Kailash Mansarovar Yatra Part 8

I have been talking about trivial things - so, this post is going to be about the "tough" things that we encountered... may be, that is how a recipe is made tasty by adding a small pepper here and there!  See the photo above - this is a small example of what happens enroute. There are a number of mountain rivers which come in good force cutting the road. As the rains were pouring heavy during our time in Himalayas, you can imagine the sudden outburst of many such rivers. The rocks, stones, and pebbles all over the mountains spring to life once water touches them - they react depending on the force with which water touched them - a forcible touch makes them start rolling, moving and shifting. This starts a chain reaction and the result is a land-slide. One Porter informed us that the days of rain is better for travel compared to the day after the rain when Sun starts shining - this water and heat combination makes the rocks break and start tumbling down.

Anyway, those who know geology would know the cause, effect of these phenomenon. For me, it was a great experience - walking through ice-cold rivers, colder than ice waterfalls, slippery mud and rolling stones. Shoes get totally wet - there is no question of removing shoes, as toes might get frozen with the ice cold. So one has to brave the watery feeling once you cross a river.

Seen in this picture is our respected elderly lady member Sunita from PUne. She is a veteran in trekking as she regularly treks in the Sahayadri mountains. She is a member of youth hostel and is very enthusiastic about trekking. Her age is 64+... but the speed with which she was walking put me to shame and made me tell myself that I should become a regular trekker like her.

She has promised to come home when she visits her son who lives in Thane! I am looking forward to the day she comes to my house as I am very keen to introduce her to all my family members.

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra - Part 7

Delhi to Dharchula

12th June 2013 dawned ! We were all ready pretty early that day due to various reasons ( Ritesh from Gujarat was seen organising the common luggage till 3 am, I wonder when he got to sleep - as we assembled for morning prayers by 5 am on 12th) - we  assembled at Mr Uday Kaushik's room where some special havan was conducted by him where we all participated by putting a small camphor in the Agni. Prayers today were really from the heart of each one and we went down carrying our hand-bags to the bus. One local group had come with sweets, cool-drinks, Jaimalas and Tulsi malas - they wished us safe Yatra and we boarded the bus. We got to see all Delhi Yatris who were given farewell by their family members at GSS!

Finally we left after some commotion on luggage etc. I understood that Delhi State Government had also given good quantity of wheat flour, rice, cooking essentials, and maggie! All these were packed in water-proof bags. Luggage other than hand-luggage were loaded in a small truck under supervision of members of luggage committee and our bus left with slogans of "Jai Kare Bheer Bhajrangi - Har Har Mahadev". This sounds something like our "Swamiyae Charanam Ayyappa". 

We reached Ghaziabad where the local committee comprising of a hotel owner, Yoga teacher, people who had completed Kailash Yatra and some more VIPs of the city had assembled in a hotel where our bus stopped. We were given royal reception with garlands and flowers thrown on us. Some speeches were made - dos and do nots informed - prayers and wishes given for safe Yatra. Breakfast was served and we left with one more garland and too much food in our stomachs towards Kath Godam.

The senior most member of our Batch, Mr Lekhraj Matta and our LO are sitting on the dias. We left for Kath Godam where we were welcomed with traditional dance of Kumaon and were again garlanded and Tilak applied to our foreheads.

There were speeches by the Finance Minister of Uttarakhand State followed by speech of MD of Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd., Nainital.

A lady who had completed this yatra multiple times spoke with passion on the Himalayas and the beauty that we are about to enjoy.

 We had good lunch and left Kath Godam in two mini-buses towards Almora. The route from Kath Godam to Almora is a mountainous road where mini-buses and jeeps alone can travel easily. Everyone tried to grab good seats so that those like me who is not in the habit of running to get the best, were left to fend for ourselves. Though they announced that ladies and seniors should be given front seats - people were happy to reserve seats for themselves and their friends. A couple who both were very tall had difficulty sitting in the cramped seats!

Anyway, the beauty of the mountains kept us all mesmerised and Ashish started singing some bhajans.  Everyone joined the chorus and for the first time we all were like one group - singing together and feeling us one group. I should say that the mountains did this trick on us and tried to bring us as one group. Manik from Nagpur had a notebook full of patriotic songs and she was joined in her singing by Sweety and Charulata. We had good time travelling, singing, listening and enjoying the lower Himalayan beauty!

