It was 2015 July 15th, I boarded on Doon express, and settled down on my berth. The train started on time, everyone had their dinner and slept. I was pondering whether I was crazy. It thus happened that my GMVN package for Valley of Flowers, Hemkund Sahib and Badrinath had been cancelled due to natural calamity. I am always crazy about traveling. Once I make up my mind to go somewhere I become mad if it is cancelled and it was a long desire for me to visit Valley of flowers. So I decided to move on my own. I was a bit scared and skeptic if I should be able to manage it. A family of four with a kid was my co-passenger. The kid became a very good friend of mine. His parents were teachers of Woodstock school in Landour and his grandmother was also there. The day was well spent with them.
Valley of Flowers is in the state of Uttarakhand. It is also called Nandadevi National park, a world heritage site declared by UNESCO. It is a unique place in its character. Flowers bloom from the month of July-August and die out in Septemtember. From October to April the valley remains covered by snow. In the month of May snow melts and germination of the seed of flowers takes place. Gradually they start blooming again stage by stage, and this circle goes on.
Next early morning I got down from the train in Haridwar and asked a rickshaw puller to take me to the bus stand from where I could catch the bus for Joshimath. The rickshaw puller took me to the shared jeep stand instead of bus. He told the jeep driver that I wanted to go to Joshimath. I sat on a jeep and waited till it was filled up. On the way to Joshimath the leaf spring of the car broke 3 times, at the last phase the driver drove in such a reckless manner, that made me panicky, because he had to reach Joshimath before 6 o’clock in the evening. Ultimately it reached. I found the GMVN Tourist rest house, and lodged there. I was mentally as well as physically fatigued. After a shower and dinner I cried bitterly and prayed to God that it didn’t matter whether I could complete my tour, but I must reach home safely. God heard my prayer and not only I finished the tour safely, but also enjoyed everything to my heart’s content.
In the next morning when I reached Gobindghat. It was quite late as it took time to get the shared jeep filled up, but Providence was with me, so there was a pony owner, who could not get any customer, and was waiting with his two ponies. I waited for sometime so that he could get another customer, but none came. At last after a little bargain I agreed to pay for two ponies. When we reached Ghangharia it was 4pm. I settled in a hotel and asked the manager to arrange a porter cum guide for me to go to Valley of flowers. Next day I started early in the morning after breakfast for Valley of Flowers. The first phase was difficult to climb. But after reaching the valley it was a steady slope. I took many pictures but later got tired and enjoyed the beauty of nature only which was surreal. When I came back in the afternoon my legs were shaking but tear rolled down from my eyes with joy.
Next morning I went to Hemkund Sahib by pony. It is a famous Sikh pilgrimage. This road was tougher and steeper than Valley of flowers. There was a Gurudwara at Hemkund. The water of the lake was partly frozen though pilgrims were bathing in it. I visited the sacred lake and the Gurdwara, sat there for sometimes, then had food from langar and waited for the other two Sikh pilgrims who came with me on ponies. There was a temple of Lakshman behind the Gurdwara. Laksman Ganga flowed by its side. I visited that temple. When I came down to Ghangharia it was 1 pm. In front of my hotel I found the same pony owner who brought me to Ghangharia. He asked me if I wanted to go back. I asked him to wait for me a while. I packed my things and came out. I wanted to leave the place because mobile net work was not available there, and I was afraid that if any disaster happened again I should be trapped there, and my son would get terribly worried for me.
I came down to Gobindghat at 4pm. I stayed there that night. Next early morning I went to Badrinath by a jeep arranged by my hotel owner. I reached there early in the morning. Due to the spread of the news of natural calamity all tour packages of that area had been cancelled. So the temple was almost empty. I did “darshan” and watched “aarti” of the holy deity. I got the ambrosial “kheer prasad”. I offered “pind” to my late parents.
After taking breakfast I decided to come back to Joshimath because it had been drizzling since last evening and I was expecting another landslide. So I came back to Joshi math. I was in the ninth cloud for the mission was successful and decided to spend the rest of the days in different places on the way back. I spent one day each in Auli, Karprayag, Rudraprayag and Rishikesh.
N.B. To reach Valley of Flowers one has to reach Haridwar. Buses, shared jeeps and hired taxis ply to Joshimath from Haridwar or one can go directly to Gobindghat by Haridwar- Badrinath or Hrishikesh- Badrinath buses. One has to walk or go by pony from Gobindghat To Ghangharia which is 12/14 kilometer distance. From Ghangharia Valley of Flowers is 7 kilometer trek. There is Hemkund Saheb too, which is a pilgrimage of Sikhs and a worth visiting place. One can avail pony to go there. It is a 10 kilometer trek.
Auli, an unplanned attempt.
After finishing my target of Valley of Flowers, Hemkund Saheb and Badrinath I found that I have 4 days extra in my hand. I booked a package of GMVN which had been cancelled due to a natural calamity, so I came out alone with my mission. As it was a package and there was always a chance for landslide during monsoon in the Himalayas, I kept 2 buffer days within my plan and as I had shortened my stay at Ghangharia and Badrinath I had another 2 days extra. Now I thought to utilize them. I came down to Joshimath at 12 noon. I inquired about Auli and whether it was possible to go by rope-way which was very famous due to its length. This cable car holds a record of the longest in Asia for covering total length of 4.15 km. I was informed by the counter that the cable car would run only at 3 pm because it was off season.
I kept my luggage under their custody and had my lunch. At 3-30 PM the cable car dropped me on tower number 8 as I wished to stay at GMVN tourist lodge. I got down from the tower and reached the point descending about 200 staircases from where the chair car plies for that tourist lodge. It was drizzling. The operator said that he could not run the chair car for a single traveler. He needed at least two. I was desperate, there was no other option for me except buying two tickets. The experience was unique, it was just like a dream where I was the queen of the place.
I reached the GMVN tourist lodge. None was there in the reception. I called if someone was there. One person came out and asked me to wait, and called the manager, who allotted me an economy room. The room was good and cozy with basic amenities of geyser, room heater, et cetera. I put the geyser on and removed the blanket from the bed to rest for a while before bathing. I found that the bed was wet at one part. I was going to call the attendant but saw that he himself was coming with another key.
He said that the manager had asked him to shift me to the super deluxe room beside the reception. I objected because I could not afford such a costly room. He comforted me saying that it didn’t matter. It was quite a luxury room. In the morning when I woke up it was raining, it was a rare moment of my experiences because I realized that the whole tourist lodge was within the cloud. I enjoyed every bit of moment in Auli, the memory is still fresh in my mind. It was cloudy so I could not get the view the Nandadevi peak.
After breakfast at around 10 o’clock the manger informed me to avail the chair car and to go to the tower number 8 to go back to Joshimath again. I went back to Joshimath and started for Karn Prayag.
N.B. Auli is accessible from Joshimath by car or by ropeway.
My itinerary (Uttarakhand)
Benediction 