposed to such profound beauty and grace of nature. We were probably the largest congregation of content souls on the face of earth that night!!!

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Day 0 : Valley Trek - Team & Itinerary
Day 1 : Bangalore to Rudraprayag
Day 2 : Rudraprayag to Ghangaria
Day 3 : The Valley of Flowers
Day 4 : Hemkund Lake
Day 5 : Auli
Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana & Vasudhara Falls
Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore

Day 5: The Surprise that was Auli

The day we say goodbye to Gangharia, most of the morning was spent on the veranda, sipping tea, staring at the beautiful mountains as they went about the routine fashion show. We sat there filling up our memory with the sight, something to cherish till we come back. Then before we even realized, it was time to pack up and walk the 13 kilometers back to Govindghat. According to our initial itinerary, the plan was to visit the Valley of flowers a second time, but we decided to skip that and go to Auli instead, a skiing resort near Joshimath. This was one of the best decisions taken during the trip. We started by 8:45 from Gangharia and the downhill journey was quite easy and enjoyable. The mountain peaks on the way were crowned with snow which was slowly melting away as the day progressed.

There were very few people climbing down at that time. We had the landscapes all for ourselves and the cameras were out, busy pixellating the scenes for posterity. Yuvarj was wondering why there are no fruit trees anywhere along the way. He was ready to climb and pluck apples even if there is an apple tree on top of one of the peaks. There is this Hindu mythological story about a God who keep saying "Thathasthu" (let it be) all the time. So elders generally warn the children to be careful what they wish for, even as a joke. Just in case this god say "Thathasthu" the same moment you wish for something, it will come true irrespective of the nature of the wish. Something like this happened with Yuvaraj as well. As soon as he wished for an apple tree, we spotted one just by the trail. There were three apples on it, but there was also a small house nearby. As he was about to run towards the tree, a person came out of the house and explained that the fruits are left alone for seeding. We had no choice but walk away... but we did find apples pretty soon - two for ten rupees!

We were moving at a leisurely pace and reached the Gurudwara at Govindghat by 1 in the afternoon. Rob and Subbu took all the stuff they had left in the locker room there and we proceeded towards Joshimath. The bus we took dropped us right in front of the GMNV guest house at Joshimath. We checked into the dormitory there and inquired about the cable car to Auli. We had bad news.. a minimum of 8 people were needed for the cable car to operate and there were no one else than us. Anyway we decided to try our luck and walked towards the ground station, a few minutes walk from the guest house. The story was the same - they refused to take just the 5 of us saying that the costs won't work out and the visibility is bad. But then we played the emotional card - how can they send 5 poor souls away like that, who traveled all the way from Bangalore for this one experience? So they agreed to take us up under the condition that we will get only 20 minutes to spend at Gorson, the last stop of the car. We were waiting to hear something like that and jumped at the opportunity.

The cable car from Joshimath at 1,100 Mts (3608.90 ft) to Gorson at 3,016 Mts (9894.98 ft) covering the distance of 3.96 km, is the longest one in India. It used to be the longest in Asia, but not any more. There are total 10 towers and the car moves at a rate of 5 Mts/second, covering the distance in 15 minutes, one way. This was definitely a memorable ride of our lives with the view changing every meter of climb. The car passes above dense pine, almond and oak forests, many of the trees huge and hundreds of years old. Its a different feeling to fly above the canopy, seeing the forest from an altogether different angle. The snow covered peaks will surpass your best imagination. Though the visibility was bad about an hour ago, the mist was all gone suddenly.Even our guide was surprised as the previous two groups of tourists had returned without seeing anything but mist.

