Sunday, 23 September 2007

Gaumukh – Gangotri

I can say it was a single shot trek downhill… We continuously came down till we reached Gangotri. It took us about half a day to get down to Gangotri. Me, Pradeep, Shubha and Vishy had stopped for breakfast at Chirbasa while Raj, Suma and Chandra had gone ahead of us to reach early and book a vehicle for our onward journey.

We ordered a light breakfast. 2 plates of maggie for three of us. Vishy had ordered his plate of Maggie.. We were delighted to see the fruity there. It was like heaven for us after so many days of thick roti and aaloo.. Me, Shubha and Pradeep brushed our teeth. Then me and shubha drank fruity completely. But spared a sip each for Vishy and Pradeep. Vishy was glad to get gold flake cigar too J Raj!! U Missed it man!!!! Vishy started smoking. I requested him to move away from me and smoke. So he got up and started moving ahead. He said “I will be going slowly. U guys finish off and catch up.” He had sprained his knee. Getting down was tough for him with the Woodland shoe.

Pradeep’s lazy as always.. but I must say he’s very disciplined when it comes to packing and unpacking J

We ate Maggie, packed his bag and left from there. As we walked we met some yatris who were going to Gaumukh. They were screaming “ganga mayya ki jai”. They expected me to shout back the same slogan. But I did not even utter a word and jus looked at them. We also met some foreigners who smiled at me and said a “Hi”. In turn I smiled at them. But didn say a hi to them.

After some 20 min we reached a small bridge which was made of logs of wood. There was Vishy waiting for us. Wonder why he was waiting there and nt elsewhere? He’s scared of bridges no matter how small they are. There was Shubha who was equally scared like Vishy. I took Vishy’s hand in mine and helped him cross the bridge. Pradeep held Shubha’s. The stream was not so wide. I filled my small bottle with the stream water which was a tributary of ganges. Pradeep was behind my gangajal since then. He was eyeing on my jacket pocket in which that bottle had fit in. Though he was nt tired he used to ask me for water. On our way we found another basti where Vishy bought water and drank complete 1 ltr of water. Shu and pradee were slow. Me and Vishy moved ahead. I was with Vishy as he needed someone when he crossed bridges and there were some more in store for us on our way to Gangotri. Vishy was thirsty and needed water. Finally I gave it off.. I gave him what I had and filled it in the next stream. The same water I have given it to my mom and aunts as the precious “GANGAJAL”. May be even the Ganges in Gangotri or other sacred places will not be so pure. This water is so clean and clear like crystal. We were walking at regular pace while Vishy was getting more frustrated cos of the sprain in his knee. I know how he struggled to get down a small step. He’sa silent guy. While Priya is chatter box. But this time when I started off with Vishy, I had made him speak. Not speak.. narrate stories. He narrated some incidents of his hostel life, career and married life. Finally we reached Gangotri. It was a Sunday and huge crowd on the banks of Ganges in Gangotri. We came down to the same hotel. Found Suma, raj and Chandru there. They were resting there. They had waited sometime for us and ordered their food. We joined and ordered our food too. I ordered a masala dosa and Vishy took a plate of meals.

We ate and cleared the bills and set out in search of Vehicle to go to Uttarkashi. There were no vehicles. Price was high so as the Demand. We had paid 2000 when we got there. This time we had to pay 2200. Me, suma and Shu wanted to buy kumkum and the cans for water. We set out to buy those things. Got them by the time we hired a vehicle to get to Uttarkashi. Said a bye bye to the porters. Gave them enough money for food and to hire another vehice and reach the same place.

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