Travel Diaries

when we are not prepared to accept fate, losses may take a huge toll on our physical, mental and emotional health. It is here that the fourth, the spiritual aspect of our being, comes to our rescue and guides us slowly through the transformation.

Kumaon’s beauty lies in the abundance of greenery, in contrast with the starkness of landscape in Garhwal.

it is strange how a malady of the mind can make a healthy body feel sick, despite all worldly comforts.

somewhere in Nature, there is a huge cosmic clock, its timings set long before we even think about events.

It was this sense of losing control and letting go while allowing a greater power to look after my well being, which was the transforming factor and henceforth my faith and belief grew stronger than ever before

Deciding upon destinations just ensure that we embark upon the journey. The destination has its significance but the journey is of utmost importance, because it helps us grow as people.

What then is the significance of the destination? It is just a turning point, an indication that a certain phase of the soul’s journey is over and a new phase is about to begin.

Journeys constitute the tools employed by the cosmos to enable us to learn our soul lessons.

Chitai temple in Almora dedicated to a local deity, Golu devta, the god of justice.

The difference however, in this case is that the devotees do not just ask for a favour mutely but openly, in the form of letters written to the deity, tied with threads all around the temple, explaining the injustices done to them and asking for redressal.

The entire courtyard, temple walls and gateway are covered with innumerable bells, indicating that probably more cases of injustice are resolved here than in any judicial court of the country.

the Nature of Man has been so crafted that he desires more and more and since living in harmony with Nature, seems much more difficult to humans now, we try to bring civilization into all beautiful areas, eventually poisoning the beauty to such an extent that trees and animals, birds and insects need to be protected from us by national programmes.

Travel and spiritual growth were the two most attractive options that were feasible and available to me.

Tungnath is believed to be the highest Shiva temple in the world, at 12,000 feet and remains open during summer and monsoon, closing after diwali, remaining covered in snow during the winter months. The temple itself is more than a thousand years old.

Climbing is not just for pleasure or physical fitness, it is also integral to the fitness of the mind which becomes more focussed, calm and as unmoved as the mountain you are climbing and also for upliftment of the spirit, overcoming the insurmountable blocks, our own personal mountains.

What an irony! So it’s not just we humans, who are trapped in the irony of the living world, even God, whose name, Shiva, itself means auspicious, and who devoured poison to protect the earth, is believed to render the food eaten by him, inauspicious!

I also learnt that self respect and nourishment of one’s body, mind and soul is the individual’s personal responsibility and that we have nobody to blame if we neglect it and suffer on account of it.

Tungnath may have been instrumental in the metamorphosis; in the process of becoming a beautiful butterfly, one has to endure being an ugly, crawling larva and sheer darkness inside the shell of the pupa. I had finished my trials and emerged victorious.

Ironical because the flowing water signifies life but it’s proximity is desired for cremating the dead, and natural because according to our ancient texts our body is made up of the five elements into which it dissolves after death, which explains the validity of the ritual of cremation by fire followed by us, after which the ashes are carried away by the water of the river to enable the soul transcendence unto a new life.