The skiing resort of Auli is at the 8th tower. There was no snow there at this time of the year but work was going on to create a new skiing track. The plan is to create artificial snow on the ski slopes in the event of low snow fall. Auli has the world's highest man made lake and the water from this lake will be used to feed the snow guns stationed along the ski slopes. Once you finally get down at gate 10 (Gorson), the view is astounding. Auli is blessed with a breathtaking panoramic view of the lofty peaks of the Himalayas. It is surrounded by high peaks like Mana, Kamet, Trishul, Dronagiri and tallest of all Nanda Devi. There are few other small peaks like the Hathi parvath, the sleeping beauty and others. Sitting there, staring at this beautiful mountain range was definitely the "Kodak moment" of the trip.. a fitting moment to reflect on ourselves and our nothingness in front of this new found grace and majesty. After a hot cup of coffee and many photographs, we finally returned to the base station.

Joshimath aka Jyothirmath is the northern monastery, one of the four cardinal institutions established by Adi Shankara. We went to see the math and the caves where Sankara and his disciple Todakacharya meditated. There were also a couple of small temples nearby. After visiting the Shiva temple, we wound up the day's adventures. Badrinath, Mana and Vasudhara falls were on the cards for the next day and without wasting much time we settled down under the smelly mattresses for the night.

Money Matters:
GMNV guest house : dorm @ Rs. 125/head
Cable car @ Auli : Rs. 500/head (both ways)

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Day 0 : Valley Trek - Team & Itinerary
Day 1 : Bangalore to Rudraprayag
Day 2 : Rudraprayag to Ghangaria
Day 3 : The Valley of Flowers
Day 4 : Hemkund Lake
Day 5 : Auli
Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana & Vasudhara Falls
Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore

Day 4: Hemkund Lake

Hemkund is a glacier lake at 14,200 ft, a place of spiritual value to both the Sikhs and Hindus. It is believed that Guru Gobind Singh meditated there in his previous life after defeating a demon that terrorized both mortals and Gods. It is also believed that the hindu god Lakshman meditated by the lake and regained his health after being severely wounded by Meghnath, son of Ravana. So there is a Gurudwara and a Laxman Mandir by the lake. But for the five us Hemkund was synonymous with "more walk" and "more fun". Even Subbu had recovered well from fatigue, thanks to a special Uttaranchal kichdi and his own ginger treatment.

So after the usual bathroom symphony and some sandwiches for breakfast, we started our Hemkund yatra by 8:15. The number of pilgrims were considerably less this time, probably due to few landslides and accidents in the Joshimath road the past few weeks. Hemkund is a 6 kilometer trek from Gangharia,a climb of 4200 ft. The valley of Flowers trek route is a cake walk compared to the one to Hemkund. With every turn of the winding road, Gangharia and Lakshman Ganga become a smaller and smaller speck in the valley. The landscapes around are really beautiful with a lot of flowers of all colors. We could locate the elusive Himalayan Blue poppy at a few places along the route. It was drizzling right from the beginning, but not strong enough to cause us any trouble at all. The raincoats we bought at Govindghat for Rs. 25 proved more than enough to keep us going.

In the first 2 hours we covered only about 2 kilometers. But then Rob came up with a 'strategy' to make the climb a lot easier. If you take short steps, keep chanting something and get into a rhythm, the climb gets a lot easier. You can either count to 100 or say 'waheguru' or if your girlfriend ditched you recently, you can pray for her good life. (Yup, it did work for some of us!!), We met a guy at the halfway mark who said he didn't even stop once since he started. This was when we were taking our 43rd scheduled stop for the multivitmin tablets. Its amazing how religion can make people do the impossible. There were 70-80 year olds who were climbing the hill barefoot, while even a lot of youngsters were preferring ponies. Some of them make this trip every year it seems. As one of them said "if guruji brought me to the foothill (Gangharia) from so far (Punjab), he will definitely take care of this as well". I just nodded my head, trying hard not to look pale and breathless. Complete surrender to faith is blissful I suppose. The moment you convince yourself that all decisions on your behalf will be made by an infallible higher authority, life becomes much simpler and easier.

