Kailash Mansarovar Yatra - Part 11

Gala to Budhi along Kalinadhi!

16th June 2013!

The above photograph shows visually the trek from Gala to Budhi - see the other Yatri looking small in black and red - that is the descent - and where I am standing is a high point - Kali Nadhi flowing at the bottom and the mountain on the other side... mountain here is more of rocks and less vegetation - no tall trees - bushes and short plants consist of the greenery on this route.

The trek is "adventurous" in the words of our guide Mr Khandpal (a gentle, nice, good, fantastic, helpful, great person) from KMVN.  When this word was used, I did not have idea as to the depth of adventure that waited for me in the trek.  

One may notice in the photo above that the clothes I am wearing are clinging due to wetness inspite of the rain-coat; the cotton yellow cloth on me that serves multiple purposes right from wiping the water coming out of nose is totally wet with rain water; my palm had developed a blister due to holding of the stick - hence, I covered the stick with the cloth and was holding the stick over the cloth - that stick was of great help that day, along with Himanshu. The trek is full of ascents and descents very frequently; the climbing up was sharp and climbing down steep.  (Before I forget, a note to future Yatris - please put on a used cotton cloth above everything else you wear - like the yellow "angavastra" that I am wearing - as it is the only cloth that will be useful for wiping the face, hands, nose, cleaning the camera, and many other such odd sundry activities!)

The first few hours were pleasant with the sound of the river deafening me - I was trying to hear the sound "Omh" in it and was chanting "Om Nama Shivayah", "Om Namo Narayanaya" and "Om Shakthi Om" to the tune of the river. At one point, I could see the river totally black in colour hitting a huge rock where another river totally white in colour hitting the same rock and merging together and flowing in blackish white from that point. I was thinking of Kaviyogi Shuddhananda Bharati and wondered what He would have written on seeing such a beautiful merging of Shiva and Shakthi!  I thought of the various relatives who are poets in my family and wished that they could see this beautiful demonstration of Shiva-Shakthi unity!

I did not want to do injustice to this beauty by clicking a photo, as I knew that my simple camera cannot capture what my physical eyes could capture.  But I saw Charulata from Pune taking many photos at this point, and I hope that I get to see them!

Wet breakfast, wetter lunch led us to Malpa.  "On 11 and 17 August 1998 at village Malpa in Pithoragarh district of Uttarkhand state about 380 people were killed when massive landslides washed away the entire village. The dead included 60 Hindu pilgrims on their way to Kailash Mansarovar lake in Tibet.The noted Indian dancer Protima Bedi was one of the pilgrims who died in the landslide" - this is what Wikipedia says when you google for Malpa Tragedy.

I refused to sit on the pony as the path was narrow and slippery and I felt that my own legs and Himanshu on one side and my stick on the other side would be better support on that slippery road! One wrong step would easily land the person in the river below!  Bhim Singh in his small tone told me that he just escaped that Malpa incident as his Yatri was in Budhi and they just decided to stay put there instead of walking down to Malpa and spending the night there. He told me that just 2 villagers from Shirkha escaped that land-slide - so many porters, ponies, and ponywallahs lost their lives in one stroke. He also mentioned that it all happened in the night when everyone was fast asleep and hence the death must have been instantaneous and with no pain! Om NamaShivaya!

I crossed this path with prayers in the heart for all the departed souls! It had been exactly 15 years since then, and I was not aware at that time of what Ganga Maata was doing at Gardwal side of the Himalayas! Mountains and Rivers wait patiently and bear all the pokes and digging that we do in the name of roads and bridges and hydro electric power on them and react at a time when we are least prepared.  

See the fear in my eyes - Kali Maa's "rudra tandavam" was visible in the river - I was telling Himanshu that this river is real Kali Maa... he was also first time yatri on that route and hence he was also awestruck and speechless. He told me that he was 5 years old when Malpa tragedy happened and hence does not know much about that.

At one place, the river was throwing such high waves that I thought that it is going to pull me in.... see the mud under my feet - very slippery and the waves of the river water was touching this point - I just sat down and prayed to Kali Maa requesting Her to be like a mother and treat all of us as Her children though we might have done many mistakes in our lives. I do understand now that She did answer my prayers by sparing us though She decided to play havoc on the Gardwal side of the Himalayas. Honestly sorry for all the people and their families who lost their lives, livelihood and property in the flash floods of Ganges!

This day, I was all alone with Himanshu, say 95% of the trek, as the path was difficult and the pace of each Yatri was different. Many of us were walking alone. Thank God I had Himanshu with me who would not leave me even for a second. 

