A must do thing in Rishikesh: Triveni Ghat Aarti

What first comes to your mind when I say Rishikesh?

For me it is river rafting, camping and bungee jumping. Many people might have the same answer but the city is more than that. 

A holy place with numerous temples along river Ganga, Rishikesh has always been a place of spiritual awakening for people. 

I have visited Rishikesh many times but this time apart from the adventurous activities, I attended the Ganga aarti at Triveni Ghat. 

It was magical. The whole environment changed in a couple of minutes. I talked to Acharya Subhash Gopal about the aarti and have compiled the a photo story about what I learnt.

Because flowers are too mainstream

The stage is set for the aarti

The stage is set for the aarti. The aarti has been practiced for six to seven years. There is a staircase on the backside for people to sit. Once the stage is done, the priest comes and take their respective places. The aarti starts after sunset.

The stage with the artists

The priests face towards the Manikut Parvat where Lord Shiva resides in the famous Neelkanth temple. According to mythological stories, during samudra manthan Lord Shiva drank the poison and came to Manikut Parvat to live.

Aarti begins with worshiping of Lord Shiva

At first, Lord Shiva is worshiped, followed by the Ganga. There is perfect coordination between the priests while performing the aarti. The priests,  known as acharya are from Sanskrit Gurukuls. They have studied various subjects like yoga, religious script, astrology etc.

Diyas are lit first

Isn't this perfection?

Incense sticks are lit after that

The smoke which might be good for health

Picture perfect 

Bigger the diyas, bigger is your adoration

Left, right, center, back: Every sphere is covered

Acharya Subhash Gopal

Acharya Subhash Gopal has been living in Rishikesh for 18 years. He is from the Gharwal region. He has completed his studies from gurukul Drashan Mahavidhyalaya. He is also a teacher at gurukul Nepali Sanskrit school.

Two types of audience

Sharing is Caring: What I love being a Local Guide

I love sharing the moments of a place which I have cherished a lot. I always have this practice of checking out places on google maps before going out. I read the reviews and look at photos to get the idea of the place. I want people to give an honest review about the place.

The first place I added to the map was ‘Kausani-tea estate’ in the state of Uttarakhand. Kausani is a small village in Bageshwar district. It is called the ‘Switzerland of India’ by MK Gandhi. I visited this place long time back and we decided to go to the tea estate. When I searched on maps there were no suggestions for this place. So, we went there asking locals about it. At time we felt that we should go back to our hotel since we were not able to find it. Finally, we founded the tea-estate. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Since this place was not known to people, there were no tourists just the locals sitting there. The difficulty in finding the place made me add it to the google maps. Now when see this place on google maps it fills my heart with happiness.

Ladies resting for lunchTea Estate

I also like to add small businesses to google maps. There is a famous pineapple juice vendor in Dehradun. My home place is Dehradun, so I am visiting it freuently. This pineapple juice vendor is named ‘Totaram’. It has been there since my father was a young lad. It is famous among the localites. I go to this place every time I go to Dehradun. Last year I told my friend while in Dehradun to go to this place and try out the Pineapple mocktail. Since this place was not on google maps so they were not able to find it. The next time I went to Dehradun I added this place on the maps. Small businesses need to be added to maps to let them grow.

Apart from these I love to take pictures and add them to google maps to bring out the best of a place. I write reviews about the place so that people can judge it before going. In India there are many places with wrong timings on maps. I have been a victim to these so to prevent others from the same mistake I always try to update the working hours and days of a place so that people are not a victim of incorrect information.

Kedarkantha Trek

Kedarkantha, as the name suggests, is been derived from two words Kedar- meaning Lord Shiva and Kantha- meaning neck. So Kedar Kantha is the temple which is been built by Lord Shiva till his neck but it was not completed.
The mythological story of Kedarkantha goes back to many years. There was a demon named Bhasmasura, he wanted to rule the world. He performed severe prayers to please Lord Shiva so as to get the blessings from him. Impressed by Bhasmasura penance Lord Shiva appeared and granted him his wishes. He asked Shiva to grant him the power to burn anyone into ashes by just touching anyone's head. Being blessed with the wishes Bhasmasura wanted to try his power. He couldn't find any better person than Lord Shiva to try his power. Lord Shiva ran, trying to save himself.

KedarKantha Summit

During this time he reached the Kedarkantha peak where he started building his temple. No sooner did the temple was started than Bhasmasura arrived at the place so Lord Shiva left the temple as such and ran away to another place. Thus the temple was created till the neck of Lord Shiva, hence this peak is known as Kedarkantha.

I started my journey for the trek from Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The trek was organised by Indiahikes- a trekking community in India. We were around 22 people grouped together. I reached Dehradun from Delhi early in the morning. Transportation arrangement from Dehradun were organised by Indiahikes. Our first point of halt was at Kempty Fall, Mussoorie. We had our breakfast there and started on the journey ahead. The route is quite serene and beautiful. Once you move ahead Purola, Garwhal region you can see the Tons river. The scenic beauty is breathtaking.

Tons River

After having lunch at Purola we moved to Kotgaon, starting point of the trek. The stay was arranged by Indiahikes. We stayed at the GMVN guest house for one night. The next day we started our trek from the village. Kotgaon is a small village with many small houses. You can find children playing outside in open.

The village was snow-covered in the morning. Our next point was Khujey. Khujey was around 4km from Kotgaon and at a height of 94000 ft. The walk to Khujey was amazing. We could see snow-laden mountains. The snow was very soft and clean. We started from Kotgaon at 9 am and reached Khujey at around 2:00 pm. The campsite was exquisite. There was no one other than the 22 people with whom I was trekking.

Village House

 

Children playing

 

Snow covered trails

The next day was a small trail to Bhuja Dadi which was 4 km from Khujey at a height of 10,800 ft. Bhuja Dadi is a beautiful campsite with a terrific view of the Himalayas. The rest of the day was spent in acclimatizing and getting ready for the summit the other day.

Campsite

Hot tea with a view

The next day we started our journey early morning. We started from Bhuja Dadi at 5 am. It was already dark outside. We had our torch lights lit up for the trek. The climb to the summit was fabulous. We had many moments of merry and joy during our trek towards the summit. Gaiters and spikes were provided by Indiahikes so that we can move comfortably on snow. The view from the summit was amazing. We were able to see a clear view of many mountains from up there. We were able to reach the summit before sunrise. The sunrise from the summit looked beautiful. On the summit there is a small temple with a "Trishul"- Lord Shiva's weapon. 

Chandrashila Summit

Tungnath temple

PS: I have done 3 treks with Indiahikes and I find it one of the best trekking community. If you ever plan to trek, do check their website. The website contains a detailed version of the treks and how to do it. The services provided by them is outstanding and if you are a first timer do go with them to make your trek memorable.

The one with the team