I saw her. I saw her as she roamed around in the ruins of Kedarnath. The sight before me was of sheer destruction, everything from hotels to ashrams to roads was either washed away or razed to rubble by the fury of river Ganges(Ganga). Everything, except the shrine of Kedarnath. Yet at the birthplace of such widespread devastation she was searching for something. Masses had perished and the handful that survived were rescued to the higher grounds by army. I am one of the last army contingents left here, we too are expected to leave this place in an hour as heavy rains are forecasted. Rest of my group was inside a nearby camp and I was standing here alone, that was until I saw her. What was she doing? Perhaps she was looking for a dead relative, or is she looking for something to plunder ? Whatever be the case, I must make her evacuate this site immediately.
As I approached her I could clearly make out what she looked like, she wore a white saree with red border which looked as if it was sprayed with tar at few places and was even somewhat tattered. Yet she was beautiful, not in the way she looked but because of the grace with which she carried herself. Her skin had the hue of riped wheat grains.
"Hey !" I called out,"You shouldn't be here at this time, its going to rain soon."
She was startled by my voice and turned to face me, I don't like cheesy talks but believe me when I say this, her face was the most gorgeous face I have ever seen. It was so radiant that it could give even the full moon run for its money. Her eyes were pitch black like deepest of the oceans, her features looked as if God has carved them out for himself. Coming out of my trance I said again
"You must leave with us before it rains, this place will be flooded soon after."
"I can't, I live here and I must accomplish my duty."she replied.
Her voice was as melodious as the brooks on which the life here sustains.Funny, how this woman could light up the atmosphere even in the vicinity of several corpses scattered all over this place.
"What duty are you talking about? This place is in ruins, even the priests have left yesterday. You must leave with us, the chopper will be here anytime." I said, concern and urgency lining my voice.
"I'll leave once I have done what I am here for, and since you seem so keen on my well being, you may accompany me, if you promise to not to utter a single word."
Not sure whether it was because of the idea of accompanying her, my curiosity or my duty to safeguard her her, but I agreed to this and nodded.
She was swift, she sauntered over the rocks, ruins and the dead searching for God knows what.
"Here it is." she said, pointing towards a Beelpatra tree. I was surprised to find it growing into this rocky terrain and that too after the ire of nature has tumled over everything.
"But its too far from my reach, can you please pick out a trio of leaves for me."
The plant was indeed beyond her reach, so I tried and had just picked the leaves when the rocks beneath me gave away and I would have surely fell to my death if not for her hands getting hold of me. Her touch was cold and soft like that of water. And yet again to my amusement she pulled me up in one swift motion, as if I weighed nothing. Lets clear it out, being an army officer of good built I must have weighd at least twice her own weight. Well, I did hear that women in these hills work as hard as men. Afterall, its not easy to live in a place frequented by flash floods and landslides. As if reading my next thoughts she said
"We are not done yet, follow me."
She walked effortlessly towards the shrine while I stumbled behind her. As we got closer to it we saw more and more corpses, some were buried beneath the rubble while some washed away by the river. Everything was destroyed, everything except the shrine.
At the doorway of the shrine, the humongous doors had given in to the abrasive force, but much to my astonishment everything inside was intact, it looked as if the water peacefully rose up to the feet of lord Shiva and then receded. As I took off my shoes I realised that she had been barefooted all the time.
"Before I go in, I must thank you for helping me." she said as she undid a knot in her saree to reveal a conch and handed it to me."Listen to it when the time comes, but not now."
She just smiled at my puzzeled expression and picked up an empty Lota(a vessel). She went to the Shiva Lingam(the idol) and acted to pour water out of it and my jaw did hit the floor when water came gushing out of that empty vessel. Too shocked to speak I continued to gawk at her. She bathed the idol contentedly and applied sandlewood paste on it. Then it hit me, all this time she was here to worship, she took all these dangers on herself to pray to her beloved God. This faith left me spellbound, no doubht this place is holy and proteced, not because of some magical barrier or some religious chants but because of the faith of thousands of Hindus like her. Who risk their lives on the pilgrimage to this sacred spot. As she completed the pooja(service) by final offering of the trio of leaves, I closed my eyes and bowed down to her God, her faith as the temle echoed with one final chant of
||"Om Namah Shivayah"||
When I did open my eyes I reasilized three things. First, the lady was nowhere to be seen. Second, it was raining heavily outside and last, I could hear chopper approaching the site. Some part of me knew that I was never going to see her again. Yet, I searched for her everywhere, that was until one of my groupmates dragged me out of the temple and into the chopper.
"Didn't you see her?", I asked them again and again and they replied the same that they saw me walking into the shrine and decided to follow me.
It can't be a mere hallucination but however hard I tried I knew I couldn't convince them to believe me. It was then I remembered the about conch and searched my bag for it. It was there ! All real and solid and for me it was the right time to listen to it. As I brought it close to my ear thinking about who she was and her whereabous, her voice answered me:
I am the force
worshipped through ages
I am the boon
reverred by sages
I am the daughter of Himalayan ranges
for I am the river
for I am the Ganges.
And it was the last time I ever heard her mesmerising voice, for now on whenever I listen to it, I am greeted by the sweet and soft sound of flowing water, of waves carving out valleys, voice of the lifeline of the ancient civilization of Bharat(India), voice of the divine river Ganga.
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My sincerest condolences with the victims of flash floods at Kedarnath, Inda, in which thousands of pilgrims to the shrine perished. I strongly believe this disaster was more man-made than natural, the root cause of it being rampage deforestation and encroachment in the area. I salute Indian Armed Forces and disastor relief team and everyone who worked for saving several of residents and pilgrims stranded in the rocky terrain. Wish all goes well soon....
-Klashnikov14
