Trek to Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib

Last month I alongwith some of my friends went on a tour to Uttarakhand. This was my second trip to this beautiful state and I was all excited. In our itinerary was also included a trek to Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib. I had heard a lot about Valley of Flowers and was looking forward with lots of anticipation.
    
Originally we had planned a trip to Leh-Ladakh and with just 10 days remaining the unexpected happened- the cloudburst. Our entire plan went for a toss and as I was moaning the missed chance of visiting Ladakh one of my friends suggested an alternative. In 2-3 days he came up with the plan that we do a trek to Valley of Flowers. In our itinerary was also included Badrinath, Mana village and Auli among other places.
We all agreed and embarked on our tour of Uttarakhand- The Land of the Gods :)
    
Our tour started from Rishikesh. We met our guide Mr Amit at our hotel in Rishikesh. We had booked a tempo traveller from Delhi for the 7 of us including our guide. Our next destination was Joshimath which is 250 km from Rishikesh. We camped in Joshimath for the night. Joshimath is the winter abode of Lord Badrinath. Next day after having breakfast we left for Govindghat (1828mt) which is a 1 hour drive from Joshimath.

At the start of the 13km trek to Ghangria

From Govindghat we were to trek 13 km to Ghangria. Ghangria(3049mt)  is the base camp for the treks to Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib. We started off for our trek to Ghangria in the afternoon at 12-12:30 and immediately I realised what a big mistake we had made by starting so late..hehehehe

The sun was literally beating down and initially we made slow progress. Two girls in our group took ponies as they were finding it difficult to walk. The moment you start your trek to Ghangria the scent of horse dung infiltrates your nostrils. But then gradually u get to used to the scent (LOL)

Laxman Ganga River

As we kept on walking up the weather cooled and I was beginning to enjoy the walk now. Down below on the right side of the trail you can see the river Laxman Ganga flowing. The whole scenerey is so beatiful. Waterfall flowing from hills, lush greenery and fresh air to breathe. what more you can ask on a trek :) Me and a friend of mine were walking at a steady pace enjoying the beauty of nature. By evening we reached a bridge from where we saw a board that read 3 km more for Ghangria. We were elated. Little did we realize that woh 3 km chalte chalte hamaari jaan nikalnewaali thi hehehe...

From that bridge the ascent becomes very steep and the path also becomes rocky. It was getting dark and the last 1-1.5 km we covered in darkness only having the mobile light for company....At 8:30 we reached Ghangria village and after dinner we all slept as next day we were planning to go to Hemkund Sahib.

Brahma Kamal
These flowers are found only at heights above 12000 feet

   

Next day we left our hotel at 8 am for the trek to Hemkund Sahib. Hemkund Sahib is a very sacred pilgrimage place at a height of 14000 feet. There is a gurudwaara at the top and a beautiful lake called Hemkund. It is said that Guru Gobind Singh had meditated on the banks of the Hemkund lake in his previous birth. Hence a lot of Sikhs undertake this pilgrimage. Our guide had already told us that the trek to Hemkund Sahib is a very tough one. So except me and a friend of mine the remaining four in our group decided to take ponies. I had decided at night itself that I will complete this trek walking. The trek to Hemkund Sahib is tough because it is a continuous steep ascent. The trek is 6.5 km. We started walking. At a certain point we saw a 80 year old Sardar coming down from Hemkund. Seeing that man I got even more inspired. After covering 4.5 km there comes a diversion. There are two routes from this point to go to Hemkund. The tougher route- the one using steep steps and other easy one which the ponies used. I decided to take the tougher route. The guide had told me that this was a shortcut but it was going to be tough.

After covering a small distance climbing the steps I realized why few people took this route. The air had become thinner and I was panting profusely. After every 20 steps I had to stop to get my breath back. I was determined and kept on walking. I must add one thing here the people who were coming down provided constant encouragement and told me ki 'Manzil ab duur nahi'. One Maharashtrian family from Mumbai gave me camphor and ginger. Camphor was of great help and for the remaining part I kept on inhaling it whenever I was panting. With the encouragement & help I finally reached Hemkund.

