Category: Delhi

All these turtles who lie upside down flapping their chests, washed ashore, stranded on a beach or stuck between the rocks, are attention seeking narsacists – looking for love or a beloved’s hand to calm their nerves, pat them and carry them back to their fun-n-games in the sea. Try kissing its sexy neck and it withdraws like a sulk; try riding a giant one after the ‘rescue’ and he dumps you deep with the first tide. Ah, try me next time…

​Once in a while monsoons remind us that Yamuna is a river. The river banks feel overwhelmed. Embankments breached. Water enters many areas along the riverfront​​.

​​पिछले साल मलारी को जाते हुए द्रोणागिरी ​और जुम्मा ​गांव के बाद ‘अचानक ढाबा’ ​​​ के सामने से गुजरते हुए जुम्मा गाड़ (नदी​)​ के दूसरी तरफ ले जाने वाला जो पुल पार किया था वो कल बह गया। तपोवन​ व जोशीमठ का नीति पास​, ​मलारी​ घाटी​​, कैलाशपुर, बाम्पा, घमसाली और कोसा आदि से सड़क संपर्क अब नहीं रहा। ​सरहद के पास के इस इलाक़े में पिछले पांच रोज़ से लगातार तेज़ बारिश हो रही है और तेजी से पिघलते ग्लेशियर निचली घाटियों के बाशिंदों के लिए खतरा पैदा कर रहे हैं । 

​क्या क्या ले जाता है सैलाब। और फिर कितने नाज़ुक कितने कच्चे और कमज़ोर होते हैं ना ये दो पहाड़ों या दो दिलों को जोड़ने वाले पुल !! एक को नदी का उफ़ान बहा ले जाता है तो दूसरे को आँसुओं का। 

Photo 1: October 2022, the bridge over Jumma riverine, connecting Joshimath to Niti Pass (on Indo-China border) in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Last year it was raining till late October in that area. BTW, Dronagiri village is famous for two reasons, 1. for the beautiful Dronagiri mountain which is barely 12 km from the roadhead, and 2. Dronagiri is the mountain, a part of which was uprooted by Hanuman as he couldn’t identify the herb needed to resussicate Lakshman. For this reason, the residents of this tiny hamlet don’t idolize Hanuman. Photo 2: Partial view of multiple cloud covered mountain ranges from Malari.

12 July 2023

ये सावन तुम्हारे लिए है
सच्ची, यक़ीन मानो। 
नहीं, मैं हँस नहीं रहा 
मैं चाहता हूँ तुम प्यार करो 
बादलों से, बारिश से, बूंदों से, 
भीगने से और 
भीग कर बहकने से।   
उतना ही जितना प्यार तुम करते हो  
अक्टूबर की गुलाबी सर्दी से । 
सचमुच मैं हँस नहीं रहा 
ना तुम्हारे भीगे उलझे बालों पे
ना ही चेहरे से उड़े रंग पे
बस परेशान हूँ 
तुम्हे बारिश पसंद क्यों नहीं ?
व्हाई डोंट यू एन्जॉय द रेन ?

याद है तुम्हे अपना ढाई इंच हील वाला   
दाएं पैर में घसीटता वो काला जूता  
जिसकी हील कीचड़ में कहीं समा गई थी 
और जिसने तुम्हे पलट दिया था 
या पटक दिया था ? 
बिलकुल वैसे ही जैसे 
दिल्ली की पहली बारिश में 
पलटते देखे हैं तुमने 
पानी से भर गहरे गढ़ों को 
लांघने वाले मोटरसाइकिल ।

मैं भी कई बार गिरा हूँ 
फिसला हूँ बारिश में 
पानी भरे गड्ढों में। पर क्या करूँ 
कीचड़ भरे छोटे पोखर    
और पानी में तैरती सड़कें  
मुझे उकसाती हैं 
ताना देती  हैं 
फ़ितने कस्ती हैं। 
याद दिलाती हैं 
खोया बचपन। 

हर सावन 
उसी बचपन में लौट जाता हूँ मैं। 

हर सावन याद करता हूँ 
बीते सावन वाला तुम्हारा चेहरा।   

सचमुच 
ये सावन तुम्हारे लिए है 
और उस ढाई इंच की हील के लिए 
जो तब से बारिश का मज़ा ले रही है ।

• सावन 2023

Having set up the Advance Base Camp (ABC) on the southern ridge of Nanda Kot we returned back to the BC on the third day of our expedition. We assumed it would not take us more than six days to climb the summit. And for this we needed our gear, equipment and pots & pans, fuel and kitchen supplies to be carried up to Camp 1 site by members and porters. This picture was taken somewhere in the middle section of the snowfield just below ABC (me circled). The Lavan Gad (a glacial stream) can be spotted flowing down-below on the right and the moraine coming down from the northern face of the Nanda Devi East ridge to the left. 

Posing solo in dungarees and a ski-jacket, with sunburnt face and flaking lips covered with beard, is yours truly doing a ramp act after the summit was successfully climbed on the 16th day.

In the third picture the shining object that you see in the dark skies is actually the ‘full moon’ to the left of the eastern shoulder of Nanda Kot peak. The wind was picking up in the early hour. You can see the snow-drift just below the Col and the distinct footprints of the advance party being covered by fresh snow. The approach to the Nanda Kot summit is from behind this Col ascending the ridge on the right side. This picture was taken at about 3 am just after starting for the summit attempt.

During this expedition the elements tested our skill, mettle and our patience. The incessant snowfall in the first week was followed by an avalanche which came down from Changush peak that buried our ABC campsite resulting in loss of climbing gear, equipment, and food supplies. Fortunately, we had abandoned ABC the night before. Heavy winds followed the next six days. Severely short of food we made do with less than one meal a day. The porters ditched us leaving us stranded on Camp 3. One tent buckled down under the weight of heavy snowfall with seven of us huddled in it. On the fourth or fifth day dear Ashish Choudhary (now no more) slipped and rolled down the rocky face breaking two ribs and suffering a concussion. On the way back from the summit, brave DK briefly unhooked himself from the rope and slipped down some 200 meters. Fortunately he was able to arrest the fall by digging his ice axe in a patch of soft snow, and that there were no boulders or rocks on the way. The September 1998 Nanda Kot expedition was led by renowned mountaineer Ms Chandra Prabha Aitwal. These pictures, from the analogue era, have been scanned from fading prints. I have lost the entire bunch of Kodak negative film was shot on Sony SLR Alpha 200. I think I have lost all the negatives and Ektachrome slides. Can’t help talking about mountains, the smell of sustained rain on Aravalli hills triggers nostalgia. 

As we were packing up to walk back to Munsiyari, we met an Indo-Polish team heading up the moraine to set up their camp just outside the Nanda Devi sanctuary. Their objective Nanda Devi East but first they were to climb the near vertical face on the ridge leading up to Nanda Devi East peak. Camp 1 of their expedition was to be pitched on famous Longstaff Col. As a guide and part of that expedition was my favourite Indian mountaineer from Rajasthan, the great Magan Bissa. It was my fan moment as I got a picture taken with him and requested him to give me his autograph in the diary. I must have been very nervous as I didn’t even stub the cigarette which was as it is bad at 12,000 feet.

5 July 2023