July 5, 2013: In June 2010, New York-based photographer Leonid Plotkin went to Kedarnath, the pilgrim town consecrated by a temple that shelters one of the 12 jyotirlingas of the Hindu god Shiva. “I walked up all the way from Gaurikund carrying my backpack and Nikon D300,” he tells me on the phone, referring to a point in the journey where the motorable road ends. The 14km-long Himalayan trek is in the upper reaches of Uttarakhand. It snakes up through the mountains; the river Mandakini its constant companion. While some pilgrims walk, others ride on mules, and many others ride on the backs of coolies.

“I’m interested in the idea of pilgrimage, a tradition that has been going on from ancient times,” says the 40-year-old photographer, who shared with us his photos of the temple town and its surroundings. “I’m also fascinated by the travelling sadhus who stay in different holy places at different times of the year.”

The journey was different from what he had imagined. Plotkin says: “I saw so many people going to Kedarnath in helicopters. That came as a surprise. Though the exteriors of our traditions might change with time, their meanings remain the same. A particularly poignant memory of my trek relates to hundreds of people who were walking like me. Most of them were old and not accustomed to the mountains and its fiercely cold weather. You could see that their bodies were suffering from the harshness of the journey. Still, they looked joyful. I suppose that is the point of a pilgrimage. A part of it should be difficult…it must require some sort of physical and mental exertion to reach a goal.”

Last month, the flash floods caused by early rains washed away hundreds, possibly thousands, of people in Uttarakhand and damaged the Kedarnath shrine. The temple town, the epicentre of the disaster, has become a staging area for mass cremations. Chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has been reported by the media as saying, “We will never know the exact number of those dead and the number of people who have been buried or washed away.” On Wednesday, state chief secretary Subhash Kumarput the death toll (till then) at 580. In the villages and towns of the plains, families are hoping against hope as they wait for their missing loved ones to return home.

“I have a personal connection with Kedarnath,” says Plotkin. “I made friendships with a number of sadhuswho visit it every summer. I became close to one of them. Govind Giri was a great guy. He was very hospitable, very kind and very gentle. I had spent a week in Kedarnath with him. We would walk together. He would take me to some of the higher valleys that lie above the Kedar. I hope he is alive.”

Plotkin is talking to me from a hotel in central Delhi’s Paharganj. He has just arrived from New York a few hours ago. And is leaving the next day by train. “I’m going to Amarnath,” he says.

Source: livemint.com, DT. July 5, 2013.