Wanderlust

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Well…traveling is always a bit exciting for me. It feels amazing to set foot on that car, train or bus, as if escaping the mere world you were fighting for years, not for much time though, but yes…an escape, losing yourself in a world where you are unknown to everyone, and everything is unknown to you. A new path, new temptations, new revelations, new adventures….

It’s been much time since I traveled, but my memory still claims me the gift of glimpses from my visit to Kedarnath and other temples, erected in the heart of famous marvels of the Himalayas.

In India, most of the traveling is done on the basis of worship. Particularly I am from a Brahmin family, but still, I never assumed feeling wrath or gifts of god.So, this trip was just another bore for me, as I had assumed. Little did I knew, that wonders awaited me between those mounts, which high and robust, stood like warriors, surrounded by thick cover of fog, being home to continously flowing, cold (actually very cold) rivers (mainly Ganga).

So, as you would have noticed, I love traveling by road, we had a car on our door next dusk, which was the only relief for me, I jumped on the front seat but was soon shifted to backside where I slept for hours. After a long sleep, as I opened up to new light of next day, rubbing by index finger over my small eyes, what I saw was mesmerizing. Three peaks, standing shoulder to shoulder, covered entirely by snow, brown and white were peeping at the car. As I shifted in my seat, the bright morning sun shone from midst of them, it’s rays pricked my busy eyes, and I was never more surprised. It was the first time I experienced God, not as a fatherly figure, but as a creator, the creator of these wonders…

As I turned back to get me handicam, my father was staring at me, with a smile on his face, he said-“As I told you..”

We stopped on a bridge, against the sides of which, two springs flowed, each side. The sound was so revelling as the water tossed against the smooth rocks and went down deep, down into their souls, and it seemed to me as if their soul was celebrating this breach. I must have stood there for hours, gazing the beauty, many cars went past the same bridge, but I don’t remember them, I just remember the beauty that shone and stuck into my unworthy eyes.

Time came when I had to scratch my eyes from those springs, now I was convinced that more was to come for me, and yes!! It did. We reached the hotel, and slept the night. Next day, I found myself at Tapt Kund, the hot water lake. Steaming in every drop, the lake was full of devotees. I entered the lake , not knowing whether it would burn or spare me, all it did was take all my fatigue away…

Next, we reached the mouth of the 14-km path which we had to cover on-foot to reach the temple. The place sounded pompous, devotees loudly cheering-Har Har Mahadev, which means- everyone has a part of Lord Shiva-the destroyer of worlds, inside him.

We had traveled 3-km, when I saw my 5-year old niece, with a man whom my brother had hired for carrying her to the temple. He was a native from a nearby village who worked there. Without the next thought, I started following the man, not because I loved my niece, but because he was not taking the regular round path, he was climbing the mountain which was surrounded by the path we were walking on. The man was happy to have me in company, he threw a smile at me , and I also reacted with a smile. Wherever he set his foot, after him, I set mine, same was the case with hands. We traveled through many hills, I bent down to breath in the fresh blast of air that engulfed the whole area, and I saw the cold drops of dew on the scales of wild, green grass that grew over the hill, some of which had succumbed to ice, while others shone dimly in the light.

After covering every hill, I always found myself hanging from a cliff, but never dared to glance back. Soon, this fear was over. As I turned back, I saw the view.It felt as I was on top of the world, as if…as if…I was with God. Yes, I felt him accompanying me, climbing those cliffs with me. It looked as if the mountains were face to face to me, and the clouds were surprised to find me so near. I saw my family, I waved at them, but they weren’t able to see me, I was at a place they least expected me to be. But the man was happy at my triumph, he took my arms into his hands and told me that they were tough. The water in my bottle finished, at the time when I was most thirsty, actually I was thirsty all the time. The man looked at me and pointed to a very big mass of ice, then, he broke some of it with his hand, which was surprising to me, and ate it, I followed suit, but it enraged my thirst. We continued to next cliff for next 30 minutes, after which to my relief we got a small shrine.

Next event I remember is holding a grass, which left a piercing feeling of pain in my palm, again,  the same man came to my aid, he first rubbed ice on my palm, and then rubbed the wild grass on it. He told me that the scales of grass would remove the pieces of leaves that had entered my palm. Thus, I found humanity, wonders, beauties and myself in those deep, cold, marvelous hills. When we reached the temple, what others did was worshiping, while I was busy thanking the man for making my trip awesome, next what he did was heart-touching, he gave an ancient coin as a memorandum, a gift that I still keep safe…along with his memories…