Trip to Poanta Sahib And Renuka Ji

The Trip to Poanta Sahib one of the major Gurudawaras’ of the Sikhs in Himachal pardesh , was totally unplanned. On 11^th july, we left for the trip and last night(10^th ) my cousin called and asked me to accompany them. As I was looking some option to have a leave from Delhi for 2-3 days I accepted the offer in no time and packed my stuff in midnight for the trip.

Day - 1

The very next day at around 11 I have to reach Narela, as we were suppose leave by 12 noon from my cousin house in Narela. I First tried for train to reach Narela but was late, So finally have to catch the bus to reach their. I was bit late and failed to find any source to reach to bus stand that is 1.5km away from my home. So I decided to walk and walk fast with my easy to carry bag-pack.

Hardly, have walked half km heavy wind with dust welcomed me in the company of heavy rain. And I have no choice except to walk as I was already late and have to reach Narela before my uncle reaches from office.

To my luck this time I managed a rickshaw and had paid him Rs. 5 hardly for 2 min(all done to save my camera). And soon after, I got a DTC bus for Narela. Reaching their I called my cousin to pick me up from their to his home and I felt that was the big mistake on my part.

He first came on scooter in rain and drive it so wonderfully that the entire standing-water with a mixture of cow dung and all gave us bath. Things didn’t stopped here he marginally managed to escape from a peddler. And when I shouted on him asking why isn’t he applying the brakes, he then told me “ Bhai Scooter me brakes nahi he”( scooter without brakes).

My adventure has already started.

Some-how in one piece we managed to my cousin home(thank God), and had a good lunch with fresh lassi. My uncle got bit late and we left for the trip At 2p.m.. After this, things were pretty smooth; we had a tea at dhabba around 4p.m. along with Paranthas’ so packed by my aunt. But with Sumeet (my younger cousin) things cant remain smooth for long.

While taking a turn to Yamuna-Nagar we bought Aanar-Dana(digestive tablets one can say). And sumeet cant’ resist him from having that. There is no issue in him having these. But issue was the smell he is producing after having them(hope u guys understand) and literally, Puneet(my another cousin )and me have no option except to open the car windows to the fullest . And sumeet was enjoying the moment.

Finally day -1 had an easy end as we reached our hotel by 8p.m. and thereafter had a dinner and went to bed after palying some cards.

Day-2

Waked up at 7a.m. we all had breakfast and checked out hotel by 10 a.m. reaching Poanta Sahib at around 11 a.m. after My uncle finished off his work in PNB(Punjab National Bank)branch of Poanta.

Poanta Sahib is surrounded by material jungle in front and with natural jungle at back. The back side of Gurudwara is surrounded by river and small hills covered with thick forest.In the Gurudwara their is a museum which provides answer to every question rising in your mind regarding the place.One also come across the Weapons so used by Sikh Gurus for their fight.

From their we visited BCL Labs a factory of Soap Making and learnt about the Soap making. After having lunch at BCL Labs we left for Renuka Ji. While passing through Didahu we haulted on a bridge and had some pics. And after having tea in Didahu at 4p.m we reached Renuka Ji by 5 p.m.

At Renuka Ji we covered the area of Parshuram Lake in car and also tried to cover the Renuka Lake in car, but at 5p.m. gates of Renuka lake gets closed and thus we dropped the idea. I was bit happy as I was completed against covering the lake in car.

Then we first went to temple of Renuka ji had our worship and looked for room thereafter.

Himachal tourism rest house were full so we have no option left to go to forest rest house or to a local one there.

We managed our room with Forest people, and at 5.30 I some how managed to take everyone to renuka lake on foot. After a lot of pushing succeeded in covering the area on foot. It is around 5-6km long but worth walking. In the dense forest , the calmness and peace surrounds you with too many monkeys(please carry your eatable carefully while walking, as monkeys were expert in snatching them). One also come across lions, beer , deer, leopard, fishes and turtle in the lake while walking.

Almost when the entire trek is walked one come across this small temple. It is written their that the water so coming down is the milk of Renuka Ji and every devotee must have it for the blessing of Renuka ji.

If one tries to find out the source of water, will find nothing else but a huge tree from the roots of which this water is coming.

But it is said In Faith is no logic. So with a devotion in the holy feet of Renuka ji we had some.

One will take hardly an hour to cover it on a normal walking speed, but we took 3 hrs to cover it.

As we were busy enjoying each and every bit of it. We did hell lot of drama to shoot the pics of lion in desired pose and to shoot the vedios. Even we touched one of the lioness through the grills as she is sitting in corner and tell you what as soon as our finger touched her she roared to us(my god, that’s was scary but excting).

playing lions(video)

We ended the day on tired note, as when we went for dinner in himachal tourism rest house the only place their to have dinner, all the table were occupied except one. Almost 10 minutes, we all were busy discussing the order to be placed when waiter came and put the reserved notice on it . We annoyed with the attitude, left the table without even asking anything. And then for dinner we had to go back around 2km at 9 in the night and came back by 10.30 p.m. completely exhausted.

