Year 1995, I must have been about ten years old, it was 5' o clock in the morning, I had been up since 3 AM looking out into the darkness of the highway I was on, feeling the breeze in my face through the tiny creek in the window, as I was allowed to open only so much with the lady sitting behind me in the bus I was on more worried about what the wind would do to her hair than anything else constantly was keeping a watch on me if I opened the window any more than what I had all through the night...
It was my first time up north and was on my way to Rishikesh from Delhi, I had only read or seen pics of the Himalayas or the Ganges but I would be seeing it for the first time..
As I was little and did not have much geographic knowledge about the Himalayas or the rivers or knowing anything about altitude where the snowcapped giants could be seen from or any other detail, I frankly did not know what to expect. The only things that i knew were that the Ganges flows down from the Gangotri Glacier and Rishikesh has the rapid Ganges flowing through it and is surrounded by the foothills of the Himalayas.
It was pitch dark, and our white bus that of Paniker Travels we had hopped on to with registration numbers DL 1C P 5577... lol... **[I can never forget the Registration Number of the bus as this was the very first thing the person who was guiding us on the tour had spoken about and to make it clear that we were heading to a tourist place with hundreds of tourist busses which looked exactly like ours would be parked everywhere and this key information was very very important.. so, to make it easy for us to remember, this punjabi chap who was guiding us said "The bus number is Delhi(DL) First Class Paniker Travels (1C P) Fifty Five Seventy Seven (5577) ]** comes to a halt after about 6-7 hrs of journey and all I can see is a small chai shop with incandescent lights lighting up only the shop and nothing else and a couple running the shop making cups of tea amidst the sweet smell of boiling milk.. I get out of the bus with my mum holding my hand tightly so that i do not run away somewhere and go near the chai shop, as my mum ordered chai for herself and a cup of milk for me.. I managed to slip from her clutches and walk around :) I was very confident that I would not get lost as there was nothing else around that was visible except for that one chai shop + I also knew the registration number of our bus !
As i finished mu cup of milk... I assured my mum that I would be in her sight and she could watch me from where she was sitting and I wanted to walk around, it was still dark and there were smooth pebbles on the ground everywhere... I found it very amusing and we could hear the river but not see it.. as I walked away from the chai shop the sound of the river began to get louder and with a few more steps i felt water as i stepped into the river... I got scared that i would be dragged away with the current and ran back to where my mum was sitting and not tell her about my discovery, because it was my mum who had told me that the river has a very powerful current an how kids should not go near the river without adult supervision..
15-20 mins later as the sun began to rise we could see where we were.. the bus was parked on the river bed and so was the little chai shop... the mighty Ganges was flowing around us and we were surrounded by lush green mountains, the pebbles were pure white in colour and the river bed had this grey sand with lots and lots of mica in it which was shining and the river was crystal clear and fast ! It was breath taking and was the most scenic place i had been to ever !
I cannot recall much but all i can remember is that view that I saw from where the bus was parked and how I wanted to stand forever on lakshman Jhula brigde and skip breakfast looking down onto the river and going giddy.
We carried on to visit Haridwar which I did not like at all as there were too many people, the Ganges was green in colour, even though Haridwar is just about 25 Kms away from Rishikesh I could not believe the Ganges was polluted so much by then..
From Haridwar we ended up at Mussoorie which is at the foot hills of the Garhwal Himalayan Ranges, which hosts Gangotri and Yamunotri Glaciers, we spent a couple of days here and I remember climbing up this little hillock called Gun Hill which is supposed to be one of the highest points in Mussoorie from where i got my first glimpse of snow capped peaks, I was thrilled and jaw dropped and did not feel like leaving... if only anything was in my hands and had any sorts of decision making powers...
We returned back to Delhi and was back to Bangalore in a couple of weeks, back to school, back to doing homework and taking up tests and exams..
We made another short trip to Delhi in 1996 but we did not go anywhere up further up North and spent the entire 3.5 weeks we were there in and around Delhi.
