Tapovan and Kedartal in October 2008.

fab70 · Sep 30th, 2008, 16:33

I didn't know the 10 messages rule. It seems that the situation is getting better for tapovan, let's keep our fingers crossed!

somnath · Oct 1st, 2008, 02:21

Raghu I came to know about the same fact. but tere is good news....

fab, are you listening? TAPOVAN - NANDANVAN is open

nyraghu · Oct 1st, 2008, 12:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by somnath

TAPOVAN - NANDANVAN is open

Somnath, I am glad that your original plans are working out well. All the best for the trek.

Raghu.

somnath biswas · Oct 1st, 2008, 13:44

All the best Somnath. Will see your photographs and tour details on your arrival.

somnath · Oct 20th, 2008, 20:45

Hi friends,
I am back from Tapovan trip. It was wonderful trip full of activities and adequate rest and our team was just great

Let me share my personal experience regarding most controversial permission issue. This is a real fallacy. You’ve seen the copy of permission that is uploaded in my album. Our tour operator Mr. Pitamber has done a great job, porters and guide was ready and all of them were a good human being, very helpful person – thanks to all of them. Bhim Prasad was our guide who is an experienced person of many expeditions as well as famous as a great cook.

The permission looks like a power game among Forest Dept. and local administration. They say DFO’s permission is enough which is require to enter in Gangotri National Park (irrespective of your destination – Gomukh / Tapovan) but if you are going to cross Kalindi Khal then only you need a medical certificate / IMF authorization and so on …… so that spl. permission can be issued

But a policeman (as per the local guys – “Dewanjee”) at Bhojbasa Police Station asked to show our permission – and says “go to Gomukh and comeback. You are not authorized to go beyond that. You don’t have permission to go beyond Gomukh. As soon as we told him that Forest check post has allowed us and they said this permission is just enough for Tapovan the police man got angry !!!!!! they are just leaches ….. ready to suck money from tourists… this is the duty of Police dept. to ensure the safty and security of the trekkers. We are the responsible person and I am telling you to go back from Gomukh.”

Now, think about the situation……. after so much planning and advance permission and all we are not allowed to go to Tapovan? Unfortunately, Bhojbasa is not a place where mobile / telephones work. We were just helpless.

Anyways, we all came to our shelter and asked our guide – Bhim to negotiate

– I know this is the only thing that works in this kind of situations. Trick worked ….. I am sorry if someone thinks we are not respecting the law / rules…… you all know we did our best to get all the permission / papers well in advance but when we are on the last stage and seeing a locked door in front of us… I am sorry; we had to purchase the key. That Dewanjee asked 1000/- from Bhim but he managed on 500/-. We spoke to the forest check post while returning – but they says “who is Police to stop you? This is forest dept. who issues permission. Why you didn’t ask him to give it in writing that you are not allowed for Tapovan?” – just see the fun !!!!

As per the discussion with Mr. Pitambar, we are going to write to him (since we cannot prove that policeman got Rs. 500/- from us) about this harassment that he charged the required amount from us to get the permission still we’ve faced difficulties to go to Tapovan due to @#$%^& Govt. procedures. He needs this in writing so that he can raise this issue during their (tour operators / adventure sports agencies) meeting with D.M.
This permission is not very clear / transparent to us even after our visit to Trapovan.
Working on travel pix - I'll upload them.

- Somnath

nyraghu · Oct 20th, 2008, 22:30

Congratulations, Somnath, and nice to see you back. I hope problems in general with the permits are sorted out soon. I am looking forward to seeing your photographs.

How was the weather near Uttarkashi during your trip? I am curious as I'll be starting my trek to Kush Kalyani from Uttarkashi this Saturday the 25th.

Raghu.

roy_supratim05 · Oct 21st, 2008, 08:15

congratulations Somnath, well said about the permission issue

.
Waiting for your pix.

somnath · Oct 22nd, 2008, 01:07

Raghu and Suprateem bhai, thank you. Weather was really good during my trip but one day – just one day before we returned to UTK there was rain but then it was clear. Raghu jee, happy journey.

Wish I could work fast ……. I need to resize my pix. I’ve uploaded some pix in Orkut album (upto 10 MB per photo) but they are too big to be uploaded in other websites. Hence….. it is taking some time.

