Kalapani
26th June 2018: Today I spent an unsleepy night & wake up at about 4:00 am. I had a bad stomach pain as well as leg pain. I took the medicine. Our LO asked us to gather in ground & assigned us pony & porter. I don’t feel comfortable to use the pony. Though I am not a great animal lover, it feels me painful when people approx 70-80Kg use them for their own comfort. I always feel that if you cannot walk then skip the journey. God is not calling you to suck those animals. 😢
I know it provides their bread & butter, but they are the goods carrier, not the above 80kg human beings. I know this creat controversy! but it makes me angry ðŸ˜
Anyway, my porter is Kabind who is a college student from Dharchulla. The college student used to come here to serve as porter which gives them some extra income. He was a very nice guy, not talkative. Very helpful too.
After breakfast, we started our journey. Today our destination was Kalapani, the source of river Kali which was approx 9 Km from Gunji.
It was the 1st day of the real journey. Though the path was quite easy, some of the yatri used their pony.
I along with my porter Kabindra started at about 7:00 am. At first, we needed to cross some 20mts ascent & we reached to a quite plan land. There was an ITBP person where we needed to register our name along with the pony/porter name.
After that, there was a plain land, not meadow but something like that. I had been starting to talk to Kabindra. He told me that there was some fixed contractor for the pony & porter. Usually, the contractor decided who should go for which batches & he took the 1st charges of each porter. To get the name in contractor’s list they needed the identity proof like Aadhar card (especially) & village panchayat’s letter.
Kabindra told me he went with the 1st batch also. He told every year he did this 5-6 times. He lived in the nearby village with his mother & sisters. His father passed away very recently. His mother loved him very much & believes that he could not do anything which is not right. He confessed that he did not tell her mother that he worked as a porter with yatris. This time due to rain, he was not able to go home, so he had only one sweater & one jeans. He had a good collection of songs on his mobile. So he started to play it.
All the way he had ITBP jawans with us. There were 2 ITBP jawans I had met. I said hello to them also. But they preferred to follow some tough route, so they took some hilly path for the shortcut.
The view was awesome. The sky touching mountains with a one-way muddy road. No traffic light, no jam, no car. We companioned by Kali river. She is not Kali (black) actually. Little bit grey…Might be when she was a child she feels pity for her color…I could feel her pain.
Kabindra had shown me the famous Nag Parvat. At first glimpse, it was not felt me like the shape of a snake. But when we reached a little bit high, I was able to find resembles. He told me next day it would be more clear with the ice-clad backend.
After some time we reached the river bed. River Kali touches the road to say ‘Hi’ to the yartis. There was a bridge in his baby phase companied by some laborers & army persons. We had to cross the river with the help of an iron log. It was thrilling.
After crossing the river, it was only 2km to Kalapani KMVN camp. We only hear the sound of Kali. Sometimes we faced some yaks or mountain goats.
At about 11 am we reached Kalapani KMVN camp. It is at an altitude of 3600 meters. It is said that the Great Sage Vyasa meditated at this place, giving the region its name – Vyas Valley. Kabindra suggested going to temple first. there was a iron as well as a wooden bridge to cross the river. We crossed the river easily. There was a quite large bell at the gate of the temple. We both rang it. there was a large field in front of the temple. In the center, there was a source of water which had a tiled floor. The deity of the temple is Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva. We were welcomed by some hot water/tea & local potato chips by some ITBP personnel. After spending some time we were asked to go the KMVN camp. On the way, some halwa was distributed as prasad.
After entering the KMVN camp, we were welcomed by ‘Buransh’ juice which was Purple color. This is local ‘Rhododendron’ juice. Kabindra told me he had their arrangement outside the camp & would come tomorrow morning.
We all girls were allotted a large dormitory room where the entire interior part was made of wood. For the gents, some igloo type rooms were allotted. there was hot water arrangement same as Gunji. The water was damn cold to wash face even hands. But some of yatri took bath!! I did not know which extra blessing they got after getting the bath in such cold weather. As usual, there had always been bad blood between me & bath from Gunji. So I did not even try. I went to the dining room & collect my lunch. There was Pineapple raita which made me more than happy.
The camp was near the Kali river. From the camp courtyards, we could see the sky touching mountains. We could see Nag parvat from there also. We spent some time in the courtyards under the sunlight. Somewhere I read, we need to free our feet from our shoes. I found that was the best time to free my feet. Then after a short nap, I came to know all the yatris went to temple for bhajan… I knew this was not my cup of tea. So took a seat in courtyards where I was companied by KMVN manager. After sometimes two ITBP person from ITBP camp joined with us. We talked from politics to pilgrim vision. After some time a Babaji, aged approx 70+ came who went to view the Om Parvat & stampeded some thistle’s leaves and stem. KMVN personnel asked him to take rest inside their room.
