finding my path: May 2023

It's an old saying that India is the land of snake charmers, but even before that it's said that it's the land of golden sunrise and sunsets too…

It's almost like a movie story, you get hints of your next travel destination from your recent past travels.

Ohh yes, it happened.

It was my last day at Badrinath and an old sadhu said you have completed this journey with full courage even it's extremely cold conditions and I will give you the next task. See you soon in Kumbh mela

(a pitcher festival) at Allahabad.

I was not sure about the trip, because i was out of cash and work. I don't know if i am lucky i got some work and unlucky i got accommodation at Allahabad in kumbh mela for a week.

It was day one at kumbh mela and we reached 4 days before to do some research on Mela ground and with sadhus.

And I was accompanied by my college friends in the same tent. We used to walk daily around 15 to 20 km on foot, sometimes sharing an auto.

We met a lot of Naga sadhus, sidh sadhus, money making sadhus, money rejected sadhus too. Ohh yes money rejected sadhus, unlucky i couldn't take photographs of him but I can still remember face of his. Covered in Ash, red eyes, smile on his face like he was a newly born baby but he is too old to describe.

One day my friend and I left the tent and moved towards Juna Akhada. Please note it's the first time we are in a premises of naked men, with loud and high on chants with Har Har mahadev.

We all gathered our courage and entered a Naga Babas tent. The followers of baba welcomed us Like they KNEW we were going to visit them and were waiting for us. I know it happens normally, everyone was welcomed at Baba's tent, but it was our first time and it's midnight.

Why is it a tragedy is that without telling us he told me my date of birth, not in english format in ancient sanatan dharma format. That shocked me. So we were offered some tea and snacks...my mind was blank and I couldn't think...so.i just shut my mouth like I was dumb I was blank . What to tell or ask them, what ....

And he just said you will enjoy like you have never been, you will see something which you have never seen before. But on one condition be punctual and visit Akhada on time.

I thought it was funny but still we agreed and left with folded hands and walking in cold and dusky weather.

The next day was D day for us, it's a first day of kumbh mela and we slept late around 11pm.

It will sound very funny and very filmy ( in retrospect I know it sounds filmy to me) but an inner voice woke me up the next day, " GET UP IT SAID...IF NOT YOU WILL MISS THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE" that really jerked me awake and I woke everyone else..telling them to either come with me or I leave alone

And unfortunately Everyone woke up and we walked together.

I can't say about my friend, but some thing happened with me and as baba said i had a fucking mind kicked and buried down in earth and water day.

I won't say i was in heaven, i was on earth, my feet was on earth but my heart was dancing with naked men and my soul was naked as they, i was dancing, chanting, singing and i was out of my mind and i felt my soul left for few minutes and enjoying the aroma.

The D day gave me the best of the best sunrise of my present time.

I know it sounds more filmy, if you believe it as filmy just read the text and watch out what i have photographed and if you trust this text and photographs you will know or at least you will connect to pictures.

Second attempt with 10mm.

It’s all about second chances, which unfortunately humans don’t give many times, but nature does. Mother Nature gives you back to back CHANCES to reach the point which you have dreamed, which you have already visualized, you just have to reach your point and just release your shutter and make it the moment of your life time.

I have tried to trek Kedarnath and Swargarohini around 4years ago in the winter season which is the craziest thing I have ever thought of. But its nature surprised me with its own favor and encouraged me to trek.

Path to Swargarohini base camp and Peaks.

It’s November of 2018 when I reached Haridwar. Finally I decided to instinctively follow the Ganges, so I started my journey towards Kedarnath which is 300km away from where I was standing.

My day's journey starts from Rishikesh where I see a foreign tourist capturing Ram Jhula from the bank of Ganges, sitting on a rock.

As I was expecting good and clear weather and it was the total opposite, no surprise there, it was very cold and by the time I reached Gaurikund which is deep in the Himalayas, at 6502ft altitude, the temperature was 0 degrees. Next day we started towards Kedarnath Temple which is 21km far from Gaurikund and it is at the altitude of 11,755ft and accessible only by foot or by Helicopter.

Morning view from Gaurikund. 5.30 AM looks gate way to heaven.

So I started my trek towards the temple where I came across a Pithu (men who carry pilgrims in a basket on their backs) with his trek partner, a horse who said he can drop me half of the way, but I thanked him and started the trek.

