JAI BADRI VISHAL!

SOMETHING I WROTE FOR THE OFFICE NEWSPAPER IN 2007...

I have never been the types to be enthusiastic about going on a religious trip, and a trip to one of the “char dhaams” with my parents for 4 days was certainly something I wasn’t looking forward to. Over-Crowded temples with leftover Prasad on the floor and the long waiting lines definitely make me remember god but in a totally different state of mind. The only religious place I had gone to before, was Vaishno devi and the experience was such that I always feel jittery when going on any such expedition again.

But this time my parents took over, and so one Thursday I woke up at an unearthly hour and we all started towards Badrinath. Once in the car I couldn’t keep my eyes open, my mom had to shake me to show me the beautiful sights that can be seen only in the early morning, and so it went on for quite some time. It was only when we reached Rishikesh that I finally sat up and took notice. On the way our driver who was from the same regions started explaining to all of us about Badrinath.

Char Dham (literally: 'the four abodes/seats') are the four abodes of God in the four directions of India - Puri in the east, Rameshwaram in the south, Dwarka in the west, and Badrinath in the north. These are the most revered sites for Hindus that have to be visited in one's lifetime.

Badrinath located in the state of Uttarkhand, is the most important of the four sites of Char Dham. It is in the Garhwal hills, on the banks of the Alaknanda River. The town lies between the Nar and Narayana mountain ranges and in the shadow of Nilkantha peak.

His lecture was abruptly interrupted when our car was stopped by some Sikhs, they all came to the driver’s window and asked him to roll it down. Anxiously my dad asked them what the matter was, and one of them replied “langar laga hai, chak lo!”. I didn’t quite understand what was going on, who would put up a Langar in the middle of no-where? Then my father explained that Garhwal is also home to one of the most popular sites for Sikhs: Hemkund sahib. Apparently it is considered a huge virtue if you feed a pilgrim on his way to the shrine. We politely thanked them for their hospitality and left them.

The long road ahead:

The months of May-June-July are the busiest in these regions. As in the winter the weather becomes very harsh and also the temples close down and so most people prefer this time to make their pilgrimage. The road is very busy with tourist traffic during this time.

Pilgrims going to Badrinath, Kedarnath and Hemkund sahib all take the Rishikesh-Badrinath road. And so the traffic is all tourists and the entire atmosphere is that of purity and sanctity.

My father was telling me stories of how his grandparents covered this journey in a month. In earlier times people use to trek all the way and sometimes it took months for them to finish a trip. At first I couldn’t believe that someone would actually consider doing such a thing, but then on the way I saw many sadhus, most of them so thin that I could see their bones through their skin, trekking on the road with only god on their side.

In the heat and dust, many Sikhs were making their journey on bikes, with utensils and food grains hung at the back, there were people in crowded Uttaranchal state buses and even on foot. Compared to any of them I felt quite small and a little jealous also of their faith in God.

The Mysterious Deepak

How so many cars and taxis and buses managed to travel on the narrow twisty road was beyond me. I was looking outside the window and I saw signs of “Drive safely”, “Be patient” “don’t overtake on turns” etc all over. For a change I saw people following the signs, even though driving in hilly areas is more dangerous …I saw buses and tempos stopping for cars to move, a rare sight in any city. Even the quality of roads was pretty good, another rare sight in any cityJ.

There was one odd thing about the signs that had me puzzled; various road signs were referring to “deepak” saying “Drive slowly Deepak at work”, or “Thank you for following rules- Deepak” or “Thanks to Deepak pilgrims are able to see their gods ”etc. I asked the driver if he knew what Deepak is. He told me that he was someone whose life had been sacrificed when the road was finished so that it becomes safe for everyone else. I was unconvinced but I kept quiet and the journey continued.

The never ending Journey

Our first stop was at Dev prayag. Prayag means a point where two rivers meet; Dev prayag is the place where Alaknanda and Bhagirathi meet to form Ganga. Even without the religious reasons, the place is a must see. On the ghats one can easily see clear waters of Bhagirathi and sediment laden Alaknanda meeting with great force and forming the mighty Ganga. After taking some snaps we moved on ahead.

Then a pattern emerged, every few miles there would be a langar where the Sikhs would request us to eat and we would politely decline, then there would be some city called prayag (Rudra prayag, nandprayag, etc…) and there would be traffic from both sides, with kedarnath, badrinath and hemkund sahib written on the vehicles.

We finally stopped for spending the night at a place called Joshimath. It is a small town just 2 hours away from Bardinath temple.

It’s quite a populous place with people from JAYPEE group, NTPC, the border security force there. This is a site where JAYPEE group has built their hydro power plant and now NTPC is going to build another hydro power plant. Renewable sources of energy finally getting onJ. It was world environment day when we reached Joshimath. NTPC was doing some CSR thing, due to which the entire office was full of school kids sitting on the durree and a middle aged man with a mike. He spoke about how imp it is to get rid of plastic and the importance of renewable sources of energy and that being born in the valley of gods is a privilege and we should keep it that way. I was quite happy and the sight in front of me was enough to make me decide that I for one am going to take the trash back with me. However it was short lived. They served tea and samosas to the kids in plastics plates and cups and the kids threw it anywhere they liked.

Valley of Gods: Short cut to God

The next day we again woke up early and started our journey to the Badrinath temple. Since there is a lot of traffic and the roads are narrow; traffic from and to the temple is regulated, gates are opened at intervals of 4 hours. We took the first gate and reached there by 11 o clock and finally there it was. The temple is quite different from the traditional Hindu temples; it’s quite colorful for one thing. If I hadn’t known I would have never guessed that this was it. Somehow I was expecting something else. But it was beautiful nonetheless.

My father’s company had arranged a very resourceful ex-army man to accompany us. When we reached the temple there was an unbelievably huge line and all my fears of such religious places was coming back, but our army uncle took charge and I don’t know from where but he got side doors opened and we were ushered in. He took us straight into the area where the pujaris were, we were one of the privileged ones who could see the idols from up close.

All the time all sorts of thoughts were coming to my mind, why is the shaligram stone grey and not black, who are the other gods and goddesses besides badrinath ji, Who really is “Deepak”? , The idol is covered with so many garlands and jewellery and other stuff so much so that even I can’t see it clearly so how can the ppl standing at the back of the temple? How bad the people standing outside must be feeling after all, they are the ones who have waited for so long in a line, shouldn’t they get the VIP treatment? And that was it. The first time I felt that I had been blessed, blessed to experience something and be a part of something infinitely bigger than me. Soon afterwards we went to see Saraswati River and the bridge built by Bhim.

Saraswati and the bridge built by Bhim :

The bridge may have been built by Bhim, (Its true, every rock has a story in Uttaranchal)but now its rebuilt and ppl have written their names all over it so now it says “Rajiv pull ” “Sachin Pull”etc…. There is also a small waterfall of river Saraswati. It is this place where as per the myth it goes underground and meets Ganga and Jamuna in Allahabad.

Next we saw the last Indian shop after which the china border starts. There were also some Swarg ki sidi: a staircase that leads to heaven and only the worthy reach there, even though curious my parents probably didn’t want to take a chance with me and decided to head back.

So that was the end of it. Except maybe the “Deepak road sign” mystery, I asked Army uncle about it and he had explained that Project Deepak was started by BRO(Border Road Organization ) to keep the routes open to the ‘Char Hindu Dhams’ and Gurudwara Hemkund Sahib. I guess fiction is stranger than fact.