AMARNATH TRIP 2015

They say when the calling comes, you go. When my elderly family friend from Dehradun called up in March end sometime to say hello and then added she would be going for the Amarnath Yatra in July, I had no clue about the religious belief behind the yatra or what the yatra was all about. She said you walk amidst mountains and snow in Jammu & Kashmir. It was that line that made me say Yes I am coming. She told me to call the tour operator quickly and get the registration papers done as the last date was nearing. I did it.

I was to some extent being silly as I had done no regular exercise for about 6 months, not even small walks, due to travel, etc (many excuses) and a week before I got a stomach infection and was not eating properly. I almost thought I would not make it. Besides the state I was in it would have been a better option for me to meet my friend in Pahalgam in Kashmir from where the yatra begins, 96 km north of Srinagar. But I did no thinking. So I landed at Dehradun on 4th July evening, we sat on the bus on 5th July 10 am and began the long bus journey of 32 hours to Pahalgam.


We reached Pahalgam at about 3 pm or so on 6th July. At Pahalgam, we had to transfer all our basic essentials into a very small back pack, as much as we would be able to manage for the next 4 days. We would not be seeing the bus till the 9th of July. We managed to get a lovely hotel at Pahalgam to lodge in for the night. Hotel Tourist Palace owned by Peer Bittu for Rs 500 a room with all amenities like hot water, etc. The owner said the normal price is around Rs 1,200 but during the yatra they reduce the prices. Since we had some time, we decided to do a bit of shopping but that was far away. We were told there was a shop behind the hotel which stocked everything. So we decided to have a look. From Kashmiri suits to shawls to back pack to shoes. Well the shoe bit was interesting. The young Kashmiri shopkeeper looked at my shoes and said that these Rs 800 shoes will not be good for the yatra (Well I too was told in Mumbai by someone that such cheap shoes of Rs 800 will not last, people buy "Branded Shoes" for as much as Rs 10,000!) But the shopkeeper was not talking of price. He said here take these throwaway shoes for Rs 150! that you see in the photo. My friend and me immediately bought them, value for money!.


Well they were so good in rubble, snow, water and is still intact. Actually it came as a blessing as I was finding my shoes so heavy and this was so light. Well we now know how much we pay for "BRAND". So a suggestion, don’t carry heavy shoes, just buy them there.
The next morning at 5.30 am we were off to Chandanwadi by car, the base camp of the Yatra, 16 km from Pahalgam and at a height of 9,500 sq ft (a 30 min drive from Pahalgam). Our registration papers were checked at many points. So you must keep your registration papers with you all through out the trip as you will not be allowed without them.
We, a group of 4, began our yatra. That is after eating breakfast and I ate too much of it. Another beauty of this place is that you get from tea to juices to breakfast, lunch, evening snacks, dinner all free. In what is known as langars or Bhandaras which you find everywhere and many of them. Langar is a Sikh religion term which means a common kitchen where food is served in the Gurdwara for free.


Who funds all of this?, I asked the Punjabi man who had organised the Langar and comes here every year for 2 months from Punjab, and what makes him do it here, giving so much food for free for 2 whole months. He just laughed and said it is done by Bhole Nath baba. Well free food and a variety of it made me forget I had to trek a long way and I ate to my heart's content.

One must buy walking sticks which is sold everywhere. You carry with you just a light bag with water, maybe dryfruits, towel, any medicines etc and the other heavier bags you give to one who is called a Pittoo who will carry all the bags on his back and meet us at the next halt which is Sheshnag.
The beginning itself is a very, very steep climb to what is know as the Pissu top which is just 3 km from Chandanwadi but takes 3 hours or so.

After another walk of 4 km, I lost steam. I began throwing up. I was not surprised, high altitudes don’t bother me so much, it was just that I had not kept fit and my stomach too was weak (and then eating a heavy breakfast!). I became too weak to walk the balance 7 km to Sheshnag. Well there was no horse available at that point as all were returning back. It was around 3 pm. I had to take what is known as Palki, akin to the doli, where 4 men carry you on a chair placed on bamboos. Oh it is anyways a hard walk climbing those mountains and these four men had to coordinate their every step with my weight on their shoulders. They charge you a nominal price and you give them whatever extra you want with pleasure.


