I Could Have Happily Fallen In The Valley!

It was 4:00 O’clock in the morning of Oct 2^nd 1998. The sky was dark and the air was humid and cold. There was a misty fragrance in the air. My horse climbed the narrow mountain path step by step, stopping now and then because the terrain was very jagged and there must be stony outcrops on the road. I held on to my dear life on its back. Both my hands clutched the reigns of the horse with all the strength I had. The horse was too big for my size. As I sat awkwardly on the horse, the edges of the saddle bit into my thighs. I knew my legs would hurt after three hours of that treacherous climb.

Five of us had ventured into the rugged Himalayas to quench some un-named thirst within us. We were heading for Hemkund Sahib, the most sacred shrine of the Sikhs. This expedition was for the sole purpose of adventure. We longed to behold the snowy peaks of the Himalayas. Himalayas literally means homes of the snow and Hemkund literally means lake of snow. Hemkund Sahib is located 4329 mts. above sea level in the state of Uttarpradesh in India. It is 514 kms from New Delhi the capital city of India. Thus five of us friends were climbing the terrain at the rate of 4 miles per hour in utter darkness. Imagine darkness. Total darkness. You see nothing. Those of you who have been back country camping would know what I am talking about. Your eyes are wide open in the hope of finding some flicker to rest your sight on and you see none. Someone could stick a finger in your wide-open-owlish-eyes and you would not know. We did not have a torch; we were advised not to start one, otherwise we could be the early morning breakfast of the mountain beasts. These forests are abounding with wild mountain leopards said the man who rented us the horses in Ghangaria. In fact we had seen a tiger crossing the road while driving uphill last night from Badrinath.

I was doing my masters in Urban Planning in New Delhi at that time. During long weekends I used to venture out to parts of northern India to explore the regions and the people. This was one such expedition I hoped to add successfully to my list. The base for Hemkund Sahib is Ghangaria, a small village of approximately 200 huts. We had arrived in Ghangaria the night before at 10:00 O’clock. After catching a few hours of sleep we had rented two horses and three ponies, all that we could find in the village to take us to the summit of Hemkund Sahib. Now as the horses climbed steadily, I could hear the crunch of stones and breaking twigs under their hooves. The forest floor must be covered with a thick blanket of dry leaves I thought. Our breaths sounded much louder in the quiet of the morning. My back was erect and my shoulders ached from the uncomfortable position. The stirrups were loose for my feet. My right leg was bent a little in the knee, while I tried to hold the stirrups in my left foot by stretching it. We were all very immature for this kind of a ride. Mine was the first horse in the row. It was a big female and it led the rest of the animals. Tied to her saddle were the reigns of a big male horse. Tied to him were the three ponies in succession. I had questioned the villager who had performed the rite of tying the knots of all the five animals to one another. He had ignored my question and continued with his work. I never got a reply. I had imagined that my horse must be the leader of the pack and this is how the animals were perhaps used to be climbing the mountain slopes. They seemed pretty much at ease on that road and stopped once in a while at they thought carefully before placing their hooves for the next step. As I sat clutching the saddle clumsily with my hands I wondered what would happen to me if any one of the animals behind me were to slip and seek the depths of the ravine on our right. I took a deep breath. I could hear the urgent rush of the water in the valley below. This is river Bias. It goes on to become river Mandakini in Kedarnath and then meets the Ganges further down the way.

Deep in my thoughts I sat when suddenly there came a muffled groan from behind. One of the horses neighed loudly. The cry sounded un-natural in the quiet of the morning. At the next instance my horse lurched forward and began galloping in full speed on the road. There was a loud hue and cry from all of us. The neighing had come as a sudden jolt to me. Before I could figure out what was happening I was bumping up and down on the horse like a bag tied loosely on its back. My right foot had left the stirrup. I could fall off any minute now. I literally clutched the animal with both my hands and leaned on it holding it with my entire body. My eyes were shut tight.

I have no clue how long this mad race continued. I noticed after a while that my horse had slowed down to a trot and then it began walking at the normal pace. There was silence once more and it seemed that things had returned to normalcy. A soft cold breeze was blowing. Very slowly I opened my eyes and raised my head to look around. It was almost dawn though the darkness was considerable. I could make out the forms of the trees around me. I rose slowly and sat straight. My lower back ached and my legs were sore from the friction of the saddle. I must have lied very low on the back of the horse. The saddle had brushed against my neck and I felt the rash on my skin with my numb fingers. Rubbing my neck I turned to look behind me. To my relief I counted four forms huddled on the animals bobbing up and down. Thank God I thought! Nobody had fallen of in the way. My eyes were watery and I felt warm tears rolling down my face. I had lost the sensation of my nose completely and my ears ached from the cold. Then I realized that my warm woolen cap had fallen of in the run and now my hair were blowing in the soft breeze and were stuck to my temples and cheeks with my tears. I cleared my face with a sweep of my cold palm. It took some effort to straighten my stiff knuckles. The touch of my own hand brought me back to the reality and I became aware of the vastness that surrounded me.

It seemed as though I was somewhere on the rim of a humongous green bowl. The road climbed straight ahead of us steadily and then suddenly took a turn to the left and disappeared from sight. Straight ahead of me and on the right stood the tall proud conifers in clusters guarding the beauty beyond. The horse climbed a little and the clusters cleared up on my right. I caught a glimpse through the clearing. What I saw has remained etched in my mind to this day. Surrounding the green bowl from all sides were the majestic peaks of the Himalayas. They were clad with conifers and became bare towards their summits. On them like shining crowns of gold sat the caps of snow ablaze in the light of the morning young sun. It was a fantastically beautiful sight and almost dreamlike. My horse climbed further and the there I sat surrounded by the lofty Himalayas. Their peaks rose into the heavens above. Their intense beauty seemed to permeate into the entire atmosphere casting a blissful spell. All the noise in my mind magically settled down as I beheld that sight. No wonder I thought humans are drawn to these mountains in search of inner peace. Some peaks of smaller heights were bare and stony and snow was sprinkled on them. The sky was now deep navy blue with bursts of orange. The air was fragrant and cool and it reminded me of early morning showers. I sat motionless and still, overcome with a strange peace that I could not define. I was absorbing the divine beauty with all my senses. What a tiny speck I was in that space. Everything else seemed dwarfed in those surroundings. Had death claimed me at that moment I would not have repented. I felt as though I had achieved all that I had to in my life and this is the one sight that I was yearning to behold for so long. I was breathing soft and deep completely dissolved into the surroundings.

As I sat enchanted for sometime I noticed that I was trying to gain a foothold with my feet, which were still dangling in the air. I sat too awkwardly on my horse and had moved way too ahead in the run. I raised myself a little on my hands and pushed myself behind on the middle of the saddle. I bent a little towards my right to see the stirrups so that I could place my foot on them. Just then the horse took the left turn and my eyes met the strip of silver rushing deep in the dark green chasm below. The valley was perhaps twice as deep as the height of those peaks and my horse was right at the edge of the dirt road. My heart skipped a beat. A chill ran down my spine and I sat up straight. The road was hardly a foot wide!