Day-3

In morning at 7 we again left for the Renuka lake round. This we all make sure that it wsa completed in time (1hr). we soon return to room, got ready and left it by 9:30. Forest guy who rentes us the room was bit uneasy as this was the time of officers to visit the place and room is still occupied, which is unauthorized.

We had our breakfast at same place where we had dinner last night, and finally left for delhi via Nihaan at 10.30. The stretch of 35 km from Renuka lake to Nihaan is very beautiful , entire is cover with thick forest and ones sees beautiful valley all-round. With these beautiful scenes we fall asleep after Nihaan and wake up at 2 when our car got punctured near Karnal.

Driver replaced the tyre and we had tea there at road side dhabba and then moved to delhi. And after this, played cards all the way. Just players kept on changing. In final few games my uncle too joined and beat his own son. We some light talks we ended the trip at 4.30 in Narela and I ended it at 5.30p.m. reaching my home.

Key deatils:-

Route followed:

Delhi- Panipat-Yamunagar-Poanta Sahib-didahu-Renuka ji

Renuka Ji - Nihaan - Ambala- Panipat- karnal - Delhi (coming back)(take this routes as roads are very smooth and time taken will be less(5-6 hrs), only one has to bear the Toll Tax if going through personal vehical)

Go with proper booking as other rest house at Renuka Ji either refuses to give a room or charge too much.

Also the behavior of Himachal Tourist rest house their is very strange and not so tourist freindly.

For Photos visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/24078766@N03/sets/72157621365148422/

Roop Kund:- Mysteries unleashed

Roop Kund

Originally uploaded by i m bad

The u-curve in center is the area Of Roop Kund.

mystery no.1:-

While Trekking to roop kund one crosses the place Patal-nachna.

This is the place where demons from hell, have danced in the marriage of Lord Shiva.

and it is believed that anyone not going to Roop Kund with faith or good intentions. these demons doesnt allow the trekkers to pass this area. Something or other will happen to them.

mystery no.2:-

Another interesting fact about Roop Kund is till date no one clear about the skeletons at the place.

some say that long ago a king with army got stuck their and got buried under the snow.

some say that were the local people who got trapped in the snow strom during the yatra(holy voyage) called Raj-jat. under this the people starting from a place around AAdi badri in Chamba area and from other place gets collected at one palce and goes till the homkund with a Holy goat having four horn.

mystery no.3:-

The Goat i just talked about, above. It is said that in tweleve year this goat born only once and automatically reached to the family on which the responsibility of conducting the Raj-jat is their.

the speciallity of this goat is that it has four horn in which the sculpture of mata Parvati can be placed. it is same as some one sit on a chair.

This goat after reaching Hom-kund is left alone and from theron this goat cover the rest of the way on its own.

Trek to Roop Kund

The journey to one of my dream track, Roop Kund, started at the evening around 9:15 p.m. from Kashmere Gate bus stand. Though the dreams has started long back when Mr. Himanshu Dutt(sir) told me.

In starting we were a group of five but finally only three of us managed including:- Mr. Himanshu Dutt( the main motivator), Mr. Sanjeev and Me (Saurabh Singh).

Three of us put in great effort for the trip. Among which sir was top ranker. He created fake conference and all, to fetch few handy leaves for the trek. I lied to my family as they would not have allowed me and reached straight from my end term exam of MBA.I remember how I borrowed scooty of my sister and carried a big bag-pack to my exam centre. Everybody was looking at me, astonished.

At the eve weather was testing too, with heavy rainfall and we all unprepared for same have left for our meeting point, Kashmere gate. Somehow we managed and as soon as we reached their we got our bus for Rishikesh. Settling fast in there, we all were hungry as all were coming directly from the offices and me from exam centre.

With the movement of the bus our action also started, primarly informing our home ones and friends and fiancés. After hell lot of talking and lectures from dear ones, we hanged the phones and relaxed for a bit.

Relaxing and that too while keeping ones’ mouth shut is something one cannot avail in the company of Sanjeev. Soon he started with his blah blah. Sir and me after a while deviated his attention to starvation. Our hunger initiated our search for eateries started. And our tragedies to trip begin from here itself.

Sir forgotten the dinner so packed. Now, we were in a moving bus and starving. Finally, sanjeev pulled out some snacks’ we ate a bit and bought a pepsi when bus stopped for a moment from hawkers, added to this I pulled out a sweet dish(nariyal ki barfi) on the demand of sir.

Bus was moving in the busy traffic at a slow pace and we all have nothing to do except to discuss how we have managed for the trip(stated above). Not much time passed sanjeev received a call from his girl friend and that’s it, his pass time is on. Sir and me on the contrary discussed our preparation about the trip and how we have to proceed.

