Nathciketha Thal

 Uttarkashi is the quaint  capital city of Uttaranchal or Uttarkhand ( name depending on  whether the Congress or the BJP is ruling the state ). 1500 mts abov msl

The chardham ( Yamunotri ,Gangotri ,Kedarnath and Badrinath )are situated in this mountainous  state ,almost every family here has at least one member in the armed forces no wonder an ex army general is its chief minister now

The Hemkund Sahib a famous Sikh pilgrimage is also here after the famous valley of flowers .

The Himalayan  state is majestic full of mighty hills with snow capped peaks pristine forests and roaring rivers ,Both the Yamuna and the Ganga originate here .

The Alaknanda ,Baghirathi ,Mandakini and the elusive Saraswathi roar down to form the ganga of the plains .

This post is about a small trek we took off Uttarkashi as our plans to visit Gangotri turned awry due to not landslides but a motor strike ! ( in Malayalam there is a saying paavipoya edam paadalam which means wherever the sinner goes he will have bad luck !  coming from the land of strikes aka Kerala we could hardly complain )

After our ardous but successful Yamunotri trek we had driven down to Uttarkashi for our well needed rest in sublime surroundings ,once Gangotri was cancelled Swamiji ( Sree Sandeep chaitanya Giri of School of Bhagvad Geetha Thiruvananthapuram ) came up with this idea .

Talking of Swamiji he was in his youthful forties with a great sense of humour and great organizing capabilities for only then could anyone take more than 80 people of differing age groups and temperaments to these places .

So this idea came of a small trek up a forested hill to reach a solitary lake on its top called Natchiketha Thal which means lake .

This was more than 2500 mts a steep climb off a village  29 km from Uttarkashi town .

The place had geat mythological significance and was mentioned in many ancient puranas ,Saint Nathciketa was supposed to have inhabited a cave by its side and sat penance for years in its silence .

Nathicketha had asked the lord of death as one of the three wishes granted to him by Yama  the secret of immortality and was finally told

 He who sees all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, hates none -- Isha Upanishad 

Today too the lake has a sanyasin in a nearby cave living all alone .

It was raining while we started and it was late afternoon ,the rain was gentle and the thick canopy of trees were a natural umbrella ,the path was wet but not slushy filled with leaves and occasional branches it was soft but the climb was steep at times and made us breathless but the sight of many amongst us who were old walking ahead with the dare of the faithful gave us courage to carry on .

There was a great fallen tree on the way and we had to climb on it and crawl to the the other side

At times the forest cleared to give exotic views of the country below Rhodedendrons and pines grew tall and majestic

Dusk was fast in its coming and by the time we were at the top more than three and half kilometers it was dark

We could hardly see the lake which was said to be full of fish ,ignorance was bliss as we jumped into its icy coolness for a quick dip

Some ladies went into the cave of the resident  swamiji who courteously  came out allowing them to change thier dress inside after the bath ,one of them leaned against a convenient rock in the darkenss of the cave but found it moving slowly she shrieked in surprise to find out she was leaning on the swamijis pet bull who also stayed  inside the cave

We hurried back in batches as it was pitch dark and the way down was treacherous if we missed a step we could go down in a hurry ,seven of us were together with one torch and one of our brave heart  lead us with a knife in his hand pointing ahead  and all the while we thought he had a torch with him later he would laugh and say he had that  for moral support

He saved us !