I reached Sheshnag on the Palki at around 5 pm. I must have missed the Sheshnag lake as I was falling asleep in the Palki itself and had to control myself from doing that. I was terribly tired. I knew my friends would reach only around 7 pm or so. I didn’t know what to do? Should I book a tent? What is the price? I really had no energy for all this, I just wanted to crash someplace. So I asked a tent or tamboo fellow if I could sleep for sometime in his empty tent but I told him I don't know if I will rent it. He hesitated only for a fraction of a second and said sure and led me to the tent and gave me a blanket. I slept off. I then could hear people coming to rent the tent and seeing me sleeping asking who I was. He was explaining she is just lying down. In all that time, he never asked me if I would be renting the tent, etc and never told me that it is a bother as people are coming to rent the tent and so please get out. I liked the Kashmiri people and their attitude all along the trip. I felt safe too with them. Some people opine that there are good around this area and to yatris as it is their source of livelihood. Well it could have been the other way round too right. They could have commercialised the whole thing like most tourist spots are and charged exorbitant rates and cared too hoots for you as demand is anyway more than supply at this time. So I don’t agree with that. Whatever it is I did see many instances where they placed Humanity before money. Is it only yatra time? I don’t wish to analyse that fact at this point. We were on a yatra and on Paradise on earth and they didn’t spoil that for us but made it more beautiful.

Here I must mention about my friend who had met with an accident some years back, went into coma and miraculously came out alive. They said she may not walk. Today she is doing the yatra by foot. With me not accompanying her by foot, she did miss that helping hand I would have given her. But like they say God always comes to your aid when you need him the most. For her this Pittoo was her blessing in disguise and another very human step of the Kashmiri people.

She was standing stranded with all the bags outside the gate at Sheshnag which the earlier Pittoo had dropped and went off. And she had the task of finding me. She really was at a loss on what to do. This Pittoo you see in the photo came along and offered to take the bags in, find a tent and then locate me. He did all of that and then offered to be the Pittoo not only for the next day but for the next 2 days and offered to hold my friend’s hand and be with her all day!. And it wasn't even that he was asking for too much money. So indeed someone we will not forget. Sometimes even money may not get you a Pittoo to do that. Well all this just made you feel so human in this place.

When I got up the next morning, having eaten nothing the previous day, I felt so weak, that a quick thought came should I return back to Mumbai. But the thought went away as quickly as it came and I pulled myself up and my friends spoke to the horseman, fixed the rates and the horse I would be going on. The horse name was Raju and it would take me to my next halt that is Panchtarni which is around 13 kms from Sheshnag. We had to leave early at 6 am. I always loved horses and wanted to learn horse riding (and right from school days people would say my hair is like horse hair and I was an athlete too, so I believed I was a horse in my previous life). But when I struggled even to get on the horse, I laughed at myself.


Well the track is so difficult even for the horse as it slips on snow and muddy paths, as he pants going uphill and there are incidents of people falling off horses. Well your bottoms hurt a lot but you forget all that as the ride is Oh so beautiful.


I reached Panchitarni in 4 hours by horse, that is by 10.30 am. Well I had the whole day to myself as my other three yatris were walking it down. So they would reach only by late evening. So what do I do. First find something to eat as after about a day and half, I felt something can go in my stomach. Then I took rest in a Bhandara which also offers place to rest and lie down.