The Beautiful Hemkund Lake

The place is BEA-utiful. I immediately went to the lake to take a dip. The water was freezing cold. As soon as the water touched my body I felt as if someone had given me a shock LOL

After taking some pics we went inside the gurudwara and attended the prayer session there. Next to the gurudwara is a small Laxman Temple. It is the only temple dedicated to Laxman and it is also said that this is the place where he meditated in his previous birth in Sheshanaga form. Another unique part of this lake is it remains frozen for 8 months of the year and this pilgrimage to Hemkund can be carried out only between the months June to September

After spending two hours at the top we made our way down as we had to reach Ghangria before sundown. On our way down I decided to take the pony. It was a bumpy ride and I thought that I should have walked down instead of taking the pony. One advice to all of you dont take the pony downhill and if you take be ready for a backside massage ( I think you got the point ;))

The route towards Valley of Flowers
( This pic was taken on the way to Hemkund)

We reached our hotel in the evening. Next day was the D-day the trek to Valley of Flowers. Don't forget to catch the 20 min documentary film on Valley of Flowers. It makes you aware of the variety of flowers that you get to see there and it is a beautiful film. Valley of Flowers is a 4 km trek from Ghangria. It is World Heritage Site recognised by Unesco. Indeed it is a miracle of nature to find beautiful flowers blooming at heights of 10000 feet. It is a haven for botanists and nature lovers. On the way to the valley one can observe flowers on both sides of the trail.

The moment we saw such beautiful flowers we couldnt stop clicking our cameras. The best part about Valley of Flowers is that the flowering trend changes every 15-20 days. If you go in the early part of July you will see differrent flowers and if you go in August you will see some other flowers. With the help of our guide who had good knowledge of flowers I could identify some of the flowers. Geranium,Balsum,Forget me not,Aster,Cobra Lily were some of the flowers that we saw. Apart from being beautiful these flowers have medicinal properties also. I would advise everyone to visit Valley of Flowers in the months of July or August as this is the best time to see the blooming flowers.

Geranium

Balsum(Dog Flower)

The Pushpawati river flows through the valley and meets the Laxman Ganga river at Ghangria.

In 1939 one botanist from UK had come to the valley for her study. While exploring she fell down from a cliff and died. After some years her elder sister came to this place and she built a memorial for her in the Valley.  The valley is nearly 10km long and it is upto you how much you want to explore. We spent some 4-5 hours in the valley and returned back to our hotel in high spirits. The unique aspect of Ghangria village is it is bustling only for 4 months of the year ie during the tourist season. For the remaining part of the year it is closed as it snows heavily in this area. There is no phone line and if you want to make a call you have to use satellite phones.

So for 3 days we were completely cutoff from modern amenities. The next day we left Ghangria for the downhill trek back to Govindghat.  We were really lucky to have beautiful weather all 3days of our trek.  The Valley of Flowers is one of the many alpine meadows in Uttarakhand and it is worth visiting it. 

Justice Prevailed Finally

   6th May 2010 is a day that every Mumbaikar will remember for a long time. It was the day when Ajmal Kasab the lone surviving terrorist of the 26/11 attacks was finally sentenced to death;526 days after he had held Mumbai on siege. Kasab and 9 of his accomplices held Mumbai on siege for 60 hours in which they massacred 173 people including civilians and policemen,men,women and children sparing no one.


   I still remember watching the events unfold on TV and going through a whole gamut of emotions. Shock,fear, frustration and finally jubilation when our brave armymen finally killed all terrorists and freed the hostages.Kasab was the only terrorist caught alive. These 10 terrorists had chosen their targets after months of planning. Taj,Leopold Cafe and Oberoi Hotel are some of the monumental attractions of Mumbai and them laying siege on these places left everyone of us shocked.


Seeing the picture of Kasab flashing his smile when caught on camera by a Mumbai Mirror journalist made you wonder that here is a guy who killed innocent people and still has the guts to smile. After the terror attacks what followed was even shocking.Pakistan refused all claims that they had anything to do with the terror attacks when all evidence proved otherwise. They even had the audacity to say that Kasab was not a Pakistani citizen.After months of investigations and lots of international pressure and media attention they had to admit that the terror attacks was launched from their soil.


