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.

 

 

 

 

 

Year 2000 : The Haunted House @ Indore

 

11 pm on Saturday, 2nd December 2000 and our last day in Indore. Me, Painter and Hitler were to board a train to Bhopal at 8: 30 am, the next morning, confident of getting admission in a better college. Cool Dude was moving to a relative’s place while Crorepati had already moved out a few days back. We were joined by our friend Panditji who decided to stay with us that night for our farewell of sorts. All 5 of us decided to climb on the terrace of our 'Row House' for the last time using the wooden ladder from our 1st floor Balcony. Since almost all the houses in the row were empty, and the terraces were attached to one another, we decided to move to the terrace of a house which was 6-7 houses away from ours. We sat there and started discussing the prospects of getting admission into different colleges, after being together for 3 months and that we would be leading separate lives henceforth. Also, we were feeling happy of getting away from this 'Haunted House' in an empty colony. As we sat there discussing on multiple topics, I found myself sitting at a corner of the small terrace and the incidents of last 3 months ran like a movie in front of my eyes.

It was August 2000 when I opted for Computer Science in a relatively new Engineering College in the city of Indore as per my score in Madhya Pradesh Pre-Engineering Test.

Thankfully, 2 of my school friends Hitler and Painter also got the same college and same branch. We had moved to Indore with great aspirations as Indore was the only commercially vibrant city in the state of MP at that time. Initially, all 3 of us got into a private hostel near the college and made new friends from across the state and some from other parts of the country as well. As time progressed and more students came there, the hostel owner started exploiting the situation. He admitted a lot of students without giving a thought to the available space. Our room which was supposed to be occupied by 3, now had 5 ppl. I will call the other 2 guys as Cool Dude and Crorepati.

Gradually students started leaving the hostel and arranged their own accommodation. We found out that having an independent house would be cheaper and convenient. That part of Indore was not well developed then. There were certain new housing colonies coming up, but they were sparsely populated. We got a good house just adjacent to the Rajendra Nagar railway station. It was a 2 storied house with 1 Hall,1 Bedroom and Kitchen in the ground floor and 2 Rooms on the 1st floor. We also had a nice Balcony with a wooden ladder to climb to the terrace if needed. It was a 'Row House' in a gated community of about 100 such houses out of which hardly 20-25 had inmates that time. Ours was the Row House at the extreme corner and was isolated from the adjacent 20 houses which were vacant and plunged in darkness all the time.

After paying advance deposit and rent, all 5 of us shifted there. We also found some other friends and some seniors living in the same society. We felt settled down and comfortable in our new surroundings and concentrated on our studies.

Everything was fine until that day when a strange thing happened,It was a holiday and all of us, except Hitler had woken up in the morning. Painter and Crorepati went to college library. Me and the Cool Dude went to nearby market 2 buy some stuff. Hitler was sleeping alone in the ground floor hall. When we came after about 40 mins and opened the door, we saw him sitting on his mattress on the ground and staring at us. I asked "What happened? ". He inquired "Where were u all?"I told him that Painter n Crorepati went to the college library and we had gone to the market nearby. He was bewildered at my answer and asked "If all 4 of you were out then who was on the 1st Floor who disturbed my sleep? Who was jumping there?"Meanwhile Painter n Crorepati had also come back and we all laughed at Hitler taunting him for his sleeping habits and wild imagination.

Next incident occurred the same day in the evening.We all were starting dinner (packed tiffin) inside the ground floor Bedroom and suddenly Cool Dude went out.We heard sound of running water from the 1st floor bathroom.We thought that Cool Dude was washing his hands, but then suddenly it occurred to us as to, why would he go to the 1st floor to wash his hands, when we had a bathroom just outside the room.Hitler and I went to first floor and saw the tap was running even though the lights inside the bathroom were off. We were surprised and closed the tap and went back to finish our dinner. We saw cool dude had come back. He had just gone outside the house to get some pickle from a shop about 100 mts. away.We had our dinner and went to the Balcony and sat chit chatting till about midnight as it was a Saturday night.Suddenly we heard a banging noise from the ground floor. Maybe it was the bathroom door or the door of the Bedroom down there. We all were stunned as there was no wind and ran down to find nothing. A few days passed just like this with some or the other such sporadic event which surprised us but never made us afraid.

