Day 7
Uttarkashi-Haridwar-Ujjain
The locked door
As planned earlier, we had to look out for any cab leaving
early in the morning. It was all up to chance now. If we got lucky, we would
find a cab leaving early in the morning and if its fast enough, it would cover
the 170 kms and drop me to Haridwar in time so that I can catch my after noon
train. The alarm was set up for 3 AM and nobody was really willing to get up
that early, afterall we were all terribly tired. As soon as the alarm went, I
immediately swung into action. After getting fresh, I shook the others and they
all began to get ready one by one. Meanwhile, I decided to go down and check
out if there are any vehicles on the street below. But to my horror, I found the
hotel front door locked. I had no way of knowing whom to contact to get the
bloody door unlocked. There was no one around. I looked for any kind of contact
number on the reception. But there was none. I then decided to knock at every
guest’s door on every floor in hope of finding that idiot elusive receptionist.
People reluctantly answered my knocking and joined me in my quest to find him.
Finally, we found him in one of the rooms. He quickly unlocked the main gate.
The street outside was pitch dark with not a soul around. I
decided to go to the southern end of the road and cross the tunnel to reach the
2nd taxi stand on the other side. There were plenty of Sumos
standing there. I asked one of the sleeping drivers and they directed me to a
particular cabbie who was planning to leave at 4 that morning. He was leaving
anyway for Haridwar to pick up some tourists. I requested him to take us along and
he agreed readily. After a brief negotiation we settled down at Rs 250 per
head. His only condition being that we leave immediately. That’s what I had
wanted. I got in his cab and asked him to drive to the hotel so that we could
pick up the rest of the folks. In the meanwhile, I called Vishal and asked him
to be bring everybody down at the hotel gate, with all the luggage. In another
5 minutes, we had all boarded up and were ready to fly towards Haridwar along
the still pitch dark road. I was a bit apprehensive about driving along the
mountain roads in dark but the driver was quite skillful and drove patiently at
an amicable speed. We had soon crossed the notorious stretch of road until the
Dharasu bend.
The Black Pool
I was already very sleepy but being seated at the front along with the driver, I had to make sure that both of us are wide awake. So I would keep conversing with him about local issues every few minutes, more so, to drive sleep away from my eyes. We had managed to reach the northern end of the Tehri reservoir and I was astounded to see the black surface of the reservoir reflecting stars in the sky. Soon, I could see reddish-orange hue along the horizon, indicating the break of the dawn. We kept circling the giant reservoir, until almost 7 AM when the driver decided to take a short break. The people at the back were now wide awake. We decided to have maggi and tea to replenish our energy levels. In another half an hour, we were ready to resume our journey towards Haridwar. Soon we reached the town of Chamba. It looked quite beautiful in the morning. But we had no time to spare and so we kept moving. Finally at around 9:30 AM we had reached Narendranagar. The journey towards Rishikesh was mostly downhill through forested hill slopes. From high above the hill, I could see the giant Ganga snaking along the hills and mountains and flowing towards the great plains of India. Soon, we descended down the last of the hills and made our way through Rishikesh towards Haridwar. By 10:30AM we were in Haridwar. The cabbie had fulfilled his promise of delivering us to Haridwar before noon. He dropped us at the railway station. I now even had a lot of time to explore the city of Haridwar along with Kishan, Vishal and Bharath. So after double checking the train schedule we set off for the Ganga Ghats.
The Black Pool
I was already very sleepy but being seated at the front along with the driver, I had to make sure that both of us are wide awake. So I would keep conversing with him about local issues every few minutes, more so, to drive sleep away from my eyes. We had managed to reach the northern end of the Tehri reservoir and I was astounded to see the black surface of the reservoir reflecting stars in the sky. Soon, I could see reddish-orange hue along the horizon, indicating the break of the dawn. We kept circling the giant reservoir, until almost 7 AM when the driver decided to take a short break. The people at the back were now wide awake. We decided to have maggi and tea to replenish our energy levels. In another half an hour, we were ready to resume our journey towards Haridwar. Soon we reached the town of Chamba. It looked quite beautiful in the morning. But we had no time to spare and so we kept moving. Finally at around 9:30 AM we had reached Narendranagar. The journey towards Rishikesh was mostly downhill through forested hill slopes. From high above the hill, I could see the giant Ganga snaking along the hills and mountains and flowing towards the great plains of India. Soon, we descended down the last of the hills and made our way through Rishikesh towards Haridwar. By 10:30AM we were in Haridwar. The cabbie had fulfilled his promise of delivering us to Haridwar before noon. He dropped us at the railway station. I now even had a lot of time to explore the city of Haridwar along with Kishan, Vishal and Bharath. So after double checking the train schedule we set off for the Ganga Ghats.
The first thing on our agenda was having a sumptuous
fulfilling meal at a good restaurant. Over the past week, we had literally
famished and decided to make up for the loss in our diet. So we decided to
chedk out food at Chotiwala. The next thing on our agenda was a glassful of the
delightful famous Punjabi lassi near Har Ki Poudi. I had also suggested them to
check out the cable car to Mansa devi and the evening Ganga aarti at Har Ki
Poudi. Probably in the afternoon, they could check out some movie.
So having set the agenda, we took an auto to Har ki Poudi.