By 7 pm we reached Almora - the famous "Colombo to Almora" lecture of Swami Vivekananda. I did notice a Swami Vivekananda Memorial Hall on our way to guest house though we did not stop there. Almora is a big town on the hills.  We were given rooms - comfortable ones with bathroom and geyser - nice single beds with quilts - so I had a hot water shower and rushed to the cultural programme that was organised for us. The local artists gave a beautiful performance of flute recital with vocal singing and a group of girls and boys danced wearing traditional costume.  Flute was especially good; the girls danced with so much expression (Bhava) that we could get the meaning for the song!  We were given nice dinner and then we retired to our comfortable beds by 10 pm.

Next day morning, that is on 13th June morning we left Almora in the mini-buses towards Dharchula.

By now the group has become a real group with almost everyone knowing the other person and "relationship" blossoming into aunty, mausi, thayi, deedhi etc.

By now, I had some very wonderful people getting closer to me - Narayan and Radha from Bangalore, Deepashree from Bangalore, Manik from Nagpur, Prasad and Anuradha Reddy from Delhi, Ashish and Piyush from Khandwa, Sanjay and Sweety from Chattisgarh, Bakshiji and Omprakashji from Delhi, Akhilesh from Raipur, Vikrant from Kanpur, Sachin from Bangalore, Kamlesh and Mattaji from Delhi, Praveen Tyagi and Tejprakash from Delhi, Charulata and Sunita from Pune, Sasi from Trichur, Deepkiran from Jaipur - each one had a special charm of their own and everyone was feeling warmer, closer and like a family. The initial inhibitions have vanished and we were all in one big group. 

I have to make a special mention of many men / women in this group but would suffice to say that each one is very special to me in his / her own way. Each one has contributed in making me get the full depth of the Yatra in its fullest possible way! "Uma mausi" from Ashish rings in my ears even now - "maaji" from Praveen is sounding so sweet to me now also - sound of "Madam" by Narayanji kept me alert and attentive even in the night, because he will not say anything unnecessary or unwanted - a principled man of few words, but those few words would be only praise or good things about others. "Umaji", "Uma aunty" and "Uma Deedhi" from others echoes in my ears even today... thank you all for lovely one month we all spent together!

Next part would be on Dharuchala and further!  Har Har Mahadev! Jai BholeNath! Om NamaShivaya!

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra - Part 6

Kailsh Mansarovar Yatra - Last day at Delhi

Next day was anxiously awaited by many Yatris, especially the older ones. Frantic discussions were going on as to what should have been done and what not. We were taken to ITBP Head Quarters. In all these outings those Yatris who are from Delhi did not participate as they came to the destination from their homes. So it was a surprise when we found more people on the final day than the usual crowd. The number of yatris, the states from where they hail was not known till we really left Delhi. Even simple introduction round never happened till the end!  A gentleman from Delhi was calling a senior lady from Pune as "a Naari"  by the 26th day of our stay together... that should explain the level of closeness in the group! 

Coming to the brighter side of things - except one gentleman from Andhra Pradesh, all the Yatris (53) were declared fit to proceed on Yatra. One gentleman from Gujarat who was declared unfit medically the previous year was very happy and as expected made a song and dance of it with loud noises which made the doctors in ITBP send word that our group should behave better as there are other real patients in the hospital. But nothing would deter us from behaving the way we wanted to and we went around making whatever noise we wanted to make wherever we were!

By lunch time, a group from Ghaziabad provided us with a very tasty nice lunch with sweets. The way they served the lunch was honestly admirable. They were very disciplined and with so much respect they gave us our food making us feel that we are all very important people!  They gave us each a waist pouch with some small travel essentials. Another gentleman, Mr Gulshan Kumar who had undertaken the yatra earlier, came with packs of eatables for all and distributed a book written by him on the Yatra. One more group came and gave us some books with hymns and prayers on Lord Shiva. By now we all have got used to being garlanded and also being recipients of goodies given away by groups which called themselves by various names connected to Lord Shiva and Kailash Mansarovar. 

During the waiting time, we decided that the common pool money be collected. I collected Rs.2,000/- from each one, and while doing this, introduced myself to the Yatris and tried to remember each one along with his / her State from where they have come. By now all faces were familiar except that of the Delhi group as we were yet to meet them.

We all proceeded to Ministry of External Affairs where Mr Vijay Kumar who was head of the co-ordination committee greeted us and led us to the conference hall. There were briefings from him, the ITBP commandant and LO of a previous batch (Mr Goyal - IT Commissioner). The ITBP commandant was so positive in his speech that he made us feel that the Yatra is going to be safe and secure. I bet that he and his team did exactly that and a very very big salute to ITBP for their delivery of duty. 

