Suddenly from the caves an old woman appears shouting; later vultures fly overhead and patrolling guys almost see us- The eloped exploration
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Our daily routine:
Going to Tapkeshwar temple in Dehradun had turned out to be a daily routine for six of us. Like a bunch of close childhood friends, we would passionately wait for the evening to fall and then there would be one thing and only thing on my mind i.e. Band-Tikki. I had always like to start my evening-day with it. Just to give it a more appealing name, so that it does not sound brassy to others, I would call it a “Desi Burger”.
Scrummy and yummy and I could eat a hundred and half of those.There would be sparkling in our eyes as we would start walking towards the shop. The way the shop keeper would prepare my local favorite would be more mouth watering than you could have ever thought of. May be more delicious than the same rugged pizza or burgers. Watching his dexterous skills in preparation of our everyday local favorite was not less than watching a magic turning imaginations into reality.
Sometimes for the sake of bringing changes in our taste buds, we would take soupy noodles- another sun on the horizon. Call it to the cheaper prices or mastery of Pahadi people in the preparation of noodles, I have never found such awesome noodles at much places except once in a restaurant in Majitar, Sikkim.
I still don’t remember what count was it when we were going to Tapkeshwar temple again. Psychoanalyzing the reasons, why we supposedly loved that temple? I find many funny and silly reasons explaining precisely our behavior too true to be believed.
The best being, we always had needed a break from from colonel’s daily tough study routine (we were preparing for SSB interview that time).
Our evening would kick start with Band Tikki, a local fast food in Dehradun
Tapkeshwar Mahadev Temple:
There was a blank canvas in the hands of nature at the beginning. It, first, strategically painted the solid blank ground with green trees, high gorges and a seasonal river before placing the temple inside the cave. The river became multifaceted, embodied in different avatars in different seasons.
Flowing shyly and silently, cribbing amid narrow gorges, it reminds me of the last night with her. She is not less than a seasonal river- emotions situated deep inside. She would carry little emotions within her like in winters, the river also would carry humble amount of water with herself. When I try to hold her like high gorges, sometimes, in pursuit of trying to break free off me, she would fall open over my chest, the same way a river falls freely in open valleys.
Washing over the stairs, river would be carrying cold, fresh and pristine water from valleys and terrains up the hills. Sit on the rocks, immerse your legs inside the water, try to hold on your feet until you are freezing nearly to the death while keeping on wondering about the nothingness inside your mind that either it were temples which were inside the caves or it were caves those were inside the temple.
Hit by the weird idea of exploration:
So, finally one Sunday afternoon, we got free much earlier than what we had expected to or may be it was simply a free unplanned Sunday. Though I am not good at remembering things however that doesn’t matter much here as well either. After having lunch, we came to the temple. Climbed down tens of marble steps below to the river. It was little early that day. The place looked little deserted. People usually would come here in evening. However, a few couples were having peace time alone beside the lone river; lost in nature.
Each day, we would see the same river pushing the humble amount of water ahead amid boulders and rocks like Russians pushing their soldiers in river Volga. It again reminds me of last night with her. When she would push me away from her, break free off me for a moment and smile at her ephemeral victory not to know I would be holding her closer to me the next moment again. After sitting there for sometime and feeling mono-toned, we decided to explore the valley along the river and a new chapter of adventure got added to our life.
First important decision was, which part of the river we would be exploring. To the right, river looked flat and we could see the river little longer. So, right part was set right.
Another thing which was supposed to be accomplished silently, was eloping without a hustle away from the eyes of the caretaker of the temple. Just to make sure we are not in the eye of any third person, we silently walked along the river and within a min or two, we are well beyond anyone’s sight. Walking Behind rocks and bushes.
That day river looked deserted & flat and the place around too
Deep far out:
This river does not see much water except in rainy season. But sometimes these rivers are too decisive too, if you are aware of the flash floods, you would know why!
Rivers in the hilly areas would be more or less like a stream: narrow and flowing hundreds of feet down through high gorges. Sometimes, vegetation would be such dense that you can only hear the sound of water flowing down below but you wont be able to see the water.
I always had these kind of rivers on my mind: flowing deep, white boulders. They are a source of fantasy to me. Never got a chance to walk along these rivers for hours and shout at the sky from the deepest point in the valley. Our first astonishment were the pristine waters. It were the same waters that looked dirty nearer to the temple. It would be so pristine just hundreds of feet away, was unimaginable. You can even see the smallest pebble lying inches below the running stream of the water.
Valley was warm and congested leaving little room for the wind to circulate through. There was neither any way out for the heat to rise up. Though it looked windy at the upper part of the valley. With Insects, Mosquitoes, thorns, slippery rocks and cloudy day, we were, in no time, sweating like hell. Although the water was super cold but coolness was restricted to the height of ankle.
