This is about the trip I recently had with my entire family (Parents, Bro and his family and my family - 6 adults and 2 kids) to Vaishnodevi and Kashmir. We started off on 29th Aug and returned back on 6th Sep. Ideation for this trip started in May and was provided by my cousin Dattu (an esteemed Doctor in Indian Services), who is stationed at Udhampur. He told us that he is very near to Vaishnodevi and we should visit him before he leaves for his next transferable appointment in December. A day after my talk to him, a neighbor who recently visited Mata Vaishnodevi (in month of May) came home with the Prasad. She too told us to go for the visit to have Darshan.
This set in the thought of visiting the holy place. My initial thought was to take along with me, my family and my parents. Then Chetan also was interested in visiting the place. So finally the entire family started off for the Visit. Post booking the tickets, the H1N1 scare started off. This again put us in a fix of whether or not to go. Just as we were debating it over for a week, the same neighbor again came and gave us Prasad from her recent trip again in July. She told us she just visited Mata again the last week. This is when we felt Mata really wanted us to visit Her at her ABODE.
Delhi - 29th Aug
The 1st visit was to Qutub Minar, one of the major landmark historical places. The Qutub Minar is a lovely monument and the specialty is the huge Minar. Apart from this what struck me as a bolt from the sky is there are ancient structures that still resemble a Hindu monument. If you look closely you can see figurines which are available in abundance in Hindu temple architecture. There are bells, calf drinking cow milk, flowers, kalash, etc., all carved. But apart from this there are structures which are built around the old Hindu structures and you can see that they have actually pasted ISLAMIC Artifacts on it. It looks like a fresher doing a CUT COPY PASTE work on top of an excellent Developer work. You can see what I mean in these pictures.
From Qutub Minar, we started off to the LOTUS Temple (Bahá'í). A magnificent place of worship, where a man can discover himself in his own solitude and silence. Here is where I understood the meaning of "Silence is Golden". A place where I was listening to myself, but without uttering a word. The whole world looked silent and I was un-obvious to the sound around.
From Lotus temple, we started towards Connaught place and from then continued to Rajpath. At Rajpath, we all got down. A sense of pride filled our hearts in the heat of Delhi. We 1st went towards India Gate. A place where every Indian will lose his heart to the bravery of our soldiers who died fighting for our Nation. A place that will leave a tear in every Indian's eyes. The Majesticity of the Place is due to the Aura of our dead soldiers. Behind this lies the Rashtrapati Bhavan, North and South Block and the Parliament house. We walked back to the Innova and then the driver took us showing the places in the car. We had fleeting glimpses of all these monuments.
From Rajpath we then started to hunt for food. All of us were hungry and needed food badly. The Innova driver helped here and took us to a decent hotel near the New Delhi Railway Station. By the time we finished food it was 3:45PM. From there we then decided to go to Raj Ghat. We reached the place by 4:30. We all removed our shoes and walked towards the Samadhi of the Father of the Nation. I would like to share my experience in Raj Ghat. The moment I came near to the Samadhi, a sense of pride came over me, for I was here and paying my personal homage to this great Man. A few moments later this feeling turned into a humble feeling, a feeling that, here was a MAN who gave up everything for the cause of FREEDOM for the Millions of India. He stood up to the might of England and shook her might with bare two hands and with tool called Satyagraha. Going around his Samadhi, I could also hear my mind talking of the partition that happened and the blood bath that followed, but I felt then and there, he did everything to stop it and but he could not win the battle. Just imagine the pain he would have gone through when the partition happened.
The next minute when I bowed in front of his Samadhi, a feeling of shame over came me, as I felt we have been murdering daily him with doing all the wrong things with the freedom he got us! I felt we as a Nation have betrayed more than Nathuram Godhse. Only when one sets his feet on this place can one understand what he did and what his greatness is! The supreme sacrifice a man can do for others selflessly. This is something we can argue but cannot ignore!
A man who kindled the torch of freedom so high and so big that the entire might of England could not blow it off, and this very torch lighted others to struggle for freedom in their own ways (read Subash Chandra Bose).
Leaving Raj Ghat with a mixed emotion we then hit back to the hotel. We packed our bags and started to the train station. All during the day one thing that was noticeable was Delhi has a very high traffic which is slow moving. After reaching the train and being seated comfortably, we started off to Udhampur our next destination. Reaching the train station and boarding ourselves in the cattle class (refer Shashi Tharoor's definition) compartment and seat comfortably among other cattle’s we started out for Udhampur.