Kasab had not only killed innocent civilians but also taken three of our brave officer's lives Ashok Kamte,Hemant Karkare and Vijay Salaskar. All that the whole of India wanted was the quick sentencing and hanging of Kasab. This man deserved no mercy. It was disgusting to see the way he changed his statements during interrogation. First he confessed his crimes then he said that he was forced under pressure. Then his statement changed and he said that he had come to Mumbai to visit. I have immense respect for our army jawans and the Mumbai police force. But I feel that their efforts are not rewarded by the Indian judicial system.Far often the cases drag on and on for many years and in some cases the offenders go scot-free.
Keeping Kasab alive was costing some 5 crores per day which is a joke if you ask me.
The need of the hour is for fast track courts and when the evidence is so clear as in case of Kasab to immediately deliver the verdict.


The death sentencing of Kasab should give a strong signal to the terror attack groups.I especially liked the way the judge M L Tahiliyani delivered the verdict. His statement to the press was 'The common man will lose faith in courts if they give inadequate punishment. Every man who wages war against India forfeits his life to the Indian state'.By these words he has proved that he is a man of action.


Now that the death sentence has been delivered; I hope that the hanging is done quickly and the family of people who lost their lives will feel vindicated. I read that 50 mercy pleas to the President are still in waiting list including the one of Afzal Guru. Yes the same guy who attacked the Parliament. I sincerely pray that things are fast tracked and such a thing doesnt happen with Kasab.


As I end my post I have a request to all my friends. If you know anyone who is going to take up law as a profession urge them to make a difference. Our laws need to be changed and criminals should be delivered the maximum punishment so that the faith of the people in the Indian judiciary remains. Youth only Can!
Youth have the power to make a change and I appeal to all my readers lets bring about a change. Jai Ho!!!

Watching an IPL match live in a stadium

I have been a cricket fan right from my childhood days. In India as you know cricket is religion and Sachin is God. But till date I had never watched a cricket match live in a stadium. Initially I used to think why watch the match sitting under the hot sun and with no comfortable seats when you can watch it sitting on ur comfy sofa right in your living room.


But things have changed now. With the IPL the cricket fever has hit a new high. Wherever you go in trains, buses,office canteens there is so much discussion going on about IPL. I decided that this time I am going to watch the Mumbai Indians match live in a stadium. I alongwith my friends booked tickets for the Mumbai Indians versus RCB match at Brabourne on 20th March. I was all excited as it was the first time I was going to watch a cricket match live.


So finally the D-day arrived and we reached the venue about 30 minutes prior to the start of the match. There was lot of buzz in the ground. The toss had just happened and Mumbai Indians were going to bat first.
As the openers started to walk to the crease the whole stadium started chanting 'Sachin Sachin' and 'Surya Surya'. I was astonished to see how close we were to the action. We were in the East stand and we could see the bowler running into the bowl and the batsman so clearly. Main sochne laga saala TV pe toh ground kitna bada lagta hai and here from the stands I was feeling the square boundaries so small  :)


I had also got my binoculars to watch the game. Watching Sachin bat I felt so happy...It is altogether a different experience of watching a match live in a stadium. So much of noise,music and fun happening all around. We were all clapping each and every run that MI scored. There was a small contingent of RCB supporters to the left of us. Whenever they cheered RCB we all would start booing. Mumbai Indians after a good start lost their way in one over where 3 wickets fell. There was a hush when Sachin's wicket fell. But our hopes were still up as Pollard had come in to bat and he is our trump card.


However just as Pollard was getting into the groove he got out. Due to some lusty late-order hitting from Zaheer Mumbai Indians managed to get 151. We thought if we could bowl well we could still win the match. As the innings break descended, I started feeling thirsty but one of my friends told me that once you go out it will be very difficult to come back. One thing I almost forgot the RCB cheerleaders were just dancing below us. Honestly although they were good looking I somehow feeled that there is lack of energy in their dance. It was looking as they are just going through their motions.