Since we weren’t too sure about the routes, the taxi driver took us for a ride
and instead of taking us straight to the Har ki poudi, he crossed the bridge
and dropped us on the other side of the river, infront of the Subhash Chandra
Bose ghat. We eventually figured out that we had to cross the river again on a
foot over bridge to get back to the other side. Since, we were already short on
time, we decided to spare the driver and began our explorations
Gangified Totally
We were astounded to see Ganga in its new avatar. The same river that we had seen at its source had now become wider, albeit, without losing any of its old fierceness, rather it now looked even more scary. The turquoise blue swift flowing waters of the mighty Ganga looked even more beautiful, glittering under the afternoon sun.
We felt we had seen it all. From icy cold rivulet breaking
out of the glacier snout of Goumukh to the holy temple town of Gangotri-nestled
along the river and dedicated to Mother Ganga to the wide expenses of white
sandy beach amidst towering Himalayan peaks in Harsil to the white water
rafting in the turbulent waters of Ganga in Rishikesh and finally the wide
azure blue swift flowing form in Haridwar, we were totally Gangified. And we
loved every bit of it. And this bridge crossing was probably my last sighting
of the holy river in a long time. And so I was secretly thanking the auto
driver for making us cross the river again.
Dhan Teras
Once we reached the other side of the bridge, we descended into a busy market and we finally felt we were in Haridwar. Throngs of tourists and shoppers were probably doing their last minute shopping before begiinign the 5 day grand festival of Diwali. It was then that we realized it was Dhan Teras today. Probably that was the secret of Vishal’s happiness. He would get to do Ganga aarti and Puja and what nots on an auspicious day like Dhan Teras and in a holy city like Haridwar – Mayapuri for the old world. Making our way through the busy market, I quickly asked roadside shoppers for directions to Chotiwala.
Food, Drinks and a Rickashaw
We walked for another half a kilometer before reaching our 1st destination of the day-Chotiwala.
We didn’t waste time in going through the menu. We all had a
consensus on ordering the largest thali on menu. So while our food was being
prepared, we quickly got into the restroom area one after another to get fresh.
The restaurant waiters were eyeing us with curiosity and suspicion as we were
carrying stuffs like towel, soaps, toothbrush-toothpaste into their humble
restroom. We were their only customers
at that hour and we had the whole of rest room area to ourselves. So while I
was brushing my teeth, Bharath was washing his face and Kishan was probably
relieving himself in the bathroom. By the time, we got fresh, our food was
served. We were too hungry and soon all hell broke lose. The food was decent,
not as great as mentioned in lonely planet’s Uttarakhand guidebook. With limited quantity of sabzi(curry), dal,
kadhi, a bowl of sweet- a single piece of Gulab Jamun, chutney, papad,
curd-raita, achar and chawal along with poori, it was a typical Indian Thali
with ordinary taste. But even that ordinary tasting food was enough to lift our
spirits and fill our belly. After having food, we went to a nearby ATM,
withdrew enough money to last for the next couple of days and started quickly
walking towards Har Ki Poudi. I had already taken directions for the famous
Punjabi lassi wala. It was hardly 500metres from Chotiwala. Vishal and Bharath
decided to try the lassis later in the evening since they hardly ahd any place
in their stomachs, but since I had to leave for the station, I decided to grab
a glass. The lassi was simply other-wordly, thick and full of malai, it had
just the right quantity of sugar in it. Till this date, my mouth starts
watering every time I am reminded of it.
It was time for me to bid farewell to my friends who had
been there with me for the past 7 days and helped me in realizing my dream of
exploring the Ganga from source to the plains. They had decided to stay in
Haridwar until evening Ganga aarti before catching the night bus for Delhi and
from there another bus for Pilani. I quickly gave them suggestions for places
they could visit in Haridwar during the day. We quickly settled all the
acocunts and I took a cycle rikshaw. The roads were too crowded with traffic
and it was already 12:15. I still had another 45 minutes before my train would
depart, but I didn’t want to take any risk. So I gave the riksha walla strict
instructions to rush through the now maddening afternoon crowd. He didn’t
disappoint me and we were able to reach station by 12:30. I was now much
relaxed. I found my train standing idly on the platform. So with a bottle of
water, I got in and occupied my window seat. Apparently, this train would take
almost 24 hours in covering just 950 kms to Nagda from where I would have to
find my way to Ujjain through train or bus. I prepared myself for the long and
slow journey back to home. The only
condolence was reaching home a day before Diwali.
Reminiscence
I reminisced over the last 24 hours and was amazed to see the ground that we had covered. From dizzying heights of above 4000meters, I was now in the plains, in a span of just 24 hours. I had walked for more than 23 kilometers yesterday and then covered another difficult 220 kilometers amidst the Himalayas in vehicle.
As far as the rest of the train journey is concerned, frankly
I don’t remember much, so I am assuming that nothing much would have happened
over those 24 hours. But then I vividly remember the horrible journey from
Nagda back to Ujjain.
After reaching Nagda at around 1PM, I realized that the next
train for Ujjain from there would leave only by 3PM. It takes almost 45 minutes
through train. I didn’t want to while away precious 2 hours waiting for the
train. So, I decided to take up a bus. To my horror, it took me almost 4 hours
to cover those 56 kms. I pledged never to ride in a bus from Nagda to Ujjain
and better never to get stuck at Nagda ever.
Back at Home - Just as promised
Finally, I reached home right in time for the evening snacks. The festivity was definitely in the air. I was only happy to keep my promise of being at home for Diwali and also having accomplished a major journey of my life.
Finally, I reached home right in time for the evening snacks. The festivity was definitely in the air. I was only happy to keep my promise of being at home for Diwali and also having accomplished a major journey of my life.
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