Situated at a height of 22,000 ft, Mount Kailash is known, respected and celebrated the world over as the abode of Lord Shiva. For devotees, this is one of most important pilgrimages too. The Kailash Range is part of Transhimalayan, Tibet and the peak falls under the boundaries of China. Given the height and remote location the ‘Kailash Mansarovar Yatra’ it becomes very difficult to reach there and only a small group of people from India are able to make it to this place- and that too once a year.
IAS officer Dr. Hari Om is among the lucky few who have been to Mount Kailash. He is still moved by that experience. Currently posted as Secretary, General Administration Department in Uttar Pradesh government, Dr. Om has launched his book ‘Kailash Mansarovar- Aastha ke Vaicharik Aayam’ where he talks about the “spritiual journey’’ to Mount Kailash-Mansarovar and the adventure he had there.
Dr. Om is also is a celebrated Ghazal singer, poetry and story writer.
In conversation with Indian Masterminds, he discuss about his journey and how it affected him as a person.
‘I saw one of the most beautiful corners of this world’
Dr. Om went for this amazing journey in June 2019. The 11 days voyage with eight different people has given him the memories of a lifetime. He started his journey from Lucknow and then through Nepalgunj, Simikot, Hilsa, Purang, he reached Mansarovar and then Kailash. During the journey, he didn’t have any plan to write a book. But he wrote it subsequently, but now it’s the talk of the town, being read widely. When asked about describing the whole journey in few lines he says, “My job provides me a great opportunity to see some unexplored parts of my country. During all these years in service, I have been appointed as observer for many elections and been to almost every state. For the studies, I went to Europe and saw its beauty. But, the experience of Kailash Mansarovar is surreal. The people you meet in the way and adventure created by the nature teaches you the greatest learning of life.”
It started with a series of Facebook posts
After coming from the yatra, Dr. Hari Om just wrote a three-four pages of a summary. He then started posting the parts on social media site on a regular interval. Soon, he realised that his posts were getting tremendous appreciation and thought of putting it all in a book. He had not taken any notes during the journey, but the strong observations about the journey, which remained etched in his mind, helped him to complete the book. Dr. Om didn’t want the book to be limited around his journey so he has discussed all economical and political aspect of the whole yatra.
Talking about the contents of the book, he says, “The main part of the book is covered with different shades of personalities of my co-travellers. Apart from that I have also tried to highlight the political tension which involved all the four countries, India, Nepal, Tibet (Autonomus region) and China that are part of this yatra. This book also talks about the drastic disparity in the economic conditions of these nations. My intention through this book is to tell the people the importance of this yatra and be a literary guide for their upcoming voyage”.
Dr. Om also said that this is his first travelogue and it took him six months to complete, because of several reasons. As he puts it, this process is way different from writing a story or a poem because while all the other literary forms can be played along with your imagination, the travelogue demands a great amount of authenticity and at the same time it has to be interesting for the readers.
