THE BAREFOOT TRAVELER - 4

To Uttarkashi

We are at the foothill Hanumanchatti and the sun is reclining. Nature’s lighting has unique special effects. Environment is an Fx man (or woman) sans parel! Everything is in luminous yellow as if basking in glory. The altitude and the pollution-free air are the reason behind this magnificent scene, I guessed. Picture perfect, no painter can reproduce it perhaps!

Now, we have to plan our night-stay. Barkot is just 30 km away and we can stay at the same hotel. Or we can travel yet another five hours (covering 105 km) and land up in Uttarkashi. The advantage is that we can start-off early to Gangotri the next morning. We chose the first option because Rajan was not inclined to drive. The real reason lied elsewhere, i.e., drivers had a secret liaison with the hotel owners.

So we stayed at river side hotel for the second night. The Owner-Manager and his children were around always asking about our well-being. However, he didn’t employ proper staff for running the show and managed with child-labour more or less.  Anyway, care was taken to boil rice properly for the Kerala palate.

The next morning after breakfast, we were back on the road again.  A pleasant drive with a lovely climate. We could catch glimpses of Bhageerathi River. The thrill was partially lost when the devastating land-slides came into view. Going further down, the river was turning black. Nobody would want a dip in Ganga. Local populace were collecting logs of wood from the river. Some others were collecting mineral sand in Lorries. It’s a free-for-all.

land-slides all the way

Deodar (Devadaru) trees and Pine belonging to the coniferous group were the main vegetation. During the time of disaster, trees that fell into floodwaters reached upto Haridwar in a matter of hours! We collected pine-cones which had fallen down almost everywhere. Not susceptible to decay, it could substitute the finest curio in your show-case! The wood-coloured cones are actually the seeds of the tree.

On our way-up, we could see cultivations of Basmati, Bajra, Mustard and Potato. Every bit of plain land available by the banks of the river was used up for agriculture. Interestingly, Cannabis plants were a common sight. Once we had walked upto a small cultivation at the back-side of an eatery and nobody lost his/her cool.

Another interesting sighting was the Mountain Rose (Rhododendron). In the flowering season, the whole Uttarkhand was turning red!

entrance of the Shivgufa

We were racing ahead to Uttarkashi. Forty km away from the place, a stopover called Brahmakhet was beckoning us. A newly found cave named after Lord Shiva is the piece de resistance. Discovered only in 1998, its hardly noticeable from outside. The entrance is so narrow and one squeezes in with considerable dexterity. If you’re having a built-in paunch, you’ve had it.  

The Trissul outside Shivgufa

Take a deep breath and wait outside the entrance. One can watch the trident shaped tree and desi families sitting beneath in quiet contemplation. As a matter of fact, journeys are great levelers. The traveler is trained how to take setbacks in his/her stride.  Reverses can happen at any time. Accept it with a cheerful humility.

kedarganga flowing inside Shivgufa

Anyway, I was lucky. I got three excellent guides, Girish, Dinesh and Sooraj. Two of them were studying in the Third standard in the local school and Sooraj, the youngest was in Second. They approached me shyly and asked me whether I needed professional help. I was much amused seeing the Professional Service People and engaged them instantaneously. The leader Girish said their fee would be Rs. Five per guide. Two of them caught hold of me with their slender hands and we started climbing. It was a small trek with steps provided at difficult terrains. In fact, I was bailing out the professional people more often! We reached at the cave and Girish made a demo how to squeeze in. One has to lie down with face touching the ground and shove in using one’s elbows, grope for foot-holds on the rock. I was following his advice verbatim and quite unexpectedly Sooraj yelled,

Samp (snake)

I was at my wit’s end and memory blanked out for a moment.

Can you look up?  There is an image of a snake on the rock…

I was immensely relieved. These innocent children have an incredible sense of timing!

We slided down slowly one after another. A couple of oil lamps were providing gentle light inside the cave. A priest was in attendance too! My feet touched the running water! It was ice-cold but I felt the primordial calm going up my legs. Yes, River Kedarganga was flowing inside. Water was only knee-deep and tasted really good. We could examine the interior without much difficulty.  There was a Swayambhu Shivaling at the center alongwith some sort of peculiar rock formation at the top of the cave.

It is the Lord’s jada (hairdo), they tell you.

What’s more, there is Lord Ganesha, again swayambhu, in his usual sitting posture.

If you take a closer look, there are rock formations which resemble lotus flowers. You guessed it right……..”Brahmakamal”

natural formation of rock inside the cave 

After taking photographs sans permission, we had pressed our bodies against the rock and pushed our way-out. The kids were still there squabbling among themselves.

What’s the matter?

The quarrelling stopped abruptly. They were ashamed of themselves bickering over the distribution of booty. I had given them Rs. 10 each.

This one started the row. Not me…

The buck was being passed around!

What do you do with the money?

Ghar pe deta hoom, they replied in unision.

Impressed, Jayakumar opened his wallet and paid them Rs.30 each. It was quite a big sum for them to handle, rendering them speechless!

Then came the master stroke. Thulaseedas kept a hundred rupee note with the Leader.

The next moment, they just vanished without trace! All of them were running away to nowhere at break neck speed.

Obviously, we had to reach the road without the help of our professional guides.

We set out quickly to Uttarkashi. The idea was to have lunch at the town. Further, we would join for arati at Kashi Viswanath Temple.  I wanted to visit the place where Ustad Bismillah Khan used to give Shehnai concerts.

We reached Uttar Kashi behind schedule. Had thali lunch from a dirty restaurant. In fact, we were getting sick of searching for a proper eating-place under the blazing sun. Checked into a clean hotel by the evening.  We presented ourselves before Kashi Viswanath well before the appointed hour. I asked about Bismillah Khan to a temple-official. He didn’t have much idea but didn’t show his ignorance. Handling the situation like a deft politician, he took hold of my hand and led me to the back side of the sanctum-sanctorum, pointed to the left corner and said,

This is the place.

Then, where would the audience sit? I queried.

Oh, they would sit anywhere, he said without batting an eye-lid.

Reaching back at the Hotel, I approached the reception. They too, drew a blank.

I approached a gentleman sitting on a sofa and repeated my question. Now, it was my turn to get embarrassed on account of my own ignorance.

Ustad Bismilla Khan lived in Dakshin Kashi (Banares).

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Photo credits :  R. Jayakumar


WISHING YOU MERRY X-MAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR !