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| Kedarnath shrine on 08-10-11 at 5.00 pm |
After visiting Tungnath & Madmaheshwar in the month of June , we planned to visit kedarnath in the month of October to avoid huge rush to this shrine during summer . Although it was little difficult for me to take 3-4 days break from my school to go on to this trip but Dusshera holidays came to my rescue and we started our journey soon after Navami Poojan. This time we planned to go like yayawar, so we did not take our car and set out on 5th oct at 1.30 pm by rickshaw to Bus stand. As we reached there we found a bus for Aligarh ,we boarded the bus and drove towards Aligarh. We reached Aligarh at 3.00 pm. and started searching for a bus that goes towards our destination , we were searching for a bus for Haridwar , but found a bus for Dehradun. We took that bus upto Roorkee. But due to lots of traffic jam enroute the journey became tiring , as we reached Roorkee we planned to move with bus to dehradun and reached there at 3.00 am. We planned to take a day rest at d.dun before we proceed for Kedarnath so we reached at my parents place .
Day 2 - 6 October 2011 (Dehradun )
Took rest . Booked 2 seats (Rs 200x2=Rs 400) for Guptkashi ( Vishwanath Seva - Bus service)
Day 3 - 7 October 2011 ( Dehradun - Guptkashi)
Got up early in the morning and after breakfast ,we were dropped to Bus station by Abhishek (my brother). At 7.30 am bus started for Guptkashi. Our plan was to reach Gaurikund by evening. Enjoying the scenic beauty of surrounding we started towards rishikesh. After Rishikesh & before Devprayag , the bus went flat ....well within 45 minutes bus was back on the road.
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| This is the place where bus went flat |
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| Land slided part of road being cleared by Border Road Organisation |
At Teen dhara (before Devprayag) the customary halt of public transport buses forced us to have lunch (before lunch time) , so at Anjali Dhaba we took a thali (Rs 40.00) & enjoyed typical pahari meal (mixed dal - rajma+bhat+beans+ramas+urad , kurry , lauki ki sabbji , bhaat , chutney & roti). After an hour we were heading towards Devprayag - Srinagar - Rudraprayag - Augustmuni - Tilwara - Chandrapuri - Bheeri - Kund..................& at last at 4.30 pm we reached Guptkashi.
We were not able to decide weather we should proceed or stay at Guptkashi , at last we planned to stay at Guptkashi & visit Vishwanath mandir for evening Arti. we had tea at a dhaba and took a room at Sindh and Punjab hotel ( Run by Mr. Kuldeep ) . As we were introduced to him by a comman friend he charged only Rs 300 , the room was quiet good with attached bath and T.V. After a short rest we went to Mandir for evening arti. This was our 2nd visit together . After arti we took stroll in the market and purchased few things and had dinner at Chauhan hotel. Reached back at hotel room at 8.00 pm and slept till 5.00 am .
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| We In front of Vishwanath Mandir at Guptkashi |
Mr. Kuldeep knocked at the door for morning tea at 5.00 am . And by 6.00am we were ready to proceed for Gaurikund .But we had to wait for another 1 &1\2 hour for a Jeep to start for getting minimum number of passengers . We reached Gaurikund at 8.30 am. We straight went to hot water pool ( kund) , took a dip in the pool , it was nice and refreshing even after our morning bath.
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| Shekhar taking bath in gaurikund - hot water spring |
After bath we had tea & toast and started our trekking at 9.00am . It was very difficult to walk on the path as every minute we were asked by thousands of mule owners for mule services.......well we kept on saying NO to everyone but later we did not respond to anyone of them as we were tired of saying no. The path was tiled by flat stones but the whole route is littered by dung , initially the stink of dung disturbed us but later our olfactory system got adjusted to it and we started enjoying the scenic beauty of the place.
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| 1.5 KM after Gaurikund |
It was interesting to note that about 75% of tourists were Bengali. Most of them were in big family groups. We could cover 7 Km in 3 hrs and reached Rambara at 12 .00 noon . We calculated that we'll be able to cover next 7 Km in 3 hrs and will be able to reach our destination by 3.30 pm. We took our lunch of Aloo paratha (Rs 20.00 per paratha) with aachar . After a small break we started walking again . After Rambara our pace reduced , well enjoying the river Mandakini's flow parally we kept on walking . We saw Rudra fall & Mahadev fall enroute. Gradually the tree cover started reducing
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| 1 Km after Rambara |
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| We two at a fall en route |
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| Myself at the backdrop of Rudrafall |
The Helicopter services have become very popular as quite a good no of helicopters we could see going up and down the shrine. Pawan Hans Pvt. Ltd. is one of them . There are many shops at Guptkashi where one can purchase ticket for its services ( Rs. 7380/ per person ). It was nice to see people of different languages and of different socio economic group moving together, some were walking , some on mules, others were carried in palanquins( carried by 4 persons) , with a single thought ...... to see Lord Kedar nath.