Towards the last part of the trail, there are two options to go ahead - either take a flight of steps or take a longer winding stone paved path. I chose to take the longer route as it looked more scenic. There was one another thing I wanted to see during this trek - the Brahmakamals. They are big white lotus like flowers that grow only in these high altitudes and I was looking all around to spot at least one of them. As I walked on, when the mist suddenly cleared off the nearby mountain slopes, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were thousands of Brahmakamals all along the slopes. I was hoping to find one flower here or there if I look carefully enough, and this was more like a sea of them. Then I also spotted a few among the rocks just ahead of me. I ran towards them with my camera and managed to get few good pictures. All through the rest of the way, there were plenty of them on either sides of the trail. There were also patches of maroon and yellow Potentillas, Geraniums, Asters and Balsams. If you take the steps you will get a closer look at the waterfall while the longer route has a lot of flowers ang greenery around.

After 5 hours of climb, we finally reached Hemkund. Its a beautiful sight to behold, the lotus shaped gurudwara by the lake, surrounded by mountains. The Hemkund lake is fed by small streams and glaciers from the mountains around and has crystal clear water. The water in the lake is holy for the Sikhs who take bath in it to wash away their sins. We couldn't even wash our face in the water as it was freezing cold. The gurudwara serves some real good hot tea and a special kichdi made of pulses, to all those who visit there, which is in fact a great relief. After having a round of tea, we entered the gurudwara. Its a nice place to escape the cold as they provide nice blankets in there. It is an experience to sit there listening to the chants, wrapped in a hot blanket. The Guru Granth Saheb was kept on a raised platform and there were a bunch of punjabi singers singing bhajans.

Nobody except the volunteers are allowed to stay at the Gurudwara overnight. Everyone start their descend by 2 in the afternoon and so did we. I took the steps on my way back, which was more taxing on the already battered knees. But with the kind of scenes around, we never thought of our legs or knees till we reached the hotel. It was a tiring but rewarding day. After a quick bath, we went out for a walk and watched a documentary on the Valley of Flowers, at the Eco Development Center office. After a round of Gulab Jamuns and Samosa chat, we ordered dinner - Rob had Maggie noodles like the last two days, Yuvraj had just a soup for the third straight day, Subbu and Jayan shared some rice and rotis. I was plannning to eat less and had just 4 rotis! But we all made sure that we digest the food before we sleep - so we started singing the theme song of the trek... 'How do you solve a problem like Subbu..."

Last night at Gangharia, the verdict was unanimous... we will be back. The plans were quite ambitious that some were thinking about bringing their kids to the valley for science projects!! Who knows what future holds, perhaps our next trip might even be on Subbu's chopper..!!

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Day 0 : Valley Trek - Team & Itinerary
Day 1 : Bangalore to Rudraprayag
Day 2 : Rudraprayag to Ghangaria
Day 3 : The Valley of Flowers
Day 4 : Hemkund Lake
Day 5 : Auli
Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana & Vasudhara Falls
Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore

Day 3 - The Valley of Flowers

Morning breaks at Ghangaria pretty early. By 4:30 you hear chants of sikh pilgrims on their way to Hemkund. I opened the door of our room and looked outside.. the view was breath taking. From our first floor veranda it was a majestic sight.. the Garhwal range of Himalayas right in front, surrounded on all sides by pine forests and shrouded in a thin veil of mist. While we sat there sipping on a hot cup of coffee, the mist slowly gave way to the first light of the day. The mountain top puts on a bright orange hue as the sunlight falls on it, which slowly creeps down till the entire mountain range is lighted up. The snow on the slopes and crevices reflects the light accentuating the beauty of the peaks. You will not realize the passage of time when you sit there drowned in the beauty, staring in awe at such imposing creations of nature.

Beauty can have strange effects on people. After seeing the mountains, myself and Rob decided to have a haircut, we wanted to get rid of all the ugly hair on our head. So we walked along the streets in search of a barber. The first one we found was still fast asleep. He said that he is planning to sleep for a while more and directed us to another shop near the Gurudwara. Finally we located the barber shop, woke up the barber and told him our plan. He could not believe that we wanted to go bald... he was only used to requests for trimming the beard. With much laughter and disbelief, he started his job and soon his entire family joined us at the shop to see the two crazy guys who wanted to go 'ganja'!! We even managed to attract the attention of a few passing by - mostly old Sikh pilgrims who were visibly alarmed.

