Bam Bam Bholi (1)
“Bam bam?” asks the man at Srinagar’s Tourist Reception Centre. “Bholi!” I reply, for the third time. All I want is my permit for the 2011 Amarnath Cave Yatra, but he is more interested in making sure that I say the right words once I get there. Said to be over 5,000 years old, the Amarnath Cave is dedicated to Lord Shiva, and contains an ice stalagmite which is said to resemble the Shiva Linga. According to Hindu mythology, the Amarnath Cave, which sits at an altitude of 12,756 feet, is where Shiva explained the secret of the universe to Parvati.
I warmed up for the yatra by walking from Pahalgam to Chandanwari, one of the two starting points for the yatra. But there is no karmic benefit to be drawn from walking this stretch, which is why on Friday morning I was the only person to be seen doing the sixteen kilometers on foot. It took me three and a half hours, meaning I was in Chandanwari by two in the afternoon.
Imagine Glastonbury with everything but the live music, but held in the Himalayas for a month and a half, and you should have some sense of the Amarnath Yatra’s scale At Chandanwari, a tented town had sprung up, with food, shops, and tents to sleep in. But I wanted to plug straight on to Sheshnag, another twelve kilometers up the mountain. Unfortunately, in a premonition of what was to come, the route was closed for the day, forcing me to slither off down the hill to find a tent. Read more
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