Kedarnath Diaries 2019 : The Old Bridge @ Rambada

 

It was 9:30 am on 16-August-2019 and we had been able to cover just 2.5 kms after walking for more than 1 and half hours from Gaurikund when we had to take shelter at a tent built by the authorities.

The steep terrain combined with the heavy rains brought doubts in our minds about the prospects of reaching Kedarnath that day before the temple was to be closed for Darshan. 

Once the weather got a bit better,Vivek,the senior most member of our gang made the conscious decision of taking a horse for the remaining 15-16 kms till Kedarnath. Being an expert in trekking for last 25 years or more, he was the best judge about his abilities in that situation. The 4 younger chaps: Aditya,Naveen,Sudesh and Pavan decided to continue on foot along with our driver Sonu and so did our leader Sarath, a 6 feet 5 inch tall young man in his early 30s who had been to Kedarnath twice, in 2017 and again in 2018.

It was me who was in a dilemma for a while before I could make up my mind to take a horse too as I had enjoyed travelling with Vivek to some of the finest places in India between 2016 to 2018 and wanted to travel along with him again.

As the weather got better, we crossed places named 'Jungle Chatti' and 'Bhimbali'.

Just after Bhimbali, my heartbeats knew no limits when I saw a sign board. We were less than 2 kms away from a place called 'Rambada' which was known for destruction and death during the floods of June 2013. It is believed that there were more than 200 homes and hotels there before the entire village got washed away in just few minutes killing thousands of locals and tourists.

As we were travelling along the river 'Mandakini' on its western bank, with every step of my horse taking me closer to Rambada made my heart filled with excitement and a bit of sorrow until a point where the horse owner broke my series of thoughts by making the horse take a right turn just 500 mts. before Rambada and making it cross the river over a brand new bridge.

Within minutes we were travelling on the other side of the river i.e on the eastern bank of the river and had also gained a bit of altitude using a zig-zag path which was evidently constructed in recent years.Just as we gained some more altitude, a peek to my left gave me a sort of bird's eye view of what used to be Rambada. I could make out there were a handful of huts still standing on the western bank at Rambada in spite of everything else getting engulfed by the floods in June 2013. I couldn’t be sure if anyone lived there or if those were some shops still running. Also, I could see the older route of Kedarnath which used to continue on the western bank itself before most of it was wiped out in the floods.

I could see some traces of that path from my side of the hills (eastern bank). As the newer path took me higher, the view of Rambada remained in my eyes for about 10 minutes and in my thoughts till the time I reached Kedarnath after 3 hours or so. I felt that I had failed in my duty to visit those huts and try to meet anyone who had survived the tragedy in 2013.Somehow I thought that it was a moral obligation to visit Rambada once to feel the vibes of the devastation by figuring out some remaining traces of a once lively village.

It was 8:00 am on 17-August-2019 and I just had a divine experience offering a VIP Pooja at Kedarnath Temple where I had spent about 20 minutes sitting with the lord.As it was an 'Off Season' due to harsh weather, it was easy to get such VIP treatment at a reasonable price at that time of the year.

The 15 hours at Kedarnath were undoubtedly one of the happiest moments in my life except the fact that we had a scary night before with heavy rains and loud thunders hitting the tin-roof of the resort of Uttarakhand Tourism where we had stayed. Also, the temperature was below 5 degrees for the whole night.

The 4 younger guys and the driver had already started the journey back more than an hour ago and it was Sarath, Vivek and I who were left to start our descent.Vivek decided to take horse again and Sarath decided to walk again. Just sometime back while accompanying Sarath to a km long trail to Kal Bhairav Temple, I that realized that my capability of climbing anywhere had already reached its limits and it would be difficult for me to go down walking to Gaurikund which was about 19 kms away.

Also I knew that descending down was always more stressful for the knees than ascending up, especially when the backpack on my shoulders had doubled in weight due to wet clothes and tonnes of 'Prasad' I had bought. The weather was harsh even on that day with sporadic heavy rains every now and then. But, this time I wanted to challenge my limits and thus I decided to walk back against all odds as I wanted to feel the beauty at each and every step that I had missed a day before. Also, it was not a nice idea to leave Sarath alone behind.As both of us had different walking abilities, levels of fitness and different weights of our bag-packs, we decided that Sarath would walk ahead at his speed and would wait for me every 3 kms or whenever I got out of his view. Both of us actually wanted to travel back and feel the connect with nature alone, but also didn’t want to leave each other alone in the unknown hills in the harsh weather, especially when there were hardly any tourists on that route that day.

Just within 20 minutes I found him standing on a tip of a Glacier and waiting for me. I realized that in spite of the physical agony, the decision to walk back was great. After spending some time at 'Rudra Glacier' and then 'Bhairav Glacier' we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of heavy rains.  Also, I realized that it was time to pack my camera and mobile phone. Getting down safely was more important than taking pics/videos.

Though my knees were very painful, I kept walking steadily with assurance that Sarath was just a km or 2 ahead of me. I realised that I needed to be a good finisher of such a great journey that we had in the last 3 days.

It had started on the evening of 14-August-2019 when Vivek and I took a flight from Mumbai. Due to delay in the flight, we landed at New Delhi Airport at around 1:30 am with Sarath and other 4 guys waiting for or us at the Airport parking. Getting out of Delhi in the early morning of 15th August is not an easy job as we were subject to police and army scrutiny at 3 places. We had touched Haridwar at round 6 am from where it was a journey along Ganga till Dev Prayag where we saw the birth of Ganga with a confluence of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi.The view of the 'Sangam' has such an attraction that we just didn’t want to leave the place that day.

