To the Mountains , the Rivers , and the people

- From a Tourist to a Moved Traveller

The beautiful flowers at the Mana Village - India's 1st Village

I had no idea what I was signing up for when I told Amma, "I'll join you on the trip."

At that time, I had only two worries: whether I would get two weeks of leave from work, and how Sarath would manage taking care of Gowri on his own for  2 weeks. Thankfully, both concerns were sorted out sooner than expected.

So I decided to accompany her.

Partly because I was worried about sending her alone on such a long journey, and partly because I had always wanted to travel with her - just the two of us.

So I said yes.

Only later, when I started researching the trip, did I realize that I had unknowingly signed up for one of the most adventurous pilgrimages in India - the Char Dham Yatra.

At Haridwar Ganga Aarathi

I am not particularly religious ( irrespective of what the photo says 😃 ). I am not even deeply spiritual. In fact, I went directly to Kedarnath after Guruvayoor, unlike most people on the trip who had already completed many of the major Hindu pilgrimages across the country.

Still, Amma and I began our journey with twenty strangers.

And we came back with an extended family of 20 members 😊

People who made sure we were alright. People who encouraged us when we struggled. People who motivated me when, somewhere in the middle of the journey, I felt like turning back.

Oh... the sights I witnessed...

I genuinely do not have the words.

The mountains - rocky, snowy, majestic, and endless.  Along the roads were  mango trees full of mangoes , and I tasted  the sweetest juiciest litchis I have ever had in my life....

The Himalayas

River Saraswathi

Then there were the magnificent  rivers - Ganga, Yamuna, Mandakini, Bhagirathi, Alakananda and even the mystical Saraswati, which I had always believed existed only in stories until I saw the place where she emerges.

I am so grateful that I said yes to this journey. It made me realise how magnificent, diverse and serene India truly is...

Yamunotri was our first real challenge.

The gang ready to start the trekking

As we trekked up and down the steep paths, struggling to catch our breath ,  we were constantly overtaken by elderly pilgrims. Grandfathers who looked well into their seventies would smile and tell us, "It's very close now."

Many of them were even walking barefoot...

Their determination was humbling.

Then I saw the magnificent river Ganga.

At the origin of river Ganga 

I still remember the shock of touching her icy water for the first time.

The cold went straight through me.

In that moment, I understood why she is called the river of heaven.

Then came Kedarnath.

Kedarnath temple 

The part of the journey that surprised, humbled, and challenged me all at once.

An unexpected heavy rain drenched me completely. Since we had packed light for the trek, I had no extra clothes with me. I was exhausted, freezing, and overwhelmed.

To be honest, I cried three times during that trek alone.

I am deeply grateful to the dolly carriers who, after seeing my first breakdown, took special care of me. They shared their warmth, encouraged me, and made sure I kept going. The next day, they happily returned to carry me back down.

  I will never forget their kindness.

Us at Kedarnath camping 

  And then there was Amma.

  The person I thought I was taking care of ended up taking care of  me...

 When I could not stop shivering even after sitting inside the tent for nearly two hours, she quietly went out on her own and found an extra set of clothes for me.

 Life has a funny way of teaching us new lessons and keeping us grounded...

Finally, I stood before the magnificent Kedarnath Temple.

A sight I had begun to doubt I would ever see.

At one point during the trek, I was seriously asking whether I could somehow get a helicopter and come back down.

But every hardship was worth it.

At Kedarnath Temple

The next morning, I sat outside my tent with a cup of hot tea, looking at the snow-covered mountains glowing in the early sunlight.

I remember thinking how incredibly lucky I was to be there.

Our final destination was Badrinath.

At Badrinath

Somehow, I managed to stand in a queue from around 4:30 in the morning until nearly 8:30.

Four hours.

Anyone who knows me knows that I struggle to wake up even at 6 a.m. without complaining.

Yet there I was.

The company I had on this journey made all the difference. The average age of our group must have been around 60... oh, but a fun group it was! Everyone even came together to make a trending reel...

Me and Sreelu ( River Bhagirathi behind us )

To name a few... my very own trip partner Sreelu, without whom I wouldn't  have enjoyed the trip even half as much ; Padma Chechi and Dasettan, who felt like my own sister and brother ; the AI - pro Sreekumar Uncle;  the ever-caring Dr. Janaki aunty ; the wonderfully  organised Indira aunty , who even carried a handwritten itinerary journal ; the fun loving  sisters Sreedevi aunty and Jayasree aunty ; the ever entertaining Unni uncle ( or should I say Unnikuttan ? ) ; the trekking expert Sajeevan Sir ; Ice cream lover Priya aunty etc  and our very own co-ordinators Ananthu and Arjun, who were our pillars through out the journey

The girls gang 😃

That journey taught me kindness, patience and courage

But more importantly, it taught me something about human connections.

I never knew strangers could become this close.

Like family.

In some ways, even closer.

Some of them still check on me after I returned home - something even relatives sometimes forget to do.

Along the way, we also visited Haridwar, Uttarkashi and Rishikesh - places filled with temples, rivers  and the presence of countless rishis....

At Rishikesh after Ganga Aarathi

I witnessed the Ganga Aarti.

I listened to stories.

I listened to bhajans.

I laughed, struggled, prayed, complained, trekked, and wondered.

And somewhere along the way, I stopped being a tourist.

I became a traveller.

Not because I became more religious.

But because I became more grounded.

More grateful.

More humbled.

Yet one thought stayed with me throughout the journey.

As magnificent as the Ganga and Yamuna are, I often wondered whether these rivers would be happier if we treated them as rivers first and goddesses second.

We worship them with devotion, yet we burden them with the consequences of our actions.

Perhaps there is a way to honour them without polluting them.

Perhaps true worship is not what we put into the river, but what we remove from it.

Perhaps respect means allowing her to flow freely, to breathe, and to remain what she has always been - a living river that sustains millions of lives.

A river from heaven... 

At the magnificent Ganga

Let us preserve her in all  her magnificent and mesmerising beauty.

I returned home with blessings, memories, and a heart full of gratitude.

To appreciate nature not only through prayer, but through care... 

To appreciate the people around us... 

 To be kind for no reason...

And that may be the greatest lesson this journey gave me.   

                                                                                                                                  -  A Moved Traveller