From Panchitarni the next morning we left for the holy caves. The horse takes you to a point and then you have to walk almost 3 kms. I left by horse at 6 am and was inside the cave by 9.30 or so. You don't feel the rush or crowds as there is a lot of space as you walk up the stairs. Inside the caves there is pushing and all but not that bad. For first timers, one needs to keep to the right of one flight of stairs that you need to climb as the Shiva Linga is to the extreme right. It is inside a cage like structure and you cannot touch or go near. The ice stalagmite of the Shiva Linga was big this time. You also have stalagmite of Parvati, Ganesha. Another thing which I did not know is that the prasad (offerings) you buy from outside, you need to open and put half of it there and half you take back to distribute, as here there is no pujari or priest to do that. According to a Hindu legend, this is the cave where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort.

They also say that if you look up and you see pigeons you are lucky.. But I did not understand that aspect as if it is a closed cage like environment would not the pigeons always be there? Or I guess there must be an outlet in the cave. Anyway I did not look up as I forgot about it and so I don't know if I am lucky:). I have no pictures of the cave as they don't allow camera or mobile.

As I was sitting on the horse and saw the ardous journey that the horse had to go through – walking on stones and rubbles, on ice, on water, on muddy paths, uphill and downhill, well if the horse ride is difficult, it is surely a tough trek all through the 40-42 kms from Chandanwadi to the Amarnath temple and down to Baltal the base camp, that too at high altitudes. So indeed it was great that my three friends, especially my friend who was told she may not walk, do it. Well for her it was a proof of her fitness and she more than proved it.

Somebody asked me why I did not just take a helicopter. Well in life like they say the destination is not important, the journey to the destination and all the experiences you gather is what makes your soul enriched. And that is what happened to me. Well I surely want to go back next time and do it all walking.

From the caves you come down to Baltal, another base camp from where people go back home. As we got ready to return the next morning, it was raining. Then the announcement was made in the camp that the Yatra was closed due to the weather. We could not believe it. We were so lucky. The three days we were there, the weather was so beautiful.

The yatra, the holy caves and the valley of Kashmir has truly brought more beauty into my being.



Must Carry
A medium sized back pack for all the clothes and a smaller one to carry in your walk.
2-3 Pair of socks as it will get wet.
Torch for sure as you need it in Tents
Don’t carry too many clothes as you may not really change that much (as having a bath is difficult, we had a bath twice in 7 days!)
Required Medicines
Don’t really need to buy raincoat as you get them there for Rs 30 or so, kind of throwaway raincoats.
Don’t even bother to carry too much snacks, etc as food is available everywhere only maybe dryfruits, tamarind, ginger, kind of items.

Save The Girl Child

It is indeed heartening to know that the government is now talking of saving the girl child as the root of all our problems stems from this fact, that women keep giving birth till they get that one male child.

The below is a photo-essay for which I won an international competition in 2010 which describes what my maid was going through at that point.

https://www.rnw.org/archive/india-womans-cry-help-wins-rnw-competition

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rnw/4104973763/


RNW competition winning entry

Let 'her' live
I get headaches, terrible ones. I black out many a times. They beat me a lot. On the head. He started drinking. He cannot take stress, oh so much stress because I was incomplete. No, he is fine, it has nothing to do with him at all. Why? Because it comes out of me. I am the one who delivers and delivers always the wrong one. Oh he is so stressed. He needs his drinks. I am full of strength. My spirit can never die. I live to take on even his stress.
Every time at the delivery room, it is sheer panic for me. Oh no, again a girl. 4th time. I pity her and me. Will they let her and me live peacefully?. His mother hates me. She looks at me with disgust.
Yet again, the delivery room. And yet again the girl for the 5th time. They don’t even look at the child. She means nothing to them. They do not give me anything to eat. It's enough now, I do not want to go through all of this again. His mother hits me. She hates me. She does not even think for a second how we are going to feed all these mouths. How am I going to give all of them good education? And where will I get the money to marry off all the girls?
Again the delivery room. Please, please God save me. Please deliver me of all this pain. Please make this the last time. Yes, God listens to me. Finally it is a BOY. There is happiness all round me at the delivery room. So much joy. She has brought food for me. They are all distributing sweets. They are walking with their heads held high. She is now so happy. She loves me. They do not think I am incomplete, that after 5 children. They have a son, a son, a son.
My husband’s mother soon dies and leaves me with all these mouths to feed. And also leaves me with these headaches, they don’t go away and I cannot work now. Oh, who will look after so many of my children?