One evening there was power cut around 10 pm. It was a common affair in Madhya Pradesh those days. All 5 of us climbed to the terrace using the wooden ladder. As all the houses were joined to each other, we found that we could easily cross over to the terraces of adjoining houses separated by 3 ft high walls It was a real fun as almost all the houses were unoccupied, and we had a huge 'Playground' for us. That night we were discussing about supernatural things like ‘Bermuda Triangle’ and suddenly Painter cracked a joke and we all started laughing. As it was a winter night and a sparsely populated place, our laughter must have been audible for some distance around.But the strange thing we realized while laughing is that we felt some more people were laughing with us.When we stopped laughing, we realized the presence of someone (or more) at our house downstairs and that he or they were laughing with us.

We were stunned, but Cool Dude said ‘Lets find out who the moron is’ and he jumped from the terrace on to the Balcony. I followed him and both of us got inside the house with a small torch. We looked on both the floors with adrenaline coursing through our veins but found no one. The other 3 also came down by that time. For the 1st time we realised that we were not alone in that house. For the 1st time we feared of something unnatural. Suddenly I remembered that I had left my watch on the terrace. I requested Hitler to come along with me.He stood in the Balcony while I climbed the ladder to get my watch. While coming back down, I got a shock of my life when I clearly felt a force which tried to move the ladder while I was descending. Being an athletic 18-year-old, I somehow jumped to safety on the Balcony.Me and Hitler just stared at each other for a while. None of us could sleep that night until the power was restored at around 2 am.

Next morning, I woke up at around 9 am and was already late for college.We all used to sleep in one of the rooms on the 1st floor using thin blankets to cover ourselves in the winter.I saw that no one was there except me and another roommate beside me. As he was covered completely with the blanket, I presumed it was Hitler.Hitler had (and still has) the habit of marathon sleeping sessions. I didn’t disturb him and brushed my teeth n took my bath quickly and started for college just saying 'Hitler, I am going, be careful about the keys’. I knew I would be missing 2 lectures, but at least I could attend the rest.On entering the classroom after waiting outside for 10 minutes for the 2nd lecture to complete, I got a rude shock of my life.What I saw was unbelievable. All my 4 roommates were in the class before me. I somehow controlled my heartbeats and didn’t tell anything to anyone.They all had come to the college at 8 am and didn’t wake me up as they thought I was tired and in deep sleep.

Till that date, all these incidents were confined to only 5 of us and we never told anything to anyone. One day 2 of our Seniors (NK and SD) came to visit us in evening. They both stayed in the same colony, but their room was about 40 houses apart and in a different row.While laughing aloud on a joke, we again felt that some more people at first floor were laughing in the 1st floor along with us.While we stared at each other, I saw a strange fear in the eyes of my senior NK. He asked us 'Did U all, also hear it?'. We said 'YES'.When he asked whether this was the 1st time, we had to tell him everything that had happened till that day.He got worried and scolded us for not telling them about this. He then told us bluntly that THIS COLONY WAS BELEIVED TO BE HAUNTED.

Many people there had paranormal experiences like this, since the colony had become habitable. We now understood the reason for such a beautiful colony to be so sparsely populated.As the matter was getting serious and the news spread among friends and seniors, one of our good friends (Panditji) offered his help with some ‘Mantras’ and a small ritual which somehow made things a bit better.

