This is the pride of India.The Himalayas. Many would feel that the Taj Mahal which features in the wonders of the world, supposedly white ,is rightful of its place .I would however differ. This natural white beauty, untamed, with snow laden, impregnable, daunting peaks makes us stand with our head up-literally and figuratively.Nature's gift to us.

Amidst these, is a hard working civilization .The "pahadis" as one would call them.Simple folk ,for whom life has a routine which begins with toil and ends with simple living.

Where going to school would mean a trek of 3-5 km, occupation would largely be driving, shop owning or working in a government office or a bank,basic vegetables and groceries would be a matter of scarcity as they have to be transported from other places to here.But one thing is plenty. Water. The gushing streams of pure white, green, light green, dark blue, icy blue and dark green from melting snow peaks makes us understand why Mars orbiter is obsessed with finding water in another far off planet. These peaks feed lifelines to India.

This was a religious tourney.Not one for relaxation of the body but one for the upliftment of the soul and spirit. Kedarnath and Badrinath. The two must visit sites, for most devout Hindus.Travelling there a tedious procedure as much as the object of achieving spiritual enlightenment.Fortunately one could make it. Fortunate because just two years back, the natures backlash on human transgression to exploiting all places on mother earth , left with over 4000 dead.Photographs show the extent of devastation. As mother nature protects us, she also protects her mountains, trees and rivers one assumes.

This is the photo of the place behind the Kedarnath temple. The red flag is the place where Adi Shankaracharya took Samadhi. Destroyed by mother nature. Make shift tents and some stalls on wooden platforms other than the helipad are the only things that exist now in this beautiful Jyotirlinga site .And of course the temple ! Not a scratch on it . Some claim it to be a miracle,one man was churlish and said "god protected himself ,while he allowed others to get killed". He was admonished by his wife who,prayed fervently to a mighty god who miraculously saved the holy structure,to bless her.She had hitched a free ride on the chopper as her husband was a government official,while some of us less fortunate paid for the trip.

As legends or myths go, this temple was supposedly built by the Pandavas, later consecrated by a Himalayan king .The lingaa is in shape of a triangular stone. Story being , when Lord Shiva took form of a bull to test the valour of Bhima, the hump fell off at Kedarnath, the bull picked Bhima in its horns and raced with him all the way to Nepal to Pashupathinath.This humbled the pandavas and they worshipped Shiva in both the places by building these temples.

Have deliberately posted the rear view of the temple as the "shila" or the boulder which prevented the temple from being washed away is featured here.As usual priests descended on us as soon as one  got off at the helipad. But unlike some other holy places as in Puri, or Kashi these guys were more realistic. They maximum they expect for a "rudra" pooja is 2000 INR. While one could debate whether it is appropriate or not, it definitely was much lesser than the 5000, or 10,000 one was demanded in Puri.

The photo on the left,really makes one thankful to the Indian army.They deserve a healthy salute if not a worship .Makeshift tents are managed by the army, for pilgrims who wish to rest in case they cant hurry back or if the unpredictable weather suddenly makes onward journeys impossible.One has to register with the army on arrival and departure.Seen at distance ,is the temple gopuram.



One lousy part of visiting the temple was that thronging crowds were eager to worship "shiva" and fell not only on each other but also on the idol.Some vidhis included smearing cow's ghee over the idol, sitting down next to it with people hanging over one's head precariously. Lights went off suddenly in the sanctum and out were a million phone flash lights on.This also made  people start to cackle away,shouting to their family members, amidst priests chanting many multitude shlokas in cacophony ,The prayer was more an act than spiritual. Plus these people from South of India had descended in hordes , in their excitement of visiting a place in "snow clad mountains",with most dressed as if  , Kedarnath was Antartica!They were looking like people in bloated spacesuits, awkwardly waddling around, bumping and giving expletives in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu , Malayalam et al.Personally speaking sanctity in a soulful connect was lost in cacophony. But if I would want to visit again ? Yes. Maybe if the army would allow me when the place is shut and frozen.