The bath after the haircut was equally interesting. The water was freezing cold and its effect on the bald head was painful. I had to massage my head vigorously after pouring two cups of water, to get back to senses. For the three days we were in Gangharia, bathroom singing was not just a hobby, but a necessity to avoid getting frozen in bath. Soon after a breakfast of aaloo parathas, with more more aaloo parathas packed up for lunch, we started our trek to the Valley of Flowers by 8. From Gangharia, the route to the valley and Hemkund separates after crossing the Laxman Ganga river on a tin sheet bridge - the one to the left goes to the valley and the one to the right to Hemkund. There is a forest office at the beginning of the VoF trek route from where you have to get entry passes. Though you start seeing a lot of flowers from this point, the actual entrance of the valley is four kilometers from there, where you find a map showing the trek route and the various peaks in the valley.

One common mistake people make is that they walk till the entrance, expecting flower beds all around, like the ones they see in botanical gardens or in the movies. Some even walk another kilometer or so from the entrance and come back saying they did not see any flowers. We did find a few who returned too soon saying that there was nothing like what they expected. The fact is that you have to walk at least 3 kilometers from the entrance to see the actual beauty of the valley. So most of the people end up missing the breath taking views at the end of the valley. Also it has become a practice for us in daily life to ignore the small details and always look forward to something BIG and astounding all the time. There are in fact lot of beautiful flowers all around the valley.. in the first one kilometer walk itself, we could identify at least 25 - 30 different kinds of flowers. Our plan was to go till the very end.

After taking tickets, you pass some pine woods and climb down to reach a bridge across river Pushpavathi. The rocks by this bridge is the sole location of the beautiful Himalayan Blue Poppy flower in the valley, often called the 'Queen of Himalayas'. We didn't find any there, but saw many the next day on the way to Hemkund. There are numerous streams flowing across the valley and the ones towards the end had crystal clear water. The trek route follows the river till the entrance to the park, where we have to cross it. There are flowers of all colors in the valley - from white to yellow to pink to blue to purple to maroon to dark red... you only need to look around to see them. There are even brightly colored berries on bushes or creepers all over the rocks. Even the lichens and moss are not your usual dull black and whites. The valley puts on a different color every month depending on the prominent blooming species of that time. Purples and whites were prominent during early August when we visited.. with occasional patches of all the other colors.

After walking about four kilometers you reach the entrance of the valley, to catch the first glimpse of its beauty. The valley is bordered by green carpeted mountain ranges of Nilgiri and Rataban on the left and right. To the North, blocking the view is the Byunder Khal peak with its snow clad peaks and ice glaciers. There are a few glaciers inside the valley as well, but this time of the year, the snow had all melted off and the landscape had been reclaimed by Himalayan balsams, Asters, Edelweiss and many other flowering plants. Though we could not play around in the snow, the flowers compensated more than enough for the loss !! The irregular eating habits of the previous two days had left Subbu a little weak. The high altitudes and strenuous trek added to the misery and he was forced to take some rest by a big rock while the rest of us walked on. Rob and myself tried to cajole Subbu with our 'beautiful' songs from the 'Sound of Music', but they almost had an adverse effect on his health. I know it was the weather and not the music... we had even modified the lyrics to "how do you solve a problem like Subbu.." and sang it in all possible keys, together!!

We had our lunch by the side of another beautiful stream before continuing our walk. Kudos to the forest department, the whole valley is well maintained without a piece of paper or plastic visible anywhere. Perhaps the fact that they are just allowing nature to manage it her own way is the reason for the beauty. The stone paved walkways are a treat to see amongst all the bushes and flowers. We came across the grave of Miss Margarate Legge, a botanist who lost her life while documenting the flaura and fauna of this beautiful valley, but did not take the detour to get close to it. A few kilometers after the valley's entrance the flower density increases considerably as if leading us to some grand finale... and boy, what a sight it was.

