The holy shrines are called "Dham"s in North India. The Char daham (Four shrines) yatra (trip) covers Yamunothri - supposedly the origin of the river 'Yamuna', Gangothri - of Ganga, Kedarnath (Shiva), Badrinath (Vishnu). My interest was to take in the scenic mountains of Himalyas with the opportunity to look at snow-clad peaks. Though Shyamala and I had already visited Kedar and Badri some time in the early 8os - trekked the 28 km (round trip) with a night stay at Kedar - a trip to Y'tri and G'ngtri got aorted at the last minute in the year 1988. Hence, when we learnt about a family group planning this trip, we impulsively decided to join and pulled in another pair too. We flew to Delhi on May 14 and that very night left on the trip with the first halt at Rishikes the next morning. What happened in the rest of the trip was briefly put down by me on returning to Delhi on 25th as below. Some selected pictures are in the enclosure link. The last 4 pictures were taken during my trip during the '80s. http://picasaweb.google.com/ramkishyam/CharDhamYatra
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May 25, 2010
Finally we are back to civilization; yes that is how I feel getting back from the arduous and mostly unsuccessful ‘char dham’ yatra – Yamunothri, Gangothri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Lesson learnt: never travel to religious destinations during peak season. We spent most of the days as well as nights traveling in the bus or just waiting out traffic jams. Thanks to these jams we were dropped more than 5-6 kms before the base camps for the treks to Yamunothri and Kedar.
Many of us were not in a position to cover that extra distance besides the required trek (14 kms one way for Y’thrri as well as for Kedar) and hence decided to abandon the final trek. Even those who opted for pony and ‘doly’ rides since they managed to trek to the base camp meandering through hord of yathris who themselves were walking between vehicles parked on both sides of the road, came back without entering the temple on account of long lines. Of course there were some who somehow hustled their way through for a one-minute dharsan of the lords!
My expectation of a relaxed trek enjoying the scenery of the Himalyas was completely shattered. The only place where I went close enough to the goal was at Gangothri; even here I abandoned the final leg of getting into the temple since I can not walk barefoot thanks to corns and fearing stampede which seems pretty routine in many religious places. The few photo opportunities were when we were halting on account of traffic jams! Badrinath is accessible without a trek,though the walk from the lodging to the temple was a mini-trek. The long line for Dharsan deterred me here too from entering the temple. The eagerly expected dip in the hot water 'tapth kund' was also skipped by me when I saw the jostling crowd!
Of course, the tour operators – Rao Travels – were very inefficient. While they could not have done anything about traffic jams, the ineptitude with which they “lost” the hotel bookings (and no communication about changes since our bus had no representative of the operator on board!) for the stay at the base camp of Kedar and even for halt during the return journey were the worst part of the trip; not to mention the break down of our vehicle and having to travel all night in alternate vehicles through a “short cut” –meaning pretty bumpy road – to a place 6 km before the base camp for Kedar. On other nights we went to bed around one AM! All together 3 fuul nights were in the bus – Delhi to Rishikesh, the emergency trip talked about just now and the final leg of Haridwar to Delhi. The last one thankfully happened while most of the time were sleeping or drowsy; otherwise some rise in BP or even heart attack would have occurred for some people. The distance of little more than 200 kms was covered in about 4 hours plus driving time! No great speed if we are in US interstate highways, but not in India with truckers seemingly driving straight at you from the opposite direction. Anyway, reached Delhi in the wee hours of 25th and that morning meal with 'vaththal kuzambu' and veppampoo rasam' at G's house practically compensated G's 'sin' of having gotten into this trip! (Well, actually JG who casually informed us of their trip and we forced ourselves in!)
The impulse decision to join this trip was largely on account of the fact that family members and friends would be companions. But that dimension had its own problems too. The physical capacities as well as the priorities on for comfort, expense, what to see and what can be missed etc. were so diverse that conflict situations arose rapidly with all the problems mentioned earlier.
We had one 60 plus lady who needed help to climb into the bus, get off it, climb stairs etc. On top of it she became sick – fever purging etc. She must have refrained from drinking water since she can not manage even the rare bio breaks that the driver allowed! She became dehydrated and fortunately at Badrinath we got a doctor to visit her and got glucose and saline drips. After a couple of hours rest she was carried in the basket into the temple through the back gate and managed the dharsan of Badrinath. Shyamala was the one who had to be helping her throughout the trip and hence she too missed joining the others in getting to see whatever can bee seen.