BOOK SNIPPETS

Reading the book "Too Much Sun (a coming of age) by Lee Old, quite a weird but interesting book. Its about this 18 year old Barry who leaves his rich home as he hates his parents and goes to Alaska, cutting shrubs in a gold mine, and he is trying to make out what his life should be.... Below is an interesting view of his from the book

You know I think I’d rather be ruled by Napolean or Caesar somehow because if a dictator follows the things he does want to do, he’s doing it for some purpose that he believes in, and if he’s a good man he’ll usually believe in good things, but if you’re run by a bunch of lobbyists you won’t be able to accomplish anything good even if you are a great man, because you always have to listen to what they have to say or you won’t be able to get into office, and the lobbyists are usually interested in personal advancement, otherwise they wouldn’t be lobbyists.

AN AMAZING TRIP TO SIKKIM IN NORTH EAST INDIA

Our first stop was the hill station Darjeeling in West Bengal. We took the 8 am flight from Mumbai and reached Bagdogra airport at around 2 pm with a two hour stopover at Delhi. From Bagdogra to Darjeeling was a 5 hour drive. We stayed at the Anand Palace Hotel which is not very great but okay, no views and food and service is decent. At Darjeeling, we got our first experience of the cold. Darjeeling temperatures dropped to 2 degree celcius in the night and with no heaters in the hotel room (we for some reason did not even ask for heater, perhaps we forgot the existence of heaters!), my friend and me were shivering. When we entered Darjeeling there was fog all around. The next morning we had to go to Tiger Hill which is a sunrise point. Looking at the fog, the driver said there would be no point going to Tiger Hill as we may not be able to witness the sunrise. So we were about to drop the plan of getting up at 4 am but one of the hotel staff advised us, since we had come all the way there why not take the chance. And we did take the chance, reaching sunrise point at 5 am, a one hour drive from our hotel. I bought the more expensive deluxe tickets thinking that it would be an exclusive view point. But deluxe meant sitting in a glass cabin and it is stupid to see sunrise from a glass cabin, when there were abundant open places. So we got a nice point in the open and from 5 am to 6.20 am, the exact time when the sun rises, a huge group of humanity stood waiting in the cold where the hands became frozen and was difficult to operate the camera. But the wait was worth it. A beautiful sun rising from the Kanchenjunga mountain range. As daylight came in, we could get a glimpse of the snow-capped mountain range.



After breakfast, we visited the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the zoological park, both are located within the same premises. The Institute honours Tenzing Norgay, who along with Edmund Hillary was the first to reach the top of Mt Everest way back in 1953. The institute thus showed us all about climbing Mt Everest and the various climbers and the equipment they used over the years. The zoological park completely surprised me. I generally am not interested in visiting zoos in India as they hardly offer you anything to see. But what a zoo this was. In a completely natural environment, you name it and all the animals are there to see. From fox to tiger to leopard to yaks to bear and what a range of beautiful and colourful birds. For me this was any day better than Singapore's night safari which I visited 5 years ago.




And then of course a visit to the Darjeeling tea gardens and we bought a lot of black and green tea. To note: While the tea quality is good, do note that 500 gms will be 400gms!, even then it is value for money.
From Darjeeling we drove to Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim which is a 5 hour drive. We left Darjeeling at around 9 am and reached Gangtok at around 4 pm with a one hour break for lunch in between. To note that Sikkim shares its borders with three countries and that is what makes this place and its people diverse and interesting. It has Tibet to the North and North East, Bhutan on the east and Nepal on the west. West Bengal lies at the South. Many a times I forgot I was in India as most of them don't look like Indians and speak a mix of languages of the bordering nations.

We were quite tired when we reached Gangtok and decided to relax at Ttakshang Residency where we were put up. The hotel is good and what is interesting is that from their back entrance, MG Road is just a 5 minute walk, where one can stroll around with no traffic allowed in that part and with a lot of small eateries and shopping.