Time passed, at around 12 bus stopped at a Dhabba for half an hour for eating and for attending nature’s call. Sanjeev was the first to rush for the call. On the way back to bus we bought pepsi and a pack of kurkure as we were not in a state to take heavy food. Reached in bus, kurkure become the hot topic for discussion. Sir mentioned it is of plastic and to prove the same started searching for the match stick. I was carrying one. He lighted the match stick and pulled one kurkure and burned it to prove to sanjeev. He was actually right but sanjeev is a guy of his own he smiled and said “that means none of you gona eat this. Thanks”. He ate entire stuff and slept on tired sir with all his weight and specially those gelled hairs which were as hard as bushes. Sir tried to get rid-off , but in front of sanjeev you are helpless sometimes.

At around 4 in the morning we hit Haridwar. We were drowsy but chillness of breeze coming from the old out-framed windows forced us to stretch ourselves to wear some warm clothes. After this none of us slept and were grumbling over the delay so caused by the driver. As by this time bus should have reached Rishikesh.

We Reached Rishikesk at 6:30 in the morning and cause of delay have missed our bus to Lohajung/goldam(2^nd tragedy). We struggled for some commutation for the palce. But didnt find one. After moving here and there for half an hour we caught auto-rickshaw for the taxi stand. Sir had a dispute with him as he charged us doubled (but of no use). From there we managed a taxi to Tharali. From Tharali we took another taxi to Dewal and finally from here we catch the bus of Lohajung we missed at Kashmere Gate.

At 5:30p.m. we reached Lohajung, almost after travelling for 21 hours on a stretch, struggling with our stamina to stand and search for place to stay at night and to arrange a guide for next day along with the required goods.

The 3^rd tragedy, our guide(Mr. Mohan Bisht) with whom we have to cover the trek is not there, we tried his phone several times, asked from him from the people their but of no use. Finally we had a chat we the locals' their and arranged for the guide cum poter, after the things were almost done we have purchased all the things and were about to go for sleep, the poter raised the issue over the charges we were willing to pay. After a hell lot of discussion he agreed ( the local who arranged him on reasonable rate, asked for a bottle of beer, corruption has reached everywhere).

Day -2:-

All set to leave, we wake up early around 5:30 in the morning. Body was still struggling, as the sleep in a room on the ground was not enough to relax ourselves. After getting freshed,( except sanjeev as he needs a good room rather than an open area for work to be done), we all were waiting for the poter. He was late by half an hour and that too not carrying the essentials; we asked him to hurry up, then n there only his drama started, regarding timings, the things he will carry, the trek we will cover, so on. Finally, I lost my patience soon followed by sir and we decided to go alone on the trek. (4^th tragedy)

We began for the trek at 8:30 a.m, late by not less then 2 hours, with two issues on priority, one is arrange for a burner to cook the food and second is to carry the luggage. With the kindness of the forest rest house care-taker the issue of burner is resolved as they lended us one. But for luggage we were still struggling as sanjeev has not brought a bagpack on the trek and thus Sir and me have to tie up the entire stuff on our bag-packs. Finally, we managed and started the trek.

After walking for 6 kms we found a guide cum poter Mr.Kuvar Singh Bisht the cousin of Our guide who suppose to meet us at Lohajung. We had a discussion with him and hired him for the trek for Rs. 1300 along with Ramu(his horse) to carry our luggage.(first good thing on the trek so far)

We started moving fast as we have to reach Vedni Bugyal by any mean, and we are still more 20 kms away, At Vann around 10 km from Lohajung we haulted to eat some thing. With a nice tea, sanjeev preferred omelet and sir and me sticking to our vegetarian diet Khicdhi. As we were about to leave from there rain welcomed us, with our plastic outfits we set ourselves and started walking, but wasn’t easy at all as air pressure is pushing us back and our legs were also fighting with the outfits we were wearing.

Nothing matter such things only make trek exciting, we walked like anything but just when Vedni is hardly 2-3 kms we all struggled like anything, it was hard for us to keep our breath and hold on our foots. Firstly sir drived us for some distance, then I took the charge of leading, but sanjeev was struggling hard in last few laps. Sir holded him and make sure that he kept walking until we reached at Vedni Bugyal.

At around 6:30 in the evening we reached Vedni Bugyal. Mr. bisht and I started searching for the place to camp, and after a lot of here and there we finded one. By the time sir and sanjeev also reached, we pitched the tent and asked Mr. Bisht to cook something quickly.

At Vedni we met Mr. Mohan Bisht also and had a long discussion over his misconduct and sir made him realized what all problems his mis-conduct caused to us. Being too tired we all ate a bit of noodles and without wasting anytime fall to our sleeping bags.

