The following day 9 September, Villagers were going to another temple Bansi Narayan, 10 kilometers away, from there again they went ahead 6 or more kilometers in search of Brahma Kamal for the offering at their traditional temple. I don't know what triggered him, Dhaval said he will take us and it sounded safe and comfortable for all. Ramesh needed a sleeping bag and winter wear so he went to joshimath. I asked him to buy a used rain jacket for me. At noon Dhaval said lunch will be at the temple, and as we reached there he said he was on his way. While me and Ramesh waited, a sadhu called us to his shelter. I had seen him earlier near the temple where a few other sadhus lived. He made us sit and made some tea with A bowl made of tin, that I'm sure is used in cooking everything possible. He added water, a lot of jaggery, some tea leaves and simply let it boil. We lacked glasses so he simply found a plastic bottle, cut it into two and made a glass of it. Tea was too sweet but since it was boiled for long, there was a bitterness too. I tried to drink up some while Ramesh managed to spill it out. Just when we bid bye to the Sadhu, Dhaval reached with a handful of groceries and vegetables and took us for lunch where the sadhus lived, just beside Kalpeshwar temple. I was very hungry, waiting for a meal as a sadhu was preparing tadka for the dhal. A full plate of rice and a very tasty dal fry. Wow, delicious and fulfilling. We sat there for a few rounds of chillum before getting back to the room to rest and be ready for the big trek next day.
Later in the evening, the house owner comes to tell a police verification of all tenants in the village had to be done at the police station and that triggered Dhaval. He says he will do it after the trek but the owner wanted it to be done immediately which caused an argument between the two. Early in the morning, Dhaval had gone to bring milk and the owner comes and tells us to vacate the place immediately. I requested him so much that we will leave after the trek but he simply denied. I decided we pack and leave the cycle and excess bags at Rawat Ji's house and leave for the trek. That's when Rawat Ji came to the room, we told him what happened and he agreed. Ramesh and I packed up and loaded the cycles, started pushing it up to the main road. That's when Dhaval called and said everything was sorted and we could leave our bags in his room itself. We came back to drop the luggage, while I packed all groceries and cooker, Dhaval said food will be available at a Sadhu's shelter so we took our sleeping bags with all the warm wear and rain wear to hurry up and start. Food was taken from Rawat Ji's house, we were supposed to eat but as it was already late so we decided to have it on the way. We were so thankful for the rotis and potato stuffed pooris along with a potato fry and be denied to say how much it costs.
Slowly we started hiking up the incline path one breath at a time, inhale, one step and exhale, one step. That's my trick when it comes to climb hills or mountains. Helps me stay focused and a controlled breath is the essence of long treks. When you are running out of breath, you stop and normalize the breathing and then move forward, inhale one
Step and exhale, one step. We reached the house of Jassu Bhai, where we met Prateek who was living on lease and Prem, a villager who would join us on the trek . Prateek guided us along the path, taking us through the shortcuts to climb higher and higher through a variety of vegetation that kept changing after certain heights. Later Prem started leading with everyone following. The lead stopped at a point after a certain distance to make sure everyone reached before we continued further. The path was mostly incline and no matter how high we reached, we had to climb higher. In between we stopped to have food and packed up what was remaining, water was filled up wherever we found streams and we continued climbing with all our strength.
When we arrived at the top, the view was simply rewarding and worth every step taken to climb but the cold was giving us shivers. The view of the temple and its surroundings were a totally different level of happiness. We found a shelter where we left our bags before going to the temple of Bansi Narayan and later sat at the small shelter made for himself for a Sadhu who lived there since 5 years. he lived in the shelter below but was asked to move saying it was a wildlife reserve, so he put up a small shelter under a cave and moved there. Chillums kept filling up and passed around while smokes kept floating in the hut. Tea was served with milk and sometimes without. All that packets of biscuits and rusks and mixtures started getting empty one by one. As the day faded, the cold started showing its game and we tucked ourselves from all sides to battle it while the Sadhu sat comfortably at a distance from the fire, draped in two pieces of cloth with a shawl wrapped above, smiling at every joke and inhaling the smoke of chillum like he was burning his lungs from the inside and nothing bothered, not the cold nor the struggle not a thought about future. He was a charm. He had prepared a dhal while Prem made some rotis that we ate and went down to sleep. Prateek stayed with the Sadhu while me Dhaval, Ramesh and Prem came down to the shelter below. We made a fire but it made the entire room smoky, still we managed to spend some time near the fire before tucking ourselves onto our sleeping bags.