The LO of previous year's some batch, Mr Goyal, Commissioner of Income Tax made a very impressive speech highlighting the spiritual part of the Yatra. He spoke high of the ITBP women force and told us not to miss their Satsang at Gunji.  In fact we ended up staying the maximum number of days at Gunji during our onward and return journey. The song sung by them "Bhole Baba se miluna aasaanu nahi... thoda Kashtu uttana padutha hai" became our group's theme song and everyone went on adding the "difficulty" lines to the song - like " kabhi nadhiyo mein, kabhi naaley mein, kabhi rassi pakadkey chalunaa hai"  and " kabhi halwa poori keeru miley, kabhi bhoogey sona padutha hai"....the whole group would sing this one song with so much energy and cheer, as though Bhole Nath is being amused with our singing!

After the briefing session we all proceeded to Hotel Ashoka for exchanging Indian Rupees into US dollars for payment to Chinese Tourism department on our arrival at Taklakot. We needed Chinese currency as well, but it was to be converted at China. This part could have been better organised by calling some Nationalised Bank to GSS, and complete the conversion work quickly. We all wasted some 2 to 3 hours there and reached GSS by 8 pm. By then the concerned Minister who was to address us and handover the goodies being given by the Delhi State Government went away and Mr Uday Kaushik entertained us with songs and Bhajans from Ram Charit Manasa. Had a hearty dinner and collected the nice back-pack, rain-coat, track-suit and cap along with a small box of pooja materials given by Delhi State Government and went to sleep....... no, went to the room to do packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking and repacking....

Actually I had the least heavy luggage with basic minimum things and hence I could pack my essentials in a small back-pack which I could carry and packed the other stuff (especially winter clothes and China essentials) in the Delhi back-pack. This I had to cover with huge poly sheet and tie with a rope which I did not hve. Luckily, Akilesh from Kanpur had too much of this sheet and generously gave me a big sheet and a nice rope to tie them. The gentleman from Andhra who got medically rejected, helped me pack this bag and I closed my eyes trying to sleep though there was too much plastic shuffling sound all around me till late in the night.

That was end of day 3 in Delhi! Om NamaShivaya! 

I will write on the actual Yatra in the coming parts.......  :-)

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra - Part 5

KM Yatra - Days at Delhi

Yatris need a minimum of 2 days at Delhi before the actual yatra begins from Delhi. Hence, Delhi State Government provides free accommodation and meals at Gujarati Samaj Sadan (GSS) at Delhi. These 2 days are required for undergoing the medical tests at Delhi Heart and Lungs Institute and for the briefing by Indo Tibet Border Police Force, Ministry of External Affairs once the final list of selected yatris is announced by ITBP doctors.

I reached Delhi on 9th June.  My husband's cousin Shivkumar lives in Delhi and he was gracious enough to pick me up at Delhi airport (the sweltering heat in Delhi was terrible, I had to literally run in the airport to sit in the car quickly - I had just escaped heavy rains at Mumbai the same day morning) and his lovely wife Sarla entertained me with hot lunch and liberal amount of gossip on Delhi matters, servants, work, children etc. I wanted to reach GSS and hence by 7 pm they dropped me there.

As I was asked to go to II floor of GSS, where KM Yatris were accommodated, the sight and sound that I encountered there gave me a little jolt. The bunker beds were full and the floor and beds were full of luggage, plastic sheets, ropes and sundry things; a good number of people were sitting and talking at the top of their voices when a gentleman in one corner was trying to make some point.  I found a place for myself and waited for commotion to stop - but it never stopped even after 10 minutes.  The gentleman sitting next to me informed me that the man trying to talk is the LO (Liaison Officer) of our batch and he is trying to form different committees for the Yatra. He was happy to inform me that Gujaratis formed majority in the batch and enquired whether I am a Gujarati. I politely informed him that I have come from Thane, but I belong to Andhra Pradesh and studied in Tamil Nadu.

Just then, the LO wanted to know who would take up position in Finance Committee. I put up my hand and when I saw him looking at me little more than necessary, I told in bold voice that I am a qualified accountant and I can handle that work.  He immediately cheered up and went ahead with the task of adding more names to this committee. Religiously I took down the names of other members of the committee with the hope that we would be introduced - but nothing of that sort happened. I understood later on that there were other committees - Food, Purchase, Luggage, Pony-Porter, Accommodation and Pooja committee.

