ALAKNANDA AT VISHNUPRAYAG

About ten kilometers ahead of Joshimath on the road to Badrinath...this is the highest location from where I have seen the Alaknanda.... Still, young and stream like, Alaknanda has left Mana and Badrinath behind. Mostly, she is on her own, except accommodating river Saraswati at Mana. Locals call this stretch of Alaknanda as Vishnuganga. Possibly because the beauty of this river and the musical flow of the water is soaked with an eternal touch.

And I stood there and tried to absorb the landscape around. Again, short of words to describe...a panorama that can only be experienced. Tall, conical peaks and within them...two young rivers fresh from their glacial origins, ready for the confluence... an enigmatic temple at the location of the confluence...and the refreshing breath of the mountain air....I sometimes wonder how magical the manifestations of nature are. Ahead, there was a signboard towards the Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve and the Valley of Flowers.

A beautiful Alaknanda with her delicate, crystal clear flow ready to meet the fast flowing Dhauliganga in the backdrop of the peaks offers one of the most delightful views of Uttarakhand. The first of the five mystical confluences of the Alaknanda, Vishnuprayag brings the two rivers together and from here Alaknanda picks volumes and rushes ahead on her mission to shape the mighty Ganga.

A part of me wanted to absorb the essence of this place and move few kilometers ahead to Badrinath...but it was not in the original plan and I didn't want to mix up....And I continued to sit at the freshly renovated cement base which so craftily brought the two rivers together. From there, it was possible to feel the icy cold flow of both the rivers...together...just at the point where they met.

A feel of the place -

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