I really admire those people who carry pilgrims on palanquins , they walk in perfect synchronization on such a hilly terrain . How difficult it is for them to earn few bugs, still I noticed that they were the people full of life, and I understood that it is our choice in every situation , at every moment to be happy or unhappy. It has nothing to do with the world or what it presents.One could have the best of things and still be miserable.The other may have nothing and yet be HAPPY.....Yes I got this message from them.
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| Helicopter landing at Helipad near the shrine |
We kept on walking with a slow pace. Gradually it had started becoming cold, and by 3,00pm we had to cover ourselves with pullovers , mufflers & caps. After some time the snow clad peaks came into our view , but suddenly it started drizzling , I became quite worried for 2 reasons firstly we were not carrying Raincoats , secondly we had only 1 set of woollens ,so I thought If we get drenched ,its going to be very difficult for us .....but good god ,scene changed within 15 minutes of drizzle , clouds moved away without giving much trouble , so after having a cup of hot tea at a dhaba we kept on walking till we saw the Mandir.
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| 2 KM after Rambara |
Reached there at 5.00 pm .With the help of a known purohit (Mr. Shukla) we went to see the mandir , the mandir is an amazing example of ancient architect ,its difficult to imagine how at that time ( more than 1000years ) the things required to construct the temple must have been carried ........after seeing that how difficult it is to carry things at this age of scientific advancement. This gives enough evidence of the rich Indian past (Scientifically as well as culturally) .
After a hurried darshan Mr Shukla arranged a room for us and served us the much needed hot cup of coffee , which gave us a little relief from the freezing cold . He provided us 2-3 good blankets and asked us to reach Mandir at 6.30 pm for evening aarti. Aarti at kedarnath shrine was a wonderful experience . With the help of Mr. Shukla we were given place to sit inside the mandir . After an hour we came back to our room , we had our dinner inside the room only and quickly arranged the bed , as we were shivering with cold . Inside the heap of blankets and quilts we felt better but within an hour both of us started having headache , we could feel the lack of oxygen inside the room . The whole night we could n't sleep and eagerly waited for the dawn.
Day 5 - 9 October 2011 ( Kedarnath - Guptkashi - Rudraprayag - Shrikot )
At 5.00am Mr Shukla knocked at our door and asked us to get ready for Abhishek pooja . After hot water bath we went to "Garbh Griha" for pooja , the shiv lingam is in the shape of back of a buffalo (natural). Purohit ji performed pooja for us , there was a great rush outside the mandir for abhishek pooja , after pooja we came out and took a stroll in and around the Mandir premises , the early sunrays highlighted the kedardome peak , it was an amazing view , we kept on viewing the snow capped peaks for sometime and at 7.00 am started our backward journey.
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| Kedarnath Temple viewed from backside |
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| Backward Journey |
Our plan was to reach Gaurikund as soon as possible so that we could catch a bus for Haridwar , and subsequently could take night bus (sleeper bus - U. P Roadways) for Mathura. Enjoying the mighty flow of river mandakini at one side and seeing the people going up & down by different means on the other side we kept on walking .......and reached Rambara at 12.00 noon , we had lunch of aloo paratha and aachar in the same dhaba at 7 km milestone , and reached Gaurikund at 2.00 pm .
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| River Mandakini rumbling down to gaurikund |
At Gaurikund again we had to wait for another 1.00 hour for the Jeep to start for Guptkashi . From Guptakashi we boarded another Jeep for Rudraprayag and from there we headed for Shrinagar , and reached shrikot at around 6.00pm , moving ahead was out of question , so we thought of either taking a room in a hotel at shrinagar or go to my aunt's (Bua ji) place at shirkot. Finally we got down at Srikot and went to my Bua ji `s house. It was after 4 years I was meeting my Buaji , we were given a warm welcome by all of them .
Day 6 - 9 October 2011 ( Shirkot - Shrinagar - Haridwar - Delhi - Mathura )
Morning we started form Shrikot at 7.00 am after a rich breakfast , reached shrinager and found the bus for Haridwar . After the customary halt at Teen dhara we reached Haridwar at 1.30 pm and boarded another bus for Delhi , reached Delhi at 9.00 pm due to huge traffic jam at Modinagar. Near Meerut when bus halted for a tea break ,we came out to have a cup of tea , suddenly I saw the U. P roadways sleeper Bus (Haridwar - Mathura/Vrindavan ) which we were to board the previous night, standing at one side of the Restaurant , "How come this bus is standing here?" When we asked the restaurant owner about the bus , he told us that the previous night the bus broke down here...... We thanked god for saving us from that trouble. From Delhi we took another Bus to Mathura and we reached our place at 12.30 am
Now in the month of June 2012 we are going to visit rest 2 kedars "Rudranath" & " Kalpehswar" in order to complete our Panch kedar trip.