God surely would love the solitude so probably I would never get my wish!Kailash done with next was to Bhoo Vaikunth ..

If one felt the ravages of nature and her swift retribution towards human greed in Kedarnath, the journey to Badrinath was a constant reminder that we are puny, unimportant creatures with pea sized existence in larger scheme of things.

Mountains of rocky landslides with passes no more than exactly 5 feet of road for through fare, no roads of tar but only of boulders and stones for almost 20 kms welcomed us.We met some other pilgrims on their way to Hemkunt Sahib, in their usual Delhi/Chandigarh  style with rash driving.But to their credit, even they stopped at places where the road at 4000 feet height had only 5 feet width to let the vehicle in the opposite direction pass by before they went on!I tell you ,these holy places do miracles and give us actual blessings in terms of common sense.

As one can see the mountains have actually wept stones profusely on to the roads. Could we call it as nature weeping ? Probably yes.Or maybe we need a comet like attack would put most human beings in perspective towards what is important and what is not ?



It was with great dread one actually traversed this entire road , or whatever it could be called. The driver was very nonchalant ,as only a pahadi could be. He commented that he had to change the tyres every month,and said casually that Badrinath would be colder than Kedarnath. Immediately one could get back images of people in bloated up spacesuits but surprisingly that was not to be !

Bhoo vaikunth as it is called was a beautiful experience. With the cool Bhagirathi and Alaknanda flowing from the peaks , mount Neelkanth on the foot of which stands this magnificient temple was really a treat. One glimpsed the images of all the first 5 Shankarachayas, heard bhjajans in Kumaoni and Gharwali with Jai ho Badri Vishal chants which reverberated around. People thronged to the rivers to do tarpan , got a pandit who visited and tried negotiating with me on rates and was shooed away. The place itself is bliss. Whether one does shraddh or tarpan for departed souls or not, a must recommendation is to pay a visit when one is alive and kicking! Also it would be great if one could book a place at the feet of Lord Narayana requesting him to forgive our stupid ,angst filled existence .

Worth mentioning that Kapoor Aarti is 250 INR, prasad aarti is 500 INR and sampoorna aarti is 750 INR. Great leveler was ,people were asked to make a single line queue, no pushing ,we were allowed in sit on the floor like school children, priest with a mike explained the idols , their importance and then all names of contributors was read out which began with Mahalakshmi (moi of course) and ended with Smt.Nita "avem"shri Mukesh Ambani !Great feeling of equal equal before eyes of God! Hated a "iyengar" son and "mother" who were again "yacketing" about how the son should be frugal in distributing alms to beggars and how  pure a Vishnu temple is and how "perumal" should be worshipped not Shiva!The Shivaite and Vaishnavaite divide. And we as a country say we have problems with being secular ! Seriously sigh !

Loved the simplicity of the place and could feel the spiritual lift.Left this place with an onward journey to Joshimath.This is the place where one of the 5 disciples Totakacharya had established a peetha now managed by Swaroopanendra acharya who presides as deity.Will let the picture do the talking!clicked this for illustrating the extent to which we have allowed Adi Sankara's values to erode!Believe there is a case for ascendency to the rightful Shankaracharya of this place in high court.  So judiciary above monastic order and god !We learn some .

Now to the favorite part of the post most controversial "Ganga" cleaning.Pictures are of Haridwar 

This one is of Ganga ghat now known as Birla ghat.Guess industrialisation does change even river ghat names. Reminds me of a Mehmood song "ki paisa bolta hain" .

Not to mention that the beautiful river flowing is completed neglected  by the family who managed to get the name changed.

 This is the sewage treatment on the other side of the bridge of the earlier picture.As it is incomplete ,the green pipes just pump in slush into the river.

 These two photos are of scenes just besides the sewage plant. The bridge can be seen in the last one as well.

End my blog with this sincere prayer "God in your wisdom, please instruct our governments to stop exploitation of natural resources , people ,tax payers money and many other things ;Our collective apathy should be punished by you as you deem fit. I believe you are all knowing and wise and kind.Awaiting your answers " God bless all.