INTRODUCTION
The past decade i have roamed around various places i have seen ganges in its flow throughout. from haridwar to agra, varanasi, allahabad through bihar/jharkhand and then finally meeting in west bengal. its always been a timid river for me, with broad gullies, sullen flow and it always has been a dragging kind of river for me. I've rafted and bathed in it (rishikesh), seen slumdoggers wash clothes and children dive-jump in the shallow waters in UP. I've had experiences of robbery on the bridge of ganges in Bihar and even have thought of throwing the thief caught there from the moving railway train in west bengal's ganges water. (the people decided to throw him when we were stationary).
the point is i've had lots of experiences with ganga. the all-worshipped godly ganga. its been always slower than a caterpillar apart from the 5-6 rapids seen in rishikesh. However, that was not menacing at the least. Its just one river nearly half of india enjoys itself with. some pet given the alias of god.
Never had i expected to see the wrath of ganges, the holiest (and arguably, the most 'inhabited' river in the world). going up rishikesh towards the origins of ganges, we notice that there is no ganges after a place called devprayag. 'prayag' means confluence of rivers. devprayag makes ganga to be called ganga. the two rivers making it are alaknanda and bhagirathi. so technically, ganga has and will always be the timid river i've imagined and seen all these years.
On my way to hemkund sahib, i had a first-hand view of the start of ganga's main predecessors- alaknanda (which comes from mountains nearby badrinath). there are 5 'prayags' coming in the way (but dont ask me which all rivers join to make what in every prayag). the names are what interests me. dev, vishnu, karan, rudra (and one more i dont remember, google and see yourself). you have option to see kedarnath from rudraprayag (which i didnt exercise and went to joshimath to see hemkund sahib). other places of interests are chopta (with a shiv temple). anyways, its not an intended religious post so lets stop here.
CHAPTER 2:
The IMPACT
The journey has been tiring and i decide to rest myself at 5 PM on the banks of ganga(technically alaknanda, but i wont use it again) on a cornerstone. the view i cant ever forget. a small tributary (about 7-10 metres i guess)with some small rocks and some big ones (on which i lay). in front of it a huge mountain with a peculiar top. yes, peculiar. the left has a bridge, a green one, to allow people to start their 'yatra' for hemkund sahib, the bridge (they say) which connects earth to 'lokpal'. the green bridge is a suspension type (just like laxman jhoola etc, with lesser ropes to support it and with more swing to notice in the centre). the back has a huge gurudwara built on a mountain which is stopping the sun's light to reach us and while the sunset, the sky is orangish, with the far-away himalya mountains (surpassing the bridge) glowing in white and blues. some people are busy getting their pictures clicked on different stone-tops while others are busy getting naked for a bath in the holy water.
the action starts with a warning horn sounded 3 times. everyone near the river starts running here and there trying to decipher whats going on. my first reaction is lets go to the green bridge and get a view of the whole place from top to see whats happening. going up towards the bridge, i saw the person making the warning horn. some socialising helped me know that the flow in the water is going to increase, so the horn to come back from the water and stop bathing. i decide to go up the bridge and see myself whats on cards.
people running here and there, I Meet a girl, asking whats all the hullabaloo about. more socialising made me decide lets go down near the river and see why people are running towards te bridge to catch the glimpse of some 'phenomenon' going to happen. i stand up on the topmost mound on the corner of the bridge to get the best view of the tributary and the people running on the bridge.
Suddenly, the bridge becomes vertical, then the sound of breaking of a rope and then a huge puff of dust forces me to turn direction. going down from the mound i stood, i realise that only the legs of 150 odd people are now to be seen, they holding themselves with the grill of the bridge. people on the corner held the rope and reached earth while the ones on the centre made way and jumped on a shop's roof to save themselves. a red bag fell in the centre of the bridge while a person jumped without seeing the earth(and broke his legs). everyone else were alive. scot-free.
CHAPTER 3:
ADVENTURE
The aftermath was comic, with management shouting on the mikes (in punjabi) and scolding people out loud. aahh .. the surds .. interesting . anyways, the next morning and we have to cross the river without the bridge (or wait for the stupid management guys to mend the bridge (which still hasnt been done)). the people which arrived later had to sleep in the night the other side of the mountain.
its 6'ish in the morning and my friend just had a view of the river saying water is too high to cross the way he did yesterday. at 7:30, i have a look and find military making a bridge and people waiting for their turn. i've decided we'll cross the damn river by jumping on the stones and not wait for the military to make their no-good temporary bridge.
after walking a distance from the place the military were making the bridge, we saw a group of people making jumping on rocks to reach the other side. there were about 4 different ways to do so, with no support of professional people (so if u slide or jump wrongly, be in the deep water and say buhbye to everything). and i decide to go from the toughest route, the one having 2 huge gaps between rocks that one gap was to be done by walking slowly on a plank while the other was to be done by pushing your body ahead on a log of wood.
to reach the big gaps was a task in itself. accurate jumps on stones and a strong grip was necessary (with a bag on my back and a stick in my hand). The 1st gap was now in front of me and i put my right foot on the plank. it drowned.
