The road to heaven goes through hell - Chardham Yatra

The one other major “trip” that we took after the Japan trip was to do the Chardham yatra via Helicopter.

My father had requested that I go visit over and over again, in the days that he could still talk. So right after the one year annual ceremony, my mom suggested I go do this Yatra with San. Her reasoning was “I don’t know when you will come visit next. So go when you are here!”. We had spent the first week of the trip doing the ceremonies for 5 days, then immediately visited Gunaseelam (family deity) temple for a day. Then we were free to visit other temples. So right away we spent the next six days in the CharDham Yatra.

We had requested my FIL to do the booking as he is local and could directly talk to the. tour operators. He was already wary as there was a lot of fraudulent bookings for this yatra. He had transferred a little over 2k USD per person for this five day trip not to mention the travel from Chennai to Dehradun and Dehradhun to Mumbai.

We were committed. The decision was to have our in-laws join as well. We begged them to join. They had read the reviews and knew it was not going to be easy to do this at their age, but they agreed and we were glad they did. They might have regretted the decision. At least they didn’t show it. Something tells me that this will be the last trip we go with them which involves high altitude, extended walking, poor accommodations without proper restrooms. Now that I have gone through my first UTI and kidney infection, totally understand what I put my FIL through for those five days. Hopefully he forgives me in this lifetime.

A few things to note before I dive into writing details about this Yatra.

1. I was already in a bad mood. My fathers passing only hit me while we were busy cleaning up the apartment. Till then it was lurking in the background. Dropping off mom’s thirumangalyam at Gunaseelam temple was the last nail. So I was grumpy and mentally exhausted.

2. My wife and in-laws were fully aware of the situation. They were extremely supportive throughout this trip. Every now and then, they just let me be to stare at the snow covered mountains.

3. When people tell you that given we go by Helicopter from place to place and get to see the actual deities, as though it is a walk in the park, it is NOT! This is not for older people or people with health issues. If you get altitude sickness, think twice or thrice before you go.. Better, avoid it.

4. The Heli tours seat 6. If possible get a full group so your helicopter is in your control at least as far as the passenger manifest is concerned. This way there are no issues with late or missing passengers costing you a day on a hectic trip. Local travellers who can afford to take such risks don’t care about their co-passengers.

5. Do not Plan this for 5 days even though that is the travel plan. Have at least 3 extra days to save yourself a lot of mental agony. Helipads close due to bad visibility, bad weather, local fires etc. totally unpredictable weather in these parts of the himalayas. Once you are up there, a road trip return is also not possible as roads close due to landslides. There are also unpredictable delays due to politicians and other folks who block roads.

6. go on a dieting spree before this trip. The helicopters can only take so much weight. They assume 75kg per passenger and a 5kg bag per person. You will be weighed before every trip.

Having said all that, we did take all morning and afternoon to fly from Chennai to Dehradun via Lucknow. Once we reached Dehradun airport, we had a car waiting for us to take us to our hotel. It was a 90 minute drive through the mountains. On the way there were many roadside stalls for good and chai. We stopped to have noodles and Chai.

Every 500m there is a “pahaho-wali maggi” store. Never diss Maggi noodles. It is the food of sherpas! San let me have all the Maggi I wanted on this trip. That is one thing that put a smile on my face!

We were met by the tour coordinator who gave us a bag and said anything we need for the next 4 days goes in that bag and cannot exceed 5kgs. Also he asked for our weight including what we were going to wear (jackets etc). He asked us to leave our luggage in the hotel cloak room and leave only with the 5kg bag the next morning. So we packed emergency medicines, chargers, minimal clothes and before you knew it was done! I kept 1 kg as reserve in my bag in case we bought some souveniers. It was a good move.

We had a nice dinner and breakfast at the hotel in Dehradun and were picked up by the tour company. It was a short drive to the Sahasradhara helipad in Dehradun. We got boarding passes after being weighed in. After a short wait, we flew to Yamunothri. It was a 40 minute ride and was pleasant. This is my first helicopter ride if memory serves me right. So it was better than my expectations.

Once at Yamunothri, they see your badges and folks come take you to the hotel. It was a simple room. We were asked to rest. There were enough rooms for the group and a separate shed for having food. The village was very peaceful with a few hotels and a small temple. The views were amazing! There were 15 people in our group. 60 guys were going to come and carry us 4 /person in a Doli (it is a bucket seat that is held up by two wooden sticks on either side) up 7+ kilometers with an elevation gain of 3000 feet.

