My Journey to the Origin of Ganga and Yamuna {Part 1}

 

Ganga and Yamuna are two important rivers in both India and Hindu religion. The origin of Ganga is called Gaumukh (Gau - Cow, Mukh - Mouth). According to mythological stories which we read from storybooks or heard from our elders; tells that Ganga is also called Bhagirathi after the name of the legendary king of the Ikshvaku dynasty - Bhagirath who brought Ganga to earth from heaven to resurrect his sons who were cursed by a Rishi (sage). However, there was a problem in sustaining Ganga to earth as she is so strong that it can destroy the whole world. Only one can sustain her dangerous waves and that is Shiva. So, Bhagirath requested lord Shiva to do so. Lord Shiva agreed to his request and sustained her dangerous waves in his hair. Thus, Bhagirath’s son got alive and Ganga started flowing from Gaumukh to the Bay of Bengal.

        Goddess Ganga is worshiped in Gangotri, which is also the starting point of the trek to Gaumukh. From Gangotri we have to trek 18 km to Gaumukh. And I am going to tell you about my wonderful journey to the origin of Ganga and Yamuna between the laps of Himalayas. 

Gangotri temple

 

        First, we started our journey from Delhi and reached Mussoorie after a stressful drive of 8 hours and stayed there for 1 night. Mussoorie is a hill station with many tourist spots like Kempty falls, Mall road, Gun hills etc. As these spots, we planned to visit on our way back to Delhi and we were concentrating in the trek; so little ahead from the Mall road, near to Kempty falls, we stayed in a hotel named ‘Prithvi Resort’. In the resort, after a tasty dinner of rice and lentil soup; we went the balcony of our room from where we could see a dark night sky. I located many constellations from there. then we went to sleep in our cozy little bed. While in bed, I just couldn’t measure my excitement to see the Gaumukh and was also thinking that how will I trek 18 km!!! Actually, before this trek I have trekked 14km to 15km only but not 18km. I remembered how all of us practiced to walk by walking 9 to 10 km; we also saw some videos about the trek and I heard that there is a landslide area on our trek route and I was really scared!!!

 

Kedarfalls on the way to Gangotri

        Next day we headed to Gangotri. The road to Gangotri from Dehradun and Mussoorie is better than the Haridwar one. The road to Gangotri was wonderful. The holy Ganga flowing by the road, small waterfall coming from the snow-capped mountains joining with the river Bhagirathi in the race of life. We found a beautiful village on the bank of Ganga, just before Gangotri- Harsil. The apples there were mouth-watering. Always remember to pack a box of these delicious red apples if you go at October.

Apples in Harsil 

  There was a small restaurant where we had Aloo Paratha and Maggi, which is a tourist’s staple Food in Hills. We asked the people who were working in the restaurant, that if we can see Brahma Kamal which grows somewhere in the height of Gaumukh. They said that we can’t see them now as the Bharals- blue sheep have eaten them all. I thought, not Brahma Kamal then we may see Bharals itself, if god wanted us to see it.

The restaurant where we had our lunch

        When we reached Gangotri it was around 7 pm. It’s a beautiful village, with full of small restaurants, the sound of the bell from the Gangotri temple could be heard when you reach there and of course the ear-piercing noise of river Ganga near the Gauri kund and Surya kund.

Surya kund 

It was so cold there that polar bear would wear a jacket in that climate. I was not ready for that cold as in Delhi, autumn was still there and I was wearing a half shirt and this affected me a lot, I was frozen in a minute. After wearing the jacket, I felt some relive. A thought came to my mind that tensed me a lot; that if in Gangotri I am suffering so much then what will happen with me in the front of the Glacier, will I become an ice man there! We had to park our car in the parking outside the main village as the police were not permitting the car inside the village. After we parked our car, we went to the GMVN TRH. When you will reach Gangotri and you have a booking in the TRH then don’t get confused by the other TRH near the temple with the TRH near Surya kund. We stayed at the TRH near Surya kund.

 

Panoramic view of GMVN TRH

Surya kund is a water reservoir from where the young Bhagirathi was smashing and thrashing everything which came in her path. It’s a place with big boulders which get their shape and colour from the speedy waves of Bhagirathi. When you are searching for the Surya kund TRH, just enter the street and between a restaurant and a medicine shop you will see a trail going downward and a board in the front, if you try to read it you will see a “GMVN TRH”, it would be little unclear then you will see a bridge little far after crossing some stair. First day to climb these stairs I didn’t find any difficulty but after my trek to Gaumukh, my legs seem broken, I felt like to slither like a snake to cross those dangerous stairs. That was little tough for me as I was not able to adapt myself to the biting cold of mountains. I was literally frozen for the windy climate of there. But then as I told I wore my jacket and went to a shikar in the markets of Gangotri with my family. My parents, brother and of course me are diehard foodie so we went on a shikar of a restaurant where we can find tasty food. As it was getting dark, we returned and had our dinner in TRH only. It was biting cold at night but then thank god the blankets were good. However, then also a problem … what will I do next day, will I have a bad tummy day or nice energetic day… really don’t know!!!

        Oh, thank god the night sleep was good. We all woke up from the noise made by Ganga which never stops flowing… just flow, flow and flow. I like to compare it to a lady, A small girl born in the laps of his father Himalaya and then jumps from here and there and suddenly changes into a young lady in Varanasi, then we see ganga as an old lady with lots of happy and sad stories with her, joins the Bay of Bengal or I say the journey finishes and she joins the company of god.

        We started our journey at 6:30am.

To be continued…