Bhaswaran · Oct 22nd, 2008, 13:17

Welcome back Somi...waiting to see the pics

fab70 · Oct 22nd, 2008, 18:32

We got the permission in Gangotri, paying 200 rs to an officer. it looks a good sistem to take good bribes. But then on the gate we paid 150 each instead of 350...crazy!
Anyway Tapovan is a terrific place especially at sunset and at sunrise, we had pefect weather and cloudless blue sky for the whole tour. Great pictures of the Shivling and of the Bhagirathi! No guides and porter, we slept in the ashram of the old woman ( actually for tapovan in my opinion there's no need for guide ).

nyraghu · Oct 23rd, 2008, 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by somnath

Weather was really good during my trip but one day – just one day before we returned to UTK there was rain but then it was clear. Raghu jee, happy journey.

Thanks, Somnath.

Raghu.

somnath · Oct 23rd, 2008, 15:41

Hi friends,
As I said that I am trying to reduce the image size and all to upload my pix but ….. not getting enough time. So just uploading those big files in flickr. Since only 200 pix are allowed to be displayed for normal user (not a pro) I’ve created another account and here is the link. There are so many pix but the limit is 100 mb / month. Hence some Tapovan, Gomukh and Bhojbasa pix are uploaded - rest of the pix will be uploaded in next lot.
Till then ……….. here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3167712...7608285428898/

Hey Fab, permission is really a tricky thing. BTW, your pix?

- Cheers.

Bhaswaran · Oct 23rd, 2008, 15:55

Excellent pics Somi

somnath biswas · Oct 23rd, 2008, 16:13

Hi Somnath,
Welcome back. Though small in numbers (19), excellent photographs.

somnath · Oct 23rd, 2008, 18:34

Thank you Bhaswaran and Somnath da.
There are almost 300 photographs (bad side of digital photography) but there is monthly upload limit in flickr. Somnath da, what about your trip?

Oct 1st, 2008, 02:21	#122
somnath Maha Guru Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Calcutta Posts: 2,437	Hi, Raghu I came to know about the same fact. but tere is good news.... fab, are you listening? TAPOVAN - NANDANVAN is open __________________ Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow. My Travel Pix...1 My Travel Pix...2 My Travel Pix...3

Oct 20th, 2008, 20:45	#125
somnath Maha Guru Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Calcutta Posts: 2,437	Thanks for all your wishes, Hi friends, I am back from Tapovan trip. It was wonderful trip full of activities and adequate rest and our team was just great Let me share my personal experience regarding most controversial permission issue. This is a real fallacy. You’ve seen the copy of permission that is uploaded in my album. Our tour operator Mr. Pitamber has done a great job, porters and guide was ready and all of them were a good human being, very helpful person – thanks to all of them. Bhim Prasad was our guide who is an experienced person of many expeditions as well as famous as a great cook. The permission looks like a power game among Forest Dept. and local administration. They say DFO’s permission is enough which is require to enter in Gangotri National Park (irrespective of your destination – Gomukh / Tapovan) but if you are going to cross Kalindi Khal then only you need a medical certificate / IMF authorization and so on …… so that spl. permission can be issued But a policeman (as per the local guys – “Dewanjee”) at Bhojbasa Police Station asked to show our permission – and says “go to Gomukh and comeback. You are not authorized to go beyond that. You don’t have permission to go beyond Gomukh. As soon as we told him that Forest check post has allowed us and they said this permission is just enough for Tapovan the police man got angry !!!!!! they are just leaches ….. ready to suck money from tourists… this is the duty of Police dept. to ensure the safty and security of the trekkers. We are the responsible person and I am telling you to go back from Gomukh.” Now, think about the situation……. after so much planning and advance permission and all we are not allowed to go to Tapovan? Unfortunately, Bhojbasa is not a place where mobile / telephones work. We were just helpless. Anyways, we all came to our shelter and asked our guide – Bhim to negotiate – I know this is the only thing that works in this kind of situations. Trick worked ….. I am sorry if someone thinks we are not respecting the law / rules…… you all know we did our best to get all the permission / papers well in advance but when we are on the last stage and seeing a locked door in front of us… I am sorry; we had to purchase the key. That Dewanjee asked 1000/- from Bhim but he managed on 500/-. We spoke to the forest check post while returning – but they says “who is Police to stop you? This is forest dept. who issues permission. Why you didn’t ask him to give it in writing that you are not allowed for Tapovan?” – just see the fun !!!! As per the discussion with Mr. Pitambar, we are going to write to him (since we cannot prove that policeman got Rs. 500/- from us) about this harassment that he charged the required amount from us to get the permission still we’ve faced difficulties to go to Tapovan due to @#$%^& Govt. procedures. He needs this in writing so that he can raise this issue during their (tour operators / adventure sports agencies) meeting with D.M. This permission is not very clear / transparent to us even after our visit to Trapovan. Working on travel pix - I'll upload them. - Somnath

