India Travel Notes

by Deepali Sharma

Start the day with a visit to the famous Raghunath temple. Some inscriptions carved are supposed to be from around 5th century. If you go there during the festive seasons of Basant Panchmi, you can witness the famous fair in the temple courtyard where people from near by places come to pray and enjoy. During the navratras, one can see the Ramayana being enacted. This tradition has been on for years and mostly the best acting talents are reserved for it. The dasharas of Garhwal and Kumaon are very famous and worth a watch. The colors, music and dances can be seen everywhere and music echoes in the hills during the festive season. If it’s the marriage season, one may get a chance to see the bride who goes to the temple before entering her in-laws’ place. The big nose ring, made of gold and at times weighing up to few kilograms, must not be missed, which the bride would be adorning. For those wanting to indulge in gossip or stories, just settle down in shops where locals will entertain you with stories of ghosts, wildlife and everything that is interesting in their lives.

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Walking down the eighty steps of the temple, one can see the sangam, the point of confluence of rivers and take a dip in the cold water of the Ganges. However, one has to be cautious of the strong current of water at sangam. Be sure not to test your swimming skills and hold on to the iron chains while inside the water. It is said that only the strongest of swimmers can beat the waves and whirlpool.
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by Deepali Sharma

The boisterous and strong Bhagirathi river gushes down from the one side and the calm and quiet Alaknanda flows in from the other, merging to form what we know as the as holy Ganges river. This is one of the five sacred confluences in the hills of Uttarankhand and the place is Devprayag, a small town in the Tehri district of Uttarakhand.

All Rights Reserved – Deepali Sharma Sanwal

As I travel along the Ganges from Rishikesh to Devprayag, my paternal village, I am overwhelmed with a feeling of belonging and nostalgia of my childhood days, spent running around in the mango orchards and trekking to nearby hills. As a child, I had done this journey every summer with my parents to visit my grandparents. Years later, I wanted to relive the experience and decided to do away with my car and jumped into a local bus. As our bus by passed the Laxman Jhula in Rishikesh and moved up the meandering roads, the driver put on pahari music which seemed to resonate in the valleys all around. I could hear myself humming to the tunes I had grown up listening to.
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