We waited patiently for 3 hours! Apparently the election commisisoner had decided to do the Chardham coinciding with our schedule. That was not good news. They had blocked the path for an hour. So the morning group was stuck. Doli men could not reach. Finally they showed up and were ready to go on their second trip! These are all kids and young men 17-30 who came from Nepal during the visiting season to make money. Strawberry pickers from Mexico came to mind.

After just a few yards on the Doli, I was not for it. We hike a lot. So I got off the Doli and told the guys it was okay. They were getting paid anyways. So one of them can guide me and the other three can carry the doli and walk along. If I could not walk, then I agreed to get back. I hiked the entire way up. San also saw what I did and decided to walk it. My in-laws found it difficult to breathe and after a point their doli’s were all stopped thanks to the politician and everyone was asked to walk. They could not and made the wise decision to turn back to the hotel. San was stuck a good mile behind me. Lucikly the Doli guys had cell signal at places and they sent word. I waited and finally she joined me. They had parked the doli’s 4.5 km from the bottom. We both ran up the rest of the way through doli’s horses, people who would not move..

When I was almost a Km to the top, a horse hit my ankle with full force, removed my shoes and skin came off my ankle. Told the guys it was too late to turn back. Just put my socks back on and kept going. We reached the Yamunothri shrine at 7 PM. It was already getting dark. A priest met us, took us to a line and shoved us in there. His instructions “keep your hands up and go with the crowd. You will be in front in a few minutes. See the deity. THey will push you out. I will wait for you where they push you out”. It was like a birthing experience. At 7:08 we were ejected out. We had seen the shrine for maybe 25 seconds tops.

As part of my promise to my dad, I did no a prayer at this place. That took another 10 minutes with the priest. Then it was time to go down. We went down almost 4 km by walk. By then the doli guys joined us. It was getting crazy with Doli’s, horses and people pushing. So they told us walking was not good for us or them. Doli’s have right of way! so we both got on that and they literally ran down the last 3 km. WIth full bladders we had to endure a bumpy ride to the base. Then we had to walk back up to the hotel. That was a climb in itself. We were so happy to see the restroom. They still had dinner left for us. So we ate what we could. We were also glad to see my in-laws in good spirits. They were happy they decided to return back. In spite of leaving earlier, they were also caught in the politician traffic and had made it back only 90 minutes before we did.

Here are some picturess..

and a video..

We crashed right away. The next morning we were going to leave for the helipad bright and early.

Take nothing for granted

This blog usually sees only happy posts for the most part. Occasionally a sad or nostalgic/ raw post. The last month has not been easy.

The Japan trip blog series writeup was going along swimmingly well. Then there was a biz trip for a few days and my plan was to come back and finish writing about the last three days of the trip.

There was International day of Yoga and a multilingual class that we thoroughly enjoyed. Monday through Wednesday I had planned a rather hectic trip to cover multiple things. Every day there were two flights with 2-3 hour gap between flights just to be safe. In spite of that 5 of the 6 flights were 2+ hours late. The only flight on time was the last one.

Somewhere in the middle of visiting airport restrooms and plane restrooms, I had picked up my first UTI ever and did not know it. As fate would have it, my last but one flight started 2 hours late and landed 2 hours late as well. The next flight home was on time and had boarded. The last hour of the flight was extremely turbulent and we were not allowed to use the restroom. The pretzel bag and water did not make it easier. When we were about to land, the air hostess announced that four passengers could actually made their connections if we would run to the next flight that was boarding. We were in A12. Two of us had to run to A1. A mom and daughter had to run to A6. Rest of them were rebooked as they had luggage. I was traveling with a backpack. After running 12 gates and making it to the flight, I was huffing and puffing. The flight attendant in the next flight promptly handed me a water bottle and said “sir please take your seat. we were waiting for you two. we have to taxi right away”. I went to my seat and told the other air hostess “ I have been holding from going to the restroom for the last 90 minutes. I have to go. It is urgent”. She said “please just hang on for another 10 minutes. once we are airborne you can go. if you get up, we cannot taxi. Already everyone has been waiting for you. “

So I waited. Then the turbulence was back on as soon as we took off.. the seat belt sign didn’t come off for another hour and 10 minutes. By that time I thought my bladder was going to rupture. Finally they let me go. Then there was another lady two seats ahead with a baby that desperately needed a diaper change. She was also constantly pressing the button. Out of goodwill I held it for another 5 minutes. When I finally tried to pee in that plane, pain hit me like never before to the point I was crying. Came back, sat down and was glad that I was going to be home soon. It was late in the night and the advice nurse told me to take Tylenol and rest and come see the doctor in the morning. if anything changed run to ER.