After the innings break it was time for RCB to bat and Malinga and Zak bowled really tight overs. But then Manish Pandey and Kallis broke free. Kallis is one player who's wicket we desparately wanted. Seeing the way he was batting I started coming up with weird suggestions. Sample some of these 'Lets kidnap his girlfriend' or 'Bravo bowl him a beamer and knock his head off' hehehehe.....


After a long opening partnership Bhajji finally got the wicket of Manish Pandey but Kallis was still batting really well. We could hear the strokes from Kallis blade so clearly. He was looking in gr8 nick and he carried his bat through the innings to win it for RCB. After the victory the RCB contingent started waving flags and started shouting slogans looking at us the MI supporters. I must admit RCB played really well and were deserverd winners.


The overall experience of watching a match live in a stadium was simply exhilirating. The only regret was watching MI lose. But koi baat tournament poora abhi baaki hai mere dost.:)
The joy of watching Sachin, Jayasuriya, Kallis,Pollard live is something I will never forget. The fielders standing at the boundary particularly Bhajji and Bravo acknowledged the crowd which felt really good.
I look forward to watch more matches in the future.

Trek to Alang-Madan

I always wanted to undertake a trek to Alang-Madan as it is considered the toughest hill forts in entire Maharashtra. So when 'Trekmates' published the plan for a trek I immediately jumped in. Alang and Madan are two hill forts in the Nashik district. Alang is at a height of 4500 feet and Madan is at 4900 feet above sea level. Not much is known about the history of these forts.

We started on 8th January night by catching the last Kasara local. We reached Kasara station at 2-2:30 am groggy eyed and all but all excited for the trek. From Kasara we travelled in two separate jeeps to Ambewadi the base village for Alang and Madan. Reached there at 5:30 am Sat morning. I initially thought that we would sleep there for some time but to my utter dismay our leaders decided that we should start soon as we had to reach Alang fort by night-time. I must say at that time I was little frustrated at not getting some sleep but this decision of starting early turned out to be one of the best decisions...:):)

After having a round of introduction and light breakfast we embarked on the trek. The plan was to cover Madangad first and then reach a cave in Alang by night time. After about an hour with the sun rising we could see the 'col' between Alang and Madan. To the left is Alang and to the right is Madan. From there we could see the steps leading to top of Madan. We started climbing Alang now. After going through some dense bushes and trees we started climbing the steps which I must say were beautifully carved. At about 10 am we all reached a small cave on Alang. We were to deposit the bags in this cave and proceed further towards the col. Our leaders had also hired two villagers as guides as one can easily lose their way here and their expertise in taking on the rock patches was also needed.

                                                                                 

We had our breakfast on this cave and also got an opportunity to rest for sometime...What a relief!!!hehehehe...From here the road was going to take a different turn literally....

After an hour's rest and depositing our bags in the cave we started again. Taking support of the rock face everyone started moving forward. One had to be really careful here as one slip and you are gone for all money. We reached the col and crossed over it and started climbing on the steps to Madangad. Seeing the steps made me wonder how the people in those times might have carved those steps. We reached the rock patch of Madan which was 40 feet high. The problem with this rock patch was you had to reach a certain height on your own judgement after which the climb was relatively easy. One by one each of us started taking on this rock patch. Some people faltered in their first try but after some egging on everyone made it through.

Once this rock patch was completed the rest of the journey to top of Madan was relatively easy. After reaching the top I could see two water tanks and also a cave. One of our trekmates Aditya 'Raaje' ne shikhar par jhanda bhi lehraaya!!! The view from top was awesome. We could see Kulang another hill fort from there as shown in the adjacent photo.

