After waiting for this moment for months upon months all together and lots of efforts put together, I was ultimately successful today in sipping my tea atop the summit of MOUNT BHAGIRATHI-II (6512 meters) it is located in the Garhwal Himalayas in Gangotri National park right above the Gangotri glacier. My closest companion was with me – my dairy. Hello! I am Surya, a 25-year-old boy. I am a Mountaineer.... Mountaineering is my passion. I wish that one day I shall conquer the peak of "Mount Everest" for which I am making all efforts. It was the last day of sept, 2019 when I succeeded in climbing Mt. Bhagirathi and this meant a lot to me because it was my first professional success as a mountaineer…. It just felt awesome and very satisfying. My savings of the past several months got spent to make this possible…. but all this was worth spending because this very moment was more precious than any amount of money for me. I was accompanied by nine other fellow members in the expedition, Tyagi Sir, Ravindra Sir with his 3 assistants, 3 men from England and my friend Nitin (best team, best coordination, best people... I was very happy to be a part of this team) …. Me and Nitin became friends during my stay in Dehradun and because of common interest in adventure trips the two of us developed a fine rapport. As we were accompanied by experienced mountaineers like Ravindra sir and Tyagi sir, so we did not need any local assistance beyond the base camp. After 11days of hard trek, we reached back to our base camp at "Bhojbhasa" and next day it was time for all of us to bid farewell to each other to move further towards our individual destinations. Me and Nitin rode back towards Uttarkashi. After covering a distance of around 35 kms on my bike, we finally reached the holiest center of pilgrimage, Gangotri; where pilgrims from across the world come to take a holy dip in the river Bhagirathi. We stopped at a roadside tea shop to warm ourselves with a cup of hot tea. My home town is Uttarkashi, so I had to drive back just up to Uttarkashi form where Nitin had to catch his bus for Dehradun. After finishing our tea as we resumed our journey, Nitin suddenly said to me that he had a great urge to stop for a night in the wayside hamlet called “Dharali” because he had read and heard much about the pristine beauty of this place. Dharali is a small village located in Uttarkashi district at a distance of around 75 kms from the District Headquarter and in proximity with the well-known tourist destination named Harsil; but in every respect, Dharali is far better than Harsil more so because it has Saat-tal that is a cluster of 7 lakes. As I am a great lover of natural beauty, I instantly accepted the proposal made by Nitin and within next two hours our bike was running past the rugged terrain and fast approaching towards the fairyland like hamlet named Dharali. I have several memories associated with Dharali because whenever I feel low or depressed in my life I always approach Dharali to spend a few moments in the soothing lap of mother nature which rejuvenates me (I always suggest to all nature-lover to visit Dharali during the months of Sept and Oct only for the simple reason that at this time of the year there is no traffic at all, no disturbing sounds and one can communicate intimately with mother nature). *** As the wheels of my bike kept on heading towards our destination, I slowly started feeling a subtle grassy smell entering my nostrils which mingled with the smell of earth had an enchanting effect upon my senses. As I advanced further the gusts of evening breeze brought along a sweet fragrance of ripe apples and also I noticed that the entire area was dotted with shiny red apples and it suddenly struck my mind………… wow! we had reached Dharali. Dharali being a small village, has just a few shops and roadside hotels which constitute its tiny BAZAR. As I keep away from crowded areas as best as possible, so I stopped my bike a few meters away from the market and we got down in front of a small tea shop. Coincidently, the moment we set foot in that village, tiny droplets of rain started falling down all around us. This being the season called Chomasa. The thirsty parched-up earth gave out an earthy smell which had an enchanting effect upon my senses. For a few moments both me and my friend Nitin were totally lost absorbing within our consciousness the magic of this place. Even more than me Nitin was lost in the spell of this beautiful village when suddenly to my amazement I felt a moist touch of someone’s hand upon my back and I abruptly turned around to find an old woman with wrinkled face staring towards us... she was wearing a traditional Garhwali headscarf and had a tiny nose ring (Murki) but she looked as if some deep agony was eating her up from within. I hastily asked her what the matter was but instead of replying my question she simply asked... "baba app log fozi ?? mera "Fozi saab” bhi fozi pr kayi salu bitin ghor na ayi .. oh! this was garhwali language and she was asking us that...are you both in army .. my husband ("fozi saab") too is an army man but he has not returned home for years. She paused for a moment and then a sparkle of hope flashed upon her face and she further said will you kindly give my man, my message. For a moment I was confused and rather perplexed by this type of strange behavior of this old woman whom I had never ever met before but then it suddenly flashed upon my mind that it was actually my costume and boots that gave her the misleading impression of my being an Army man. I was about to tell her my reality of having nothing to do with Army and clarify that my cargo and boots just resembled that of an army man’s costume but she held my hand and in a pleading tone with eyes ebbing with tears she repeated her request and consequently I just happen to say “yes off course! I will” ...... The very next moment she giggled like a sixteen-year-old girl and her eyes beamed with happiness making me conscious of the mistake that I had committed unconsciously. Somehow in a moment of confusion, I had just now promised her that I would deliver her message to her husband who was an army man and had not returned home since past several years........ *** After the old woman went away smiling, both me and Nitin stood perplexed for a few moments trying to overcome to terms with what our eyes have just now witnessed. In the shadow of approaching twilight, both of us advanced towards a roadside hotel to rent a room for the night. Overcome with fatigue, we took an early dinner and slipped into our quilts. Next morning, we got up before daybreak and decided to go for a long walk toward “SATTLE” ……. we deliberately took the root towards “SATTLE” which past through a nearby village. As we started climbing upwards through that village my eyes suddenly struck upon a short woman figure carrying a Ghilda (bamboo basket) on her back. The next moment I identified her to be the same woman we had met the previous evening at the road-side. She kept on moving ahead of us without noticing that we were prodding a little distance away behind her. After a few minutes, we passed by a field where three other women were working in the field, we just halted there to take a little rest. I simply asked an elderly woman working next to me if the husband of that old woman with the bamboo basket was an army man to which she responded that it was true but her husband had died around 25 years ago, I briefly told her about the awkward behavior of that woman and her request to deliver her message to her husband, at which the elderly woman smiled faintly and said with a sigh that she is still waiting for the man who never will come home. Then she revealed to us the entire detail of that old woman and now it was clear to us why she behaved so strangely with us the previous evening. Her husband had died during some war while serving in the army but unfortunately his body could never reach back his village. When I further asked that elderly lady if that woman had turned mentally insane due to this shock; she replied that for the most part of the year that woman behave normally but during the months of CHOMASA something happens to her. During CHOMASA she would often walk all the way from her village up to the DHARALI bus halt and keep sitting there for hours all together watching every bus that passed by. She would ask at all that roadside shop if they had seen her husband getting down from any bus then at dusk, she would return home mumbling something that no one could understand. By this time tiny droplets of rain had started sprinkling all around us and the morning sun was peeping from behind saffron hue clouds. We realize we had halted at this spot for quite long and so hastily moved further to resume our walk towards “SATTLE” …………and finally we reached the first lake which is approx 3 KMs away. The water is so clear you can actually see right down to the lake bed. We enjoyed the view and cool breeze for a while and then moved on. The real steep section starts after this. At some places, we were hard-pressed to find the route. The second and third lakes are situated close by, the second one has completely dried up and have converted into a swamp now. The third one is also on the brink of extinction. There is a temple on one side of this second lake. There are some interesting stories about this temple and various caves on the hill face, some distance away. The fourth lake is just around the corner from the second lake it was close to 1 PM. It took us roughly 2-2.5 hours to climb this far. We gained an altitude of approx 1000 ft. during the trek. The other three lakes are a couple of miles away from this place. We were tired, hungry so we decided to get back to our hotel. *** While returning from “SATTLE” we reached the spot where the path bifurcated. One way could lead us directly to the bus stop where we had parked our bike, while the other path entered the village. we had proceeded around 200 Ms towards the direct path to the bus stop, but then my step suddenly turned back towards the village and I told Nitin that we are going to visit that elderly woman whom we had seen moving ahead of us with the grass basket in the morning. We climbed up through the fields and finally reached that spot where that madwoman lived. There on the top of a cliff stood a small wooden hut adjoining a beautiful garden adorned with shiny Fyoli and Rose flowers, which were dancing in the moist breeze of CHOMASA, these flowers need a lot of care; and I was a little surprise if this woman whom I thought to be mentally insane could grow them in her backyard. As we approached close to her hut, I suddenly got apprehensive about how she would react on seeing us at her doorstep. Suddenly my eyes observed her bending in a corner and feeding her cow and its calf the moment see noticed us she hurried towards us and asked from a distance "baba ap log pension wala ya bijli wala”, she meant to ask if we were from the electricity department or pension department. We were wondering what to say and a bit timidly we explain that we were travelers who came here to visit “SATTLE”, she smiled at us and warmly said “baba then you both are guest in village kindly have some water” we heaved the shy of relief to see that she was treating us nicely. She extended a mug of water towards us. The water was ice cold and it pinched by gums slightly. We were wondering how to start a conversation with her when see herself requested us to wait a little while she could prepare some tea for us. She made this offer in such an affectionate manner that there was no question for us to refuse. Rather this made me wonder how the same woman who seems to be mad on the previous day was behaving like such a wonderful noble lady. The next moment she busied herself in preparing tea and we stepped a little towards the side of her garden; this entire area was interspersed with "Deodar" and "Apple” trees and in the area underneath she had planted various colorful flowers most of which were blooming in this season of CHOMASA. At this part of the day when the sun was heading westwards, the clouds had scattered a little and bright sun-rays peeping through them waved a magical spell around her garden which was enchanting our senses. Our spell got broken by her faint voice calling us to have our tea. Taking our tea glass steaming with creamy tea we started enjoying her gentle hospitality right in front of her beautiful garden but tea was really nice and on that chilly evening was giving us great pleasure. After finishing our tea, we took leave of her although in my mind I kept on thinking that the purpose of coming here to her hut was still unachieved. Returning to our hotel we slept soon after finishing our dinner because the exhaustion of such long walk all through the day had drained our energy by evening time. The next morning, we woke up late and noticed that it was raining heavily outside. Packing our bags, we sat on the porch of our roadside hotel waiting for the rain to stop so that we could proceed towards our homes. In the meantime, we had finished our breakfast but again and again the thought of that old lady kept on making me restless. I was very curious to know the reason due to which such a wise noble lady behaved like a madwoman in front of us when we have reached DHARALI.... (for more please download the PDF)