Waiting starts!
17th June 2013!
We woke up to "Om Nama Shivayah! Chai" by the attendants at Budhi camp. Within 30 minutes we get information that we are not moving that day as weather is not good. We go back to sleep and wait for day-break. We get the news that weather is bad and hence MEA has asked us to wait at Budhi and not move further.
We look out and wonder at the beauty of the mountains around - the same mountains which made us feel scared the previous day - we find a lot of waterfalls flowing from different parts of the mountain. After some time we have some Sun shine and we start drying our clothes in the open. We wait for rain to stop but it wont relent... more rains and less Sun shine. Even then we were not aware of the massive destruction that was happening elsewhere in the Himalayas...
We spotted snow-clad mountains for the first time in this Yatra and were thrilled. As the previous day was spent in trekking and getting wet, this unexpected rest was welcomed by all. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner in time and did not bother to do the morning and evening Bhajan session... we gave rest to God as well!
Next day also went in waiting for further instructions from MEA... and our singer Ashish gathered everyone in his room and we had a round of Bhajans, patriotic songs (Charulata and Sweety danced for a few songs) and also a round of Antakshari in Hindi film music... when some Marati and Gujarati patriotic songs were sung, I sang a Subramanya Bharathiyar's patriotic song (Sindhu Nadhiyin misai nilavinilae) and explained meaning of the song in Hindi.
By evening, rains had stopped and we realised that when we were singing in one room, others had managed to put some firewood in the open oven and had managed to get some hot water and take bath! But alas, I had no patience for all the waiting that goes in managing a half bucket of hot water. But all of us got our clothes dried! There were a few small shops near the camp. One shop person had cleverly assembled a laptop and converted it into a television - we all assembled in front of it and watched the news on Gardwal tragedy and the floods. That is when it struck me as to how blessed we all had been to escape the fury of the mountain rivers and the sliding rocks of the mountains! This does not make any of those who lost their lives any less blessed - in their own way, they have reached the abode of Shiva quickly having completed their Karma in this earth! My mind gets confused and I am not sure who is more blessed! Om NamaShivayah!
This shop-keeper had some wind-cheaters with hoods and Narayanji strongly recommended that I buy one. As our luggage had not come, and the weather was turning cold, I bought one coat for Rs.1100/-, thanks to Narayanji and Ashish for suggesting and for helping me buy a good one with a hood. I bought a monkey-cap and gloves as well. I bought some plastic sheets for covering my hand-luggage, handbag and the ponywallah well.
We were just doing Bhajan and Bhojan and no walking. Some people walked upto some point in the hills and kept themselves busy. I was spending time talking with Narayan, Radha, Deepa, Anuradha, Ashish, Akhilesh, Prasadgaru, Charulata, Kamlesh and others.
On 19th morning around 8:30, we started our trek to Gunji. This trek has a steep climbing-up till we reach Chialekh. I preferred walking to pony on this steep climb. It was beautiful at Chialekh and we were all happy, excited and thrilled to be standing at that point...
Our passports were checked and numbers noted by ITBP personnel here. This place is a nice long walk with no ups or downs.... then a steep descent starts and what a descent it was! Due to the rains in the previous days, roads were muddy, watery and full of knee-deep slush!
I saw Siva as a "Basmangadhar" (one wearing Basmam - vibhuti - all over) as all of us were full of whitish grey mud splashed all over us. As I am a short person, I walked through waist deep slush in many places...some muddy depths were so difficult for Himanshu also, that he had to do acrobatics to keep himself safe and hold my hand and bring me out of slush! God kept revealing Himself in human form wherever He thought it was necessary.... somewhere after breakfast point, there appeared two gentlemen whom I had not seen till then. At a place where I was struggling to climb up and my feet was getting sucked into the muddy slush, these two guys pulled me out and walked with me for the next 2 hours helping me climb up, climb down, get in and out of slushy muddy watery slippery pits and generally kept me moving without falling down. They informed me that they are Customs officials who are posted to Gunji and they are on their way to Gunji - what an official trip for them - they will be at Gunji for nearly 4 months before they get transferred back to some other place. They had stayed at Chialekh the previous 2 days when we were at Budhi and had started their move to Gunji that day. I was plain lucky (blessed) to have both of them with me exclusively to help me move ahead. The colour of the mud in this part of the mountain intrigued me with its colour. I had to put my two palms also on the ground and climb up or move at many points - as a result, I was splattered with this "basma" or "vibhuti" all over myself... the photo below shows Himanshu - a normally cheerful guy is seen tired in this photo... see his trousers splashed with mud...
See my shoes and trousers (black trouser changed into colour of vibhuti).... once we thought that all the muddy trek is over, we encountered broken roads which had to be crossed by climbing over heaps of stones - it was dangerous and let us say, adventurous. We walked quite a distance and finally saw a bridge connecting this side to the other side of the river where Gunji camp is situated.
We were welcomed by ITBP constables - men and women - I was thrilled to see these girls working at that high altitude, protecting our border from Tibet and China... My salutations to all these selfless souls who have put country before themselves!
I forgot to mention that at various points on this route, ITBP provided us with drinking water, hot tea and potatoe chips!
We finally reached Gunji camp not knowing that this camp is going to be the place where we will stay for many days on our onward and return journey.
I can close this part of the blog with this happy note - but I prefer to close it with observation of something that made me feel sad about human behaviour.
We had reached the camp at Gunji one by one and all of us were in waist / knee / foot deep mud - depending on our heights and our climbing capability. Water-pipe at the camp had burst and they had very less water stored and the pipe would take at least a day to repair. Those who had come early went ahead washing everything upto their hand-kerchief and by the time we reached water was dripping in small trickles with which I could not wash my face also... I saw some yatris (men and women) having buckets full of water and washing all their clothes and requested them to give one mug of water just for washing face and hands, which they promptly refused!
Myself and others who reached after me had to wait for next day with the hope that water would be available and we can clean up ourselves - I should have known that Shiva reveals Himself in many ways and this also is one of His drama to make us better and more refined.
We had dinner after cleaning our hands with some water provided by the kitchen staff. ITBP and KMVN had telephones and all of us made frantic calls to our frantic relatives informing them of our safety.
So, we were at Gunji not knowing that we are going to be there for some more days. Om NamaShivayah!
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