We looked behind and the temple had gone long and disappeared. There was a lonely river running behind us. Steep gorges seemed falling on us and void created behind seemed running up to us. Waters were in hurry to reach to the temple. I have read a lot of stories about Doon valleys. This part of Dehradun, the area around Garhi cant, is famous for its wilderness and wild animals specially leopards.
Since the river was narrow there was not much scope of looking beyond the gorges and thick trees covering all the areas. Only thing that was open to us was the open sky.
Initially, sounds from the near by vehicles were audible to us but they too died a slow death later. We knew that the river flew through some military cantonment area and there we could find some way out to reach to the road or we would walk back again all the way behind.
There were dark caves along the river side, green mosses and algae sticking to them for years making them more slippery. There was an echo in our mind that at any moment, a leopard might come jumping out of the cave and attack us.
Meeting with Indian Agafia:
Suddenly, we saw something surprising. We were surprised to see clothings around a cave. Surely they were not carried away by the flash floods. Also, there were burnt woods and cooking pots around. It was really surprising to see. If at all, anyone lives there then why any one would come and live here alone along the dark river and into the dark caves?
Saints in Doon valleys are famous for their solitary confinement but they too prefer Ganges most of the times. We tried taking the photographs and to add plethora of amazement to our surprises, an old woman came out shouting from the caves. Almost in her 60s. She almost had taken our breaths away. The valley was hostile and inhospitable. Summers would be too humid and often marked by flash floods. Jackals and leopards roam in abundance. White hair, torn cloths and with a stick in her hand. She reminded me of Agafia’s Taiga life.
While she was shouting at us, there were thousands of questions running inside my mind. First of all how does she manage herself alone? Does not she get ill? Does she go to near by market which must be a mile away at least, to buy stuffs? Does not she get afraid of flash floods and lightening in the sky sometimes on a lonely dark night?
Finally, I came to a conclusion that we are not supposed to understand some lives. Those lives are much above our worldly confinements and institutions or may be she belong to an ultra-orthodox community like saints belonging to secret clan of solitary restrictions.
What if people see us walking illegally along the river? And the way she was shouting at us and telling us time and again to return from then and there itself, was adding more confusion to our exploration. Now what lies ahead? She had enough of shouting and finally we broke our silence and told her to be quiet and go inside her caves. She wont go inside. So, we finally decided to move on further ignoring her. while she kept on shouting loudly from behind. Her sound was echoing along the gorges.
On the way, we were skeptical about whether to keep on exploring or to return since she already has warned us. But we decided that once we have colored our hands with clues, lets finish the mission. It has been almost an hour and finding a lonely shelter inside a dark cave that too of an old lady was really surprising. Furthermore, she repeatedly shouted and warned us.
Short meeting with vultures and kites:
We walked ahead. It was getting darker and darker. The river was growing deeper & narrower and the ridge were so steep that you can not climb in case there would be an instantaneous flash flood. We were wet. We saw up the hill on left side. A group of kites, vultures and crows were feeding on some dead animal. Now we realize that we were really much deeper into the forest some where.
We looked at each other face. We were smiling. While everyone expected something serious out of another. Now the intolerable danger which was over our mind was that of old woman and her yell outs. We could face anything in this world but not her shouting. She is irresistible and irritating. She yelled hell out of her.
Thus, we decided to explore little further because we had the faith that this river flows through some military cantonment area.We kept on walking. There seemed to be no end for the valley nor for the time. There were at all no signs of civilization. The sign was that cave-woman. She was a shouting sign. Sometimes, we would look at each-other but we were determined to find some way out and hopeful too.
Illegal entry into Military area along the stream:
Half an hour of walk and we could hear the sound of military trucks. We must be inside some cantonment area then. We already had a series of elopes. First from the temple care taker then from cave-woman and it were the military guys. What if we were seen by the military police patrolling over the bridge? Walking silently and illegally in the military area like an intruder along the river? Though the bridge was almost 100 feet vertically above the ground and we were still hundreds of meters away from the bridge hidden behind bushes and deciding what to do.
Rocks were standing like vertical wall along the river and to make it worse there were thick bushes and trees making it difficult to guess what is behind the bushes. A steep path or a cave. We sat there for sometime. Of course, we were desperate to find some way out. It was getting darker as well. We could feel our heart thumps and we were constantly calculating the chances of being seen by a military guy or being silently followed by some animal or that woman coming shouting behind us. Vultures flying overhead had made the situation worse.
So we decided to return to the temple. No photography, no much talking, just walk silently and pass that ferocious lady cave as soon as possible. We were really walking like some wading experts jumping over rocks and walking along the ridge sometimes.
In an hour, we reached at the temple. Soaked in sweat and looking little afraid and tired. people kept staring at us but looking at six of us, no one dared to ask us our whereabouts?It was relaxing to see some civilization around.
We sat on the rocks in middle of the river and put our legs inside the cold water and a thousand ideas we exchanged about what if that old lady was a witch? why were much vultures flying around? What if we could have got caught by military guy?