Udhampur - 30th Aug
All the kids (including me) had a nice and hearty sleep during the night after a heavy touring of the City of Delhi in the heat. As told by Dattu (my cousin) we all got up at 6:00 AM in the morning when we reach Jammu Station. From here the train takes an hour and half to reach Udhampur. The beauty of this trip is that the train passes through the mountainous terrain, (reminded me of the Pune – Mumbai train trip) with over 24+ tunnels. On one side the huge and humongous mountains and the other side the deep ravines. In the ravines below we saw a small stream snaking itself through them. But in monsoon this stream ends up being the mighty TAVI river which originates in Trikuta hills of Vaishnodevi in Katra.
One can see many streams coming out of these mountains in their eagerness to meet the river below. One can imagine the sight in monsoon. Thanks to the GLOBAL WARMING, this time the monsoon has not descended here and there was a possibility of drought like situations here too. Standing on the foot board and clicking photos, I could see houses on the hills. I was all the time thinking how nice to have a house up in a mountain. Wait till you hear about the reality hitting me in detail below.
I could also see that the Indian Army is guarding this rail link with their very life. I could see bunkers in these mountains all filled with Army men who were watching like a hawk protecting its baby from other predator. During my trip I met a few army men who were coming back from their vacations. One should talk to them to understand what they sacrifice for our nation. I was filled with a sense of Pride when they told me about how they have beaten the enemy designs, but was full of shame myself for here I was doing nothing for them in return for all the hardships they face to secure our lives. At one time I was so moved with anger when I heard that the GOVT has decided to remove some benefits to these people for serving us. Many of them told me about the corruption done by politicians. Man how I wished all these politicians were made to man our borders! But the next minute a shiver went down my spine. These guys would sell our borders to the enemy!! I thanked God for being merciful and safe guarding our borders.
The train was snaking itself in and out of the tunnels and was showing us what nature had to offer in its lap. Finally at 7:30 AM we reached Udhampur station. There was Dattu and his son Kaustubh eagerly waiting for us. We got down and boarded his car and another vehicle like a bunch of school kids. Though it was around 7:45 AM, the sun was out in his full glory and the heat was starting to rise. A little later, we stopped and got out of our car. From here you could see the train station, the river Tavi next to it, a mountain behind the river and the SUN on top of the mountain. Man what a view!
By 8:00 AM we finally reached Dattu’s house. At home, my bhabhi Sujata, and his daughter Shobita were eagerly waiting for us. We all came in and settled ourselves at their house. The house was surrounded by a garden which had two GUAVA trees. Man I was back to my child hood. With a stick in hand, I immediately went to pluck those juicy fruits and had them for breakfast! YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
After agood and heavy breakfast we all got freshened up. By then it was lunch time. A little siesta had a refreshing effect on all of us. After the noon tea, we started to get ready for Vaishnodevi. Dattu had arranged for a vehicle to take us to KATRA, an hour’s drive from Udhampur, at the foot hills of Trikuta Mountain range. We reached around 6:00 PM there. The initial plan was to send my parents on the Doli, while My family (Myself, Ashwini, Krutharth), Dattu’s Family (Dattu, Sujata, Kaustubh) and Chetan’s family (Chetan + Shraddha, Lakshmi) to climb. However MATA had other plans. At around 2:00 in the afternoon it had rained heavily due to which both Copter and DOLI services had been suspended. So after reaching the place we could not get any Doli’s. By now it was around 7:00PM and started to get dark. Finally we decided to go up by PONIES as my parents could not climb up all upto the temple. The total climb is 13.5 KMs.
So again with JAI MATA DI on our lips we climbed up 8 PONIEs in all. Kaustubh sat with Dattu, while Shraddha sat with Lakshmi and Krutharth with me. After the initial check-post, we got into a photo shop where we took photos of ourselves giving offerings to MATA as you cannot take pictures in the sanctum sanatorium. We again sat back on our ponies. Mummy got her pony wrong and ended up sitting on another pony, wherein it resulted in a minor delay due to arguments between the pony owners.
Finally all of us set out on the pony for the climb. The path is so narrow on both sides you have stalls with various offerings and people climbing and going down between this path plus ponies going up and down! Man I was so worried that my pony would hit someone. But see the wonders of MATA, the ponies knew exactly how to avoid crushing others. Slowly our caravan moved. Inch by inch we reached AdKuwari by 10:30 PM a distance of 6.5 KM. While climbing up one could see the lights of KATRA. One remarkable place, where this town does not sleep, always hustling and bustling with people either going up or down to Vaishnodevi. All shops are open all through day and night. Roads are full of traffic and activity remains at its peak all the time. And one fascinating thing, this happens 24X7, 365 DAYS in a YEAR. Be it Rain, sunshine or snow, nothing stops the pilgrims from visiting MATA.
