Kedarnath Yatra

Beautiful Himalayas and Kedarnath yatra....

Recently I went on a one week trip to mountains to meet my sister Preeti, she is living in a small village Khandah, located between Pauri and Srinagar. Before saying anything more, i would like to clarify that this Srinagar is not the one which people generally know about, its Srinagar of Garhwal which is comparatively warmer than rest of the Garhwal.

But let me tell you that this Srinagar is not a insignificant place, Historically it is a very important town....this was the capital of Garhwal kingdom founded by king Ajay Pal in 1506. This kingdom never became part of Mughal Empire. Because of its strategic location in mountains Mughal always failed to conquer it.. There is very interesting story about this kingdom, during the time of Shahjahan Prithvi Singh was the king of Sringar. In the seventh year of his reign Shahjahan started a campaign against the small Hindu kingdom of Grahwal. The region was practically inaccessible as it was snowbound throughout the year and surrounded by mountains whose peaks were lost in clouds. Shahjahan entrusted his army commander Najabat Khan with the mission of annexing it to the Mughal Empire. Prithvi Sigh did not have a large army to fight the mughals so he played it with the fine strategy, as the mughal army reached deep into the mountains Raja ordered all passages to be blocked so that their army, who were strangers to the terrain, could not take one step forward or backward. After few days they realized that they could not hold out much longer and offered to discuss peace terms with Prithvi Singh, who refused outright. Najabat khan had to surrender. Prithvi Singhs's wife was a native of south India where cutting off nose of enemy was not an uncommon practice. It was her idea to inflict on Najabat khan and his army this form of punishment. She pointed out to prithvi singh that this act would cause greater humiliation to Shahjahan. This way mughal army saw a defeat in Garhwal Kingdom. After Shahjahan when war of succession broke out between Dara Sukoh and Aurangzeb then to save his life Dara took asylum in Srinagar. Prithvi Singh helped Dara with one lakh rupees so that he can gather a new army and fight against Aurangzeb. All Hindu rulers were in favor of Dara to become the next emperor of Hindustan....but luck was against him. Not all good men turn victorious in the end....some lose the the battle. Ultimately Dara was captured after few months....he paraded in the walled city sitting on weak she-elephant...french traveler Bernier was present there on this day and he saw this all with his own eyes....the she-elephant had been deliberately smeared with mud and dung. Behind Dara sat a black slave with a raised sword, ready to strike...his head bowed, Dara was unrecognizable. The handsome, elegant price, greatly admired by the masses, was now attired in a miserable tunic of the coarsest cloth, with a soiled turban on this shaven head. The was crowed saw funereal procession in tears.... 2 days after the procession Dara was beheaded in his cell. And his head was sent to Shahjahan who was in house arrest in Agra fort. Dara's head was presented to Shahjahan as a gift from Aurangzeb at his dinner table. Jahanara wrote.."Startled by my cries, our four servants ran to our side and also began to shriek with horror when they looked into the casket and found the severed head of Dara. It was neither a nightmare nor a hallucination....undoing our hair, tearing our veils, breaking our ornaments, we began the long sorrowful mourning for Dara Shukoh, the gifted prince with a thousand talents, eulogizer of beauty, peace and love.

History is my newly found love...so I always get carried away....well for centuries, Srinagar has been the Capital of the Garhwal Kingdom until the arrival of the British. The town has weathered at least two catastrophic events in its recent history. First, on September 8, 1803; a powerful earthquake that shook the entire region of Uttarakhand proved to be devastating for Srinagar in particular. The intermittent earthquakes along with heavy downpour and landslides wreaked havoc on this small town wiping out almost all of the structures and relics of the town that stood there for centuries. The cruel tragedy struck the town again, when on August 26, 1894, over 10,000 million cubic feet of water from the breached Gohna Tal (Lake) near the town of Chamoli swept away the town of Srinagar completely.

so, coming back to present...me along with Anoop ji reached Preeti's house after a long journey...i would not say it was pleasant journey...because all the through day while we were on taxi...I felt like vomiting....although our surroundings were beautiful...there were only green mountain around us and big river was flowing along the road. 

We reached Preeti's place at 5 in the evening....and there she made a plan to go to Kedarnath next morning. I had no idea where we were about to go...i heard the name of Kedarnath...but i did not know what kind of place it would be.

