I have taken her to many places, but Kedarnath Temple was the most difficult experience to be remembered life time.
She always wanted to visit all the places, as much as she can and Char Dham was on her priority list. It's a dream for most of the Hindu people from a religion feelings. This was our visit in 2018, when we planned to visit Badrinath. Kedarnath is a sought after destination, even though its not in our Char Dham ( It's in Chota_Char_Dham). Though it was a high risk place for her, I still booked everything to get there. She has been suffering from Asthma since more than 25 years, but she is very strong mentally and physically. Since she had a strong desire to go there, I decided to give it a try.
If you do not know about Kedarnath, then I highly encourage you to do all research and then plan to go there. In 2013, a massive cloudburst washed everything there, making it one of the worst natural disaster. Thousands of lives washed away without any help. Its located at such heights, that anyone can do barely anything, if things goes wrong.For that reason, the Govt has made it mandatory to register your details before you go there.
Though there are various means of going to the temple at hill top , we booked the helicopters because my plan was to get there and come back as soon as possible given her health condition. The temperature there in summer almost goes below zero degree in the afternoon and that was definitely a place where she should not have stayed long.
WE stayed at Buransh Heli Resort in Guptkashi , at that time, it was the best available resort. Reaching there, she started getting nervous, but I had to counsel her all the time, to stay relaxed.
Though they had their own helicopters, we were not able to get tickets from them. So my travel provider booked it from another provider, HIMALAYAN HELI SERVICES PVT. LTD, at Sersi, at a distance of around 10km from where we stayed. We were advised to reach there by 7.30 a.m. The services operates between 6 am to 6pm but subject to weather conditions. Since we stayed near a heli resort, the morning started with the roaring sounds from the helipad. These resorts provide breakfast as early as 4 am, so that people can get ready by 6 am. I thought, may be we were given a slot around 8 am, so that must be the reason. We quickly got ready and when we came out by 7 am, all the passengers (of Buransh Heli Resort) were stranded, with the helicopter in stand by. When I inquired, I was told, the services are yet to start because of bad weather. The rules are same for all providers, so we decided to go to our provider and wait there. It was slightly raining outside, when we reached there. And for the first time in my life, I thought, we arrived at a wrong place 😁 The passenger lounge and the waiting area were kind of over star rated 😁. We were told to wait till the weather clears. After waiting for a hour, the weather looked better but the services were not resumed. They told, they will operate only after getting the necessary clearance from Aviation people.
Almost 2-3 hrs passed like that, and people started seeking refund of their payments. You must know that, if you are not able to travel on your slot, then its highly likely that, you are not going to get a chance again. That's because they are so occupied that, they cannot adjust large number of people so they refund the amount. And they won't even give you a slot next day or day after. So if you are unlucky, then you will have to get back from here.
We decided to wait till the service operates or the day ends, since we did not have any other choice, as we had only that day of stay booked. Unfortunately, there were no proper food available, even the wash room was not usable. The government should have considered all these hospitality factors, while giving license to these operators. My mom was very anxious and was praying God, to get a chance. There were hardly 20 people waiting and almost more than hundreds left.
No one was going and inquiring and all of a sudden at 3 pm, they started the helicopters. Hearing the sound, people rushed, and we were glad to hear that the services will resume soon and was asked to stand in queues. I booked an Oxygen cylinder for her and carried it with me. And they were taking weight of every one, charging in excess of 85 kg. We paid a good amount for that reason as well.
I requested them, to bring us back before the last trip, and they told me its hardly possible. That made me really nervous, and I decided, we will try our best to come back.
On arrival there at 3.45 pm, she was very happy. But I was extremely stressed, because I was worrying, how soon we can visit and come back. We had to walk almost a mile from the helipad and it was a steep hike. But I provider her the support from the back and pushed her, and helped her walk. There are people available to carry to the top at some charge, but time was very critical for us as well. She managed to get there in 15 minutes and took her inhalers and sat for 10 mins before we went till the temple.
This temple survived in 2013 where hundreds of building were floating like paper boats. It's for sure an architectural marvel from ancient times. And the place will make you feel like you just landed at heaven. The temple was closed when we arrived and they told to wait as it will open only at 5 pm. I requested them like anything and told about Mom's condition and after some time, they agreed to take us first soon from a side entry. Felt like God was helping us. We entered first in the queue and it was a privilege to have such a nice view of the God inside.They allowed just couple of minutes as there were large crowd waiting outside.
Mom was very happy to be able to go to this place - it was a dream for her. She wanted to spend more time there but I was very much anxious to get to the helipad and get her back to the hotel.
While coming back, we saw this road, which is used by people to walk through the mountain. We managed to rush to our provider and they assured us to bring back. That moment is a life time memory - I was relaxed. We were directed to go to the helipad, and only when we were going to ride, we realized, I left her purse near the counter.
I just got down, and let her go - if I could not make it it was still fine, because the driver was there all along, and he could take her to the hotel. I went back and luckily, the purse was kept near the counter and I got it back untouched with all the valuables. Coming back to the helipad, I waited there and asked them to allow me some time and enjoy the place and take me at the last ride. It's truly a life time experience to get to this place. I was feeling like I should stay there and come next morning.
The way the helicopters operate there, will make you feel like they are running as if a local bus. Every 2-3 minutes, 3 would land, passengers dropped and loaded ( they would be ready in queues to onboard) and fly.