The end of the valley presents a picture of paradise... the pushpavathi river valley full of purple flowers, with the rivulets criss-crossing the flower patches and the mountains standing guard all around it. I am truly incapable of putting in words all the beauty and grace we saw there. We calmly sat down by a rock and started singing songs, staring at the beautiful valley ahead. I had my harmonica with me and I couldn't help playing a few tunes as well. It takes a while for the feeling to sink in.. that we are finally in the valley of flowers, the place we all dreamed of for quite some time. It is the closest I have ever come to the concept of so called heaven.

Sitting in a landscape full of sighs, dream away the day
Making up a tune about the blueness of the skies
This is where I'll stay..
Going nowhere, sitting in a dream... - Deep Purple

Returning from such a place of joy is always a difficult decision to make. But we might start overlooking the beauty of even such a place, if it ever become a part of our daily life. So after spending close to an hour there, we started our walk back to Gangharia.. turning around and taking another look at the beautiful scenes every now and then. The valley looked more colorful on the return trip. Suddenly it looked like there were far more flowers than what we saw on our way up. Don't know whether it was for real or the effect of the beauty we saw around. Looks like the flowers all come to life once the harsh afternoon sun give way to twilight.

We were back in Gangharia by 7. We had an overdose of excitement which was quite intoxicating and the surrender to sleep was full and voluntary.

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Day 0 : Valley Trek - Team & Itinerary
Day 1 : Bangalore to Rudraprayag
Day 2 : Rudraprayag to Ghangaria
Day 3 : The Valley of Flowers
Day 4 : Hemkund Lake
Day 5 : Auli
Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana & Vasudhara Falls
Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore

Day 2 - Rudraprayag to Ghangaria

After a good night's sleep, we all woke up by 4:30 in the morning. Anticipation can make miracles happen and by 5:30 we were all set to start our journey. We had planned the night before to catch the first bus (the mail van) to Joshimath at 6. But to our surprise, the conductor of the bus we traveled the day before came to our room by then and informed us that they are ready to go. In no time we had occupied strategic seats in the bus to enjoy the beautiful locales on the way. The route to Joshimath follows the river Alakananda and is a treat to watch. It was also scary at places where the roads were almost washed away by rains and landslides. Kudos to the expertise of our driver, who effortlessly drove through such narrow and dangerous roads. People who complain about potholes in Bangalore roads should take a ride through these ghat roads to understand how fortunate they really are.

There are five 'Prayags' or confluences on the way to Ghangaria, where different streams join Alkananda to make it a real mighty and furious river by the time it enters Rishikesh.

Dev Prayag: Bhagirathi, from Gomukh, the snout of Gangotri glacier joins Alkananda.
Rudra Prayag: Mandakini, coming down from Chorabali Tal, behind Kedarnath joins Alkananda.
Karna Prayag: Pindar aka Karna Ganga, coming down from Pindari Glacier joins Alkananda.
Nanda Prayag: Nandakini, coming down from Mt. Nanda Ghunti joins Alkananda.
Vishnu Prayag: Dhauli Ganga, coming from Mt. Dhaulagiri joins Alkananda.

We had breakfast at Pipalkoti, passed Tapovan Hydro Electric area and finally reached Joshimath by 12. The trek to Ghangaria starts from Govindght, which is another 45 minutes journey from Joshimath (18 kms). So without wasting any time there, we took a shared sumo to Govindghat. This route is so beautiful that we even thought of getting out of the vehicle and walk our way up. But as we had the 13 kilometer trek to Ghangaria ahead of us, we controlled our urge. By the time we had our lunch it was almost 1:30. Rob and Subbu decided to keep some of their luggage in the locker available at the Gurudwara.

mmmm.. now is the time to comment on the genius of Rob. Along with the stuff he left at the Gurudwara were his glasses and the camera. Ya, I cannot really blame him for both as he had a pair of cooling glasses and a spare camera with him. But as it turned out, the shades he had were no good in the night and the camera batteries which were supposed to last for the entire trip gave up on him too soon. So Rob had to walk like a blind man for the last 30 minutes of the climb. But.. but.. as I mentioned already, he did not forget his toilet paper roll...!! He even made use of it on the way up.. call of nature in its true sense!!