Meanwhile, one day we found lights glowing at one of the houses (about 10 houses from ours).We went there and found a middle-aged man and introduced ourselves. He told us that he owned that house. He lived somewhere else in the city with his family and it was seldom that he made a visit to this place. We asked him about the colony being ‘Haunted’. He told that he had never experienced anything there, but he couldn’t completely rule out either. He informed us that the whole area was a Hindu Cremation Ground before it was sold by to the housing colonies by Govt. He advised us not to be alone and not to be too afraid either.He also knew our landlord and informed him on phone (which we had never done till that date).

Sometimes we find ourselves in a strange and helpless situation without knowing what to do and where to go next. We are left at the mercy of God. And sometimes God executes some strange plans to take us out of that mess and we find a surprise and a pleasant exit.A similar pleasant surprise hit us on the very next day as we read a news on Dainik Bhaskar that the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) had decided to increase the seats in all the Engineering Colleges in MP in same session and had instructed the State Govt to cancel all the Admissions and do a re-counselling. It was done on the initiative of our then IT Minister Sri Pramod Mahajan.

The Education Minister of MP, Sri Ghanshyam Patidar also confirmed that all the admissions were to be cancelled and the fees to be returned so that all the students got the opportunity of getting into a college/branch of their choice after the seats were increased.Our college declared the same within a week after getting written confirmation form the State Govt. In mid of all this, the political geography of country too got changed with formation of 3 states: Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand in November 2000 with my city Raipur designated as the capital of Chhattisgarh(CG) . The separation of MP and CG also ensured that good number of seats in Engineering were also getting increased in the colleges of Raipur-Bhilai and Hitler, Painter and myself were confident of getting such a seat in a renowned college.

The movie running within my eyes had an abrupt interruption and I was mentally back at Midnight on 2^nd December 2000 on our terrace.

While we were on terrace of some other house, we suddenly heard someone laughing downstairs. As the house was empty and completely dark, we didn’t dare to remain there. We immediately started moving towards our own terrace. But the strange thing was that while we were crossing one terrace after other, we heard noises from every house. They all were of different nature but were enough to make us feel that we are were in trouble. Someone (or more than one) was travelling from one house to other without hindrance downstairs while we were trying to reach our house. Me and Cool Dude made a jump at our Balcony and ensure that we held the ladder tightly while the others (not so athletic) came down without being sabotaged. We ran to the ground floor Bedroom and locked ourselves. We felt that there were some people jumping and laughing on the 1^st floor until 5 am. Once we saw the sunlight, we got out and got ready to move. Cool Dude and Panditji gave us tight hugs before moving to their accommodation arrangements as their counselling dates were after some more days. Our landlord came at 7 am and we handed over the keys to him before boarding a train from Rajendra Nagar railway station.

I never got a chance to visit the city of Indore again in my life till today.While Hitler and Painter are still an integral part of my life, I am also in touch with Cool Dude,Crorepati,Panditji and many wonderful friends (including seniors) that I had made in those 4 months in Indore in the year 2000.

Tanakpur: My Journey to the tiny town.....Part 2

I thank everyone for appreciating my last blog describing my entry to Tanakpur on 14th April 2017.

Those who haven't read it yet, can find it at :

http://asgthedong.blogspot.com/2020/06/tanakpur-my-journey-to-tiny-townpart-1.html

Before continuing , I sincerely thank my wife Anisha Ray for helping me a lot to make 

this story into current presentable format:

It was 14th April 2017 and here we go...

Tanakpur Barrage

After having a late breakfast, I started to look for means to reach the bridge on the river -'Sarda' (also called 'Kali') which marks the border between India and Nepal along the entire eastern limits of the state of Uttarakhand. This is the same river that originates near Lipulekh and is the cause of border dispute between India and Nepal which has cropped up again in May-June 2020.

I found a teenager boy with his e-rickshaw who agreed to drop me to the bridge for Rs 80. Soon I was out of town and travelling parallel to the downstream flow of the river. I could see that it was not a bridge, but actually a barrage. Within 10 minutes I was standing on the entry of a 500 metres long barrage where no vehicles are allowed and people travelling to Nepal were supposed to cross it by walking.