I presumed that the group members had proper introduction before I walked in. Suddenly I found that the meeting was over and found everyone rushing to the next room - Mr Uday Kaushik, Chairman of Delhi KM Yatra Committee uses that room for stay and Pooja. Some hymns were sung on Lord Shiva and everyone rushed to canteen downstairs for dinner. I was sort of perplexed but pulled up myself and went to the canteen.  One more commotion awaited me there with everyone rushing for plates, spoons - I assumed that food would be avilable for everyone and I do not have to snatch plate from anyone to fill my stomach.  Later on I learnt that this was a prelude and proper preparation for us to get ready for days ahead :-)

In the meanwhile I saw a woman clad in saree and looking clearly "Tamilian" standing alone - I went to her and said "Vanakkam Amma".... the smile on her face was so bright, the whole room got lit up!  From that minute she stuck to me and went on asking for translation of the instructions that were given in Hindi. She is a retired school teacher from Mayiladuthurai and has done this Yatra 3 years back. She has come as a repeater - but her name was in wait-list for Batch 1 which she had mistaken for confirmation. She was very disappointed that she is not in my batch. I spoke to Mr Uday Kaushik on adding her in Batch 2 at least.... unfortunately, this batch was called back from Dharchula... sorry Amma!

We had a good Gujarati Thali for dinner and came back to the air-conditioned comfort of the dormitory. Next day we were to present ourselves for the medical tests and that kept everyone slightly concerned and may be tired as well.

10th June - we were all there (54 of us) at DHLI in the bus organised by Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd (KMVNL) accompanied by songs by Ms Deepa of GSS, Delhi.. some in the bus were singing with enthusiasm and those who did not sing were getting reprimanded by a lady who wanted everyone to sing LOUDLY.... :-)

This Institute had 2 ladies for our service exclusively, which was of great help. So many tests were done - my medical knowledge being so low, the one that I remember is the one where we had to blow our lungs off through a mouth-piece into a machine. This apparently tells them whether our lungs have capacity to handle less oxygen and still keep us alive :-)....the lady who taught me how to breathe into that did not clear that test and had to take something extra to prove that her lungs are actually in good shape.

Fortunately, I cleared all the tests without the "further" tests which was done for a few of the yatris. The doctor who spoke to us gave a list of medicines that each one must carry - which made me spend an additional Rs.450/- or so in the medical shop there. I was carrying the medicines as was listed in the email that was received from our LO, which cost me somewhere around Rs.900/-.  Other than Saridon which I took thrice during the Yatra and the precautionary Crocin that I took every night that I got drenched in rain, I did not get to touch any of these medicines.  Once our mode of departure from Gunji  was confirmed as helicopter, I gave away all the medicines to my (Sup)porter Himanshu. Aware of my ignorance of medicine names and their usage, my daughter had patiently put each medicine in a separate poly-bag and had written the sickness for which it should be used and also the dosage. Hence, this became useful for me to explain to Himanshu the use of those medicine in case he / his family / his village people have to use any of those.

Though I do not want to discourage the carrying of an elaborate list of  medicine, I think it is alright to carry just basic medicine for headache, vomitting and fever. Anyway, the various committees that come to bid us farewell at Delhi give a big bag of Medical Kit to each batch with fervant prayer that the same bag with same content be handed over to the next batch without any use!

All the tests for all 53 of us took till 3 pm. The ones who had to undertake second or third tests, wherever doctors had some concern took extra time.  I understood that one of the tread-mills did not function and hence the tests took longer than normal. Anyway, we were all given breakfast by 10 am (after the before food tests got completed) and packed lunch around 2 pm.

By 4 pm I got restless out of just waiting ( I should have known that this again is a practice session for us on waiting) and informed others that I will reach GSS by 8 pm and left for Uttara Swamimalai temple by auto-rickshaw.

This is a temple which has Swaminatha Swamy as its main deity - having read about this temple in the blogs connected to MahaSwami of Kanchi Mutt, I was very keen to go to this temple. I reached in 30 minutes and had a peaceful darshan of Lord Swaminatha.  Punditji gave me a big pack of Vibhuti and Kumkum when I told him that I am on my way to Mount Kailash and Mansarovar. He blessed that my Yatra be safe and successful!  I got some Vilva leaves from the flower shop there ( they did not charge me for that) for using in Pooja at Mount Kailash and Mansarovar.

