My Girnar

So, the journey began with the change of plan I had for the 2015 Diwali vacation. The plan was to cycle in Kokan for 4-5 days but I ended up visiting Gujarat on someone’s recommendation.

The decision to travel in Gujarat was made on a midnight two weeks before Diwali, 'short listing of places to visit’ was done in next 30 minutes and the train tickets were booked on the same night.

The first stop in Gujarat was Ahemadabad; I had 8 hours to see the city on day 1. Day 2 was kept for Junagad and Girnar Parvat.

I reached Junagad while it was still dark on the 7^th of November. As the train reached close to the Junagad railway station I went to the door to see outside. It was a bit cold and pleasant. Since, it was still dark; I knew I wouldn’t get a clear view of anything but there was something more beautiful in the store. The Moon. I was welcomed by a beautiful view of crescent moon and the light of it falling onto trees making them look shining white. Lovely!

I don’t pre-book hotels, when I travel solo. So, the first job was to find a right place to stay for the next two days. I asked a few locals like Rickshawwalas, Paan shop owners, Coolies etc. for good hotels. I think these are the people who know more about local places. Finally, after roaming from one hotel to the other I found one place which was right for me. Hotel Paramount in Kalwa Chowk.

The last time I visited Girnar Parvat was in 1991-92 accompanied by my Grandfather, Aai- Baba and Sandeep. I was 6 years old then. I had some partial memories playing in my mind from that day, like having orange candies, chiranjiv che daane, limbu sharbat and seeing Girnar peaks through a binocular...

I reached the base at 7:30 am. The rising sun from the other side of the parvat gave a wide silhouette of Girnar. A grand bhandara was organized for sadhus at the base of the parvat, told one of the sadhus, when I asked what so many sadhus were doing there. I began to climb.

I was curious to know the number of steps I had to climb so, I asked it to some shopkeepers around –and everyone gave a different number. One said 9,990 the other said 8,500, the third person said 9,500… Wikipedia says it’s 10,000. I can’t tell the exact number. 

My Lakshya

The Entrance

While climbing...

Steps of Girnar are made of a hard stone and are comfortable to climb. These are said to have built 150 years ago. I was on the shadow side of the parvat and was expecting a cool and pleasant climb up but this wish shattered somewhere between 2000-2500 when the sun started beating onto my head and made me wear my headgear and glares. I had people climbing the parvat with me though not actually with me and there were some who were going down, these must have started before the sun was up. 

Stone Steps of Girnar

Chatting with locals and other travelers is a good way of making your journey interesting. I met an Austrian lady while climbing the last lap and we both happen to reach the last temple at the same time. As I entered the temple, I noticed – a priest, a security guard and a statue of lord Dattatray aka Dutta. Untill this day I had an assumption that lord datta was a marathi sant and has followers in Maharashtra only. The priest was chanting a mantra while the security guy told me some facts about sanatan dharma. He went on like for 10 minutes and I just kept saying yes, sahi hai, ok to everything he said. The Austrian lady was a teacher and a traveler and was in India to teach English to underprivileged in an NGO. She sounded like she had roamed more places in India than I did since she came here during Ganeshotsav. We started talking about Bollywood and somehow the conversation ended up in ‘Fruits in India and Austria’. She liked Pomegranate and Guava, something they don’t get in Austria.

View from Girnar

The sun was right above my head when I started to descend and I knew that I would need more of glucose and water. I stuffed my bag with a water bottle and glucose biscuits. The climb down was more tiring and took me more time than I thought it would. There were few people on my way down. I almost broke my legs while descending and as I reached the hotel at 2:30 pm I felt like a puppet on a string.

Final words - The climb up was exhausting while the climb down was hard on knees but the view from the top was worth everything.

This view... I still remember from my 1992 climb

Thst's Dattatray Temple on top

View of mountain around from Dattatray temple

In words of Ibn Battuta - Traveling leaves you speechless then it turns you into a  storyteller.

As I finish this story, I pack my sack for the next peak - Kalsubai