I found the opportunities and time to go to all the places I had planned to visit, so it was time I set out to Kali Shila. I was looking forward to meeting the German Mataji, whom many spoke about. And so from Ukhimath, I went to Kali Math.
Kali Math is a Siddha Peet, and the part of the Himalayas where it is situated reflects the feminine energy worshipped there. The mountains here are warm, lit with sunlight, thickly covered by foliage and forests.
Unlike the other parts of the mountains which have a look of sharp angularity and barrenness, the mountains around Kali Math are curvy.
Before I left for Kali Shila, I was informed that it was possible to climb up and down in one day. But there are many storytellers around here who may not be in tune with reality, as they wouldn’t have visited all these places despite living in the mountains. Reality was very different from hearsay. Whatever it was, there was always a way out and a place to rest, as I discovered.
I skipped my visit to the Kali Math temple on the banks of the Kali Ganga because I had seen it last time. I began my climb up the steep stepped path of Kali Shila. It was a warm experience to walk alone through the steps ensconced in thick foliage. I had no clue how long it was going to take as the steps moved on like hair-pin bends. I came across a wooden house in a village up there. A group of children were playing around the ever-leaking water tap. They gave me a glass of water to drink and posed for a picture too. Two of those children wanted to walk up along with me. I asked them to return because I didn’t know if it was safe for them to.
As I walked up, the villages were getting prettier and prettier. Some houses had solar panels for their electricity. I thought I had reached Kali Shila, but I had four more kms to walk, they said. A little further away, I stopped by a Pahadi house, where the whole family, from grandfather to grandchildren, came out to talk to me. A beautiful teenager clad in a yellow salwar, Sarveshwari, got me some tea. The grandfather cut a big piece of mountain cucumber, (Pahadi Kakdi for me to eat. “You will not get any lunch on the way, what will you eat? Take this, it is sufficient enough for a lunch,” he said. I have never eaten a juicier cucumber in my whole life. His daughter-in-law discovered that I spoke Tamil and said, “Eppadi Irukkeenga?” She had lived a while at the Avadi HVF township in Chennai!
My stomach was full with cucumber and I began my journey up the mountain. The family invited me to stop by their house for lunch when I returned the next day. “Tomorrow?” I asked and they said, “Of course!” It would take me all afternoon to walk up to Kali Shila and I had to stay there for the night and return the next day!
With the stress of having to walk back fast having gone, I began ambling my way through the forests, observing the expansive skies above and the gurgling Kali Ganga surrounding the Kali Math temple.