As it was getting hotter, I quickly crossed the barrage and reached the other side. I realized that I was still not in Nepal and that the border was a zigzag

affair and that the limits of Indian territory still existed for 100 mt more (filled with dense trees) at the point where the barrage ended.

Interestingly, an upstream travel parallel to the river for 1 km would make us enter Nepal and reach the village of Brahmdev. However, the territory of India doesn’t stretch for those extra 100 mt beyond the riverbank at that point. Only God can understand these border markings done by the British.

This part of Nepal is actually a no man's land except for the village of Brahmdev on the foothills of 'Kala Pahaad'. The nearest town of Nepal, Mahendranagar (Bhimdatta) is about 12 km downstream and there is another bridge from Banbasa to Mahendranagar where vehicles are allowed to cross into Nepal.

Coming back to barrage, I discovered that all the Indians crossing to Nepal were headed to the village of Brahmdev to pay visit to the famous 'Siddha Baba Temple'.

There were some teenager boys with bikes who were driving people to the village as a pillion rider for Rs 20. I hitched a ride with a Nepali boy who was driving a bike

bearing an Indian number plate and got off at Brahmdev in less than 5 minutes travelling through a rocky dirt road. Just at the entry of the village, I spotted a small pillar marking the border between India and Nepal. The village had only 2 rows of small shops and restaurants on both sides of a concrete road. Needless to say, that the existence these villagers was solely dependent on the devotees/tourists visiting the 'Siddha Baba Temple’.

I spent about 20 minutes in the temple which I found very peaceful and nicely maintained. The 'Siddha Baba' was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva and the temple is dedicated to him, though Lord Shiva is also worshiped there. On exiting the temple and approaching the main road, I was very surprised and the source of this surprise being a shop selling chilled beer and soft drinks, only 30 mt away from the temple gate. Such a bravado is impossible near any Hindu temple in India. As I sipped a chilled can of beer in the hot afternoon, the owner told me that none of the guys from Nepal had ever objected to this beer shop near the temple, mostly it is the Indians who express their surprise on seeing the shop before helping themselves with some beer.

Siddha Baba Temple

On finishing my lunch at a small restaurant after having a can of 'Nepali' beer, the restaurant owner introduced me to another guy who asked me if I was interested in clubbing and gambling at a casino. He made me realize that the town of Mahendranagar (Bhimdatta) was actually a gambling den and a party spot for Indian guys. He turned out to be an agent whose duty was to get customers for casino/pub. He was ready to take me there on his bike without charging anything. I showed my empty wallet and politely refused all his offers and headed back to India as a pillion on bike of another Nepali boy.

Brahmdev, Nepal

Thanks to the chilled beer and lunch, I was walking leisurely, though it was past 1:00 pm and very hot. Owing to the leisurely pace, I could observe the huge difference in the water level of the river on both sides of the barrage and a thought struck my mind as a lightening. What a fool was I to overlook the fact that my father had come to Tanakpur to collect invoices for steel structures used for construction of a dam.

Now I was absolutely sure that I was walking on the same structure.99% people in India (or elsewhere) actually cannot distinguish between a 'dam' and a 'barrage' and my father was no exception. My doubts were cleared when I read the specifications of the barrage written on a pillar. It was written that the 'Tanakpur barrage ‘owned by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and was commissioned in March-1992. I felt like achieving something great in life just by crossing that barrage twice that day. I was very happy on locating the barrage and decided to avoid the afternoon heat and wait till the sun lost some of its anger before I visit the next point in

my itinerary - The Tanakpur Railway Station.

It was past 6:00 pm when I got out of the hotel. It was almost time for sunset, when I started walking along the new tracks from the bus stop to reach the Railway Station. Each step taken by me increased my heartbeats as I was walking to a place which I was so attached to for last 25 years without actually being there even once.