Preeti's house

Next day early morning we left for Kedarnath...reached Gaurikund at 12 noon...its the last place to where a bus or taxi can reach...from here we had to walk on hill to reach Kedarnath...which was 14 kms away....we had lunch at Gaurikund and started our journey at 2 PM....we started our walk very enthusiastically...but after completing 1st km we realized that we are on a very difficult journey....it almost looked impossible to reach till the end...i was already feeling very tired....but we continued our journey on the name of Lord Shiva....and finally we reached Kedarnath after walking for about 7 hours....we reached there at 9 PM....and as we reached there we realized its very cold up there....quickly we booked a room for all of us...put on all the cloths we had....and hid ourselves in quilts....the cold was unbearable....earlier we planned to stay there for 2 nights.....but just because of the cold we all decided to go back early morning....just after visiting the temple.....I could not sleep on that night....i was scared of falling ill... so...as per our plan...we went to visit the temple without even washing our faces....the water was freezing....thank god we got boiled water for drinking....as we reached the temple...there was a long queue....and the ground was very cold to stand bare feet....we stood there for 10 minutes and suddenly sun came up....all the clouds gone....and then I saw the most beautiful view of my life.....white mountains covered with snow....then i thought...chalo..ana safal ho gaya...we took the blessing of Lord Shiva...and started our journey back to Gaurikund...we thought coming down would be a bit easy...but we were wrong...it was even more difficult....after half-way my legs were just could not move.....Anoop ji was also in the same condition.....the only person walking comfortably was Preeti....and she was also carrying all the bags....ultimately we reached Gaurikund after 5 hours....without eating anything we took a taxi to next stoppage....this time i did not want to vomit...so i closed my eyes and pretended to sleep for whole journey....

 

we reached to next stop at 5 in the evening....and stayed there for overnight...next day early morning we took first bus to Srinagar....after traveling for 1 hour hour our bus suddenly stopped....and it was a landslide....road was blocked....our tough journey was not over yet....but anyway, we got down...there was long line of buses and taxis....as people were cursing their bad luck the landslide turned out to be a good luck for the tea shop...installed under some govt yojna in the middle of nowhere.....there was nothing in that area except green mountains and a river....the road was blocked for 9 hours and the tea shop was only place which could provide food to people.....a husband-wife worked tirelessly to fulfill the demands for thousands of people....they used all the ration they had in their house on that day.....people started doing all kinds of activities there...some went down to river to take bath, some went to get fresh....me too took bath and relieved myself....after that i took out my camera and clicked some pictures.....

after spending 2 hours there...we saw few people climbing the mountain to go on other side...we thought it will take very long to clear the road....and decided to climb the mountain....as we started going up...pain in my legs came back...i thought our journey is not over yet....and this is going to be the toughest one....we literally walked on one foot path for 45 mins.....that was real dangerous.....i could not dare to take a picture from there.... anyway, as we climbed the mountain and reached to other side....we took a taxi to Srinagar....and within 2 hours time we reached back to Khandah. I was really tired then...and wanted to get back to Delhi soon....next morning i took a bus to Kotdwar....there I spent the night at Preeti's house....which was a good thing...as once again a got to interact with Preeti's sweet little sister Parimal.....Once my dearest friend Anusha told me about her that how sweet she is...and she was right....

anyway, next morning I took bus to Delhi.....and reached back at 4 pm. 

so, that was my adventurous journey....here are few more pics i clicked in last 4 days....

Ishq-e-dilli

आज से १० साल पहले जब मैं दिल्ली आया था...तो सोचा नहीं था कि ये शहर मेरा इतना करीबी बन जायेगा..... इस शहर ने मुझे बहुत कुछ दिया है....जब में पहली बार यहाँ यहुचा तो मेरी उमर 17 साल थी...मुझे बहुत सारी चीजों का एहसास इसी शहर ने कराया.....मुझे पहली बार प्यार का एहसास भी यहीं हुआ.... यहाँ इतने साल रहने के बाद मुझे इस शहर से प्यार हो गया है.....मुझे नहीं लगता की मैं कभी इससे छोड़ पाऊंगा....कितना कुछ छुपा रखा है इस शहर ने अपने सीने में.....कितने सारे राज़ हैं इस शहर की मिट्टी में.....यहाँ कि खंडरों के पत्थरों में कितनी कहानियां छुपी हुई हैं....मुझे लगता है अगर में यहाँ १०० साल भी रहूँगा तब भी पूरी तरह इसे नहीं जान पाऊंगा....

मेरी सबसे करीबी दोस्त को भी ऐसा ही कुछ जूनून हैं...पर उसका जूनून मुझसे पुराना है....एक वक़्त था जब वो मुझसे इस शहर के कई हिस्सों को देखने चलने को कहती थी....जैसे कि पुरानी दिल्ली कि गलियां, महरौली, तुग़लकाबाद और न जाने क्या क्या....पर उस वक़्त मुझे ये सब बातें बड़ी ही बेमानी लगती थी....शायद तब मेरी समझ उसके जितनी नहीं थी.....मेरे दिमाग कि दायरा थोड़ा कम था..... इसका ताल्लुक उम्र के साथ भी हो सकता है.....क्योंकि जिस उम्र में उसने या सारी बातें कही....मैं अब उसी उम्र में हूँ...... इससे ये भी पता चलता है कि दो लोगों को एक दूसरे को समझने के लिए एक उम्र का होना बहुत ज़रूरी है......

