Paens have been written about the Ganges since time immemorial.Documentaries made,battle fought,kingdoms have come and gone but the River goes on.
Sitting on the frigid bank one autumnal evening at Gangotri I thought about myself.About the changes I had seen along its banks in three decades.Trekking on the Pindari Glacier at Gaumukh where the river appears out of a cave shaped like the mouth of a cow.Its so called landing place from its celestial abode.
The rushed gigantic flow through the "surajkund" at Gangotri,where it meets the first town that sprung up on its banks.Onto Rudraprayag where the Bhagirathi and Mandaki merge to form what we know as the river 'Ganges'.
On it flows to Haridwar and Rishikesh where millions of Indians and foreigners including the Steve Jobs of the world come to find spirituality.The "aarti"with lighted lamps in the evenings,the incense in the air,the thousands of voices raised in prayer.
To the confluence at prayag in Allahabad.Its amazing how different the journeys of India's 2 major rivers are-the Ganga and The Yamuna.At one point they are separated by just a couple of mountain valleys and maybe 50kms as the crow flies.But while the Yamuna loses strength and becomes a muddy ooze at Delhi,the Ganga seems to gain strength and power as it progress over the flood plains.
The sheer human vitality of the 'Kumbh"Mela,the meeting of the Ganga,Yamuna and the mysterious never seen Saraswati river can only be experienced Live.When i was 10years old had gone with my parents and we hired a boat to take us out into the middle of the river where the Saraswati was supposed to flow almost below the waters of the two other rivers.I dipped my hand in the river and felt an ice cold current when the water was blood warm.Could i really feel another river or was it my imagination?
Almost at the end of a 2000km journey the Ganga or Hooghly flows laziliy past Kolkata where the royal bengal tigers would once have come to drink its waters.Into a riverine delta it turns winding into a thousand different tributaries and islands that are large enough for human habitation.
From frigid tundra to hot tropical forests have been provided by its waters and I who have rafted on its waters,dipped to wash my sins(I hope)at Har-Ki-Pauri in Haridwar.
Sitting on the frigid bank one autumnal evening at Gangotri I thought about myself.About the changes I had seen along its banks in three decades.Trekking on the Pindari Glacier at Gaumukh where the river appears out of a cave shaped like the mouth of a cow.Its so called landing place from its celestial abode.
The rushed gigantic flow through the "surajkund" at Gangotri,where it meets the first town that sprung up on its banks.Onto Rudraprayag where the Bhagirathi and Mandaki merge to form what we know as the river 'Ganges'.
On it flows to Haridwar and Rishikesh where millions of Indians and foreigners including the Steve Jobs of the world come to find spirituality.The "aarti"with lighted lamps in the evenings,the incense in the air,the thousands of voices raised in prayer.
To the confluence at prayag in Allahabad.Its amazing how different the journeys of India's 2 major rivers are-the Ganga and The Yamuna.At one point they are separated by just a couple of mountain valleys and maybe 50kms as the crow flies.But while the Yamuna loses strength and becomes a muddy ooze at Delhi,the Ganga seems to gain strength and power as it progress over the flood plains.
The sheer human vitality of the 'Kumbh"Mela,the meeting of the Ganga,Yamuna and the mysterious never seen Saraswati river can only be experienced Live.When i was 10years old had gone with my parents and we hired a boat to take us out into the middle of the river where the Saraswati was supposed to flow almost below the waters of the two other rivers.I dipped my hand in the river and felt an ice cold current when the water was blood warm.Could i really feel another river or was it my imagination?
Almost at the end of a 2000km journey the Ganga or Hooghly flows laziliy past Kolkata where the royal bengal tigers would once have come to drink its waters.Into a riverine delta it turns winding into a thousand different tributaries and islands that are large enough for human habitation.
From frigid tundra to hot tropical forests have been provided by its waters and I who have rafted on its waters,dipped to wash my sins(I hope)at Har-Ki-Pauri in Haridwar.
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