Tanakpur Station (Under Demolition)

My excitement reached a crescendo when I was standing in front of a railway platform whose shed roofs were already torn down. Only naked metal truss structures with 'Tanakpur' painted on them were standing and waiting for their turn meet the same fate.

Old Shed

New Tracks

The Professor was right. They were demolishing the whole Railway Station which had hosted the 'Meter Gauge' route for decades and didn’t fit in the development plans for upcoming 'Broad Gauge' tracks.

Standing on 'Platform 1' under fading sunlight, trying to trace anyone to talk, I realized that the 'Platform 2&3' was already gone and there was a new concrete bed being laid for new platform instead. After spending more than 10 minutes, it sadly dawned on me that there was not a single soul at the defunct Railway Station and that whatever I was seeing there that day would also get demolished in next 2-3 weeks.

My father had come and visited the 'Goods Office' at Tanakpur in 1992. As per standard design of smaller Railway Stations, a 'Goods Office' was supposed to be either at one end of 'Platform 1' or just beyond 'Platform 2&3' parallel to it. With my knowledge of Indian Railway, it took no time for me to guess that the 'Goods Office' at Tanakpur must have been beyond 'Platform 2&3' before getting demolished.

Instead of getting out to the city side, I crossed the 4-5 tracks to the other side. It was the place where my joy knew no bounds when I discovered myself standing in front of a row some old Railway Quarters.

These Quarters were certainly standing there even in 1992. Suddenly, a serious question struck my mind. 'Which was the Quarter allotted to Mr Harishankar Jaiswal?'. Mr Jaiswal was in charge of the 'Goods Office' at Tanakpur in 1992 and he was the person who spent time at office till 9:00 pm on 20th October 1992 to ensure that my father got his work done on the same day and could start his return journey on the next day. He even took my father to his Railway Quarter for dinner as there were no restaurants/canteen in Tanakpur at that time.

On trying to locate the name plates on each Railway Quarter, I realized that all of them were empty and abandoned. Tanakpur was going to get a new set of Railway Quarters along with a brand new Railway Station. Or maybe there was a plan to just do away with the concept of Railway Quarters as they have been doing in bigger cities.

With disappointment reigning heavy in my mind, I continued exploring and on reaching the last building in the row, found a new ray of hope.I was standing in front of the 'Railway Guest House’. There was no doubt that this was the same place where my father had spent a night in 1992. I thanked my lucky stars that it was not abandoned till the day of my visit. Some boys who were part of the demolition team were staying there in 2017.

Rly Guest House

Rly Guest House

Demolition Team

On seeing a big camera with me, they requested for a picture to which I happily obliged. They told me that the Quarter and Guest House were to be demolished in 2018 after the resumption of train services.

After taking some more pictures, I started walking back to the hotel along the tracks. Each footstep made me feel more like a defeated person.I was physically there, but still not there. I visited the Railway Station but could only see it getting it demolished. I could locate the 'Guest House', but the 'Goods Office was gone. I could not find a single person to talk to about Tanakpur Railway Station of 1992.Maybe, I should had visited Tanakpur a year ago. It was almost dark and walking back felt like leaving a part of myself demolished there along with the Railway Station. 

In spite of this irony, my Bollywood-infested mind didn’t forget to draw a parallel. My mind made me feel like walking back dejected and defeated like 'Kamal Hassan' at the final scene of the movie 'Sadma' though there was no 'Sridevi' at Tanakpur.

The next 2 hours were even more disappointing as I met at least 30-40 people on the streets and shops. None of them were present in Tanakpur in 1992.

According to 2011 census, the population of Tanakpur was about 17,000. It must have been just 3000 or 4000 in 1992 and none of those people were traceable to me in 2017.

That night I decided to give another chance to myself. I didn’t want to go back to New Delhi as a defeated person.I cancelled my proposed trip to 'Purnagiri Temple ‘the next day and decided to visit the Railway Station again.

