To Kasar Devi

 

‘Where to from here?’

A fellow passenger asked

‘Kasar Devi,’ I responded

To which he gave a sly smile

 

‘Magic mushrooms?’ he whispered

‘Stars and Hippie Hill?’

He was all agog with excitement

Delirious, excited

 

That, finally a traveller

Could live his psychedelic dreams –

Why else would any young soul

Travel to Kasar Devi?

 

When all of Nanda Devi, Trishul

Was visible in November’s skies

Right here, panorama-wide

At Chaukori’s horizon

 

‘Have fun,’ he bid a sad adieu

For his bus to Delhi was here

And all his doped dreams were doused,

Alive alone in a dinkum soul he met

 

I let him keep his joy

His story, his to write

How he would refer to this page

In empty days of an ennui life

Little did he know,

From Mayawati, I had come this far

In search of Swamiji’s trail,

To see the heavens and the stars

 

To see the hills from temple cave

With third eye that is seen,

To mediate, get closer still

To saffron monk, Himalayan green

 

To sit still, even if for minutes few

At Bhairav’s steps of grace,

To be blessed by the Devi too

To mend these wayward ways

 

Does it matter if I lie?

Or that I did not speak the truth?

Does it matter where I head?

Which way, what azimuth?

 

Or is it the way the Gods check you?

In a hidden, twisted test

To check if man succumbs before

He scales the temple crest

 

To gauge if he is steadfast too

Or has a drop of greed aloud,

I hope the hills are smiling glad,

And the Devi’s also proud…

 

28^th March’ 2025

Kasar Devi is located around 8 kms from Almora and 378 kms from Delhi. Kasar Devi village derives its name from the local deity, Kasar Devi, who is worshipped as a form of Durga. The temple dates back to 2nd century and is situated on the top of the Kashyapa hill. In the temple, "Goddess Katyayani", one of the eight forms of Goddess Durga, is worshiped. The complex has two temples, one of which is Devi and another is of Lord Shiva and Bhairava.

Crank's Ridge, also called Hippie Hill, is a pine-covered ridge located on the way to Kasar Devi temple. The place got its popular name, Crank's Ridge, ever since the infamous American Psychologist, Timothy Leary who dabbled in LSD and other psychedelic experiences streaked on the ridge in the 1960s during the peak of hippie movement. The ridge became a haunt for bohemian artists, writers and spiritual seekers in the 1920s and 1930s, including notable western Tibetan Buddhists, W. Y. Evans-Wentz, and Lama Anagarika Govinda, who in turn was visited by Anandamayi Ma and Neem Karoli Baba. Other early people connected to Crank's Ridge were Earl Brewster, an American artist and his wife Achsah Barlow Brewster, author John Blofeld and Danish mystic Alfred Sorensen (Sunyata Baba), English writer, DH Lawrence and India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru also spent his vacations at the Khali Estate owned by his sister Vijayalaxmi Pandit.

Nonetheless, Swami Vivekananda was amongst the first of the luminaries who came to this place in 1890 and popularised this village when he wrote about it in his travels.