At GandhiSarovar..

Everybody was so mesmerised that nobody talked, no body shouted in joy, nobody tried to capture all the things through lens. I don't know how many silent moment passed.... probably I were the punishable offender to break that heavenly silence by the "clicks" of my camera. Peaks, peaks & peaks every where...with there snow capped heads ....

Panoramic view at Gandhisarovar

Gandhi Sarovar is a small glacial lake in the state of Uttaranchal, India at approx 3900 m. It is a 3.5 km modest trek from Kedarnath , the well known holy place to the Hindus of India. But this region attracts even agnostics & atheists as well like a huge magnet due to its heavenly beauty.

The still water reflects the image of Kedarnath peak. But with the progress of the day, wind starts to create waves in the lake which may disappoint the trekker. So early start from Kedarnath is a must to get the total beauty of this picturesque lake

It is believed that Yudhishthir, the eldest of the Pandavas have departed to heaven from Gandhi Sarovar. River Mandakini, a major tributary of The Ganges originates from here. Previously this was know as " CHORABARITAL" ( CHORA = hideden, BARI= water, TAL= lake) because due to continuous self reconstruction of the glacier, its water often not visible. After the death of Mahatma M.K. Gandhi, (whole India know him as "the father of the nation"), his ashes were immersed in Lake. Since then it is renamed as Gandhi Sarovar.



There we met the Austrian couple Helga & Kleine. The Lady publishes a news paper there , and Kleine serves for Austrian Army.

Our team with the Austrian couple at Gandhisarovar

We spend a couple of hours there together... exchanged email ID then they started descending to Kedarnath. We remained mum there for few more mints. Then followed them, but repeatedly looked back after every two steps, mentally we were hardly ready for coming back.

Looking back again and again

They were about 500 m ahead of us, we could see the happy couple meandering downwards to Kedarnath, two loops down..... suddenly a rock fell right on Helga's forehead and took no time to turn her T shirt red with her own blood!!! We rushed to the spot, her left eye was severely injured, popping out of the eye socket. I send two of our team members to Kedarnath to arrange a "Kandi"( a chair, carried by four person ) so that she can be evacuated to the helipad . The nearest equiped hospital were Rudraprayag /Delhi. So no other way except air traffic service could help. Though it was really painful, Helga kept her cool. I had a minimum medical kit with me, Kleine wrapped her head with the cotton. Already 35 mints gone, no help arrived from downhill, Helga started vomiting and making all of us panicked, blood started to flow from her mouth, nose. Realising the fact, that, delay of every single second was making the situation more complex, I requested the labours who were engaged in the road construction to carry her downwards. Two of them came forward, they carried her on their back almost one km, when the Kandi reached from Kedarnath. Kleine offered them money , but they didn't sell their humanitarian entity for some bucks. We rushed to the helipad and arranged a special flight for the couple to Delhi after 10 mints.

Gandhisarovar from Kedarnath(Part II)

After 15 mints walk, the bite of the cold became less penetrating. Though we continued following the stone embedded narrow path, yet sometimes with an intention to cut the distance, ascended straight along the rocky surface. There were signs everywhere along the road to tell the fact that the road construction was in progress.

On the way

But last 500 mtrs or so, there was no distinct roadways... we had to trek through a bolder zone. When we climbed the last hump, we became spellbound. The majestic Himalayas were observing her reflection on the Gandhi Sarovar.

Gandhisarovar from Kedarnath

We must reach there as early as possible, may be by 8; we decided in our closed door meeting(Plz don't think we had a very confidential meeting!!! we had to close the door to avoid the chilling cold of Kenadrnath.)

3km long route is not so steep, so 2 hours would be fine enough for a very comfortable, lazy walk. So we decided to start around six next morning.But our lady members were pretty reluctant to trek further higher.At least two of them were suffering from ankle problem and blister.So we followed the democratic process and the net outcome was that , we must trek to GANDHI SAROVAR.

Next day, we came out of the warmth of the bulky blankets at 5 in the morning, and we were on our way by 5.45 , covering our whole body under heavy woolen garments. Ratan ,my brother in law, ( eldest of the group)rang the bell of the temple wishing a nice journey. We crossed the river Mandakini and followed the right angel turn from the powerhouse. At 6.10, the first ray of Sun on Mt Kedar proclaimed the start of another pollution free day in the Himalayas.

First ray on Mt Kedarnath 

Gandhisarovar from Kedarnath(Part II)

At GandhiSarovar..