खैर, दिल्ली से मेरे इश्क कि शुरुआत तकरीबन एक साल पहले शुरू हुई.....जब मैंने यहाँ के इतिहास को पढना शुरू किया....तब मुझे पहली बार एहसास हुआ....कि जिस शहर में मैं रहता हूँ....वो कोई मामूली जगह नहीं है.....इसकी तारीख बहुत पुरानी है.... महाभारत काल से लेकर अब तक इस शहर ने क्या कुछ नहीं देखा.....कितने बादशाह इस ज़मीं के लिए लड़े और कितनों ने इसके लिए जान दी.....कितने बार मासूमों को मौत के घाट उतार दिया गया....और कितने बार उन्ही मासूमों ने एक होकर दुश्मनों को सामना किया.....कितने शायरों ने यहाँ प्यार और इश्क की नज्में लिखी...कितने संगीतकारों ने उन्हें सुर दिए....  इस शहर ने ये सब अपनी आँखों ने देखा है.... इस शहर की मिट्टी ने कितने अच्छे किरदारों को जन्म दिया है....और कितने लोगों ने इस ज़मीं पे कदम रखते ही इसे अपना बना लिया..... कुछ किरदार ऐसे हैं जिन्होंने मुझे बहुत प्रभावित किया....जैसे कि  दारा शुकोह, जहाँआरा बेगम, हज़रत निज़ामुद्दीन, इब्न बतूता......

ऐसे में सिर्फ उस्ताद जौक का शेर ही याद आता है.....

इन दिनों गरचे दक्कन में हैं बड़े कद्र-ऐ-सुखन

कौन जाये "जौक" पर दिल्ली की गलियां छोड़ कर 

Mehrauli ki sair

Last Sunday (19 june) I went on a Heritage walk to Mehrauli Archeological park. there are ruins of various structures of 13-14 century. It is a very significant place in terms of architecture.  This was the time when Indo-islamic architecture was taking its shape....

Entrance of Balban's tomb. Balban's tomb belonging to Balban, Slave dynasty ruler of Delhi Sultanate, was constructed here in the 13th century can still be seen though in a dilapidated condition. Architecturally important structure as it is the first true arch in Indo-Islamic architecture.

 Another tomb, probably that of Balban's son, Khan Shahid, who died before he could be crowned. Calligraphy on his grave (below).

 Jamali-Kamali mosque

Qutab Minar from Metcalfe's folly

Sir Thomas Metcalfe's folly. Sir Thomas Metcalfe bought this whole area and served it as his residence. He was Governor-General’s Agent at the Mughal court.

 Rajaon ki baoli. A baoli or stepwell known as Rajon ki Bain was constructed in 1506 during Sikandar Lodhi's reign. It was used to store water though it is now completely dried and is now known as Sukhi Baoli (dry well).

 The Jamali Kamali mosque was built in 1528, in honour of the Sufi saint Shaikh Hamid bin Fazlullah, also known as Dervish Shaikh Jamali Kamboh Dihlawi or Jalal Khan. The saint's tomb built in 1536 upon his death is adjacent to the mosque.

Tomb of Jamali.

Nicholson Cemetery

A few meters west from the Kashmiri Gate Interstate Bus Terminal (ISBT), at the northeastern end of Boulevard Road, is one of the earliest British cemeteries in Delhi, the Nicholson Cemetery.

Named after the renowned British Brigadier General John Nicholson, the cemetery has a cross-shaped gateway with sloping roofs and is spread over a large area housing numerous gravestones and memorials. Although the cemetery is overgrown with vegetation, and in a state of serious neglect, there still are many memorials and tombstones, which are of high architectural value and worth a visit. The wooden gateway, as well as the enclosure wall of the cemetery, dates back to the time when the cemetery was constituted.

As one enters the cemetery, the grave of John Nicholson can be seen just near the entrance on the right. Said to be a man of high principles, he was among the leading officers who were responsible for the defeat of nationalist forces during the first War of Indian Independence in 1857. A great administrator, General Nicholson was buried in this cemetery when he died, just before the end of the War of 1857.

Besides Nicholson, there are many English soldiers, administrators and their wives who are buried here. The inscriptions on their gravestones record the difficult life that they lived in India. The numerous gravestones of children are particularly touching.

It's time to end it all...

I don't like this world anymore...i just hope there would be a hell where all the criminals and sinners will be punished one day....I'm very sad today...i can't imagine society has become so cruel and merciless...

That mentally disturbed woman who lives in Bersarai...somebody made her pregnant. Few days back i noticed her swollen stomach but i thought she must not be wearing clothes properly...but today I saw that she was sleeping while standing....I asked her to sit down somewhere...but she said no. When I asked why...she said somebody will beat me. And then she said I'm carrying a child of four months...I could not utter a word after that and just came back to my room.

Since then I'm feeling so angry...as can't do anything for her. I tried calling few Women organizations but no one picked up the phone... Ultimately I called Central Social Welfare Board -Police Helpline...a woman picked up the phone...i told her the whole story and she said...Tum kyon is lafde mein pad rahe ho...main to abhi police bhej doongi...par uske baad saari poochtachh tumhi se hogi....agar kaho to main pcr bhej dun.... I said kya aap uske liye kuchh bhi kar sakti hain...to usne kaha....Nahi.

Now I don't know what to do....