It was close to 6 in the morning when Dhaval started showting,” Akaash uto, uto Akaash bahar toh dekho, esiliye toh aaya hai” I struggle to get out of the sleeping bag in the shivering cold, managing to get out and stood stunned. That view was the reward of all that struggle and pain we went through. Dhaval asked me to hurry as none of them would trek further and wanted me to be ready as the villagers were already taking bath in the sub zero degree waters to start their hike for the Brahma Kamal. I got ready and reached the cave while they served some tea. I had to stay away and not touch any of them as per the rituals so I kept my distance. the group started marching with a umbrella made of bamboo, nicely decorated with a basket as their backpack to fill up with the rare flowers. They stopped at a place, waiting for a few to join and then again started marching higher and higher till they stopped at another spiritual site. After they offered their rituals, they served some Prasad of flatten rice and sugar cubes with some apples and peaches. The March then continues for the flower, I followed Manoj as his pace till he found another friend and started climbing faster, I stopped for about 10 seconds while they disappeared from my sight. The mist covered the area and I stood clueless without moving in any direction. After a few minutes I sighted another group a little below and starting climbing towards them till I found a few flowers and plucked them. After I had a few in hand, the villagers continued to climb higher while I decided to turn back. I found another group walking back and joined them in returning. After a point they tagged me with another couple of boys.
We slowly marched back while they found some flowers hiding among the rocks and plucked them, as we reached the holy site where Pooja was offered, we started feasting on the apples and peaches that were left as offering. As we waited some villagers of Urgam reached there with their baskets full of Brahma Kamal and I joined them to reach back at Bansi Narayan. I was very hungry when they offered some fruits and it filled me some energy, all I had taken was a cup of tea in the morning. Upon reaching the cave, I slowly changed my path to get back to the shelter when The villagers asked me to join for dinner later. A feast of sheep which they had sacrificed at the temple. I came up to the hut of Sadhu where Dhaval, Prateek, Prem rested while Jassu Bhai was sleeping on a rock outside. Ramesh had woken up for lunch and was back in his sleeping bag. I shared some fruits and asked for a smoke, I was desperate for one since I hadn't smoked much through the day, afraid of not being able to keep my pace with the villagers.
It started raining and we didn't realise how time flew as we sat tight in the Sadhu's small cabin. We we turned outside, it was already dark and the Sadhu had too many people to serve. All I needed was a meal weather it was meat or dhal with rice. Prateek suggested that me and Ramesh go have meat at the cave but the cave was about 200 metres away and I had to hike with my wet shoes. We decided to go and slowly starting marching with a light in hand while I held a stick on the other. Upon reaching, nobody cares to show any interest in us so we stood quite, I saw a familiar face Kuldeep, who serves at the temple who let us in. Yet nobody cared so I slowly asked if we could get a meal? I hear a response, sure but you need to wait a while. We agreed and sat down close to the fire which was struggling to raise, I simply took out a candle and added to the fire for it to raise within minutes. A bown loaded with meat and rice was served but at the same time another sheep was getting butchered right in front of our eyes. Though the scene of killing and cleaning was making it uncomfortable to eat, ramesh gave up and asked if I needed more, I took some meat and filled myself not bothering what was happening in front of my eyes. We washed the bowls, slowly left bidding them a heartful thanks. Marching down to the shelter, I rolled a smoke and put myself to sleep.
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