The Heavenly Journey

Of all the journeys in her life, many of which were pilgrimages, Aai liked the Chardham Yatra a lot. Actually, it was a difficult travel for her. Her knees had started aching. Her nascent b.p. and diabetes were making their presence felt, and not very obliquely. With many a checks later, and given Balu Mama's efficient arrangements, she was ready for the uphill (literally!) task.

What worried her the most was the Himalayan trek. She could not think of walking up all the way to the shrine. The horse ride along those narrow lanes was an unthinkable proposition. A palanquin ride to God's abode seemed preposterous. It was thus that she settled for the pittu.

The pittu is a large but light basket with a foot-rest and a handle to hold on to. The passenger gets in, and the bhoi thus carries the person up his back  all the way up to the Kedarnath Mandir, and back. It is a tough ride for both, as the bhoi has to bear the weight, while it is a body crunch for the passenger as well.

Often Aai would remember it. She used to describe the extremely narrow roads with the Himalayan boulders on one side, and the deep valleys on the other. All along, there would be the traffic of horse-riders, the passengers bravely footing it up the holy hill, not to forget the palanquins. One could not move about even a centimeter as it could imbalance the bhoi. The only sights would be the infinite blue sky, the greyish boulders, and the road stretching endlessly. 

What Aai, however, really remembered was the tremulous tinkle of the Ganges and/or the tributaries flowing along. The holy river, always a companion, seemed to (en)chant an eternal tribute to Lord Shiva. The riverine force, and yet its gentle music, is what truly charmed her.

In my opinion, this telltale detail reveals a lot about Aai's real self, her genuine devotion, and yet the ardent artistic vein pulsating just beneath it. An interesting aspect of this combo would be her memory of the the journey to Gangotri, Yamunotri and Badrinath up narrow, winding roads in a mini-van. The driver used to constantly chant "wahe guru" which sounded as "wageru" to untrained ears, and initially it quite bamboozled her. Once the "wageru" wala driver would have made all of them accident victims of a  fatal variety. But they were saved in the nick of time, rather in the nook of a treacherous curve. She would always talk of how the drivers there supported each other,

In brief, for Aai,  the real significance of the holy journey included such human(e) tales, too, a detail we shall talk more about when we discuss some of her other journeys as well. For the time being, let me conclude the bog today with 

Aai in the pittu went up the holy hill

To catch the darshan of Shiv Shankar

 In her devotion never did she fail

Her fair faith, for it ever I thank her.

 

pratima@lovely, dark-n-deep roads