Mandini Trek : Garhwal n Monsoons

Prologue : The Mahindra Spacio shuffled along the path , rugged in its looks and behaviour for it had spent its life in these mountains on broken roads and was on familiar ground . The 14 occupants including the driver crammed inside each having the same thought of a successful arrival at the destination Joshimath . “Saavan ka mahina” saw the the weather and earth waltz and tango most energetically and lesser participants like the 14 souls in the Mahindra Spacio could only be feeble collateral participants dotted around the frame. Meanwhile, back on ground the Alakhnanda flowed along the broken National Highway moving at a frightful pace unstoppable with her power rippling in the form of the raging waters  all over her, for anyone to see . Every movement and every twist of her, showcased the enormous destructive power and energy that she held in her fold, truly Ganga had rightly said the earth would not be able to sustain her sway and  force if she descended directly, hence Lord Shiva had taken her in to his locks to contain her destructive power and what is  Alakhnanda if not Ganga herself for that is how she is called when she merges with Bhagirathi at Devprayag flowing onward to Haridwar and beyond into the wide world .

Meanwhile the Spacio rumbles to a halt and finally the driver kills the engine, 14 pairs of eyes peer ahead to see the cause through the mist and rain. The cause emerges to be rock fall as the earth shakes and one hapless vehicle caught in the melee. The rocks had boxed her in and now the vehicle could neither go ahead nor reverse down the path, her occupants abandoning her to cruel faith and to the whims of mother nature . The area was known as Lambagad notorious for just this kind of incidents and the same was now   being played in live technicolour for those few souls like me who were attempting to cross. As minutes ticked by and converted into hours the situation remained the same, Umeid my guide and i looked at each other deciding that its time to leave the Spacio and strike a path through the mountain slope for this was the only way to tackle Lambagad, the destination had to be reached and so the team loaded the gear on and moved out. The trek that seemed completed had started once again, the curtains had still not fallen on one of the most enthralling of all treks that i have attempted till now ..... Trek to Mandini and beyond towards the Lake of Truth “Satopanth”