Dear,.........,
Namaskar. Yesterday, my narration had detailed the yatra reaching Chandanwari. Early next day, the yatra would be moving to the next resting spot, Sheshnag. The mean height of Chandanwari from sea level is 9500 feet whereas the corresponding height of Sheshnag is 11730 feet. The distance between the two places is about 12 kilometers. Therefore it is a climb. As soon as we leave Chandanwari, we have to climb a steep hill called Pissu Hill. The height of this hill is about 10700 feet. The journey up the hill to reach the top called Pissu Top is very tiring. The distance is around only two kilometers but the climb involves lot of bends and steepness of the road. I was tired too but youth was my strength. Alongside I observed the pain of the dandi bearers. Invariably the person in the chair being carried would be a fat individual. I still remember one such individual hitting the head of the bearer for being slow. (The partner of this individual was on a horse back and the individual wanted the carriers to catch up with the horse.) We had to be very careful because the horses would be moving up and trying to outspeed the pedestrians from both right and left. People would rest their limbs very often by sitting on the stone boulders. They would be encouraged to move on. I found this climb a very tough one. It probably took me about an hour to reach the top of the hill. In between I took out my recorder to record the effects of the yatra moving up. Also a few people were asked for reactions on the climb. I was building up material for the radio report.
After a very short rest, I moved on to next intermediate location - Zoji bal. It is a four kilometer distance. On the way we saw birch trees. (Birch bark was the paper in ancient times. We find a good number of ancient texts written on the birch bark layers smoothened horizontally.) The journey was comparatively smooth except at some places the road was striven with stones and the paths were narrow and steep. Naga Koti was the next place we encountered on the way. The journey continued and we could see blue waters of the lake at a distance. We slogged on and reached the camp site, a big flat area adjacent to the lake. It would take fifteen minutes to walk down to reach the lake. Majority of yatris were seen going down the slopes to take a dip in the lake. I didn't do it because I was too tired and feeling a little feverish. For a moment I thought that having come on a pilgrimage, I should take a dip but the prospect of having to climb back from the lake level to camp ground would sap my energy further and would cause me problems next day.
Sheshnag means king of snakes. It is said the the snake king dug this lake and took residence here. Some yatris claim that they have seen a big snake in the lake. I looked at the lake and gazed on the surface for a long time but did not see the snake.
We camped similarly at this location (also called padaav in the local language). The tent was pitched up, meals prepared and eaten. Before hitting the sack, I found a couple of Bhajan singing groups to record them. Mercifully no rains, although it had become cloudy. Everyone seemed to be praying for clear weather. Next day early in the morning we started for the next padaav - Panchtarni, about ten kilometers away. The sadhus escorting the holy mace had taken a bath in the holy Sheshnag lake at about 3 AM and then moved on to the next stop. They were already away when I started for the day. The first place we reached was called Warbal. The path was almost a level ground and reasonably a wide one. At that place we encountered a low incline clay soil hill. This hill is known as Mahagunus. The climb up is very tiring too. Once it rains on this hill, the water causes the soil to become spongy and it is very difficult to walk and make progress. Most times the shoes get stuck in the spongy soil. In my last blog, I have mentioned that no one could reach the cave on a couple of seasons. The continuing rainfall during the yatra had caused the path treacherous. And then it was followed by early season snowfall. There were lot of deaths of yatris. Most of the sadhus are sparsely clothed and they consider it a good karma to die on this yatra. The administration decided to call off the yatra to save lives.
After reaching the top of the hill, we reach a place called poshe-pathir. This is a level ground with lot of wildflowers in bloom. The height of this place is 12730 feet. There is paucity of oxygen here because the air density is low. There is a tendency for pilgrims to rest here after having been tired coming up the hill. But the paucity of oxygen tends to cause fainting. Thus pilgrims are constantly advised by the volunteers to move on. I found a couple of tents with oxygen facility at Poshe-pathir to help pilgrims showing symptoms of breathlessness. The journey to next padaav for overnight halt would be another five kilometers. It is mostly down hill (very light slope) and the soil is more firm. The journey is a cakewalk in comparison to the earlier journey up the hill.
I will describe next part of the trip tomorrow. Bye for now.
on a couple of occasions had caused the The
No comments:
Post a Comment