Around 4 pm, I reached a point and really wanted to sit for some time. Himanshu just looked up and said that he fears that we are in land-slide zone. He looked up and saw some small stones rolling down the hills and he told me, that it is no time to sit or walk - but time to run for life - with this he pulled me up and we both ran for our lives for nearly 15 minutes till we reached a point which he considered safe! This was a run that I can never forget in my life. Just then we spotted a ITBP constable coming from opposite side and told us that we are in land-slide zone and hence should walk faster or run and reach the camp early. He also told us that Budhi camp is just another 45 minutes walking distance for him and hence, we should reach it in say double that time. He encouraged us to run and went down looking for more Yatris to warn!

Himanshu gave a look at me and said, "Madam, this is no time to feel tired - pull up all your energy and start walking fast with me - as my life is also in your hands now! I will run and you have to run with me wherever necessary - so focus on running".... did I have a choice? Like a puppy, I followed him chanting "Jaya Jaya Sankara, Hara Hara Sankara" and invoking my Guru for His benevolent blessings on me and all Yatris.

Just when I completed my second round of running and panting for breathe, I saw Mr Lekhraj Matta coming behind us. Generally, this 70 year yatri (the oldest in the group) is in the first 20 yatris who reaches the destination and hence I was pleasantly surprised to see him walking behind me. I found it as a blessing, as seeing a fast-walker like Mattaji motivated me to walk faster. 

A little further, my energy level was low as we were continuously climbing up and I desperately wanted to sit down. Mattaji came closer and said that there should be no sitting at this time, and I should stand holding my stick for a second whenever I want to rest - he thus made me keep walking. Further up, I had ran to a safer point, wherein he was still walking behind me and we saw some stones rolling down - me and Himanshu shouted and signalled that he should run and reach the place where we were standing. It was horrible to see that 70 year old man run for his life and reach us panting and breathing hard!

We 3 sat down then and Mattaji offered some chocolates to both of us - we saw his ponywallah coming and urged him to walk with Mattaji.  All of us walked for another one hour or so and reached Budhi camp, wet, tired, and worried for the other Yatris whom we know are slow walkers and may not have reached the camp.

It was around 5:30 pm that I reached Budhi shivering due to wetness all over. It took me at least 30 to 45 minutes to get over the shivering - the problem was that, I had no real dry set of clothes, as EVERYTHING in my hand luggage (the backpack that Himanshu carried) had become totally wet and the big bag which was carried with other common luggage by KMVN had extra clothes and had not yet come to Budhi. Somehow I managed to squeeze the water out and wear some 50% dry clothes. In the meanwhile, I figured out who had not come - this included my dear friends Narayan, Radha and also Deepashree. I was worried for Kirtida and her husband Ritesh who were walking with difficulty. These 5 and Mr Khandpal had not reached camp by then.

All of us were worried and I started reciting Hanuman Chalisa - my mind would not rest - I took out the (now wet) pages of Thevaram that I had carried with me and started reading out the hymns.  We were called for tea but my mind was not ready. A little after 7 pm, Narayan came with Radha and then Deepashree. Khandpalji had accompanied them and had brought them safely to the camp. Radha was in bad shape but Deepa was mentally very weak - hence she was shivering more - Radha quickly got ready forgetting her tiredness. Radha and me started rubbing Deepashree to keep her warmer and wiped her hair, and covered her with quilts and sat closer to her. By then dinner was served but she refused to come for dinner. Khandpalji came to our room enquiring as to how Radha and Deepa are doing - I requested him to send the dinner to our room as Deepa is in no shape to come to the dinner hall. We ate dinner in the bed and after some time we were able to laugh and realise the fact that all of us have made it to the camp safe and in one piece!

We slept just after that due to the tiredness and also due to the fear the sound of wind created that night. It poured like mad that night and the wind was threatening us every minute - we were wondering what if the shed is torn away by the force of the wind!  I was chanting Hanuman Chalisa - someone was chanting Rama Raksha Stuthi - some one else chanting some other Shlokas - we all were engulfed in devotion born out of fear and anxiety.... what a night it was!  Thinking of it now, I realise how benevolent God had been to save us that night when so many people were meeting their watery death in Ganges!  

We were told that the batch would move to Gunji the next day morning and we should be ready by 4 am. We were looking forward to that and tried to sleep that night.

That is all for the day that we trekked from Gala to Budhi! Om NamaShivayah!