Char Dham Yatra: Kedarnath


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May 29th 2016
Published: May 29th 2016
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Day-6: Dunda to Rudraprayag.

Dunda to Rudra-prayag is again about 7-8 hours’ drive. Started from Dunda at 7.30 and reached Rudraprayag at around 5.

‘Prayag’ means confluence – meeting of two rivers – Sangam. There are five major Prayags in Uttarakhand. Five rivers meet to form the Ganga. Two main tributaries of Ganga are: Bhagirathi from Gangotri and Alaknanda from Badrinath. Alaknanda is joined first by Dhauli Ganga at Vishnu-Prayag (First prayag). Dhauli Ganga originates in China. Next, Alaknanda is joined by Nandakini at Nand-Prayag (Second), followed by Pindore at Karna-Prayag (Third). Further down, at Rudra-Prayag, there is confluence of Alaknanda with Mandakini coming from Kedarnath (Fouth). Lastly, Bhagirathi and Alaknanda meet at Dev-Prayag (Fifth). We saw all five Prayags in sequence, on our return journey from Badrinath to Devprayag.

On way from Dunda to Rudraprayag, we passed through Tehri-Garhwal, site of mighty (and controversial) Tehri Dam. It is located on River Bhagirathi. Tehri dam at about 260.5 metres (855 ft) is the highest dam in India, second highest in Asia and eighth highest in the world. Its length is 575 metres (1,886 ft), crest width 20 metres (66 ft), and base width 1,128 metres (3,701 ft). The dam creates a reservoir of 2.6 cubic kilometres with a surface area of 52 square kilometres, displacing 100,000 people.

The Tehri dam is designed to withstand an earthquake of 8.4 magnitude, but some seismologists say that earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.5 or more could occur in this region. There are growing concerns regarding the dam's stability. Tehri dam is located on the Central Himalayan Seismic Gap, which is a major geologic fault zone. This region was the site of a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in October 1991, with an epicentre 5 km from the location of the dam. This could result in a dam-break and the flood waters could wipe Rishikesh / Haridwar out of the face of the earth within minutes. It is equally true that had this dam been not there, Rishikesh / Haridwar would already have been submerged in 10-12 feet of water during the cloudburst of 16-17 June, 2013. 17 times the normal volume of water was flowing in to the Tehri dam on that day and all was retained. Devprayag suffered damage on that day due to waters of Alaknanda which does not have any dam on it.

We crossed the dam and continued our Yatra…

Hotel Sachin International was the worst hotel in our trip. Totally callous attitude of the management, best forgotten.

Rather than staying at Rudraprayag, it is better if you go up to Guptkashi for night stay. Kedarnath trek / helipads are nearer from Guptkashi.

Day-7: Rudraprayag to Kedarnath:

For Kedarnath, you go from Rudraprayag to Phata or Shirsa via Guptkashi where helipads of nine companies are located. Or you go further up to Gauri-kund – we were told that it is practically non-existent after the June-13 flash floods. From Gaurikund, 18 kilometer trek starts for Kedarnath – on foot or Doli or Pony. Since we had booked helicopter, I do not have more information on Gaurikund to Kedarnath trekking.

We reached helipad at 9.30 against given time of 11.30. Two types of tickets are available: same day return or next-day return. Those who are returning on the same day are taken up to Kedar between 7.00 am and 11.30. Those who are staying overnight are lifted after 11.30. Helicopters are small – six seater (plus pilot) – all but one are run by private companies. Their management is no better than Govt offices. Add to this is the lesser known problem of weight of the passengers. When chopper is filled with fuel, it carries less weight (passengers weighing less are carried) and in the last trip before re-fuelling (usually 4th or 5th), heavier loads are carried. Rules are different for coming down from Kedar. This results in total chaos and heated arguments. People don’t understand why their turn is skipped or family members are separated! 5 kg baggage is allowed per person. We had to wait for nearly five hours before our turn came at 2.30 pm. Due to the privileged class – new Rajas of modern India – our political masters: Chief Minister was to land at Kedarnath and the lone Kedarnath helipad was closed for some time to ensure his safety! We learned that three days later, the helicopter services were suspended for 5 hours due to Indian Air Force practice session. The point is you must keep ample time to accommodate all these. If none of these man-made interruptions come, there can always be the Rain-God! ‘Copters don’t fly in rain. Moreover, capacity of helicopters to lift Shradhdhalus to Kedarnath is limited to ~2,000 per day. Hence it is strongly recommended to book helicopter in advance either through tour operator or on internet. We know people who were stranded in Kedarnath because they got spot tickets for going up but not for coming down. When helicopter arrives, they don’t stop the rotor, they pull out the six passengers, push in six new, exchange the baggage and lift off – all within 60 seconds! The flight lasts for 360 seconds!

