Badri - Kedar Trip

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Hi Everybody,

 

Shankaram Siva Shankaram

 

This write-up has been due for a looooooonnng time...Sorry for the

delay.

 

Badri-Kedar trip (1-13 August 2004)

 

Sunday, 1st August: 6 of us (Krishna Anna, Sunil, Siva, Sai, Chapan

and I) left Chennai at 6:20 am by Rajdhani Express to Delhi. We had

lots of fun in the train. Poor co-passengers didn't have their best

of times.

 

Monday, 2nd August: It took us about 30 hours to reach Delhi. We

reached there around noon. Delhi Srinivasan uncle came and picked us

up and we drove to his house for lunch. After lunch, we headed out to

the Centre Stage Mall (for the usual window shopping stuff), came

back to the road side shops for some purchase (this one suited us

better , drove around Delhi (visited the Lotus temple, temples at

Shatarpur), had dinner and went back home at around 10 pm.

 

Tuesday, 3rd August: Delhi Srinivasan uncle and Latha Aunty got up

very early to prepare breakfast and lunch for the day ahead of us. A

tempo traveller had been engaged for a week for this trip. We got

ready around 8 am and left to the airport to receive Baba, Srinivasan

uncle (Chennai Srinivasan and Janaki aunty. They flew in from

Chennai at 9:30 am. We left for Haridwar/Rishikesh directly from the

airport. It was a 250 km drive and we reached Rishikesh around 6 pm.

Our night halt was at the Dayanand Ashram. We saw Ganges at its

majesty surrounded by mountains on one side and the town of Rishikesh

on the other. The view was just spectacular. But it's a pity that

Ganges is being polluted badly. The water is just blackish brown in

colour. Baba took us to a Perumal temple and Siva temple in Rishikesh

that evening. Baba has been to Haridwar/Rishikesh so many times that

He even told us about short-cuts to walk to the temples. We retired

back to our rooms for the night.

 

Wednesday, 4th August: Baba performed Homam at 7 in the morning and

we left Rishikesh around 8 am. Hilly terrain route began here. Our

initial plan was to go to Badri first and then later on to Kedar.

Baba decided to go to Kedar first because of landslides along the

Badri route. We reached Rudraprayag around 2 pm for lunch. Imagine

Rudraprayag to be at the bottom of a V. Top right would be Kedar and

top left would be Badri. The left route was blocked by landslides and

so we headed to Kedar first. We reached Gaurikund (about 210 km from

Rishikesh) around 6 pm. Gaurikund is at a height of about 2000 m

beyond which motorized vehicles cannot go. There are no motorable

roads beyond this point. We stayed at Garwal Mandal for the night.

 

Thursday, 5th August: Kedar is 14km from Gaurikund which has to be

trekked or can be covered on a horse which is exactly what we did. We

left at 6 am and each of us on a horse for the next 5 hrs or so. It

was painful climbing steep hills on horsebacks but was much better

than climbing by foot. The halfway point is called Rambara (7km)

where we and the horses had breakfast at around 8 am. It was

raining throughout the way which made our journey messier. Finally we

reached Kedar (3600 m above sea level) around 11:30 am. We had a very

nice darshan. Siva is in the form of a bull with the head inside the

ground and only the hump is visible. This is the form of Siva at

Kedar. Baba performed Homam inside the temple and we started our way

back down to Gaurikund which we reached around 5 in the evening. The

entire trek was stunning with amazing forests, waterfalls, valleys,

etc. It's just green everywhere. All of us were dead tired and we

just crashed in to our beds.

 

Friday, 6th August: After performing Homam, we left Gaurikund at

around 8 am to proceed to Badri. Remember the V thing again, we had

to drive back to Rudraprayag and reached there around 2 pm and then

proceeded towards the other side of the V. We didn't drive towards

Badri for a long time because of landslides occurring at many places.

