Gangotri Post

and so i am finally back from my trip to the beautiful Gangotri glacier.
for those who might never get a chance to be there (due to personal circumstances or because it might vanish before they can make it), it is amazing!
it is this wall of ice with a small cave like opening in the lower parts from where the river Bhagirathi gushes out.
it is true that the glacier has receded miles from where it used to be in the past and anybody who states that everything is fine with our water sources and there are no problems lurking in the near future, needs to see a psychiatrist. one needs to see it to believe it (not the psychiatrist, the glacier)

my trip started from Haridwar (where i reached in my last post) in a group of 6 people-4 Indians, 1 Brazilian and 1 Britisher, our motto being to photograph the glacier and try to compare it with earlier photographs.
i know each individual has a peculiar personality and one need not comment on them, but it is also funny how you get along with some people and you can't stand the presence of some others. photographers and a group of journalists (from the television media) are 2 groups i have started growing averse to, but thankfully i had some other buffer people with me all along the trip.

the trip from Haridwar to Gangotri town, should not have taken us the whole day, but it did. the roads were'nt the best, the traffic was also not in our favour, the tyres of the car din't really like us; preferring to go flat and as a result we reached Uttarkashi by 4 PM still 100 kms to go. Here we divided into 2 groups again and the 2 of us (who travelled together from Delhi to Haridwar) took the long road ahead to reach Gangotri. Of course the afore mentioned problems remained and with great difficulty we reached Harshil (35 kms still to go) at 10.30 PM.

Point to be noted, Uttarakhand roads are really bad. I am aware of the terrain of the state and mountain roads are difficult to maintain but negligence is quite evident in these areas. There is no lighting whatsoever, roads have big potholes, no check-fences, no signboards for directions at important turns. I like the border road organization, but i feel they need to put some more time and effort into these areas making the roads tourist friendly and safe at night.

Harshil is a cute village i must say, even though i got to see a bit of it only in the dark and early morning when we left. its an army camp, so foreigners are not allowed inside the area. if given a chance i would love to go there again and stay for a while.

Gangotri on the other hand, i feel is an over hyped town. it is more like a long lane along the river with nothing really great to boast of. Since i am not intrigued by temples, the big attraction of the Ganga maa temple was also not very exciting.

the best part of the trip started with the trek to Bhujbasa where we were to camp for 4 days. I wasnt well the day we left but i felt better after the 14 km uphill walk. it was amazing to see Sam and Chris cover this distance with their luggage on their backs. I accept i don't have the guts to do that.

Camp was great. good food, comfortable sleeping bags, tea/coffee/soup every evening, just a bit of dust and no toilets were the only issues. but we did overcome these and were able to start for our 5 km treks every morning and come back by 6 every evening to a sumptuous and very tasty dinner.

We accomplished our mission of taking photographs without much of my contribution and came back to Gangotri town moving on to Haridwar and a hurried return to Bangalore to finish some personal work.


P.S.-this is what happens when you dont finish your post in one go and try to add on later. I hope I dont do this again.