From Dev Prayag till Rudra Prayag, it was Alaknanda travelling with us. Again, there was a confluence of Alaknanda and Mandakini at Rudra Prayag which was also the meeting point of Kedarnath and Badrinath Highways.The travel from Rudra Prayag to Gaurikund along Mandakini was full of landslides with 3 brief disruptions due to rocks falling on road. 

In fact that road had opened just a day before after being closed for 4 days due to heavy landslides.After the mandatory 'Biometric Registration’, we had had a night halt at Sitapur before moving to Gaurikund (last vehicle point) and starting our trek on 16-August-2019.

Back to 17-August-2019. I realized that I had covered half the distance and was standing on the eastern bank of Mandakini at a point where I just needed to walk 1.5 kms more to cross the bridge and get to the western bank.  I had completed the steep portions of the descend and now it was just a matter of time. The weather too was better now. As I was all alone there with Sarath a km being behind me (a rare happening), I took opportunity to get closer to the valley on my right to have a view of 'Rambada' again. It was there where I had expected, with those huts still standing and inviting me there. Then I saw 2 bridges besides each other crossing the river just near those huts. I soon realized that there was a steep trail paved with big steps (made of stone blocks) from the point where I was standing to those bridges. I realized that I had an option to get down the trail, then cross one of the bridges and then reach those last remaining huts of Rambada. Apart from taking to Rambada, this steep trail was going to reduce a zig-zag path of about a km for me and merge with regular path at Bhimbali.

My joy started diminishing with each step down the trail. It was steeper than I had judged and was also very slippery. My painful knees and the heavy backpack added to the agony. All my assumptions of saving time were shattered as the rains started pouring again and I had to be very cautious with each step. One mistake and I could end up with fatal injuries. After a struggle of 20 minutes or so, I found myself standing right in front of the violent river, standing in front of the bridge on the right. I realized that the bridge I was standing in front of was the older one which was there even before 2013 and the other one at the left was newly built. It took no time to guess that the authorities had anticipated that the older bridge would not last for long. While coming down the trail, the path had split for those 2 bridges. I had taken the path on the right without anticipating that I would land up in front of the older bridge. Attempting to get to the newer one would mean a retreat up to some height and then taking the path on the left.As I had no energy left to go back, I decided to cross the river using the old bridge itself.

Standing on the concrete abutment of the bridge made of wooden planks fixed on a steel frame, it took me about 5 minutes to convince myself to start crossing it.One step on the bridge and I found it shaking. Next step and I found the rains got harder. Few more steps and I realized that the pain in my knees were unbearable.Next step and the bridge was shaking violently with sudden gush of water and wind.By the time I reached halfway on the bridge, I realized that I was a helpless creature left totally at the mercy of God as I could not see a single soul anywhere around.I was standing mid-way on a dilapidated wooden bridge on a swollen river with a heavy backpack on my shoulders in midst of harsh wind and rains with my knees stuck and all energy evaporated. I realized that I was standing helpless at the place, that epicenter of the tragedy of June 2013. All the emptiness around me that day was part of once bustling Rambada before that fateful night on 16-17 June 2013.

Though it was just about 1:00 pm in the afternoon, I felt being stuck in a haunted house and left in front of a demon who was just waiting to end my story.After being perplexed for about 2 minutes, a positive thought came in my mind.” If that bridge had withstood the floods of 2013 then it surely could withstand me for some more time till the I cross it and reach the other side”. Also, I realized that my Woodland shoes were rock-solid and waiting for me to just take a step ahead. I gathered all my courage to push myself and I was out on the other side within few seconds.I didn’t have the courage to look back and I proceeded to those huts with my heart beating wildly. I realized that there was no one there. No one wanted to live or open a shop at Rambada even when places like Bhimbali (just 1.5 km away) was full of shops and homes.

.While I sat on a big rock beside those huts with an empty and numb mind, I saw Sarath coming down the trail on other side of the river. Thankfully, he had chosen the correct trail and he landed up on the newer bridge when he saw me sitting on the other side. What I saw next was a real surprise. Instead of being scared, Sarath was enjoying his time on the new bridge while taking pictures and making videos. Suddenly the weather also got better. 

He asked me to join him on the bridge to take pictures. I agreed after initial reluctance and I thank myself for doing so.

I spent some time on the newer bridge with Sarath and didn’t find it scary at all. The rain had stopped, and the river was not that violent, the wind was mild and the bridge was stronger. Things had improved within 30 minutes or so. Standing on the newer bridge, I looked at the older bridge carefully for a while and realized that nothing is permanent in this world.

Back to Navi Mumbai on 19-August-2019. While scanning for news on Kedarnath, I came across a news piece that a bridge at Rambada had got damaged in the evening of 17-August-2019.

There were 3 bridges at Rambada:

1st one (strongest) which we had crossed by horse while climbing up.

2nd one (newest) where Sarath and I spent some time while coming down

3rd one (oldest and 'haunted' one for me).

Though the news didn’t specify which bridge, it took no time for me to guess that which bridge was damaged. Later, a picture on a Hindi newspaper cleared all my doubts.The videos of 2020 of Rambada don’t show that older bridge at all. As expected, it has been dismantled now.

I realize now that I was probably the last man crossing that old bridge of Rambada before it was gone. Maybe it withstood some more hours than expected just to ensure that I crossed it safely on 17-August-2019 at 1:00 pm.