We reached Pipalkoti around 3:30 pm and decided to stay there for

that night. There was a landslide about 12 km from Pipalkoti which

was still being cleared. The hotel we stayed was Udaya Palace. After

having lunch, Baba asked some of us to go and find out if the

landslide would be cleared the next day or if there was any

alternative route available. Krishna Anna and Chennai Srinivasan

uncle came back and said that the landslide was about 50 m wide and

there was little hope of it being cleared soon. They also added that

the landslide could be crossed by climbing a mountain and then

getting down on the other side of the landslide and this entire trek

was 7 km Baba decided to go ahead with the trek route if the

landslide was not cleared. We got ready for the next day of adventure

as there were many land slides along the route.

 

Saturday, 7th August: Janaki aunty and Latha aunty stayed back at the

hotel in Pipalkoti. 9 of us left for Badri at 6:30 am. We reached the

point of the first landslide. The roads were not cleared yet and so

we started climbing the mountain at 7 am. The initial climb was

pretty steep and then it got decent enough to climb. It took us about

2 hrs to finish the ascent after which we completed the descent in

about 1 hr. We were all on the other side of the landslide (just 50 m

in width) by 10:30 am. There were vehicles queued up on either side

for a long long distance. On the other side, we got a jeep which took

us till the next landslide (about 8 km). The workers there had made a

make-shift path to cross the land slide. As soon as we reached that

point, the path was opened and we just walked across. It was very

risky though. Once again on the other side, we took a jeep and then

covered some distance (not sure how much) before we reached the third

landslide. The workers stopped us some 1/2 a km away because they

were blasting the rocks to clear the landslide. Series of blasts went

off and then we darted across to the other side. This one was also

tough to cross. We crossed a bridge and on the other side rented a

jeep again which took us till a tunnel. There is a huge Hydro

electric power project going on in that area and this tunnel was

built as a part of the project. Vehicles were not allowed inside the

tunnel and we had to walk through the tunnel. The tunnel is thrown

open every hour, on the hour between 11 am and 2 pm. Imagine our

relief when we reached the tunnel at 1:45 pm just in time to cross

it. This was the last opening for that day. The tunnel was 5 km long

(a real engineering marvel) and we walked through it for about 1.5

hrs. The tunnel was decently lit but it felt cold inside. Out on the

other side, a dam has been built as a part of the power project

(another engineering marvel). Water was flowing at an enormous speed

at that point. Lucky again, there was one jeep which we rented and

covered the last 20 km or so towards Badri. There were no paved roads

in this stretch and it took us a good time to cover the 20 km. We

reached Badri (3200 m above sea level) at around 5 pm, put our bags

at the Garwal Mandal and went to a nearby restaurant to have dosa.

Baba told us not to have more than 1 dosa each as it was getting late

and we had to do Homam before 6 pm. What started as 1 dosa each

finally ended as 3 dosas each plus tea, flavoured milk, etc.

Anyway, it didn't take us that long (we were all really hungry) to

eat 3 dosas and we reached the temple at 5:30 pm. After having a

small darshan, Baba started the Homam at 5:45 pm. Suktams were

recited and then Vishu Sahasranamam was recited. It was along Homam

which ended around 7 pm. There were other people from Chennai who

also joined the Homam. After that for about an hour Baba was in deep

meditation in front of BadriNarayanar. We saw the final Harathi at

night (the temple closed at 8 pm) and had a nice bath at the hot

springs. BadriNarayanar is in the form of a Saligramam (green in

colour) and was decorated with ornaments, sandalwood and flowers. To

the extreme left of BadriNarayanar was Kuberan (God's treasurer) and

to the immediate left of BadriNarayanar was Garudan. To the right of

BadriNarayanar was Naradar and to Naradar's right were Nara,

Narayanan. We returned back to the hotel feeling very happy on having

an excellent darshan and a nice hot bath. Baba told us some very

interesting stuff that Adi Shankarar was the one who found the

Saligramam and how old the Saligramam and the temple were. The temple

is very old and highly " Sanithyam Vaindhadhu " .