Since I was not interested in the Dharsans, I stayed put at all base points. I managed to have a dip in the Ganga at Rishikesh and managed to walk a couple of kms from OUR Kedar base point – Sonprayag - and got down to the river and enjoyed lying around in ice cold water for few minutes, while the group had gone further. Of course just before the return journey on 24th started from Haridwar, I also plunged in for a few minutes, just to get out of the sweaty /muggy feeling on account of the ride from Chamoli to Haridwar – about 8 bours.
In one sense everybody must have felt chastised, having been provoked to let their masks down and reveal some of the not-so-pleasant sides of their personalities. I hope no permanent damage has been done for future relationships. Thathasthu!!
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May 25, 2010
Finally we are back to civilization; yes that is how I feel getting back from the arduous and mostly unsuccessful ‘char dham’ yatra – Yamunothri, Gangothri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. Lesson learnt: never travel to religious destinations during peak season. We spent most of the days as well as nights traveling in the bus or just waiting out traffic jams. Thanks to these jams we were dropped more than 5-6 kms before the base camps for the treks to Yamunothri and Kedar.
Many of us were not in a position to cover that extra distance besides the required trek (14 kms one way for Y’thrri as well as for Kedar) and hence decided to abandon the final trek. Even those who opted for pony and ‘doly’ rides since they managed to trek to the base camp meandering through hord of yathris who themselves were walking between vehicles parked on both sides of the road, came back without entering the temple on account of long lines. Of course there were some who somehow hustled their way through for a one-minute dharsan of the lords!
My expectation of a relaxed trek enjoying the scenery of the Himalyas was completely shattered. The only place where I went close enough to the goal was at Gangothri; even here I abandoned the final leg of getting into the temple since I can not walk barefoot thanks to corns and fearing stampede which seems pretty routine in many religious places. The few photo opportunities were when we were halting on account of traffic jams! Badrinath is accessible without a trek,though the walk from the lodging to the temple was a mini-trek. The long line for Dharsan deterred me here too from entering the temple. The eagerly expected dip in the hot water 'tapth kund' was also skipped by me when I saw the jostling crowd!
Of course, the tour operators – Rao Travels – were very inefficient. While they could not have done anything about traffic jams, the ineptitude with which they “lost” the hotel bookings (and no communication about changes since our bus had no representative of the operator on board!) for the stay at the base camp of Kedar and even for halt during the return journey were the worst part of the trip; not to mention the break down of our vehicle and having to travel all night in alternate vehicles through a “short cut” –meaning pretty bumpy road – to a place 6 km before the base camp for Kedar. On other nights we went to bed around one AM! All together 3 fuul nights were in the bus – Delhi to Rishikesh, the emergency trip talked about just now and the final leg of Haridwar to Delhi. The last one thankfully happened while most of the time were sleeping or drowsy; otherwise some rise in BP or even heart attack would have occurred for some people. The distance of little more than 200 kms was covered in about 4 hours plus driving time! No great speed if we are in US interstate highways, but not in India with truckers seemingly driving straight at you from the opposite direction. Anyway, reached Delhi in the wee hours of 25th and that morning meal with 'vaththal kuzambu' and veppampoo rasam' at G's house practically compensated G's 'sin' of having gotten into this trip! (Well, actually JG who casually informed us of their trip and we forced ourselves in!)
The impulse decision to join this trip was largely on account of the fact that family members and friends would be companions. But that dimension had its own problems too. The physical capacities as well as the priorities on for comfort, expense, what to see and what can be missed etc. were so diverse that conflict situations arose rapidly with all the problems mentioned earlier.
We had one 60 plus lady who needed help to climb into the bus, get off it, climb stairs etc. On top of it she became sick – fever purging etc. She must have refrained from drinking water since she can not manage even the rare bio breaks that the driver allowed! She became dehydrated and fortunately at Badrinath we got a doctor to visit her and got glucose and saline drips. After a couple of hours rest she was carried in the basket into the temple through the back gate and managed the dharsan of Badrinath. Shyamala was the one who had to be helping her throughout the trip and hence she too missed joining the others in getting to see whatever can bee seen.
Since I was not interested in the Dharsans, I stayed put at all base points. I managed to have a dip in the Ganga at Rishikesh and managed to walk a couple of kms from OUR Kedar base point – Sonprayag - and got down to the river and enjoyed lying around in ice cold water for few minutes, while the group had gone further. Of course just before the return journey on 24th started from Haridwar, I also plunged in for a few minutes, just to get out of the sweaty /muggy feeling on account of the ride from Chamoli to Haridwar – about 8 bours.
In one sense everybody must have felt chastised, having been provoked to let their masks down and reveal some of the not-so-pleasant sides of their personalities. I hope no permanent damage has been done for future relationships. Thathasthu!!
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