The climb to Gangharia starts a little ahead of the Gurudwara, after crossing Alakananda by a hanging bridge. It is a climb of 1200m or 4000ft and the trail follows the river Laxman Ganga aka Pushpavathi for quite a long time. As Ghangaria is the base camp for the Hemkund trek also, there were a lot of Sikh pilgrims for company. Mules are available to carry people and it was really sad to see the poor animals carrying many a gigantic pilgrims uphill. Some city-bred lazy bums had no shame in throwing their overgrown bodies atop wounded horses and look down at others with a wry smile. There were also 70-80 year-olds who were patiently walking their way up. The trek route passes through two small but beautiful villages - Pulna and Byundar. There are also numerous shops on the way, selling water, soft drinks and food... just that the prices are directly proportional to the altitude.

We slowly made our way up, but the afternoon sun and heavy baggage really slowed us down. Without proper acclimatisation to high altitudes, we found it little difficult to breathe properly. Ideally we should have stayed at Govindghat/Joshimath overnight so that our bodies would have got enough time to get used to the reduced oxygen levels. Halfway through the trek we realised that we won't be able to reach Ghangaria before night fall at that pace. So we hired a pony to carry our luggage. But then there was another problem... they carry your luggage only if at least one person accompanies the luggage. That responsibility was finally taken up by poor Jayan. You might think how comfortable, but the reality is that after an uphill climb like that on horse, you will literally have to look down every now and then to ensure that your posterior is still intact. No, this is not due to flat worms... just the numbness.

With the luggage off our back, we covered the 13 kilometers pretty swiftly - in about 6 hours. The views around were really amazing, waterfalls, the roaring stream, mist covered mountains and lush greenery all around. Jayan had reached the village much early and had managed to arrange a decent accommodation for us. We were really fortunate to get a nice room for the five of us, with comfortable beds and mattresses at Hotel Priya. This is the first hotel as you enter Ghangaria with an eatery in the ground floor and few rooms on the first floor. Dinner was served in the room by 8 - some rice, rotis and daal. After the strenuous climb and a filling dinner, all we wanted to do was to climb under the warm mattresses.

There was a mild drizzle outside, officially declaring the end of another interesting day. I remember pulling down my monkey cap over the eyes, listening to Yuvaraj humming a tune in his sleep...

Money Matters:
Joshimath to Govindghat by shared Sumo - Rs. 30/head
Accomodation @ Ghangaria - Rs. 300 a day

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Day 0 : Valley Trek - Team & Itinerary
Day 1 : Bangalore to Rudraprayag
Day 2 : Rudraprayag to Ghangaria
Day 3 : The Valley of Flowers
Day 4 : Hemkund Lake
Day 5 : Auli
Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana & Vasudhara Falls
Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore

Day 1 - Bangalore to Rudraprayag

As the day of the trek approached, the excitement was almost uncontrollable - shopping trips to buy thermals, frequent phone calls and even a pre-trip dinner where the original group of seven met to share the agony and ecstasy. Finally on Friday, the 7th of August, by evening 6:30 ROb, Jayan, Yuvi and myself met at Bangalore airport. We had managed to avail the monsoon offer from Indigo Airlines and had booked the much hyped "Rs. 1" ticket to Delhi. Though the ticket price was just one rupee, the final price was about 2,750 with all the taxes and surcharges. The two hours flight were the most boring moments of the trip, but it did save us a lot of time.