I did some last minute shopping of additional memory card for the camera and high quality battery which may not discharge fast in high-altitude (duracell and other such batteries do not work in high-altitude unless one can recharge them every 1 hour), moisturiser etc., where my cousin picked me up and we went to Gurgaon. I got dropped at GSS by late night which gave me just enough time to crash on the bed. I overheard someone in my room saying that one more night of the Gujarati Thali and the heat of Delhi might upset his stomach - I was happy that I escaped that and went to sleep hoping that I would be in the final list of selected Yatris by the next day!

Our batch showed our true nature by leaving GSS one hour behind schedule to ITBP Head Quarters. As expected traffic on Delhi roads were bad and we reached real late - everyone cursing every other person for the delay. In the meanwhile, the morning of that day had seen some frantic activities in the bathrooms - where people had happily thrown the shampoo, soap satchel which was clogging the water outlet.  I made a mental note to hold an all women meet and impress on them the proper use of plastic.  Unfortunately, this never happened and the result was - I went on removing soap and shampoo satchels from at least 20 different bathrooms over the 30 days - and God knows who went around throwing them wherever they felt like. Should I feel sorry to talk of such bad behaviour of our group??  I do not think so - let facts be facts. I cannot mince words and sugar coat them!

That was end of day 2 at Delhi with all medical tests getting completed and results awaited!

Om NamaShivaya!

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra Part 4

Preparation - No Preparation is good preparation !!

Confirmation of my selection for Batch 1 came sometime in the third week of May. Hence I had roughly a month to get prepared for the Yatra.  Main thing was physical fitness. I am a person who can walk long distance WHENEVER NECESSARY, but cannot do walking as an exercise. That too, the bad roads, vehicles blaring behind, dogs chasing the person - these things do not enthuse me to walk as an exercise.

3 weeks before 9th June 2013, I told myself that I should sincerely, honestly, start some physical exercise like walking, climbing etc. So, I walked for at least 30 minutes as and when I felt like; I must have done this for 3 weeks I suppose.  Meera, my friend, suggested that I should do climbing up and down regularly to improve my leg muscles.  Living in a 7 storeyed building, this was not difficult - I started walking with my trekking shoes every day - climbing to the terrace of the building.

Various blogs, write-ups on the Yatra gave me an indication that a major part of the "preparation" involved water-proofing everything.  This was in my mind when I started packing my bags. I packed my clothes in plastic bags and kept all documents in plastic bags.  I was told that Delhi State Govt would be giving a back-pack to each yatri and hence, I packed my things in a normal suitcase and left for Delhi on 9th June 2013.

In case this blog is going to be used by someone who will undertake this Yatra sometime in the future, please keep in mind the following while packing:

1. Do not carry more than 15 to 20 kg of personal things.
2. 5 kg weight will be added on behalf of each Yatri - grocery, vegetables etc. for China side would be carried from India.
3. Take small packs of ready to eat energising snacks like Ground nut chikki, dry fruits for eating while trekking.
4. Carry some small gifts - chocolates, bindhi, pencils, pens, colour pencils etc. to give away to children on the way - from Shirkha to Gunji.  We walk through small poor villages where children stand and greet us with Om NamaShivaya.
5.  If possible, make 3 small packs of your personal belongings - one set to be used till Dharchula and that can be left there before proceeding further. Second set that can be used upto Nabidhang and can be left there before proceeding further.  Third set to be used in China side.
6. Water-proofing everything is important - hence carry some extra thick plastic bags - to cover each and everything.
7. Travel light with minimum things - porters are also human beings - it is criminal to load them with too much luggage - I was horrified to notice some Yatris loading the porters with 10 to 15 kg of load (this was other than the luggage they had brought which was being sent with other common luggage).
8. Have a light-weight small back-pack where essentials like passport, money, documents, one set of clothes and essential medicine and some small packs of eatables and water bottle can be carried personally even while sitting on pony.
9. Avoid carrying huge bags on your shoulders, as pony also has a weight limit.  Overloading anything is not good.
10. The woollen gloves that I bought for Rs.350/- in Thane (same quality, same design) was sold at Dharchula for Rs.60/-. So, be kind to yourself and others and do not take more than what you need. If situation arises, certain necessary things can be bought at Dharchula, Budhi, Gunji, or even at Taklakot.
11. Practice saying Om Namashivaya instead of Thank you and Sorry.
12. Physical fitness is must - but mental fitness and readyness for hardhip is more important.
13. God is full of love for all of us -  right from the day your selection information comes till you come back home should be considered as Yatra - and our conduct and habits should be watched and improved.

That is all on preparation and packing... next post would really talk of the days at Delhi and the days till we reach Dharchula...

Om NamaShivaya!

