Bhagirathi at Bhojbhasa

Our mule driver found that all his three mules had run off. No surprise, we told ourselves, since he beat and scolded them so much. While he scouted for them, D accompanied us to the adjacent banks of Bhagirathi, where K and I had to end this leg of our pilgrimage.

We offered our pranaams to Gangaji, in our own unceremonious ways. Picked a few stones from her bed, some for my father, some for us. We filled up 2 litres of her water, one for my father and one for us. It was then we found that one of the 2 metal water-bottles we had bought, was missing. Since both were identical, I assumed it was ours that was missing. So we loaned D’s water bottle to carry Gangajal and bought a plastic one for him from a dhabaa on the ridge. The dhabaa also served hot and tasty aloo paranthas and tea, which D and I consumed hungrily. K was not yet into eating or drinking. This time we asked that all of us stay together: we three, the porters, the mules, and R. K would either walk or ride and I would be within whispering distance of him. We left at around 1100 hrs.

As altitude decreased, both K and I felt better. But we still took it easy with frequent rest pauses. D carried water for all three of us, since we two were not yet well enough to carry our own. D soon learnt his first Norwegian words: vann = water, få litt vann ? = can I get a little water? D also carried the group’s first-aid kit on his back. The boulder fields, the log ‘bridges’, the landslide areas, the almost razor thin path edges – we walked all the way. K had not eaten a meal since the dinner at Bhaironghatti on 07.10.06.