It was 8:00 am on 15th April 2017 and I took the road to the main gate of the Railway Station instead of the tracks. I reached there in about 20-25 minutes and was happy to see the Railway Reservation Office. Soon I met 4-5 Railway Employees while I was clicking pictures of the main gate. After clarifying that I was not from any media group, I told them the purpose of my visit and my connection to Tanakpur. They made me realize that 25 years was a very long period as most of the Railway Employees there served for maximum 4-5 years before getting transferred.

Also, no employee stayed there after retirement. Some retired employees were living at Khatima, but they were not sure about Mr Jaiswal as they had never heard of him.

After chatting for about 30 minutes, I thanked them and walked back to the hotel after clicking pictures of the Guest House and other Quarters.

Defunct Time Table

City Side Gate

Rly Guest House

I again walked back along the tracks instead of the road taken in the morning. On passing by each of each older building/structure being in various stages of demolition, all my disappointment got vanished when a positive thought came to my mind.

It was a pleasant morning which made me realize the brighter part of the story. Soon Tanakpur was going to get a Broad Gauge track and a 'Shatabdi Express' to New Delhi. Soon there might be trains for Mumbai,Kolkata and Bangalore too. An obscure tiny town was ready to enter the mainstream on India's map and I was witnessing this transformation. Lord Shiva had decided to 'Destroy' the old Tanakpur to help it 'Transform' and welcome the   new era. 

Abandoned Rly Quarters

Though I had tear in my eyes walking back, this time my Bollywood-infested mind made me felt like 'Salman Khan' at the final scene of the movie 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’. Again, there was no 'Kajol' or 'SRK' there.

Fast forward to February 2018.I was again busy in my routine professional and personal life, shuttling between New Delhi(work) and Mumbai(family), with occasional flights to Raipur(hometown) when I received a call from an unknown landline number.

It was the hotel manager from Tanakpur who had called me to inform that the Broad Gauge track was completed and Tanakpur was to get its train to Delhi in a week. I asked him about how and why he remembered me and called me to give this news. He said that he had seen many tourists visiting Tanakpur for different reasons, but it was only me who visited that place just because of my love for Tanakpur.

He invited me to visit there by train and with my family next time which I accepted. Maybe, I will take this journey soon.

Also, there were 5 interesting people whom I met in those 2 days and would love to meet again apart from seeing the new Railway Station.

I will describe those 5 people some other day.

I was able to locate Mr Harishankar Jaiswal, who lives in Gorakhpur now, on Facebook in 2019. Though he hasn’t replied to any of my messages yet, one of his relatives (also found on Facebook) confirmed that he was the same person who was posted in Tanakpur in 1992. I am still waiting for his reply.

As on today, things at Tanakpur have started growing exponentially after the new Broad Gauge Railway Track. Although the movie 'Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho' has no real connection to the place, there are numerous pictures/videos and online groups on social media which highlight the transformation and current vibrancy of the town. We can find many interesting things online today, but no search on Google tells us 'How was Tanakpur like in 1990s?’.

It seems no one has yet preserved or published anything about Tanakpur as it existed in that period of time.

Owing to my research, I can proudly proclaim that the 3 pages of my father’s diary are probably the only documented source that preserves the tiny town of Tanakpur as it was in October 1992.

Tanakpur: My Journey to the tiny town.....Part 1

As the age old saying goes – Man proposes, God disposes… there are so many things in life, we wish to do, but things just don’t materialize. We can attribute it to will of God, or for that matter, our circumstances. Am sure, we all have that personal To-do list waiting to see the light of the day.

Needless to say, same goes for me too. However, I will always be proud of myself for at least completing one such task and visiting a place called Tanakpur.

It was on 13^th Apr 2017 that I found myself sitting in a luxury bus at Red Fort Bus Depot. The bus was about to start for Tanakpur at 11:00 pm and was scheduled to reach there at 7:00 am next morning. I had planned for this trip for more than 2 months and picked a long weekend with no pending official work.