The next morning we left for Tsomgo lake or Changu lake which is at a height of 12, 400 ft. Oh the lake is so calm and beautiful. You see a lot of Yaks and you can sit on one and go close to the lake and mountains but we chose not to.


What we did not expect was a drive filled with snow capped trees and mountains all over. That was beautiful and I realised after that drive, I really don’t need to go to Switzerland. It was snow and snow and snow all over. We first went further up to what is known as Baba Mandir which is at a height of 13,200 ft but that is really not a tourist spot but has been made a place of visit to pay homage to major "Baba" Harbhajan Singh, an Indian army soldier who died near the Nathula Pass and there are host of beliefs that are spoken of in that place, like if you keep a bottle of water there for sometime and take it home, it heals the sick. But for us it was more taking pictures in the snow. if we had come few days earlier, we would not have been able to visit Baba Mandir as it was snowing and the road was closed. Nathula pass, which connects Sikkim to Tibet, is closed to visitors for now. The driver tells me it is soon to be opened up and then a drive to Tibet is 4 hours from Sikkim! Nathu La is one of the three open trading border posts between China and India.


There also came our first experience of what roads in mountainous regions can be. The roads are all cracked up and broken. It does get repaired and the BRO - that is the Border Road Officers who are a part of the army that secures our borders does a great job of supervising the roads but nature will do what it wants and well one will have to live with extremely bumpy and risky rides all over Sikkim. So one has to acclimatise oneself to many things - bumps, long rides and high altitudes and then the cold. Both me and my friend were getting mild headaches and uneasiness as we drove higher. And one really must be careful of thin ice that looks harmless but can be very slippery. So one has to look down and be very, very careful. I did fall on the thin ice but it was a small fall.

We asked the driver is there nothing to see at Gangtok city itself but most told us there is really nothing much to see. So after two nights at Gangtok which is at the South-East, we got prepared for the 8 hour drive to Lachung which is in the North-East of Sikkim and at a height of 8,800 ft. We were to go to Lachen first, which is 6 hours from Gangtok and stay over one night so that there is a break in the journey. Lachen is known for the Gurdongmar lake which we hear is very beautiful. Gurdongmar lake was not on our itinerary as it would have become very hectic. Anyways due to snow the roads to the lake were closed and we could not go to Lachen itself, so directly went to Lachung. My friend and me were dreading the long drive on those bumpy roads and besides we were doing a lot of travelling, not only from one destination to another, but also travel a lot at high altitudes to visit the tourist spots. That at times makes Sikkim travel a bit hectic, so it is advisable to keep less places to visit at one time. We had packed in a lot in our 10 nights at Sikkim. But the drive to Lachung is so beautiful and suddenly after snow, you are seeing so much of greenery all over with the beautiful Teesta River that follows you everywhere you go. This picture you see here, is not even a tourist spot, but a village called Dikchu that we passed by where the National Thermal Power Plant dam is being built. This was most picturesque of the entire Sikkim. The drive was long but beautiful and we reached our hotel at around 5 pm or so.



There was a shocker of some sorts when we arrived at Lachung. The hotel our tour operator makemytrip had put us up was at Himalayan Residency, which is under construction!...So we see workers, etc, outside, no reception, this tiny guy comes to show our room and when we check, he says only one other room is yet occupied. We call our makemytrip agent and he says he will call back and does not even bother to call us.Oh how that irks us. This is where India will really go down on service levels and have foreign players beat us in the game. In India, service ends after you have paid up, till then it is service to the minute, that is the guy will call you every day to check how you are doing and be full on in making your itinerary. Anyways fortunately for us, the people were very nice at the hotel, the room was decent, our driver too who was staying with us overnight assured us that he is there and so nothing to worry. Besides the food cooked by the few men there was extremely good. And since it was the 24th of December and very, very cold in Lachung, colder than Darjeeling, where night temperature dropped to minus, we asked them to lit a bonfire (that of course at Rs 300 extra cost). The room heater (which is not in the room and you have to ask for it at another extra cost of Rs 500) worked to its minimum as the power load was weak and besides since we asked for it late, we got a not-so-good heater. So we were literally shivering in our cold beds even after some 5 layers of clothes.
The next morning, me not feeling so good after the cold night, set out for Yumthang valley which is at a height of 11, 800 feet. Fortunately for us the hotel advised us to wear gumboots and they were even renting them to us at a cost of Rs 300. Oh it was true Christmas for us. The entire route was filled with snow-capped mountains and snowy trees. When we set our sight on the valley filled with snow, it was really unbelievable.

