Chpt 13. 18th August

The alarm woke us up early and after a quick bath and some tea, we took the taxi to the airport. All flights were delayed due to the large number of travelers (being a long weekend) and the extra security procedures due to Independence Day week. We had booked the first flight out to Mumbai and Bangalore from Delhi. I had planned on going to office directly from the airport and Vidya during the second half.

When boarding call for the Mumbai flight was announced, we parted ways after some fake rona dhona drama and promises that we would do this every year.

The flights however were further delayed by over 2 hours and the plane waited on the runway for what seemed like forever. I reached office only at 11 a.m. and was immediately immersed into the busy schedule that awaited me. Liza called later in the afternoon to tell me about their delayed flight and her journey back home.

Back to boring reality…Sigh.!

I do hope we do many more trips, hopefully even one a year. On holidays, you not only get to see new places, taste new cuisines, experience new cultures and meet interesting people but also you get to know yourself and your fellow travelers better and grow from it.

Chpt 12. 17th August

Technically the day had already begun in Haridwar…

We reached Delhi around 5.30 a.m. and caught an auto to the guest house. Gopal ji was not to happy at having been woken up so early. We were just too tired and sleepy to care. We left a request for breakfast for us and crashed out for the next few hours.

At around 10 a.m. we woke to have a hearty breakfast and read the newspapers (something we hadn’t done in days!). We had a bath and decided to set off to Delhi Haat and some shopping. Vidya said she wasn’t up to it and instead planned on meeting some of her Delhi friends. I think she was just tired and lazy to get out.

We took an auto to Dilli Haat and shopped around in the sweltering heat. Liza managed to charm a shop keeper into lending her a hand fan, which she duly returned after the shopping expedition. We bought a few earrings, bangles and bags and had some of the famous momo’s and fruit beer as a snack. Our next stop was M Block market at GK. We had a late lunch at Moti Mahal, visited a few shops and then took off to Lajpat nagar market.

Vidya, all refreshed, joined us here and we did a bit of window shopping and bought more bangles, lace and a few small gifts. By this time our feet were aching, so we decided to head back to the guesthouse. On the way back on a rickshaw, we stopped at the Haldirams for a bite of chaat and packed some sweets for office/home.

At the guesthouse we stretched out, chatted, repacked our belongings, finalized the shared accounts and watched TV. After a yum dinner of chicken and roti, we went off to sleep.

Chpt 11. 16th August

As usual, Liza’s early morning alarm woke me up. It took another 15 minutes for her to actually get out of bed and begin rummaging around. She put on another layer and went out to the terrace to gaze. This was most definitely the last morning that we would get up the see the mountains at such proximity. It was also the beginning of our decent into the plains and the beginning of the end of our holiday.

Liza called out to us to join her on the terrace and I dragged myself all wrapped in blankets to enjoy the early morning sights. Vidya joined us in some time and we enjoyed chai before scrambling to get ready and repack and make it to the bus in time.

There were three seats at the back of the bus for us to sit, but the views up front (of the scenery not Rawat) were much better. We split our time, sometimes sitting at the front of the bus and sometimes trying to catch some sleep at the back of the bus. The journey back to Rishikesh was so much better than the journey from Rishikesh. This bus had better, bigger seats that had armrests to arrest the slipping into the aisle!

We took a late mid morning stop at Pipalkoti to freshen up. We bought some packaged snacks (we really were hungry by then) and a few apples and peaches- grown locally. Fruit especially tastes so much better if eaten fresh rather than after clocking zillion food miles travelling from ends of the world and being artificially ripened.

We were forced to take another break at the landslide point. Cars, buses, jeeps, army vehicles all lined up waiting for the rubble to be cleared. This time almost everyone from the bus got down to stretch their legs and admire the breathtaking views. It was here that Liza and Vidya ran into Dev again and insisted I go and say hi to him since he was looking for me.

Luckily the path was cleared and people started climbing back into their vehicles. We stopped again for a late lunch and post lunch we decided to go back and sleep. The rest of the journey was relatively smooth and we woke around 6 p.m. and joined Vidya who was sitting at the front of the bus. Ideally we should have reached Rishikesh by this time, but the late start and the landslide wait increased our travel time. Rawat estimated that we would be in Rishikesh by 9.

The sun set early and it soon became dark. If we thought that driving on the ghats was dangerous, it was even scarier doing it during the night. We couldn’t see even a foot ahead of us and it was a miracle that Rawat was able to see and keep the bus on the road all the time. We reached Rishikesh a little after nine and we were dropped off at the bus stand after paying Rawat for taking us on as additional passengers.

The public bus stand was a mess. It had just rained and the whole area was like a marshland with people running helter skelter with no aim. We were directed towards a group of buses going to Haridwar. Just as we got into one, luggage and all, the driver switched off the engine and disappeared with the conductor. Our train was a little after midnight from Haridwar and we were hoping that we could make it in time to catch the train.

Two buses next to ours left and there was still no sign of the driver. Finally the driver arrived and announced that the bus was going to Delhi and all Haridwar passengers better catch some other bus that would leave immediately. He also added some stuff about there being some disturbance between the two states of Uttarakhand and U.P. and hence buses may not run to Haridwar. Many of the Haridwar passengers cursed and got off. We decided to stick with this bus since we had a good seat and place for our luggage. Also travelling so late in the night by taxi was not a safe option. Within five minutes the bus started up and took off, the whole thing was just a farce to get as many Delhi passengers on the bus and offload the Haridwar passengers!