I had grabbed a window seat after having 3 deep fried 'Parathas' and a 'Lassi' at 'Parathe Wali Gali' at Chandni Chowk. I was expecting the seat next to me to be empty for the whole journey as the bus was only half filled with passengers. All my assumptions went for a toss as suddenly there was a rush of 20-30 people who filled the bus just a minute before its departure.

A young lady about 27-28-year-old got the seat beside me. Her husband, who had come to see her off, gave her about 50 instructions on how to travel safe. Before deboarding, he requested me to help his wife during the journey if she needed anything.

I nodded with a smile and told myself that I was going to help her (or anyone in the journey) till the time she doesn’t ask me to give her my window seat.

Whether it is a bus or train or a flight, I am very good at fighting with anyone and everyone if I am denied a window seat.

As the bus started and picked speed, I got to know from the lady that they were married just 2 months back and she was travelling to meet her in-laws at Rudrapur, while her parents stayed at Roorkee. She was a qualified Electronics Engineer who had worked in Electronics Assembly Line in Uttarakhand and was looking for a job in Delhi at that time. Though her husband was running a Web-Designing business, she was more interested in Electronics.

When I told her about my purpose of visit to Tanakpur, she was a bit surprised initially, but later gave me some good advice. She told me that if I was planning to go to Nepal then I should not carry my credit/ debit cards or cash above Rs. 1000 there and that I should be back to India before sunset at any cost.

She was aware of the place and had been there long back when her uncle used to work there.

Tanakpur, a small sleepy town in Champawat District of Uttarakhand has always fascinated me since my 10th Birthday, 18^th Oct 1992, as It happened to be the day, my father started his journey to this town for an official work of Indian Railways. Although he was back to Raipur in 5 days, but the way he described that place and his 18 hours stay there really made a solid impact on my mind.

Although I now know that it is an important spot on the Kailash Mansarovar Route (via Lipulekh) and, also a base for the famous Purnagiri Temple, I didn’t have any clue about this place that time except for its position in the Oxford Atlas which was a fascinating thing for me as a 5th Standard Student.

I always wanted to visit this place, but the corporate rat race never allowed me to ever make any attempt to visit that place. Things gradually faded from my mind until, this word popped up again in June 2015 in a title of Bollywood Movie named 'Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho'. I was still recovering from the shock of my father's sudden demise in July 2014 and this movie just brought back all the memories of my father describing his 18 hours stay there.

Things got favorable for me as I got into a Project with Indian Army and moved to New Delhi in January 2016. A visit to Tanakpur was one of my prime targets apart from delivering the Project on time.

As the bus picked speed and entered the speedy highway in Uttar Pradesh, all passengers got into sleep mode while I was still in an excited mode about my journey, which I finally was taking after planning for so many years. I remembered a green diary which I had discovered from my father's closet in 2015 in which he had penned down about all his experiences on all his official trips between year 1990 and 1995 when was posted at Bhilai Steel Plant by Indian Railways and his duty was to ensure seamless loading of Steel Products on hundreds of goods trains bound to different parts of the country or Vizag Port (for exports).His department was also responsible for achieving a revenue target for Indian Railways from Steel Authority of India ltd(SAIL).

My father had written 3 full pages on his journey to Tanakpur. He had also described some other journeys to places like Ramtek (Maharashtra), Adra (West Bengal) and Hirdagarh (MP) among many others.

I understood that my father had to go to Tanakpur in 1992 as some steel structures were transported by SAIL for constructing a dam near Tanakpur and Indian Railways was waiting for the payments of the transportation even after 2 years due to missing invoices. My father was asked to visit Tanakpur and collect those invoices in person.