It’s very cold and the temperature is dropping to – (minus) degree, as it was the very first snowfall in the valley and even my phone weather application could not gauge the temperature. I put all my energy into this trek. I came up to a beautiful snow covered bench, where I can view the whole valley but as it's too dangerous to sit over there, I continued my trek.

Kedar valley view point with snow.

I met a couple who were going back to Gaurikund after having darshan of lord Kedar. And the couple is so amazing they are just wearing rubber slippers in that freezing temperature and holding hands and whispering to each other, “just few kilometers to go”, and then chanting, “Har Har Mahadev”. I continue onwards and look back at the valley, which looks so amazing. I thought of photographing it and tried to do so with my DSLR, but as my fingers were freezing and I couldn’t do so, I used my phone instead.

Finally I reached my destination, the Kedarnath Temple, nearly covered by the fresh snowfall, to find the temperatures dipping constantly.

a long waited evening

I took a hotel and stayed there for a night to feel the lowest temperature for the night and yes it diped to -15degree and my phone battery went out. For the next day I plan to go for Tungnath trek, which is at 12500ft but due to heavy snowfall I can't make it. I started my trek towards vasudhara falls (12000ft altitude) from Mana village (10500ft altitude) which is believed to be the last town in India towards China. Trek towards Vasudhara falls is not easy where we have to trek at 45 to 60 degrees straight down on the rocks, where a misstep would be fatal.

a view where couple of districts of Uttarakhand can be seen with beautiful sunset from Tungnath Mahadev.

I ended up in a beautiful valley where I saw a local woman sewing woolen clothes for tourists. I considered the people of this valley to be so lucky as they had the most beautifully breathtaking view of Vasudhara fall. I couldn’t make it to the falls as there was a landslide which blocked the route, but the view was spectacular. There were many Sadhus I encountered on the way and I kind of understood as to why they would want to live there, who wouldn’t with a view like that?

It is believed and said that Mt Everest summit is possible, but Meru Parvat 1 submit is impossible, only one human being and a dog has made it till now, that is elder Pandav Yudhistir or Dharmaraj and a dog with him, it is believed that dog guided the way for him.

I touched an unplanned destination totally impromptu to a place called Gopeshwar where I visited a beautiful temple which was supposed to be 4500 years old.

a power nap at 3600 years old temple and town.

12days after I started, I came back to Rishikesh again where it all began for me, there I got to know about The Beatles Ashram, and I must say it was an amazing place, where I witnessed a most amazing play of natural light on the graffiti on the walls, a delight to any photographer. In the ashram the images that I came across changed my perspective. It shook me up to see Ravan and Pandit Ravi Shankar painted on the walls next to each other. Ravan, a mythological character who committed the sin of eyeing another man’s wife, and next the great singing maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. Made me think is there a Ravan in all of us, a negative side that comes out when tempted. Aren’t we all carrying a hidden side to us, maybe negative, maybe positive but definitely something we don’t show to the world always.

Another image that got me thinking was of a woman, sketched next to a tiger….so appropriate I think, because every woman I have come across, I found her to be one. Beautiful, ferocious and definitely dangerous when threatened.

When a dream illusion meets with real vision which is painted on a wall in form of graffiti and we see it through exact amount of sunset light which is falling on it with nothing but nature for a backdrop, it is an experience that stays with you…just like the Beatles Ashram was an experience that is still with me today.

this is the place where a day will never end for me

This is Vijay Kumar Bajaj, and I graduated in Fine Arts with Photography and visual communications, lover of natural light and nature. This project has been on my to-do list since 2015.

It’s a big task for a Marwadi to skip his biggest festival of the year, which is Diwali and spend his time with Nature. And when you become a news item family it makes you more interesting. I have fallen down many times in my trek, a couple of times I thought to go back because my body was not at all supporting me at that altitude. The temperature jammed my knees and my feet were not ready to take the next step. A time came when I was stuck in kedarnath due to heavy snowfall and my family didn’t know that what I was doing, in that scary weather and all of sudden it showed on television that people who were trekking to kedarnath had been trapped in snow fall near Rambara and kedarnath which is one of the scariest places I have ever seen. And I reached safely to kedarnath at 4Pm. I started at 5 a.m. in the morning from gaurikund and thought I would reach a maximum of 6 hours. But it took too long and it was one of my best trips till date.

Photographs which i have taken during my trip.