We took our dinner approx 8pm & went to bed.
I know it provides their bread & butter, but they are the goods carrier, not the above 80kg human beings. I know this creat controversy! but it makes me angry ðŸ˜
Anyway, my porter is Kabind who is a college student from Dharchulla. The college student used to come here to serve as porter which gives them some extra income. He was a very nice guy, not talkative. Very helpful too.
After breakfast, we started our journey. Today our destination was Kalapani, the source of river Kali which was approx 9 Km from Gunji.
It was the 1st day of the real journey. Though the path was quite easy, some of the yatri used their pony.
I along with my porter Kabindra started at about 7:00 am. At first, we needed to cross some 20mts ascent & we reached to a quite plan land. There was an ITBP person where we needed to register our name along with the pony/porter name.
After that, there was a plain land, not meadow but something like that. I had been starting to talk to Kabindra. He told me that there was some fixed contractor for the pony & porter. Usually, the contractor decided who should go for which batches & he took the 1st charges of each porter. To get the name in contractor’s list they needed the identity proof like Aadhar card (especially) & village panchayat’s letter.
Kabindra told me he went with the 1st batch also. He told every year he did this 5-6 times. He lived in the nearby village with his mother & sisters. His father passed away very recently. His mother loved him very much & believes that he could not do anything which is not right. He confessed that he did not tell her mother that he worked as a porter with yatris. This time due to rain, he was not able to go home, so he had only one sweater & one jeans. He had a good collection of songs on his mobile. So he started to play it.
All the way he had ITBP jawans with us. There were 2 ITBP jawans I had met. I said hello to them also. But they preferred to follow some tough route, so they took some hilly path for the shortcut.
The view was awesome. The sky touching mountains with a one-way muddy road. No traffic light, no jam, no car. We companioned by Kali river. She is not Kali (black) actually. Little bit grey…Might be when she was a child she feels pity for her color…I could feel her pain.
Kabindra had shown me the famous Nag Parvat. At first glimpse, it was not felt me like the shape of a snake. But when we reached a little bit high, I was able to find resembles. He told me next day it would be more clear with the ice-clad backend.
After some time we reached the river bed. River Kali touches the road to say ‘Hi’ to the yartis. There was a bridge in his baby phase companied by some laborers & army persons. We had to cross the river with the help of an iron log. It was thrilling.
After crossing the river, it was only 2km to Kalapani KMVN camp. We only hear the sound of Kali. Sometimes we faced some yaks or mountain goats.
At about 11 am we reached Kalapani KMVN camp. It is at an altitude of 3600 meters. It is said that the Great Sage Vyasa meditated at this place, giving the region its name – Vyas Valley. Kabindra suggested going to temple first. there was a iron as well as a wooden bridge to cross the river. We crossed the river easily. There was a quite large bell at the gate of the temple. We both rang it. there was a large field in front of the temple. In the center, there was a source of water which had a tiled floor. The deity of the temple is Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva. We were welcomed by some hot water/tea & local potato chips by some ITBP personnel. After spending some time we were asked to go the KMVN camp. On the way, some halwa was distributed as prasad.
After entering the KMVN camp, we were welcomed by ‘Buransh’ juice which was Purple color. This is local ‘Rhododendron’ juice. Kabindra told me he had their arrangement outside the camp & would come tomorrow morning.
We all girls were allotted a large dormitory room where the entire interior part was made of wood. For the gents, some igloo type rooms were allotted. there was hot water arrangement same as Gunji. The water was damn cold to wash face even hands. But some of yatri took bath!! I did not know which extra blessing they got after getting the bath in such cold weather. As usual, there had always been bad blood between me & bath from Gunji. So I did not even try. I went to the dining room & collect my lunch. There was Pineapple raita which made me more than happy.
The camp was near the Kali river. From the camp courtyards, we could see the sky touching mountains. We could see Nag parvat from there also. We spent some time in the courtyards under the sunlight. Somewhere I read, we need to free our feet from our shoes. I found that was the best time to free my feet. Then after a short nap, I came to know all the yatris went to temple for bhajan… I knew this was not my cup of tea. So took a seat in courtyards where I was companied by KMVN manager. After sometimes two ITBP person from ITBP camp joined with us. We talked from politics to pilgrim vision. After some time a Babaji, aged approx 70+ came who went to view the Om Parvat & stampeded some thistle’s leaves and stem. KMVN personnel asked him to take rest inside their room.
We took our dinner approx 8pm & went to bed.
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