We had to walk a long path on snow to reach the valley. There is where gumboots are needed. One could slip if one is not careful. The beauty of the valley cannot be explained in words. And imagine, this place turns to the valley of flowers in spring time. A note here for children: we witnessed this incident of a child of 13 or so playing joyfully in the snow making snowman, etc and suddenly he started howling and crying and his parents just could not understand why he is crying. They kept trying to calm him down. Its only after some minutes they realised his gumboots were filled with snow and his legs had got jammed in the cold snow. So one has to be careful.
From there we went to visit the hot springs. Imagine the wonder of nature. Near to snow is hot water!. Though the hot springs was a bit of dampener for me as it was not in its natural setting, like the one I had visited in Simla where the hot water pools are all over the sand near the beach . Here it was made into a small hot swimming pool within a room where one dipped one’s legs and hands. This water is said to have medicinal properties.
There is not much to eat that one gets around there except Momos and Chowmein and noodles, so one has to make do with that. We reached back to our hotel around at 3 pm or so. I was down with a headache from all that cold and travel and slept all through till next morning. My friend had a good time with some new guests that had arrived and a good bonfire with dance and all. A good end to a lovely Christmas day for her.
From Lachung we had to travel back to Gangtok to go to Pelling which was closer to West Bengal as we were nearing the end of our holiday. From Gangtok to Pelling was a 5 hour drive. Enroute we went to Samdruptse in Namchi which has, painted in shimmering copper, pink and bronze, the 45m-high statue of Guru Padmasambhava. The views around the place are nice.

We then visited the famous Chardham in Namchi which has mini versions of all the four dhams – that is the four pilgrimage sites in India that are widely revered by Hindus. It comprises Badrinath in Uttrakhand, Dwarka in Gujarat, Puri in Orrisa and Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. It is considered highly sacred by Hindus to visit the four Dhams during one's lifetime.

Enroute we also visited the Temi Tea Gardens which is similar to most tea gardens across India.
We reached our hotel in Pelling towards evening and I must say that the hotel pleasantly surprised us. It was one of the best hotels in our entire Sikkim trip, here Makemytrip gets some brownie points. Hotel De Regency has great views, great food and great service. From our room, the view was awesome. We could see the snow capped Kanchenjunga mountain range.

Pelling is beautiful to just relax and explore it yourself. It is filled with a lot of monastaries and waterfalls. Nice to see orange-laden trees. One must not miss the Khangchendzongha waterfalls where you can actually stand close to the waterfall and feel the water splashing on you. We had no time to visit the Pemayangtse Monastery.
Our last destination was the hill station Kalimpong which is in West Bengal, 3 hours drive from Pelling. We reached close to noon time. There is not much to see here, again a beautiful hill station to relax. So don’t bother checking your tourist list and just relax. The hotel Kalimpong Park was again nice, built in the old British style with all wooden decor. Kalimpong is good for hikers who can do the week-long hike to the Kanchenjunga peak. Well maybe next time for me. As we travel to Bagdogra airport to take the flight to Mumbai, we known that Sikkim’s beauty will remain with us forever.

Tips: Keep a notebook handy to note down good eateries and other small things that one can suggest to other people (I forget mine!)
Also take a lot of snacks and sweets to munch on as you need it while travelling
And of course for those who suffer from road travel sickness, they know what to take.