Atmosphere at Kedarnath was simply wonderful! As you can see in the photographs, sky was overcast. Air was cold and thin. You can realize this as you walk about 3/4th kilometer to the temple. You have to stop frequently even on flat path.

You can immediately see the devastation caused by 2013 floods in river Mandakini which comes from mountains behind the temple and used to pass close by the temple. The Bhim-shila (see photos) had saved the temple. Now only a trickle of the river is remaining as the lake through which Mandakini was passing burst in 2013 and does not hold water any more. A few Dharmashalas (charitable, dormitory type) and other temporary buildings have come up since last year. We were accommodated in one such Dharmashala – Bikaner House located next to the temple. There are no Hotels and no shops. Few vendors were selling Prasad and souvenir by setting up platforms in open with umbrellas to protect from rain.

Hot meal and warm water for drinking at Bikaner House was most welcome. Temple closes from 3 pm to 5 pm. Some of us who knew this went for Darshan first. We moved around the temple and enjoyed the snow capped Himalayas and joined the queue at 4.30 for Darshan. By the time we came out, i.e. by 5.30 it was getting quite cold. We already had two layers of woolens on us and the thought of spending the night was frightening.

Story of Kedarnath is interesting: It is said that Kedarnath temple was founded by Pandavas. After the war with their cousins, Kauravas, they had gone to Himalayas for penance. There they worshipped Lord Shankar to be absolved of their sins of killing their Guru, Dronacharya and other elder relatives. [Although Pandavas had fought for justice and Dharma, and their elders and Gurus were fighting on the sides of evils, Pandavas were guilty – don’t try to chew or digest epics! Just gulp them down!]. OK. Then Shivji got frightened (!!!) – THE God was frightened! Because, he didn’t want to bless the Pandavas…why?...don’t ask such questions! So Shivji turned in to a buffalo! Bhim (second eldest of the five Pandavas) identified him and caught hold of the tail. The buffalo went underground head first. And therefore what you see in Kedarnath is the hind of the buffalo and the head is said to be in Pashupatinath, Nepal. And your Yatra remains incomplete till you have visited Pashupatinath. Good reason to go to Nepal! Kedarnath is one of the 12 “Jyotirlingas”.

Now comes another interesting part of Hindu shrines. The Pooja. Pooja means you squat in front of the God, holding Aarti (small flames) inside sanctum sanctorum, the Pundit chants something which nobody understands but everybody feels ‘Dhanya’ (Great / Worthy / Fortunate) due to that rhythmic chanting of shlokas. Silent prayer with eyes closed and folded hands is perhaps not enough. Who said it? God only knows. Now, if you are keen about doing pooja, you have to book in advance with the temple office. As usual, a Pundit known to RadheShyam came to the rescue of the devotees. He explained the ‘shyshtem’ (system). Charges would be Rs. 5,100/- of which there will be official receipt for Rs.4,000/- and the remaining will be his commission (sorry Dakshina). Pooja will be allowed on first-come-first-served basis. Earliest booking will be given chance at 5.00 am next day and those who join later will get appointment with God in earlier time slots – 4.30, 4.00, 3.30 and so on up to 12 midnight (less comfortable slots). In other words, pooja is allowed from 12 midnight to 5 am and slots are allotted in reverse order. In each slot 4 groups of 5-6 persons can participate (they are allowed to share the cost – it is not their business from whose pocket, money comes from). Now before you go for pooja, you have to bathe in a bathroom devoid of water! And remember, night temperature was predicted at around 1 degree Celsius! Someone in our group had an intelligent question! She asked: suppose if one does not pass stool – she had actually said: if one does not go to toilet – then is it Ok if one does not take bath? The Pundit was very considerate and practical too. He immediately obliged by saying YES – no toilet, no bath! Those who were less fortunate (and had to use toilet) cleansed themselves by taking ‘bath’ with two mug-full of warm water in a bathroom where we didn’t even felt like brushing our teeth.