We reached Haridwar bus stand and picked up our luggage and walked to the railway station, about 10 minutes away. The station was filled with people, even at 12 in the night. Most of them were sleeping on every available inch of the floor! We went to the first class waiting room to find it filled with mostly non first class passengers. Atleast the loos were clean! I decided to go looking for food since we hadn’t had any dinner but everything was shut by that time. Liza said it wasn’t safe going out of the station to look for food, so we made do with chips and biscuits.

The train arrived at 12.30 a.m. and we were on our way back to Delhi at 1 a.m. We settled in with the fresh train sheets and blankets for the short 4 hour nap.

Chpt 10. 15th August

We woke up really early thanks to patriotic songs being played loudly at the field adjacent to the hotel. Liza, used to getting up early anyway (for reasons best told by her) went out on the balcony (did I mention we had one?). Vidya and I got up a little later and we were dressed and ready to catch the bus by 7 am. We crossed the field with our entire luggage and reached the old GMVN guest house.

The day’s agenda was to visit Badrinath. We weren’t really THAT keen on going to Badrinath, but the bus wasn’t coming back to Joshimath and we decided to go wherever the bus took us, which meant the trip to Badrinath- if the debris at the landslide had cleared.

All our fellow travelers were asked to line up (we even did the attention, stand at ease thingy in hindi..read “savdhan, vishram etc) and sing the national anthem after a speech from one of the older travelers. It was a strange beginning, considering the circumstances and it amused us to no end, but we did what we were told to do, like good girls…?

We set off after the gujju gang with the panch Meena troupe and the rest piled into the bus. We passed Govindghat in about an hour and were not so happy to find that the landslide hadn’t yet been cleared. There was still danger of falling stones. Vehicles would not be allowed any further. However Rawat lied though his teeth this time and managed to get past the manned crossing gate and get right upto the landslide [going by GMVN did have some perks, not enjoyed by other private vehicles]. Slowly small groups from our bus and others got off to stretch their legs and watch the machines clear the rubble.

The road, or what was left of it, looked like a small ledge on which no cat, leave alone bus could travel. Rawat didn’t seem concerned though and continued to regale us with stories of dangerous drives and accidents he had witnessed. All this did nothing to boost our confidence about how we could get to the other side of the landslide. We could see a serpentine queue on the other side as well- loads of people waiting to get out to mainland after their pilgrimage from Badrinath. A few brave souls attempted to cross the area on foot and bike, ducking the stones and maneuvering around the boulders.

Liza and Vidya were with the others, watching the clearing at close quarters. They were commenting on how dangerous the whole area was and looked up to see a huge stone and mud come straight down towards them. After a moment of stunned silence, they leaped and ran towards the shelter of the parked buses. Just in time too- the stone landed just where they were standing a few minutes ago and if they had not looked up, they could have easily been turned into pulp.

Around 11 a.m., talk of the clearing being complete began to do the rounds and everyone sighed with relief, but it was atleast another hour before the bus actually got going. While passing the cleared road the bus swayed and regained balance over the uneven road and all of us inside held our breath at some of the more dangerous points, but we made it across at last.

After that, the road to Badrinath was more or less clear after that. After we crossed 9000 feet, the treeline disappeared and we were once again driving through the mists (and cold). We reached the temple at 1 p.m. only to find that even the temple gods took a lunch break. We could either skip the temple visit entirely or wait till 3 - the risk in the latter being that we could miss the gate back to Govindghat which closed at 4!! Since we had managed to reach Badrinath in one piece, the bus group decided to have a darshan of the deity and then leave at the earliest.

Vidya was tagging along with some old Bengali gentlemen from the bus while Liza and I dipped our feet at the sulphur hot springs and then proceeded to look for a loo and some khana. We asked the shopkeepers for a suggestion on where to eat and found Vidya and the Bengalis seated there too! The old gentlemen insisted on paying for our lunch- they said that they don’t get an opportunity to take young women out to lunch often…haha. Then they made the three of us hold hands and gave us a lecture on friendship, which was sweet but weird.

After doing some timepass buying brassware at the shops, we joined the queue that was quickly forming outside the main gate of the temple. There was a strong wind blowing and after 2 p.m., the sun disappeared. With no shoes and little protection (our sweaters, etc were in the bus), our teeth were soon chattering. We were glad when the temple doors finally opened at 3 p.m. We finished the darshan at the temple and took a quick look around the premises and almost ran back to the bus and its warm shelter.

The bus was parked at the GMVN guesthouse and we were glad to be indoors and promptly ordered for chai, which didn’t turn up for the next half hour. By this time, the rest of the group sauntered back to the bus and we too climbed into the bus.

It started raining heavily on our journey back and we weren’t sure of the road conditions and how far we would be able to travel that night. These were the times that we were glad we were travelling with the state govt. tourism with contacts in most small villages along the way. Worst case, we would atleast have a roof over our heads!

As we were approaching Joshimath, we got information that there was yet another landslide beyond Joshimath and it was decided to once again spend the night and Joshimath and wait out the rain and clearing of the landslide.

By this time, the hotel staff was used to us saying goodbye every morning and then showing up once more asking for a room in the evening. When they saw us walking up to the new GMVN guesthouse, they broke into knowing smiles and offered us a four bedroom place since the wonderful room we had spent the last night in, was already occupied.

We settled in the new room and went out to the terrace to enjoy chai, pakoras and finger chips. Vidya and Liza were only too happy to find fault with the neighbours (a bunch of boys who had occupied “our” room) who were drinking on their terrace and cooking dal, chawal and maggi. They even thought of complaining to the management of the hotel (since cooking and drinking was not allowed as per the rules pasted in every room) but found that the waiters and staff were providing them glasses and plates and therefore not objecting to the blatant breaking of rules.

The long drive and all that waiting took its toll and we called it an early night after another non exciting meal at the hotel.