Oct 20th, 2008, 22:30	#126
nyraghu Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Allahabad Posts: 356	Congratulations, Somnath, and nice to see you back. I hope problems in general with the permits are sorted out soon. I am looking forward to seeing your photographs. How was the weather near Uttarkashi during your trip? I am curious as I'll be starting my trek to Kush Kalyani from Uttarkashi this Saturday the 25th. Raghu. __________________ colorless green ideas sleep furiously -- Noam Chomsky, 1956

Oct 21st, 2008, 08:15	#127
roy_supratim05 Mountain is calling!! Dare to Challange . Join Date: May 2007 Location: West Bengal, Barrackpore Posts: 295	congratulations Somnath, well said about the permission issue . Waiting for your pix. __________________ Supratim Please visit my Homepage

Oct 22nd, 2008, 13:17	#129
Bhaswaran Landscape Photographer Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Kolkata. INDIA bhaswaran@redifmail.com Posts: 1,024	Welcome back Somi...waiting to see the pics __________________ ....life is a journey.....and the journey is more important than the destination........ http://www.indiamike.com/photopost/s...0/ppuser/15496 Darjeeling trip Video : "Darjeeling - The Queen of Hills" DVD

Sep 30th, 2008, 16:33	#121
fab70 Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: italy Posts: 12	I didn't know the 10 messages rule. It seems that the situation is getting better for tapovan, let's keep our fingers crossed!

Oct 1st, 2008, 13:44	#124
somnath biswas Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: KOLKATA INDIA Posts: 151	All the best Somnath. Will see your photographs and tour details on your arrival.

Oct 22nd, 2008, 01:07	#128
somnath Maha Guru Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Calcutta Posts: 2,437	Raghu and Suprateem bhai, thank you. Weather was really good during my trip but one day – just one day before we returned to UTK there was rain but then it was clear. Raghu jee, happy journey. Wish I could work fast ……. I need to resize my pix. I’ve uploaded some pix in Orkut album (upto 10 MB per photo) but they are too big to be uploaded in other websites. Hence….. it is taking some time.

Oct 22nd, 2008, 18:32	#130
fab70 Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: italy Posts: 12	We got the permission in Gangotri, paying 200 rs to an officer. it looks a good sistem to take good bribes. But then on the gate we paid 150 each instead of 350...crazy! Anyway Tapovan is a terrific place especially at sunset and at sunrise, we had pefect weather and cloudless blue sky for the whole tour. Great pictures of the Shivling and of the Bhagirathi! No guides and porter, we slept in the ashram of the old woman ( actually for tapovan in my opinion there's no need for guide ).

Oct 23rd, 2008, 15:41	#132
somnath Maha Guru Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Calcutta Posts: 2,437	Tapovan Pix. Hi friends, As I said that I am trying to reduce the image size and all to upload my pix but ….. not getting enough time. So just uploading those big files in flickr. Since only 200 pix are allowed to be displayed for normal user (not a pro) I’ve created another account and here is the link. There are so many pix but the limit is 100 mb / month. Hence some Tapovan, Gomukh and Bhojbasa pix are uploaded - rest of the pix will be uploaded in next lot. Till then ……….. here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/3167712...7608285428898/ Hey Fab, permission is really a tricky thing. BTW, your pix? - Cheers.

Oct 23rd, 2008, 15:55	#133
Bhaswaran Landscape Photographer Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Kolkata. INDIA bhaswaran@redifmail.com Posts: 1,024	Excellent pics Somi

Oct 23rd, 2008, 16:13	#134
somnath biswas Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: KOLKATA INDIA Posts: 151	Hi Somnath, Welcome back. Though small in numbers (19), excellent photographs.

Oct 23rd, 2008, 18:34	#135
somnath Maha Guru Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Calcutta Posts: 2,437	Thank you Bhaswaran and Somnath da. There are almost 300 photographs (bad side of digital photography) but there is monthly upload limit in flickr. Somnath da, what about your trip?

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