 

Sunday, 8th August: Our initial plan was to leave Badri at 4 am and

reach the tunnel before 6 am. Vehicles were allowed to cross the

tunnel before 6 am. But then all of us were so tired that only 4 or 5

of us managed to wake up at 4. Krishna Anna, Srinivasan uncles, Sunil

and Siva went to the temple again at 4 am. All of us went to the

temple at 8 am where Baba performed Homam and we left Badri at 10 am.

We reached the tunnel at 11 am. Baba asked Chapan and me to act as if

we were not well so that we can have the vehicle allowed through the

tunnel. After some deliberations, the security guy allowed us in our

jeep. We escaped having to walk that 5 km. After having crossed the

tunnel, we saw a huge boulder on the road. All of us except Baba got

down trying to guide the driver when another boulder came tumbling

down. It just hit the other boulder and stopped short of us. Wow!

This got the driver more tensed and he flatly refused to go further.

So we had to change jeeps (lucky again - there was one jeep a few

metres away) and proceed down. The last 2 landslides had been cleared

by then and we made our way till the first landslide (where we had to

trek 7 km). This one was not cleared yet. We had no other option but

to trek again. It was 3 pm and it started raining. Baba said that we

have to start trekking now as it will take us another 3 hrs to reach

the other side by which time it will become dark. So we started

trekking again. The incessant drizzle made things worse for us. But

we managed to reach the other side at 6:30 pm. We rented a jeep and

made our way back to the hotel at Pipalkoti. There were lots of small

land slides which had occurred in the last 24 hrs along the way (may

be about 15 or 20). Finally, we reached the hotel around 7:15 pm. We

hogged like mad that night and had just enough strength on our limbs

to get back to bed.

 

Monday, 9th August: After performing Homam, we left the hotel around

10 am back to Rishikesh. There was one another land slide before we

could get far. We waited around 2 hrs for that to get cleared and

continued our journey back. This was all on the ghat section. Around

6 pm it started getting dark and we were still far off from

Rishikesh. Our driver found out that the headlights were not working.

For about 20-30 minutes he was literally driving based on some old

reflectors and markings on the road sides. Baba told him to stop at

the next town and get the light bulbs fixed. He tried to fix the

lights but in vain. Luckily there was another vehicle going towards

Rishikesh. We just followed him blindly to reach Rishikesh at 9 pm.

Back at Dayanand ashram for that night.

 

Tuesday, 10th August: After performing Homam, we left Rishikesh for

Delhi. We were back in the plains and really happy to be so. The

mountains were splendid with absolute greenery, magnificent trees,

stunning waterfalls, amazing views, etc. But the winding roads and

incessant rainfall made us welcome back the plains and bright

sunshine. We reached Delhi around 3 pm and booked a hotel for the

next 3 days' stay. All of us did some shopping that night.

 

Wednesday, 11th August: Day trip to Agra and Mathura. Left Delhi at 6

am, went to the Agra Fort, Taj Mahal and on the way back to the

Krishna temple in Mathura. Reached Delhi at 11 pm.

 

Thursday, 12th August: Sight-seeing (Red Fort, India Gate,

Rashtrapathi Bhavan), did some shopping and got ready to leave.

 

Friday, 13th August: Left Delhi at 6:30 am. Siva flew back directly

to Bangalore and the rest of us flew back to Chennai. Reached Chennai

at 9:15 am.

 

Our thanks to Baba for having given us this great this opportunity to

be with Him for 10 days and to have gone on such a trip with Him. It

was a splendid trip. Truly a memorable one. Even though we had to

trek/walk lots of distances, at each point we were able to feel Him

being with us. How else would one describe a single jeep appearing

out of nowhere (with no passengers in it -- so that we could all

squeeze in) or how else would one describe we reaching the tunnel

just in time before 2 pm. That was the last batch allowed on each

day. It was all planned by Him for us

 

On behalf of all of us on this trip...

 

Thanks,

 

Bharadwaj