At around 12:30 in the night I wake by the noise of wind that was flowing like anything, the tent was struggling with it and when I asked sir about the same, with no time sanjeev opened his mouth saying “our tent will flew away cause of wind”, being my first experience in tent such line was more than enough to make me feel scared. Things for me didn’t stopped here, I somehow opened the tent to check the reason and guys believe me the valley that is looking heaven in the day time is haunting hell in the night, with the noise of bells and rain drops all over. This all was more than enough to make me shiver entire night thereafter; I hold sir tightly to get some strength and tried to sleep.

Day-3

At around 5 we wake up in the morning. I told Sir about the experience last night and recorded the same in camera. After that we clicked some morning pictures. The morning view at Vedni surrounds one with the saome mighty mountain ranges including:- Chowkhamba, Kalidak, and Trishul. Sanjeev was still inside, we asked him is what happened. He said nothing and cleared that he is not going to trel further. Sir asked nearby people to take care of him and we finally left for the Roop Kund at arounf 7a.m.

Weather was with us, with nice breeze and some mountain eagles gliding just over our head we were enjoying our walk. But trek was long enough to test us. After walking for around 4 hours we reached Pathalna-chana from were Kalu Vinayak is around 3 km, here we rested for few moments and had some eateries. But the trek from here on is steep like anything that test one on every step. Hardly 10 step on these 3 kms were breath taking as also we were feeling drowsy due to lack of oxygen.

“But Remember this is trek is trekking and every moment one has fight with himself, whether he can do it or not”

And we choose not to give up yet. Taking more than one and a half hour we covered these 3 km, enjoying our breath and also seeing Kida-Jadi(the insect that holds high medicinal value, as per the local is sold for more than 8lakhs per kg).

And the scenic beauty we came across there is something that hold us like anything. A small temple in which a sculpture of Shri Ganesha is there. And behind that one sees the entire Kailash Mountain ranges, with Roop Kund at back. As if Maa Parvati(the Mother of Ganesha as per Hindu religion)is holdind her son. At that very moment we forget entire pain we took to reach their.

We clicked few shots and left for Roop kund, Sir not so very keen seeing the weather haulted at Bagu Basa and asked me to do the same. But me very excited to see the Roop Kund, wanted to give my best to reach their. But due snow being sleepery and new, and weather getting bad, I could only manage 1and a half km ahead and had to return from a snow patch were I got stuck and find it very hard to cross.

Also sir shouting hard from his place “saurabh come back, don’t go ahead”. I lost my confidence and decided to get back. No later as I turn back to walk for Vedni bugyal, snowfall with strong breeze see-off us from Roop kund.

Struggling hard and very tired we reached back to our tent at around 6 in the evening. We after walking for more than 20 km on a consecutive day left with nothing to do rather than resting just after having a tea. At night I asked I asked Sir to eat the Khichdi though it was not cooked properly, Sir resisted I starting but reason to keep body in good shape sir and I did so.

Day-4

Sanjeev after resting for the entire 3^rd day and drinking water from the wash-room bottle he was charged up. We started At 7 in the morning for Lohajung, but this time we decided to trek form Ali Bugyal.

Ali bugyal is a lovely green plateau, our walk their for 1 Hr was awesome, but after that when we reached the jungle the entire enjoyment vanished as the trek from there on is very steep downward and is very hard on our tired foots’. But our jokes and Sanjeev acts made it easier for us to complete the trek. As we reached near kuling the rain started, we waited for some time for rain to stop but of no use, we choose to walk and reached Kuling.

There, we had some tea and all of us called at our home to inform them that everything is fine.

After reaching Lohajung, We asked Sanjeev to return the Burner to the forest guys, by the time we looked for dormitory in GMVN. We took two bed at Rs.200 and decided to catch the early morning bus at 4 a.m. to Rishikesh.

At Rishikesh, we visited Ram jhula, had something to eat and stayed their till 8 in the evening when we finally moved to the Bus stand to catch the bus for delhi.

Details of the Trip:-

Route we followed;-

Delhi – Rishikesh- karanparyag - Tharali- Dewal - Lohajung

Lohajung- Kuling – Vaann – Vedni Bugyal – Kalu Vinayak – Roop Kund

Vedni Bugyal – Ali Bugyal – Tol Pani – Kuling – Lohajung- Rishikesh- Delhi (coming back)

one can Hire the Tent and sleeping bag from Pujari Store at Lohajung his rates are;-

Tent(2 man) - Rs. 150 Per day

Sleeping Bag:- Rs. 50 per day

Matrices:- Rs. 15 per day

(it is advisable to carry own belongings, as his behavior is not upright.)

Note:- Do carry Cashew nuts and some choclates as they prove to be best thing in treking to feed oneself apart from other eateries and medicines.

to view the photos of the Trip Plz visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/24078766@N03/