Devaprayag is one of the popular stopovers for pilgrims and travelers going to Badrinath, Kedarnath or to the higher echelons of the greater Kailash range. It is a small bustling hill village where houses are built on the slopes. The life of the people living here must be hard indeed, especially for the kids who have to walk their way to school located tens of miles away from their homes through the rough and uncompromising landscape. But what I saw instead were innocent little ones merrily scuttling away toward their school with absolutely no regrets or vexations about their difficult life which is a characteristic of city bred brats. The joy on their faces was doubled when they were returning home, dancing and jumping to the sweet sounds of chirping birds returning to their nests after a hard day's labor. Our lodging here was in a travelers' bungalow which was an erstwhile government office. No modern amenities here like television or soft foam beds. But we were quietly charmed by the earthly looking and rusty ambiance with only the bare necessities for a weary traveler. A comfortable bed filled with straw stuffing covered with white linen, a pillow and a woolly blanket. A fan hanging from the wooded ceiling was an added comfort. Giant sized lizards adorned the lime washed off-white walls which reminded me of their ancestors - the dinosaurs and the komodo dragons of the Polynesian islands.
The sun was setting as we settled in our cottage. We decided to take a stroll downhill into the village leading down into the river. The narrow walkways were lined with houses on both sides, the front portion of some of them converted into shops selling everything from daily provisions to flowers to sweet meats. The air was filled with the perfume of puja items like agarbathis, camphor and sandal tablets sold in these shops and was carried by the fresh mountain air tunneling into these interstices of man made structures. The narrow walkway leads us to a bridge built over the ravaging river below. The intensity of the flow was so fierce that the sound of the water gushing against the rocks on the edges could be heard many furlongs away! The water had created beautiful patterns on the rocks which were smoothened by the ages of flowing currents. We made our way back into the rooms, had dinner which consisted of whole wheat fire baked rotis, a curry, rice pulav with sliced onions and vegetable pickle for pakkavadhyam (accompaniment to a main artist in a music concert).
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