Now 15 yrs later after dreaming endlessly of the mountains talking to friends whom I have made who are equally mad about the snow caps and traveling and after visiting the mountains at least once a year for the last two years, I just cannot wait to GO BACK !!
Monday Morning Just wrapped up work for the day and all I can think off is to RELOCATE !
It was my first time up north and was on my way to Rishikesh from Delhi, I had only read or seen pics of the Himalayas or the Ganges but I would be seeing it for the first time..
As I was little and did not have much geographic knowledge about the Himalayas or the rivers or knowing anything about altitude where the snowcapped giants could be seen from or any other detail, I frankly did not know what to expect. The only things that i knew were that the Ganges flows down from the Gangotri Glacier and Rishikesh has the rapid Ganges flowing through it and is surrounded by the foothills of the Himalayas.
It was pitch dark, and our white bus that of Paniker Travels we had hopped on to with registration numbers DL 1C P 5577... lol... **[I can never forget the Registration Number of the bus as this was the very first thing the person who was guiding us on the tour had spoken about and to make it clear that we were heading to a tourist place with hundreds of tourist busses which looked exactly like ours would be parked everywhere and this key information was very very important.. so, to make it easy for us to remember, this punjabi chap who was guiding us said "The bus number is Delhi(DL) First Class Paniker Travels (1C P) Fifty Five Seventy Seven (5577) ]** comes to a halt after about 6-7 hrs of journey and all I can see is a small chai shop with incandescent lights lighting up only the shop and nothing else and a couple running the shop making cups of tea amidst the sweet smell of boiling milk.. I get out of the bus with my mum holding my hand tightly so that i do not run away somewhere and go near the chai shop, as my mum ordered chai for herself and a cup of milk for me.. I managed to slip from her clutches and walk around :) I was very confident that I would not get lost as there was nothing else around that was visible except for that one chai shop + I also knew the registration number of our bus !
As i finished mu cup of milk... I assured my mum that I would be in her sight and she could watch me from where she was sitting and I wanted to walk around, it was still dark and there were smooth pebbles on the ground everywhere... I found it very amusing and we could hear the river but not see it.. as I walked away from the chai shop the sound of the river began to get louder and with a few more steps i felt water as i stepped into the river... I got scared that i would be dragged away with the current and ran back to where my mum was sitting and not tell her about my discovery, because it was my mum who had told me that the river has a very powerful current an how kids should not go near the river without adult supervision..
15-20 mins later as the sun began to rise we could see where we were.. the bus was parked on the river bed and so was the little chai shop... the mighty Ganges was flowing around us and we were surrounded by lush green mountains, the pebbles were pure white in colour and the river bed had this grey sand with lots and lots of mica in it which was shining and the river was crystal clear and fast ! It was breath taking and was the most scenic place i had been to ever !
I cannot recall much but all i can remember is that view that I saw from where the bus was parked and how I wanted to stand forever on lakshman Jhula brigde and skip breakfast looking down onto the river and going giddy.
We carried on to visit Haridwar which I did not like at all as there were too many people, the Ganges was green in colour, even though Haridwar is just about 25 Kms away from Rishikesh I could not believe the Ganges was polluted so much by then..
From Haridwar we ended up at Mussoorie which is at the foot hills of the Garhwal Himalayan Ranges, which hosts Gangotri and Yamunotri Glaciers, we spent a couple of days here and I remember climbing up this little hillock called Gun Hill which is supposed to be one of the highest points in Mussoorie from where i got my first glimpse of snow capped peaks, I was thrilled and jaw dropped and did not feel like leaving... if only anything was in my hands and had any sorts of decision making powers...
We returned back to Delhi and was back to Bangalore in a couple of weeks, back to school, back to doing homework and taking up tests and exams..
We made another short trip to Delhi in 1996 but we did not go anywhere up further up North and spent the entire 3.5 weeks we were there in and around Delhi.
Now 15 yrs later after dreaming endlessly of the mountains talking to friends whom I have made who are equally mad about the snow caps and traveling and after visiting the mountains at least once a year for the last two years, I just cannot wait to GO BACK !!
Monday Morning Just wrapped up work for the day and all I can think off is to RELOCATE !
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