Subbu had reached Delhi by the morning flight and was trying to co-ordinate our travel from Delhi to Rishikesh. Our plan was to cover this distance overnight. According to the information we had gathered, the last bus to Rishikesh left ISBT Kashmere Gate by 11 in the night. As we were supposed to reach Delhi airport only by 10:30, we were trying to get a taxi to Rishikesh. But fortunately Subbu found out that being a weekend, there were some bus services to Haridwar even after midnight. So we took a taxi from the airport to Kashemere gate.

Our taxi driver was qualified enough to replace Philipe Massa at the Formula One racing. For him Delhi had one straight road, extending from the airport to ISBT, made and maintained exclusively for him, devoid of any kind of traffic signals or sign posts. He drove all the way with that slight sarcastic smile on his otherwise worn out face; even when other drivers yelled at him at every cross road. Anyway, we found ourselves standing live and kicking at Kashemere gate by 11:45 PM. Delhi was steaming hot even at that time of the night and we all were sweating profusely. With the big bags on our back and sweat all over the face, we looked like some refugees looking for a sweet spot to spend the night at the bus station.

After a quick dinner, we managed to get a bus to Haridwar at 12:15. The 200 kilometers journey was covered in a little more than 5 hours by our 'ordinary' bus. Haridwar bus station was already buzzing with activity at 5:30 in the morning but we managed to fresh up and get ready in an hour's time. It was then a new villain, the 'flat worm', entered our small world. Rob had this theory of flat worms entering the body through your toes. He was referring to me using the toilet without a slipper. I had to cook up a story that you just need to put some soap water on your feet, to counter the worms. The explanation kind of satisfied him for a while. But with this one small episode, flat worm had become a synonym for any kind of threat throughout the journey... like somebody yelling 'Watch out the rain.. there might be flat worms falling with the drops'. I can almost hear Rob yelling "What bollocks !!"

We soon found a bus to take us all the way to Joshimath - about 300 kilometers. The private buses at Haridwar operate from a junction few minutes away from the government bus station. We passed Rishikesh in half an hour and it was then we got news about multiple landslides on the ghat road to Joshimath. Our driver decided to go ahead under the expectation that the roads would be open by then. But by 9, we found ourselves part of a big queue of vehicles. To add to the misery, one truck smashed on to the side of our bus. After two hours of arguments between the two parties, we were all transferred to another bus whose driver decided to try an alternate route. But the fate was the same once we reached Shivpuri. Finally we decided to take a third, longer route to Joshimath by paying Rs. 50 extra per head.

Soon we realized that we won't be able to reach Joshimath that night. So after passing through Narendra Nagar, Champa, Tehri and Srinagar we finally stopped at Rudraprayag for the night. The route offered us some majestic views of the Tehri dam and Hydro Electric project. We stayed at Hotel Krishna in Rudraprayag - a room for five at Rs. 300. Though it was a vegetarian hotel, we managed to get some chicken for dinner, to go with the Rum. Our original plan was to reach Joshimath by night and start our climb to Ghangaria early in the morning. But now we had another 4-5 hours of travel left in the morning to reach Joshimath. But somehow we were confident to make up the lost time the next day.

The day-long journey and the rum worked in unison to usher in sleep quite early. Soon we were snoring away to glory, dreaming about the good times ahead. End of adventures of day one.

Money Matters:
Bus Fare (Non-Deluxe) : Delhi to Haridwar - Rs.117
Bus Fare (Non-Deluxe) : Haridwar to Joshimath - Rs.250

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Day 0 : Valley Trek - Team & Itinerary
Day 1 : Bangalore to Rudraprayag
Day 2 : Rudraprayag to Ghangaria
Day 3 : The Valley of Flowers
Day 4 : Hemkund Lake
Day 5 : Auli
Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana & Vasudhara Falls
Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore

Day 0 - Valley of Flowers Trek

"I will lift mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my strength"

I first read Psalm 121 not in the Bible, but in a description about the Valley of Flowers. These words are inscribed on the tombstone of Miss Margarate Legge, a botanist who lost her life while documenting the flaura and fauna of this beautiful valley in Uttaranchal. For about four years the desire to visit this 'valley of fairies and little people' remained in my Bucket List, till I finally made it this August. For me, it was finally time to lift my eyes unto the hills and ask for strength.