We called it a day immediately after dinner at 9.00. We were not going to get up at odd hour for the pooja – toilet or no toilet! We had dormitory type accommodation - six to a room. All others were hard-core devotees. One couple got the appointment (time slot for pooja) at 4.30, other had it for 4.00. So after a few hours of (no) sleep, they started their morning ablutions at 3.00 and left at 4.00. We continued to be under three layers of blankets with three layers of woolens.

Lighter part over: Air at 11,700 feet, is thin. Above 8,000 feet it is called ‘high altitudes’, above 12,000 feet is called ‘very high altitude’ and beyond 16,000 feet it is called ’extremely high altitude’ Oxygen level at 12,000 feet is ~60% of the normal (sea level). So at Kedarnath, Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is a possibility. It is safer to walk/climb up to such heights (gradual ascent) than landing from a flight. Ideally one should spend 1 day for every 1,000 feet beyond 10,000 feet for acclimatization. High carbohydrate diet and plenty of water help in acclimatization faster. Symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness include headache, nausea and vomiting, insomnia, cough, breathlessness etc. Tour operators underplay this part and many people mistaken nausea and vomiting as ‘motion sickness’. Our tour manager had repeatedly advised us to carry camphor – to be kept in hand-kerchief and to be inhaled in case of breathlessness. It does work. We were also advised to keep doors and windows ajar to allow air movement. Doors to our room were closed by some-one due to cold, and with six people in one room, oxygen level must have reduced even further. Archana suffered from severe headache, nausea and some breathlessness. She treated herself with camphor. It worked. Preventive and therapeutic drug is ‘Acetazolamide’ (Diamox). (It is a sulfa group of drugs). I had to use it for her. The scenario is frightening. There is one “24-hour” ‘health-center’ near helipad, but I seriously doubt what they have there and what they can really do. Best treatment of AMS is climbing down at least 1500 feet immediately and oxygen inhalation. Helicopter services are available only during day-light. So in case of a serious health emergency after dark, you simply move closer to God! Tour operators are right in saying that you have to be a devotee to be able to withstand and complete this Yatra. You have to understand the meaning hidden between the lines!

We were to report at helipad at 6.30, but could not wait that long. Had tea, skipped breakfast and headed straight for helipad at 5.45. ‘Pithu’ was available and we used it. I saw at least two Yatris (one young and one elderly) who were suffering from AMS. Their request for earlier slot in helicopter was not accepted (mainly because there were many such fake requests). Anyway, Archana was feeling OK and we waited for nearly two hours for our turn for return flight. All this raises a serious issue, because I am a medical person more than a ‘shradhdhalu’ – regarding safety of staying overnight at Kedarnath. 12,000 feet is not so high and dangerous but at the same time there is no proper facility for rescue. I have heard that prior to 2013 small portable oxygen cylinders were available. That is good enough. Although thousands of devotees visit Kedar Dham and come back alive, the authorities should not wait for a mishap to occur.

Photographs no.6 and 32 are almost identical views. No. 6 was taken in the afternoon, when sky was overcast. No. 32 was taken next day morning in bright sunlight and clear blue sky. As a tourist, quality of photographs depends largely on your circumstances.

We returned to the safety of the bus at 9.30, others joined by 10.30 and we proceeded for Pipalkoti, our next halt, on way to Badrinath.

Click on any photo to start full size slide show. Description of photographs is embedded.






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25th May 2020

Great post
Good post with excellent writing about the Kedarnath tour.

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