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra Part 3

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra  - Call of the Lord!

Now, let me go day by day.

It all started a few years back, with a visit to Thanjavur where my school friend Meera lives. I noticed that her house walls were plastered with photos of Mount Kailash.  In all my stupidity, I enquired what it is all about and she passionately explained that it is her life's ambition to go on Yatra to Mount Kailash and Mansarovar lake. I had always admired her mother's recitation of Thevaram, Thiruvasagam etc. and I thought it must be one strong influence of her mother on her.

One fine day I got a call from her mother saying that Meera is so lucky that she is selected for the Yatra of her dreams. Even then I did not know or bothered to understand the depth of that statement. After a few years I met her and was happy to know that her wish has been fulfilled. There ended the matter.

This year, sometime in March, she calls me up asking whether I would like to go to Amarnath with her and a few friends.  As my preoccupation with work and personal life may not allow me to go on any Yatras, that too with friends (and not family), I hastened to reply her that I will do Amarnath Yatra after I complete Kailash Yatra. This had just come out of my mouth with no thought.....

Having said that, I just googled for Kailash Yatra for firstever time.  Ministry of External Affairs webpage opened up calling for applications to go on this Yatra. I am allergic to filling up of long forms and with no interest whatsoever, I looked at the online application.  The online form was very simple, with very little details to fill up and above all, no payment to be made along with application. Hence, I just filled it - just name, date of bith, passport number, and date of expiry of passport and address. I think they had asked occupation as well. But I bet, the form was so simple and straight-forward, I had to complete and upload the form.

I had casually informed Meera about this over phone and she very confidently told me that I will get selected. I thought that she is one "Shiva-crazy-female" and she has no idea how many would apply for this.

Come April, I got mail(s) informing that I am selected for the Yatra.  I was to send a DD for Rs.5000/- confirming my participation to MEA.  I did it promptly, though I did not give much thought about the Yatra, the timing, weather or my preparedness.  Just after I had sent the DD, I got mail from MEA informing that I had just been wait-listed for Batch 1 and I am not really selected. Having sent the DD, I had nothing else to do other than wait for more information. I was open to the idea of getting rejected also - rather, I was not ready or unready for the Yatra.

Sometime by end of May, I got a call in my mobile at around 9 pm, someone informing me in Hindi that I am selected for Yatra and hence I should start preparation.  I thought that it must be a prank call and the next day, I pulled out the number of MEA and asked them whether I have been selected. The person answering me informed me in Hindi that yes, I have been selected, and the call the previous day was genuine call from the Ministry. I politely asked him whether he can speak English and inform me why at night a Ministry person bothers to call me..... he was laughing; he informed me that they have huge shortage of manpower and the matter in hand is so urgent, and hence they are doing some extra duty and working extra time.  Should I believe all this???  Anyway, now I was mentally ready for the Yatra and started gathering information.

I googled and pulled out all possible blogs, write-up on the Yatra, while waiting for final written confirmation of my selection. In the meanwhile, my husband who was also selected along with me(I had sent application for him as well) was in no mood for the Yatra. He decided to drop out and was persuading me also to undertake it sometime in future. I was now fairly enthused about the Yatra and did not want to give up the chance.  I left the decision to my Guru - writing two chits - one with "Go on KMY 2013" and the other one with "Do not go on KMY 2013".  The selected Chit gave a positive indication and then, there was no thinking back.

I started calling Meera more often and got used to her greetings of "Om NamaShivaya" and started repeating it myself.

More on the preparation part in the next posting !!

Om Namashivaya!

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra Part 2

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra - High Points of this Yatra

Let me give the high points of this Yatra in this post:

1. People from different States of India come together and go on a tough pilgrimage.

2. Only Yatra where Government of India is involved directly through Ministry of External Affairs.

3.Only Yatra where Government of China works with Government of India in co-ordinating the dates, immigration etc.

4. Indo Tibetan Border Police Force personnel act like God's messengers and help the Yatris continue the Yatra.

5. Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd. works through its personnel to make the Yatra as comfortable as possible.

6. Selection through computerised process and  medical tests clearance are mandatory.

7. One gets to stay without telephone, mobile, newspaper, television, internet for good number of days. Electricity is also limited and hence, one has to learn to live like our grandparents :-)

8. In the words of one of the Yatris, all we had to do was "Bhojan and Bhajan while trekking".

9. Yatris get to make some good friendship, some of which may become life-long association.

10.One gets to see Nature in its purest grandest form!

Om Nama Shivaya!  More to follow in more orderly format!