Balancing myself very awkwardly, i just escaped the wrath. my right shoe, my right leg all wet, i finally removed the shoes and socks and held it in the other hand .. then slowly was I able to balance on the plank. the next was the pseudo-rappling- lunging your body forward on the round wooden log. a little caution and i was able to complete it without drowning myself.
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the person who held the other side of the log and helped me stand up on the stone, i realised was doing 'sewa' helping people cross the river. according to his friends waiting for him, he just had escaped his death. the time he was crossing, the log turned round and he faced the gushing water. he rappled without any ropes and didnt let the log turn again otherwise he'd be holding the log in the water. i had a picture with the other 2 surds which were equally friendly . 2 quick interaction of sentences, and we were off our own ways (only to meet again later) :
"duniya mai 4 cheezon ko rokna mushkil hai ... .
water, air, fire and ...... sardar"
(about the mentality people had and the inherited impatience helping them find ways to cross the river and go to hemkund)
"the crossing was a free adventure trip, the one for which you pay 800 bucks in manali and 2000 bucks in mauritius... , and this one was actually for FREE (and without any safety)"
(about the crossing-the-river experience)
CHAPTER 4
THE POLITICS
The hemkund experience was good and after 2 days of lots of walking (38 kms to be precise) we were back at the same spot. but the other side of the mountain. The only thing left was to cross the river again and go back home.
The first experience of breaking of the bridge told that the water was never deep while the 2nd one showed that even with the deep water the stones above the ground easily made the escapade possible.
this one was the most tragic. there was practically no possible way of crossing the river. while i was on the mountain, i saw innumerable people waiting for the military to finish making a bridge ( i got to know 3 temporary bridges made by military had been broken by the water flow). going towards the mass (called 'sangat'), i realised there were more than 1K people waiting there turn to cross the river. some being too adventurous just crossed over the broken bridge.
Not losing hope, i went near the river to find any place from where jumping over rocks may end me reaching the other shore. i measured the whole river from the cliff to the other mountain end (where a tributary met the river). No way of going there. the water was so fast and deep, there was no possibility of reaching the other side. all ideas used, we had ropes, logs of wood, planks and i also suggested holding hands to cross the river but the water was so deep that no one's feet would touch to make a human chain. Hell, we even tried throwing rocks in the water but to no avail. ;-)
I hurried up the mountain to go towards the broken bridge. A life-threatening shortcut beckoned me. and sadly i took it. there was a himalyan cactus-kinda plant and above that was the main route to the bridge. the other way was too long and winding to reach. i held my hand on the branch of the tree and lunged above to hold the stones on the floor of the way above the cactus.
my legs gave way and i was mid air holding the stone. then my hand gave way and i was mid-air with only a single hand on the branch while everything down was cliff. another try, this time, more desperate, i gave it my full shot. i reached up, and realised that in the process all the small needles had pierced my shirt, my jeans and scratched up my body. i needed water desperately now. the 'sangat' gave me water and i reached the broken bridge to realise that they were not allowing people to go from the bridge.
The only way was to wait for the military to make the bridge. after some rest on the banks, i went near the place of action- the crowded place where people were eagerly awaiting military to finish the bridge. There i met the 3 surds again, energyless, eager to reach the other side (they had slept the whole night on the other side and had nothing to eat since like 18 hours). My contingency parle-G biscuits came in handy and helped me gain acceptance in the nearby crowd which were not so eager to give place for me to stand in the crowded place awaiting turn on the bridge.
As soon as the bridge was about to be completed, stood a person shouting slogans and 'bhadkaoo bhashan' against the authorities which did not act fast. With chanting about the sikh prime minister and lack of action taken by the authorities, the mob grew fast. they even wanted to stone the new bridge and break it up ! People wanted a riot for sure and i was loving the place more. How more interesting can sardars be? they have a bleak chance of reaching the destination but all they now want to do is make an issue out of it rather than praise the people who just tried to finish the temporary bridge. My camera got into the action and i was standing next to the person sayin bhadkaoo bhashan, trying to catch his words into the small microphone. someone just yelled out"he's the one whose wife doesnt listen to him at home, so he's trying to dominate here". some logical people remained quiet waiting for him to reduce his water content (the sun was pouring hot) and be quiet. the others were enjoying people turn into an angry mob ready to kill. (more interesting is unlike others, which may want to kill but dont have weapons nearby, some sikhs were carrying knives.. scary .. ).
it may just take 2 minutes to create a riot when more than 1K people stand together. anyone may want to fight for any trivial reason. the whole politics about the broken bridge, military, authorities and indian PM happened for about 45 minutes (with outbursts and troughs). then the bridge opened and some canny work helped me with the 3 patiala surds go fast to the other side.
just 2 hours after, (at 6) there were still more than 1K people left on the other side. but the bridge had broken again. ... the wrath of ganga. the flow was so fast at 6, no stone was been seen in the river and it was gushing like a bullet train.
i had just made it in time because they were not allowing males to go the other side . only females and kids were allowed to cross. i thanked god for crossing in time, otherwise my night would have been in the open, on a mountain, with no urbane benefits and scorpions, crabs etc lurking in the dark.
just returned home witnessing the wrath. of ganga.
