Wander through India

Saturday, 19 September 2015

UttaraKhand : An Ode to Himalaya and Spirituality ( Towards the hills , Trigujinarayan beckons )

Day XI : Phata –Trijunirayan-Nandaprayag

73. After a night of drizzle we woke up to splendid blue sky and fleeting white clouds. Today we were supposed to visit Triyuginarayan , nestled up above the valley of Guptakashi. The road leading to the village was unmetaled and narrow twisting and turning on the mountain side climbing all the while. I wonder how do people manage to commute to places like these in the rains; there is definitely no bus connectivity to these places , it’s the land of jeeps and max trekkers.For today it was all blue sky glorious sunshine and white peaks in the distance amongst the green mountain side .

74. Triyuginarayan was reached by around 1130 hrs and quickly had a darshan of the temple, there are many trekking spots in and around the surrounding mountains which I am sure those who stay close by can explore.

75. The place is credited as being the location of the marriage of Lord Shiva with Maa Parvati and witnessed by Lord Vishnu. The ancient temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu and the celestial mandap are the highlights.The akhand dhuni (perpetual flame) burns here all the time. A serene place however the priests I found to be over zealous to make you pay monetary offerings whichi somehow did not go well with the entire ambience.

76. By around 1400 hours we were back at Phata and decided to reach Karna prayag itself rather than staying at Rudra prayag that we had originally thought , the road to Karna prayag deviates from Rudra prayag and one has to retrace the path till there . The sector from Rudra prayag till maybe 25 kms is totally deteriorated and pot holed and thereafter the road condition improves substantially.

77. Karna prayag was reached by 1830 hrs and it somehow did not appeal to me, too much traffic and there is one single road on which everything rested. We did not get any accommodation at the GMVN guest house and based on their recommendation pushed on till Nanda prayag where we were accommodated in the TRH out there.

78. That bought us to the end of an eventful day and we had crossed the mountain range which differentiated between the Kedarnath region from the Badrinath region.

ODO for the day stood at 93070

ON THE ROAD

THE ROAD FOR ALL

MAGICAL MOMENTS

ON THE ROAD TO KARNAPRAYAG

BEAUTY OF TRIGUNARAYAN ROUTE

AS SEEN FROM TRIGUJINARAYAN

THE ANCIENT TEMPLE AT TRIGUJINARAYAN

MAGICAL VIEWS

I TRAVEL FOR THESE MOMENTS

PRETTY MOMENTS

Friday, 11 September 2015

UTTARAKHAND : AN ODE TO THE HIMALAYA AND SPIRITUALITY ( Day VIII : TO MYSTICAL DEORIYAA TAAL AND THE YAKSHA STORY ) )

#Day VIII : Saari – Deoriyaa Taal

56. The next day morning we were greeted by visuals of a mountain village and its hardworking positive inhabitants going through chores of yet an everyday morning; visuals of women working in the terraced fields , cattle grazing, school children in morning prayer at the school and men in groups discussing something which I do not know .. it was atmosphere of calm poised lifestyle so vastly different from the hordes of people on their way to work in cities each peering into their android and apple phones as their mind focused on the day coming ahead. I do not say which is better or worse just correlating both versions of humanity as experienced personally.

57. We were supposed to hike till Deoriyaa Taal, the climb is steep and with a backpack on me my breathing was laborious but the views were spectacular, I might not have witnessed the azure blue of the Himalaya or the reflection of Choumkhamba in the lake water but the sights that I witnessed, well am glad for them . Do have a look at the visuals.

58. The night stay was at Deoriyaa Taal itself at the cottage run by Mr M S Negi and it was a delightful experience in itself , once again we were in the company of solar lamps and dinner cooked on wooden Chulhas ; ahh !!! It was a night to remember.

FOR THE FUTURE GROWTH

IDYLLIC

BEAUTY

@DEORIYAA TAAL

SPLENDID VISTAS

MAGICAL DEORIYAA TAAL

PRESPECTIVE

NATURE'S CREATION : FLOWERING PLANTS FROM THE LAKE BED

THROUGH THE WINDOW OF THE MIND

MAGICAL VISTAS

THE BEAUTY SHOWS EVER SO SLOWLY

MIGHTY CHOUKHAMBA OPENS UP : GARHWAL HIMALAYAN RANGE

THE RAINS COME ON OVER THE HIMALAYA

BEAUTY INDEED

CAMPING FOR THE NIGHT

TREK TO DEORIYAA TAAL

MIGHTY CHAUKHAMBA

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

UTTARAKHAND : AN ODE TO THE HIMALAYA AND SPIRITUALITY ( Day VII : TO THE HIGHEST SHIVA TEMPLE IN THE WORLD )

UTTARAKHAND : AN ODE TO HIMALAYA AND SPIRITUALITY

#DAY VII: Chopta-Chandrashila-Saari

49. The night was super cold and we shivered inside the quilts just waiting for the dawn. I remember the cold not allowing us to get comfortable and had experienced similar situation at another place called Pangong too. A dim light proclaimed arrival of the dawn with grey overcast clouds in the sky. The agenda for the day was trek to Tungnath and a stay out there followed by trek to Chandrashila.

50. By 0800 we were on our way and the trek was fairly well defined, there are rest spots built on the entire route where the hiker can rest for a while and catch his breath. In case one is carrying a back pack then the trek does appear stressful and that was the case with me , as the track climbed continuously uphill , I started to feel the strain , my breaks started increasing frequently but I hung on determinedly , and so was the case with my companion , it was sheer grit on her part to complete the trek and I was extremely proud of her perseverance.

51. The total trek distance till the top is 5 km and one passes through thickets of Rhodendrons which by now had already bloomed and were waning , the atmosphere was a combination of heavy grey clouds , white snowed out peaks , bare rock mountains and shafts of sunlight in patches , a totally electic combination if I may say . I met many individuals’ locals from the region who do this trek very frequently every season. I found their company very refreshing indeed.

52. Tungnath ji , the highest shiva temple in the world and one of the five Panch Kedars. It is believed to be more than 1000 years old and is generally accessible only in the non-winter months

53. It was a joyful moment of doing darshan of the Lord himself . After the darshan myself and Umeid , our guide decided to climb till Chandrashila , it was not a very strenuous trek maybe because I was not carrying the backpack. The 270 deg views of the Himalaya were there but they were hidden because of the cloud cover hence we dropped the idea of staying the night out there and decided to return back to Chopta and then press on to Saari Village itself.

54. Chandrashila literally meaning “moon rock “ is situated at a height of 4000 mts above sea level and is the summit of Tungnath. This peak provides a 270 deg view of the Himalayas and is famed for its sunrise with the peaks of Nanda Devi and Trishul clearly visible. It is impressive in its beauty .

55. The return leg was uneventful and we reached Chopta by around 4 in the evening and by 6 we were at Saari where we checked in to a delightful cottage run and settled for the night.