Horemheb's Musings

Anytime one gets to visit Gangotri is amazing, however this trip was special for multiple reasons. This was the first time I am driving/riding to Gangotri and even more this was the first long ride I am doing on a motorcycle in 4 years. So, it is fair to say it was with a heady mix of excitement and trepidation that I started off for Gangotri.

After the by now customary breakfast of Parathas and Ginger tea I set off wearing a rudimentary riding gear. Topping multiple layers of my warmest T-shirts was my leather jacket and I was wearing my cold weather gloves which were not however made for biking. In my satchel I carried two bottles of water apart from my journal and shemagh. First stop was the fuel station at Gangori from where I tanked up. I observed an Isuzu VCross loaded for the bear with all the trappings of an overlanding expedition. 

Owing to the unfamiliarity of the terrain, odd posture in the comparatively smaller Classic 350 and my unwieldy gloves which made it a chore to reach the horn button I could barely go beyond the 3^rd gear which was a blessing in disguise. Sure, I was riding slower than I normally did but I could enjoy the views better at the reduced pace. Soon I got into formation with a couple of Activa riders who were going at breakneck speeds of around 70-80 kmph. Perhaps they were more used to the terrain, or they were just foolhardy, but where they had an edge in speed, I had the edge in stamina. As I maintained a steady 40-50 kmph these guys were stopping every 4 or 5 kilometers and then racing ahead. Frankly I got irritated by them after a while and when I stopped for my first bio breaks at the 40-kilometer mark I had no courtesy to extend to them as they passed me by. 

The scariest stretch of the road where the narrow mountain passes ahead of Sukki Top. Without any safety barriers or shoulders, it was like riding through a letter U laid on its side, sheer mountain cliffs on two sides, to the right and above and a jaw dropping cliff to the left I was intensely concentrating on this stretch of the road for fear of some large vehicle that may come from opposite directions. On these roads even the left extremity of the road offers no safety as these roads are notorious for its sides caving away into the valley, who knows the very stretch of asphalt where I side into may be hollow underneath. So, it is safest always to keep to the center.

I did not stop at Mukhba in Dharali which had multiple dhabas as I wanted to reach Gangotri at the earliest. Having started riding at 10:30 by 13:30 I had only reached Dharali and there was still 30 more kilometers to go. As per my calculation at this pace I would need 4 hours of riding to return to Uttarkashi from Gangotri which would take me well into the night, and even the thought of riding through those mountain passes after dark was mortifying. However, I took a short bio break at Lanka and adjusted my satchel. The water bottles and other sundry accessories were weighing down the satchel and as I had left it hanging to my left side my shoulders were aching quite badly by this point. I shortened the length of the shoulder strap so that I could sit and convey its weight on to the backseat rather than my shoulders. 

Riding through the Harsil Dharali valley was nothing short of magical. This unique geography was filled with green trees with the slow meandering Ganga flowing to the left. I was more or less alone on this stretch and the riding experience was far better than anything I could have hoped for. Cruising at 40 kmph without changing the gears, on undulating roads, underneath and through lush green canopy. Soon the valley gave way and the final passes towards Gangotri started. The bridge before Bhaironghati was amazing as ever, the incredibly high and narrow steel girder bridge across the mad gushing confluence of Bhagirathi and Jadh Ganga has always been impressive however this time I had gained additional context through the revelation that Jadh Ganga flows from Nelang Valley, a wild mystical place quite similar to the Tibetan terrain and one of the habitats of the Snow Leopard. Yet another advantage of keeping company with Mr. Tilak Soni who as a member of Project Snow Leopard had the unique privilege of travelling to the valley and conduct photography of the elusive big cat. 

After Bhaironghati the last dozen kilometers to Gangotri were across pristine four lane roads which were another mind-blowing revelation. Albeit dotted at times by evidence of recent and not so recent landslides it was bliss to ride on this road. Now I also started seeing the snow-clad mountain peaks increasing in its frequency and a particular peak with blue ice across its façade was especially mesmerizing.

The streets of Gangotri were all empty and all the shops were closed but I was surprised at the number of vehicles and visitors who were in the place. Imagine my shock when immediately on parking my bike what should I hear but a conversation in Malayalam! A group of four Malayalees had travelled all the way from Kochi to Gangotri just to experience the Himalayas! I introduced myself to them but being characteristically Malayalees they were not keen in engaging in conversation and immediately left Gangotri. I guess it is only solo travelers like me who get excited on hearing their mother tongue in a strange land.

I prayed at the Gangotri temple and made my way to the Ghats where I decided to just stop and take it all in. Entrance into the river itself was barricaded by stout chains and I was not feeling brave or foolhardy enough to walk upstream to cross the rocks and enter the water. My fingers were numb, writing was absolutely painful, my body was aching all over and my nose felt red in the cold, but I was in heaven nevertheless. 4 hours of riding to spend 15 minutes at a place might not seem sensible but that is exactly what I did. Usually, I am a person who prefers the journey over the destination, however Gangotri is the one place where the destination is worth the journey. Even if it was only for 15 minutes it was a justified journey.

The weather started getting progressively colder as I left Gangotri at 2:30. The sun was fading behind the clouds, and I really started craving for some tea. The said tea and parathas were waiting for me at a Dhaba in Dharali. I was not sure which was the Dhaba that had sustained us during our stay in 2014, even in 2015 it was tough to identify by now the shops had changed their configuration. The homestay where we had stayed in 2014 however was unchanged. I wished I could see another of those hairy bovines that I found curious during my last trip. I did watch in fascination as a guy was preparing firewood with an axe. It is not often that city folks like me can watch and admire such skills.

The return through the mountain passes were thankfully not as scary as the onward path perhaps because this time I had solid rock to my left and the chasming valley was way off to the right, only a couple of meters for sure, but on the other side of the road. It was psychologically reassuring at least. At the bridge ahead of Gangnani I gave lift to a hitchhiker whose bike had broken down and was being loaded onto a truck. He was on the way to Bhatwari. I am not sure what was wrong with him, he kept shifting and squirming around in the seat at times threatening to throw off my balance, continuously spitting and weirdest of all occasionally grabbing my ass. The first time I thought I was imagining it; second time I was puzzled by the third time I was bewildered. I dare not ask him about it and breathed a sigh of relief only after I put a few kilometers between me and Bhatwari where I dropped him off. 

I took my last pit stop as the dusk was turning to the night. Temperature at the place was 3 degrees Celsius, so adding wind chill effect I was riding through and was about to continue riding through subzero temperatures. I had started to shiver uncontrollably and was worried about how I would manage the remaining distance to Uttarkashi. The shivering did threaten to throw off my balance however adrenaline augmented by fear kicked in as the night set. The roads started to become exponentially more dangerous, very few stretches had shoulders or edges of the road marked with reflectors. Every time a vehicle came from opposite direction with full bright headlights I had to come to a near stop. At one point where there was some road construction one idiot quite nearly ran me off the road. 

I finally reached the Eagle’s nest at 1830. It took more than an hour, a cup of tea and several glasses of warm water for the shivering to subside. The body aches would be gone by the morning as would the stiffness in fingers but the zest to visit Gangotri again was burning inside me again and again. Existence of 5G connectivity with 200 Mbps of speed at Gangotri has started giving me even more ideas of workcation. With the massive improvements in road and network connectivity it has become realistic to think of staying and working from Gangotri for an extended period of time. As I had done for all previous journeys, I had left Gangotri with the promise to come back again to the Devbhoomi – the Abode of Gods.