My tryst with wild flowers began with the Kaas plateau in Satara Maharashtra when friends Pankaj Lad, Parag and Shraddha Rangnerkar organised a trip to the carpet of flowers, a UNESCO world heritage site way back in September 2011. I was travelling with my children, Varun, then barely 6 months old and Vikram, 5 yrs. And it was possible to manage with two babies in tow simply because I had Pankaj, Parag and Shraddha to watch my back, literally! It was a very memorable trip and our debut with wildflowers was the most exotic, colourful and an engaging one. We discovered a range of wildflowers-yellow smithias, purple utrilularias, spherical white pipeworts and an insect eating drosera indica! And after this magical experience, we discovered many lateritic plateaus back home here in Goa that had a similar variety of endemic species.
Last month my friend’s parents Rajendra and Bindu Rawlley invited us to join them along with their best friends, another family – Manish, Neeru and their teenage son Aditya to the Himalayas in particular to Uttarakhand and the Valley of Flowers (VOF), another UNESCO World Heritage site. Rajendra at 75 yrs wanted to fulfill his wish to trek to the VOF, having done a whole lot of road trips, fun adventures and excursions all his life with his family. And the VOF had been a tough one to crack, with all earlier attempts turning unsuccessful.
Varun now 7 yrs, was thrilled. He had just taken an interest in places and geography, was already browsing hungrily through his atlas every day. He was also passionately reciting his Hindi poem-‘Hum bacche Bharat ma ke’, where climbing the Himalayas and placing the Indian flag on the summit had now become his aspiration too. So we accepted the invitation, for Varun to do as many recces to the majestic Himalayas to fulfill this aspiration.
We first spent a couple of days in Gurgaon exploring Cybercity, travelling by the Delhi Metro, doing short excursions to the Qutub Minar Complex, Archaeological Park, Delhi Haat and also taking rides in the e-rickshaw, cycle rickshaws, the works! We also equipped ourselves with some basic trekking gear at the popular Decathalon city store.
We then set out to Uttarakhand on August 11, early morning at 1 am. We got a glimpse of the ‘Kanwarias’, pilgrims returning home bare feet, making a journey to bring home waters from the Ganga, in these interesting trucks that looked like a house on wheels replete with utensils, a bike, a loft space and religious music. From Harayana, into Delhi, we then travelled through Uttar Pradesh and then were in Uttarakhand. The landscape began to slowly change to reveal the tall, rumbling terrain of the lower Himalayas. The road began to meander gingerly on the edge of the steep gorge that cradled the holy river and our cars seemed to be at the mercy of the oft sliding land of the majestic Himalayas as it ascended magically into the pristine landscape with gushing waterfalls, tall trees and green patches lush with wildflowers. At the end of the day we reached Auli, a ski resort, our pit stop for the night. We were now at an altitude of 8,200 ft. It began to rain and with too many clouds around us, we were unable to see the snow clad mountains nearby.
The next day we drove a short distance to Govindghat, the last motorable point to the base village Ghangaria at an altitude of 10,500 ft, enroute to the Valley of Flowers. It had begun raining.
At the mule point, Varun was horrified. All he could see of the stone paved path was horse shit and more horseshit. He just stood there paralysed! We slowly began to encourage him and it took some time for him to analyse the situation and begin to manoeuvre around the grassy mess! There were mules, palanquins and porters carrying a basket of sorts for carrying a passenger uphill. Our bags were piled onto one mule and Vikram excitedly climbed onto another. Varun eventually overcame his inhibitions and joined his brother on the mule and went all the way up to Ghangaria. Senior Rajendra also joined them on the mule half way uphill. The rest of us trudged along. We finally reached Ghangaria early evening.
The following day we decided to trek to Hemkund Sahib, a pilgrimage point for Sikhs, a 6 km steep climb to an altitude of 14,000 ft. Hemkund means Lake of snow as the water of the Lake is cold as snow! And we were all cold and wet by the time we reached the gurudwara at the top. But the Sikhs/volunteers were super hospitable. Vikram and Varun were ushered to the fire place while we were served hot kichdi and chai. And amidst all this we sighted two wild flowers – the Brahma Kamal and the Blue poppy flower.
On the last day we trekked to the Valley of Flowers, a 3-km gentle walk compared to the earlier treks. And the valley is painted pink with impatiens sulcata. We spotted blue poppy, balsams, geraniums, parsleys, orchids and a host of others that we are yet to identify from the pictures we captured. And these are seen only in the three months of July, August and September when the snow has melted and the whole area begins to teem with colour, insects, butterflies and bird song.
And you know what? Varun walked all the way back with a little push from Vikram – 3 kms from the Valley of flowers, 11 kms from Ghangaria to Govindghat and climbed many other smaller summits and rocky outcrops that he loves to even back home in Goa. More than that he overcame other challenges and summits within. Some inhibitions, some fears. Rajendra Rawlley walked too and proved that at 75 yrs the mind and body ain’t too weak to achieve goals in the far and difficult summits of the Himalayas. Bindu, Aditya, Manish and Neeru were the only ones who walked all the way with no aid and taught us lessons of commitment and team spirit. And as if in celebration the clouds cleared up at Auli on our way back and we gazed at the snow-capped Himalayas in awe, Point Kamet beaming its profile and the morning sun bathing us in its gentle light.
(Tallulah D’Silva is a practising architect in Goa and has recently taught at the Goa College of Architecture as adjunct professor)
