A lot of good

Living in the city and following a routine limits life's experiences - not always but mostly so.. Travel opens up a whole new world of interaction with strangers in unknown lands which allows one to see the good in humanity. I've had a number of such experiences during my recent Himalayan trek to Uttarakhand.

We were out for a trek + roadtrip to Valley of flowers, Hemkund Saheb & Badrinath. The drive from Rishikesh to Gobindghat was to be done in a Sumo, while the next part was a trek through the mountains. As always happens during car rides, I started suffering a severe bout of mountain sickness. It was so bad I could barely move. Around an hour into the drive, we reached a langar point where my co-travellers got off to freshen up and have some tea and pakodas that were being served. A group of pilgrims who were going to Hemkund Saheb from Sangrur also stopped here. We immediately requested them to loan us one of the bikes as it helps alleviate motion sickness and one of them readily offered his and took our place in the SUV. Riding on the bike for some 40 kms odd helped tremendously and the rest of the journey became much easier. It was only after I got back in the Sumo that the driver told me that these yatris never part with their bikes. He was extremely surprised at and I was extremely grateful for their kindness.

The best set of experiences came on the way to Hemkund Saheb. We left bit late as compared to most other pilgrims who leave by 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. to start the ascent - while we left only by 7 a.m. As such, we had very little company on the way up - only a few mules who were taking people and goods up to the Gurudwara. The climb to the gurudwara is extremely steep and we had climbed for a good 2.5 hrs and thought we were almost there, only to cross the tree-line and discover that we had not even covered the halfway mark. Climbing further took us to an altitude above 12,000 ft and I started to feel the effects of AMS where every step was an ordeal and breathing was laboured. We crossed a bunch of dhabas and I decided I could not go on anymore. Asked my group to move ahead and I started my descent. Going lower in altitude helped and after going down around 500 ft. I stopped to rest on bench and to catch my breath. The AMS seemed to have vanished by now and as I was sitting there, an old man with a white flowing beard, who was on his way down from the gurudwara, stopped and asked me if I was going up or down and if I needed anything. Told him I was feeling unwell and so going down without reaching the gurudwara. He probably meant to console me and said "Never mind. You can go back tomorrow or another time." Gosh.. Those words made me look all the way down to Ghangharia and the tremendous amount of climbing we had done already and I decided to go right back up instead of attempting this whole thing again. I was also feeling a bit guilty about not attempting to reach the gurudwara even though I was feeling better.

So I once again started climbing back up and now had to cover the extra 500 ft of altitude that I had descended and was cursing myself for not stopping to rest at that dhaba cluster itself! As I was climbing, there were more pilgrims coming down from the gurudwara. All of them encouraged me and said that I would definitely make it up - and all gave varying degrees of time estimations. It was exhausting to do the climb again and I trudged along slowly. One gentleman gave me his walking stick saying it would help me climb faster, another offered me water with electral / enerzal. :-)

I kept on going and by the time I reached back at the dhaba cluster, I was completely out of breath and out of water. One dhaba owner gave me a glass of cold water and also offered to fill my water bottle. I kept going. It was sunny and cloudy intermittently and I could not determine whether the weather would hold or whether it would start pouring. My only solace was that my group of friends was still up there and that I would have company on the way down.

It was getting quite late and was almost 1:30 p.m. when I reached a point from where there were two paths leading to the gurudwara - one a steep set of stairs and another the trail that I was following. I was afraid that if I took one path and my group went down the other, we would miss each other. Not only would I have to go back down alone (the number of pilgrims going down was dwindling as most had already headed back) but my group would also worry about me on not finding me back at the hotel, since they did not know that I was heading back up.

I met a few people and described the clothes my friends were wearing and gave their names and told them that if they came across such a group on the way back, they should let them know that I had gone back up. They all assured me they would and some also recommended that I take a mule for the last leg so that I could reach the gurudwara in time. I had seen the sore and bleeding backs of the mules and I decided that it was ok if I didn't reach the gurudwara but I would not inflict pain on a poor animal and with this resolve I kept climbing. I met one more group with a teenager who were going down. I stopped them and told them also to inform my group. The teenager (Gurpreet) gave me glucose to carry with me and to have bit by bit - and also advised me to slow down and breathe deeply since he could see that I was out of breath. I took his advice and moved on only to find him back with me 5 mins later. He said his mom had asked him to accompany me all the way back to the gurudwara to make sure I reached safely. I was so very touched by this gesture..! However, it was still a long walk and I couldn't possibly expect him to climb back for another half hour with me. I thanked him and sent him back saying the best help would be if he could inform my friends, should he come across them. He turned back reluctantly and I moved on. 15 mins later I was exhausted and could not imagine climbing any more and that's when I saw my friends coming down the trail. They had got me prasad from the gurudwara and told me that the gurudwara had shut and that it would be best to turn back since the weather looked like it would turn bad any time. I was disappointed but I also realised that I was too tired and out of breath to go any further and I turned back with them.

On the way down, my condition deteriorated to the point where I had to sleep on the path and on benches to regain strength to go back down. The glucose and prasad came in handy there. :-) 

It took a long time to descend and it was past 6:30 p.m. by the time we reached the end of the path. There I saw Gurpreet sitting on a bund wall with a few friends. He had reached Ghangaria by 4 p.m. and had been sitting at the end of that path ever since just to make sure I came back safely. He had tried to look for my group on the way down but not having found them, had taken it upon himself to make sure I got back. I was touched to the point of tears. I had never expected that a stranger would go through so much trouble to ensure my safety. I thanked him profusely though no amount of thanks was enough. Between his gesture and those of all the people who helped me en route, I found a kindness and a kinship I have rarely experienced before. 

I have no pictures of any of these people as I was in no state to take selfies.. nor did I get most of their names.. but I hope they know, especially Gurpreet, that I will always remember and cherish this experience and will always be grateful for all of them. At that point I did not mind at all that I did not reach the gurudwara for I realised that I had met the spirit of babaji every step of the way.. :-)