During a short break around 1:30 am at a Dhaba, I realized that most of the 50 odd passengers would be getting down at Rudrapur or Khatima and only a handful would be going up to Banbasa and Tanakpur. As I was totally unaware of any of these places, it didn’t make much difference to me except an apprehension that they may terminate the bus at Khatima and that I may need to arrange for an alternative means to continue up to Tanakpur. I met a professor of Mathematics who told me that the Railway Station of Tanakpur was under demolitions process and it would be totally gone in next 15-20 days as a new Railway Station was being built along with conversion of the tracks to Broad Gauge.

I don’t remember when I dozed off or for how long did I sleep, before I woke up seeing morning light from the window. It was 5:30 am and the bus was standing at big square at a town where people were just realizing that it was morning as the tea stalls were just opening for the day ahead. I realized that the seat next to me was now empty and before I could make out anything, I saw the lady waiving a goodbye to me from across the road. I realized that it was Rudrapur and that it was just a matter of a couple of hours before I would be landing at Tanakpur.

The next leg of the journey was mostly uneventful with the bus reaching Khatima at around 7:00 am. Here the bus almost got empty and only about 12 people remained who were going to travel to Banbasa of Tanakpur. As anticipated earlier, the bus operator declared that the bus would get terminated there itself.

They arranged 2 small 8-seater auto rickshaws. One for the 6 passengers bound to Banbasa and the other one for the 6 heading for Tanakpur. I again grabbed a window seat after ensuring that my laptop bag was safe. As the auto rickshaw got out of the town and entered the highway with awesome greenery, my heartbeats got faster as I was just about 25 km and 30-35 minutes away from the place which my father had described many times with a great passion.

As my journey had been absolutely comfortable, I again remembered the diary of my father where he had described his journey to Tanakpur by train.

It was not that easy for him that time though he was on an official duty. He boarded an express train from Raipur at 10:00 pm on 18^th Oct 1992 and reached Allahabad

at 12:00 noon on next day. Then he boarded another express train to Bareilly and reached at 3:00 am on 20^th Oct 1992. It was Meter Gauge track after that, and he had to spend about 10 hours changing 2 passenger trains to reach Tanakpur at 4:00 pm on the same day. His return journey was equally filled with train changes and

he reached Raipur back on 23^rd Oct 1992.

While I was thinking about all these, I found myself at a small bus stop with a sign board of 'Tanakpur'. Also, I could see a Railway track nearby which was just being

laid. They were converting the Meter Gauge track to Broad Gauge which meant that all trains were suspended at that time.

I realized that the most important entity of my trip to Tanakpur i.e. the Railway Station was just a km away from the bus stop and I could reach there walking along the new tracks. I was eager to visit the Railway Station as now I knew that it was just a matter of 2-3 weeks before it will be completely gone. I felt very fortunate

to pick this date for the journey as I knew that it would be difficult to connect with the memories of 1992 with a brand-new Railway Station being built in 2017.

It took me just 10 minutes to locate a good hotel named 'Blue Empire' and get a room for myself. I spent about 2 hours and then was ready for my tryst of exploration

with my 36X Zoom Canon Camera. As I looked out of the hotel window, I could see a huge peak overlooking the whole town. Maybe this was the 'Kala Pahaad' that my father had described several times. The peak was actually located in Nepal, as noted by him in his diary.

It was 14^th Apr 2017. After a brief chat with the hotel manager, I was ready with my agenda for 2 days at Tanakpur:

1) Exploring Tanakpur Railway Station

2) Finding the Railway Guest House

3) Looking for Mr Harishankar Jaiswal or his descendants (if they were still in Tanakpur)

4) Finding the dam (steel structure) for which my father had to come to Tanakpur

5) Walking to Nepal ad spending some time there (though my father didn’t do that in 1992)

6) A visit to Purnagiri Temple which the locals were insisting me to do.

To be continued…

Part 2:

http://asgthedong.blogspot.com/2020/07/tanakpur-my-journey-to-tiny-townpart-2.html