The huge loss of Human life in Uttarakhand has inspired many conversations at home lately. There have been moments of intense grieving in our Delhi home especially when I have narrated incidents experienced by me because of my work in the region. Over a casual ‘Newspaper waali chai” one day my brother shared his Travel tales of Badrinath. I narrate here an account as told by my brother Mr T. N. Jha, after reading the news of disaster in Uttarakhand –

1970

“It was in 1970 when I went to Badrinath for the first time. We had to halt in Haridwar to take permits for visiting Badrinath. After a few days of waiting, we were finally granted the permits. We were luckier than many as the normal time for getting a permit was anywhere between two weeks to a month. We got ours earlier than scheduled due to our “connections” with the authority. Means of transportation was limited in those days.

We traveled by Shaktiman truck– a common transportation in those days in that area. Benches were installed in the back of the trucks to serve as seats for commuters. There were “proper seats” for 5-6 people in the front, known as first class, and one had to pay extra for it. There were long stretches without proper roads and there were hardly any other vehicles to be seen on the road. I am not sure if I was aware of traffic jams or anything even close to that in those days. We were carrying our “bedding” with other luggage as we were not sure about the kind of accommodation we would get in Badrinath.

There were no places to stay on the way to the temple (Now most of the hotels are located before the bridge which is before the temple). When we reached the temple area, the pandit ji (priest) took us to his residence, in a settlement 2 kilometers behind the temple. The sound of Alaknanda near the temple was deafening in the otherwise silent mountain village. The sound was even more frightening in the night and I felt that the river will demolish everything before morning. One could hear the roaring sound of the river, even if one was far away from it. It was biting cold in the month of June.

Our bedding was wet by the time we reached our destination. Our host spread layers of mattresses on the floor and covered us with layers of quilts but we were still cold. Our bedding would have been of no use anyway. Next day I spotted a small and inviting fall of water and put my hands in it to feel it. My hands were frozen in no time and were literally blue when I took them out.

There were very few places where one could get food without placing a prior order. In fact they would cook extra food with their routine cooking if one requested them in advance. We were used to having tea three times a day in Delhi but there we got it once in three days! It was difficult to get milk in that area. There were a good number of people in the temple in the morning but it was never crowded. I remember there were occasions in the mornings when I used to sit in the temple all alone.”

2006

“We hired a big vehicle from Delhi and started our journey. No permits were needed and there was no waiting in Haridwar. The road to Badrinath was of course much better than the last time but was full of tourist vehicles like ours and there were several stretches of traffic jam. It was quite amusing to see an entire family (husband + wife + two children with luggage) travelling on one 100 cc motorbike towards Hemkund Sahib. I found myself often getting lost in the memories of my last trip to the temple in the 70s. Somehow they were fresh even after three decades. In fact I told my co-travelers, how good it would be once we reach there. The roaring sound (it was frightening as a young boy) of Alaknanda was still fresh in my mind.

I reached Badrinath with cherished memories of past. Well it took hardly any time for those images to get completely shattered. The area before the temple was over crowded with hotels and shops. The place where we did not get a cup of tea was flooded with all kinds of drinks and snacks. The “Darshan” and “ Puja “ was much more commercialised and we had to wait for a couple of hours in a queue before entering the temple for a few minutes before we were pushed out. We had food in a restaurant that claimed to be “multi cuisine”. I slept with one quilt without shivering.

The most disturbing part was there was no roaring sound of Alaknanda. It was muffled by a noise of out of tune bhajans played out of loud speakers and other noises in the market.”

After listening to my brother’s close brush with Gods and their world, I was reminded of a couplet from Basheer Badra. Though the context of this “nazm” might have been different, but what it still rings a bell right now-

वही शहर है वही रास्ते , वही घर है वही लान भी

मगर इस दरीचे से पूछना , वो दरख्ते अनार क्या हुआ ……