At the top at some points we could feel the cool breeze and at some points the sun was at its blazing best. Some of us found a cool shade and slept there for an hour or so. Time kaise chala gaya pata hi nahi chala. Meanwhile the remaining members of our group also reached the top and soon it was time for us to descend down. We reached the same rock patch but this time we had to rappell down which is more fun and less strenous compared to rock climbing :)

Quickly we all started back to the cave where we had kept our bags... I was feeling damn hungry and started marching forward..lol...When I reached there I found that the bags were not there in the cave and it was shifted up by others. To reach there one had to take on an irritating small rock patch which had iron wire hanging on its side.Without the support of iron wire I quickly reached top...Peth me chuhe-billi sab daudne lage the abhi toh... As I reached the top I could see the rock patch of Alang which we had to climb on to reach the top. It was a 90 degree rock patch and we were left wondering how will we tackle this. The guide who was with us reached the top without using rope. Nilesh one of our group leaders told us that even he cannot cross this rock patch without using the ropes. He told us that we will be all be pulled up to the top and we just had to cling on ropes and put it our own effort to climb up. One by one we started climbing up....When my turn came it was already chilly and it was dark. Kaise to karke maine khudko upar utha hi liya!!!

But the excitement didnt end here....We all had to climb some small steps on the edge of rock face and move upwards. We decided to form a human chain to move the wood which was needed for campfire in the cave forward. Each of us took our positions maintaining a small distance and dheere dheere sab lakdiyan ko upar pahuncha diya... Standing on those steps I could see the entire valley and it was one of the thrilling moments of my life.Moving on, we reached the cave of Alang and some of us quickly booked our sleeping locations for the night. Some of the group members started preparing the dinner for night...We had to carry all the food as there was no food available on top and unlike Harishchandragad there was no cook(Badri Kaka) on the top. I was oblivious to all this and I remember somebody waking me up from my sleep and asking me to come and have dinner. Half-awake I had my dinner. The biryani was awesome...I went inside my sleeping bag and slept. Some of us( read Dinesh,Ajay,Paddy ) had executive suites for themselves..hehehehe...

I woke up next morning feeling completely refreshed after a good night's sleep. I decided to explore Alang. To the left of our cave there were steps leading to the top. One can see the ruins of Alang fort on reaching the top. After walking some distance I saw 11 water tanks. It is amazing to see that even after so many years there is drinking wate available at the top.

After spending some time exploring the fort I went back to our cave. Garam garam maggi banaya jaa raha tha...Ab prashn yeh utha ki maggi ko khayenge kaise as most of us didnt have spoons...so we used small twigs and had Maggi in true Chinese style...lol... We packed our backpacks and the time had come to bid adieu to Alang. A little distance away from the cave me,Nilesh,Priti saw a small snake in the rocks. The interesting part here is just few minutes we were having a long discussion on snakes at the cave. Nilesh quickly checked his book on snakes to check which snake it was. He initially thought it was the saw-scaled viper. The snake by that time had quickly went underneath the rocks...I came up with the suggestion that if we remove the loose soil and put water the snake will come out. The saw-scaled viper is one of the most poisonous snakes so we had to be careful...Finally after some prodding the snake came out and Nilesh trapped it under his feet..But by the time we could capture it on our cameras the snake slithered through and went back to the rocks. At this point of time Nilesh again checked his book and he later told us that it was infact the gunther's racer which is non-poisonous and is commonly confused with the saw-scaled viper...:):)

On descending down we reached the steps of Alang which we climbed the night before. In broad daylight when we saw those steps we stared discussing ki raat ke andhere me hamne kaise paar kiya yeh...Seeing those steps now,hamlog ki toh phat gayi.....lol... A sample of how these steps look can be seen in the pic to the left...

After that we started descending down and reached the perpendicular rock patch from we had to rappell down. I enjoy rappelling a lot and I think it is one of the best adventure sports to overcome your fears. From here the rest of journey we covered slowly till we finally reached our base village. There thanks to Bhandari we had some mouth-watering chicken and also bhel. In this trek I discovered another facet of Trekmates ie the fantastic cooking skills. Thank You all for the yummy food that you served!!!

And thus I come to the end of my post. We took a tempo jeep back to Kasara from where we proceeded to our respective destinations. The Alang Madan trek was one of my toughest treks and I thouroughly enjoyed it. It was thrilling,exciting,faadu....ohhho adjectives are falling short....

As I returned back I had smile of contentment on my face as I had accomplished my desire to conquer Alang Madan...:):)