" हट...chanceच नाही ! "

-was my reply to my Dad on the day that we planned to go for the Chardham Yatra.

I sorta knew what it comprised of- Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath, and something starting from 'B'.....

Next step?

 

Well I googled it!

And whoa!

As always...overdose of information!

धीरे धीरे after seeing Discovery Channel Documentaries, I thought....' टीक है न ! जाके देख के तो आते है क्या किस्सा है ! ’

Later I saw the itinerary (the last stop with 'B' was 'Badrinath' by-the-way) and then I 'Google Earthed' it!

The concept of the river Ganga, Gaumukh being its source, is out-sourced (read: worshipped) at Gangotri, Yamunotri (source of Yamuna- largest tributary of the Ganga), and Kedarnath and Badrinath was settling in my mind.

Suddenly the 'Scientifically thoughtful-rational & reasoning-atheist' part of me started bombarding questions to the 'just born-mythological zygote-fertilized by Google-believing in God (let aside the story of the 60 thousand sons of Lord Surya)' part of me (Hush!)...

"Why do you want to believe in all these -Bhagirath brought Goddess Ganga to the Earth- Lord Shiva encapsulated the water in his matted hair so as to retard the turbulence of the river Ganga- which was to be brought down to the Earth from the Heaven above to ease the pain and suffering down here-stuffs”

And the mythological zygote didn’t know what to reply! He was way less powerful as compared to the 19 year-old scientific one in my head!

Anyway, on 21st afternoon 4pm, right after my Drawing paper which got over at 2pm, I took ‘em both down (Oh! It should be up!) way up to the Himalayas to let them ponder over who is right and who is wrong for themselves!

The scientific one went to see how there were hot water springs at such a high altitude whereas the mythological one went to affirm that the hot water springs were due to Guru Parashar meditating for almost 300-odd years (Ya right!) in the middle of nowhere laden in snow-clad mountain peaks and hot water appears!

The rational guy wondering how on earth is it possible that an individual teleports! And the believer -who was trying to lay his foundation into the mythological world by means of Google- wanted no reason to believe that Lord Shiva was disguised as a bull, later he disappeared and the Hull is found somewhere and his arms someplace else, and his navel at a whole new place!

The Believer made the atheist walk 30-odd km in freezing temperatures and unsolicited rainfall which prevailed most of the time, just to show the source of Ganga, which in fact was a full-fledged river whose actual source seems to be miles away.

The agnostic guy retaliated all the time literally proving a particular phenomenon and stating the facts- universal facts, mind you!

The zygote was –obviously- not grown enough to counteract this and was thus left speechless. Maybe because they both ultimately belonged to the same person!

As the whole trip went by rather smoothly due to God’s Grace (Ya right! Tell that to my Driver who in spite of being injured drove around 2200km of sheer ghat) I with both of them, returned to Haridwar -the base of our journey.

During the evening I along with both of them went to see the last Ganga Aarti of our journey with both of them quarrelling continuously –however, it was the scientific guy who was blabbering his 19 years of knowledge while the firm believer kept mum.

It was that evening of 4th July, when I -clutching both of them, immersed my legs in the freezing cold water, sound of the ringing bells to my ears, thousands of people chanting, worshipping, saluting and bowing to the Goddess who passed rather silently, on her way to endowing My Country and the people who thrive by Her……

That was the time when the just born-mythological zygote just glanced at the 19 year old scientific-rationalist. At this time the ‘mum’ of the zygote said far more than what the atheist had said since the 21st June or earlier!