Woke up at 6AM and was peeing blood. The next 10 days has been a blur. In and out of hospital, getting to ER, Urgent care, back to ER, getting admitted, being tested constantly, round after round of antibiotics after they found that the infection had spread all the way to my kidneys. The whole family was in shock. After sometime at the hospital, they agreed to discharge me on condition that someone at home will do the medicine infusion. San said she will get trained but her hands were shaking and she freaked out. Luckily the kids were both bold enough and volunteered to do the infusion at home.

A word of praise to Kaiser. They did an outstanding job of taking care of me, sending medicine home on time for the infusions with a proper kit, meticulous follow ups, the nurses who took care of me as well as the ER doctors, not to mention my PCP who spotted right away that something was off after the first round of antibiotics. Lost 6-7lbs in the 10 days, my vocal volume and reduced mobility on my left hand thanks to the IV.

A “thoo” for Delta airlines. Understand turbulence is not in their control, but not a single flight was on time during that trip except the last one. They have a “we are like this only!” attitude that really made me sad. The flight attendents were sympathetic and said “very sorry” after they saw me come out with tears in my eyes, but that doesn’t help.

My colleagues at work were extremely supportive as were my professional connections. I was supposed to chair two sessions at a conference. Had a lot of expectations from that experience but could not even make it. The doctor told me “you can’t afford to get another infection right after this. Avoid crowds, especially where folks have traveled from far and wide for a conference”. Had to excuse myself. Could only work a few days with my phone and one hand. Was only able to listen in to some meetings.

My angels and my friends came to cheer me up in the hospital. Now that I am. normal they are all calling me an idiot and I am getting eye rolls from everyone for being stupid. All said and done, I should be more careful and not do stupid stuff like this anymore.

The last 5 days has seen me catch up with things at work, talk with my usual volume and also try Yoga again. There are still a few tests to check no lasting damage but as of now I have passed everything with flying colors. Just have to rebuild the good bacteria in my system.

Never take anything for granted !! One minute you are smiling and next thing you know, being delirious with a 103 fever blabbering nonsense in your sleep. I have never seen San so worried in recent times. Gave the family and friends a big scare.

The middle photo was from last evening when Jr. came running to tell me that the sky was putting on a show. So we went to the front door to take photos.

This morning I took a selfie to send to my mom after doing Bodhayana Amavasai tharpanam. Need to eat some more and get back to normal.

Wanted to write a post on International Yoga day as well after that biz trip and that never happened. So sharing a few photos from that day here..

Have been out of blogging, social media for almost three weeks now. Wrote this as a cautionary tale for folks and to get back to blogging. No one cleans airport restrooms or plane toilets anymore given every plane is late and airports are under staffed with mostly disgruntled employees who are all now contract workers with no benefits. Take your own toilet paper when you travel. Avoid plane and airport toilets where possible. At the risk of losing a flight, take that damn pee break. Finding alternate flights is easier than finding alternate kidneys! Not worth it!!

Will try to slowly finish blogging about that Japan trip from Spring!

Dragon Mountain hike

In what seems to be an eternity ago (in reality exactly two weeks), a bunch of us hiked Dragon Mountain aka Thien Long Song in Milpitas. We never knew about this place till some recent facebook posts. It is not a tough hike or a long hike, but an amazing hike. All said and done we walked or hiked 2+ miles from a parking lot at the base of the hill instead of driving up all the way.

It was peak allergy season and I had a 102 fever the previous day and had actually come home from work early to lie down after taking Tylenol. I was sold on “prayer” on a mountain. When we got to the base and started walking (mask on) I was not exactly sure what the prayer was for.. my cold to pass or for me to pass on to the next world with the Buddha.

The sunset did not disappoint though. After huffing and puffing through the mask, somehow I felt better on the way back. It was either that or the maggi noodles I made to cheer myself up after reaching home. Maybe it was my wife and her happy smiling face. Either way, a win-win.

Here are the pictures. San was very happy that I did not protest too much and went with the flow.

More photos..

A very short video highlights reel

Definitely recommend this place for a sunset view.. It is not that far away. So if you expect a lot of clouds and a glorious sunset, drive up and start hiking..