Unlike many of my other treks, plans were made in detail, maps were drawn, itinerary was prepared and tickets were booked in advance. We were a group of five, reduced from an initial seven, as two unfortunate souls had to drop off at the last minute due to professional commitments. This post will be sorely incomplete without a few words on the 'Famous Five'.. real specimens I say. Its always customary to say something good about every one before I let the cat out of the bag in the following posts. So here we go..

Robert "shitpot" Devasia : A man who believes in reverse-epicureanism. Unlike the Epicureans who believes that life is one big meal, Robzz believes that life is better spent on a shitpot. He did not forget to carry the toilet paper roll even when he forgot his glasses.. what if you find a good locale and feel the uncontrollable urge to contribute? Makes sense!!

Disney "wastebasket" Jacob : That's me. I eat anything that is not plastic or paper that many had a suspicion that I am pig's soul trapped inside a human body. Carelessness is like my twin brother. As I do not believe in self adulation and derive more pleasure from bashing the people around me, I want to say nothing more.

Jayan "oil-less" KK : A person who is so allergic to oil that he will ask for oil-less pooris at hotels. Heard that the Arabs have even announced a reward on his head for his hatred towards oil. Nothing makes him happy like a bowl of curd that he has wowed to take a cow with him on our next trip to Gangharia!!

Yuvaraj "starving" Jayakumar : The only man to survive a famine on Earth. When the rest of us gobbled up three over sized aaloo parathas for breakfast alone, he managed with two and half for the entire day. Remember that this was after walking an average of 15 Kms a day. If starving becomes a competition item at Olympics ever, I am sure India will get the Gold, even with strong competition from Somalia.

Subbu "mythology-kumar" H : A walking encyclopedia on mythology and religious rituals, he knew even the color of the sari Draupadi wore on her Swargarohan yaatra. Jokes apart, he is a person who understands what he does when he walks into a place of worship.. he don't go there to compare clothing like many of us do. Did you know that its your and my grand parents who control heaven for 6 months a year..? I told you!!

With the team in place, our plan was to travel to Uttaranchal on a 9 days trip, and trek to the Valley of Flowers (an 85 sq. km. protected land which is the home of many exotic flowers - 3250m), Hemkund (a glacier lake and also a pilgrim center for the Sikhs - 4329m), Auli (A skiing resort with India' longest cable car) and Vasudhara falls (a waterfall beyond Mana, the last Indian village before the Chinese border - 3500m). The itinerary looked like this:

7-Aug-09 Bangalore >> Delhi
7-Aug-09 Delhi >> Rishikesh
8-Aug-09 Rishikesh >> Joshimath
9-Aug-09 Joshimat >> Ghangria
10-Aug-09 Ghangria >> Valley of Flowers
11-Aug-09 Ghangria >> Hemkund
12-Aug-09 Ghangria >> Joshimath >> Auli
13-Aug-09 Joshimath >> Badrinath >> Vasudhara Falls
14-Aug-09 Badrinath >> Rishikesh
14-Aug-09 Rishikesh >> Delhi
15-Aug-09 Buffer Day
16-Aug-09 Delhi >> Banglore
17-Aug-09 Reach Bangalore

I was always attracted and amazed by the grandeur and majesty of mountains, but nothing prepared me for the onslaught, as I stood awestruck before the great Himalayas. Walking 85 kilometers in 5 days at altitudes of 3,000 - 4,000 meters proved really taxing on the body.. but the experience and content more than enough compensated for all the fatigue.

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Day 0 : Valley Trek - Team & Itinerary
Day 1 : Bangalore to Rudraprayag
Day 2 : Rudraprayag to Ghangaria
Day 3 : The Valley of Flowers
Day 4 : Hemkund Lake
Day 5 : Auli
Day 6 : Badrinath, Mana & Vasudhara Falls
Day 7,8,9,10 : Haridwar, Delhi & back to Bangalore