At Adkuwari, we stopped for 45 minutes as the ponies had to be fed. All through the climb I had a nice chat with Abdullah, the owner of my pony. Nice chap. He told me that his ROZA is by taking pilgrims up and down the shrine! He earns around RS. 400 per trip and can make only one trip a day! He spends around RS. 200 for the pony itself for its food! Man what a living, full of hardships. He also told me about various stories about MATA. He showed me how to talk in DOGRI the local language. If you observe carefully it’s a mix of PUNJABI and HINDI. Very beautiful language. So at Adkuawri we had a nice snacks of Biscuits and CHAI with monkeys on the tree tops above. All the kids were in full josh. Even elders / Oldies (like me) were in JOSH.So again we started our climb, from Adkuwari to Bhawan for MATA’s darshan. The trail was a little different, Till Adkuwari we got many people climbing up or down, but from here it was only a pony’s trail. The beauty of it was, it was a narrow trail, just enough for two ponies to pass by and nothing between them. One side you have this huge mountain wall and the other side the big drop into the ravines below. The scary part was it had rained and this trail was all wet and I was sure that the pony would slip a step. But Abdullah told me that its not only his but also his pony’s duty to take us safely to the Bhavan. With his assurances, we climbed on!
Finally we reached near to Bhawan (another 1 km away from it) we paid our dues to the pony owners and started walking towards the Bhawan. We reached the gate for ARMED FORCES Personnel. On the way towards the Bhawan there is a locker section wherein you are supposed to keep all your belongings expect the offerings. No leather stuff, no camera, no mobiles are allowed. The line was huge one. We decided split our group into two so that we don’t waste our time in these lines. So we took a bench near to the Armed forces line. St, Dattu, Sujata, Kaustubh and my Papa went for the Darshan. I went out to bring MATA’s Chunri and other offerings. Mean while Chetan went to search for a better place to sit. After I came back from purchasing, MOM and I went to see the place which Chetan had liked. It was a shelter for sitting like a retiring room in train stations and the charge was around RS 70 per person per hour. I finally got the owner to lend us a room rather than wait there. So after booking the room we returned to the place where Ashwini and others were waiting. By then even Dattu and others had finished the darshan. The time was 12:30 AM.
The next set of us, (Mom, Ashwini, Krutharth, Chetan, Lakshmi, Shraddha and myself) went in the queue. It took another 30 minutes before we were at the entrance of the cave. Man what a feeling. I just cannot describe all that went through my mind. But one thing that I felt was, I was lucky to have done this pilgrimage along with my parents again after doing Rameshwaram last year. They say a man should visit 3 times to MATA’s chowki. Once in Baalya, once in Yuva and once in Vruddha. And this has a great significance. In Baalya you are with your grandparents, in Yuva you are alone with a spiritual quest in your mind and in Vrudhha you are with your grandchildren. What a better way to discover and probe once life journey while visiting MATA.
The Darshan of MATA was the most exhilarating point of this visit. Those few seconds spent standing in front of her, made me feel to have achieved all in life. Man what a feeling once should experience it.The best part was both Krutharth and Shraddha woke up just in time to have darshan of MATA. How her belovant ways to attract her pilgrims to her. ( I am avoiding the usage of word DEVOTEES, as this has a huge meaning and significance and I don’t feel I or any of us can be called devotees!)
Back from the Darshan, we then went to the hotel. Shraddha who had been awake from her slumber was not feeling to sleep and here we are all wanting to sleep. So she did what she is best at. Any guesses? Right, started howling at top of her voice. This made Dattu to comment that MATA is now showing her actual darshan. More than a hour later she finally slept. In the mean while it started to rain so heavily that I thank MATA for giving us proper shelter. Just imagine how difficult it would be to be outside when it’s raining heaving and the temperature going down! In fact we had initially thought of walking down after darshan! We all slept off at around 3:00 AM.
Vaishnodevi – 31st Aug
At 6:00 AM we all got up refreshed in the room after a good night’s sleep. Even Shraddha was awake with a smile on her face. We left the hotel at 6:20 AM to start the climb down. This time we all started off with our own two legs. Mom and Dad also were in Josh to climb down though I was a little hesitant keeping in view of their health. Just as we started, it started to drizzle and trust me it was refreshing. It drizzled for just a few seconds and stopped. Enroute we stopped for breakfast. We all had idly, Rajma-rice with ghee, Shira and Gulab Jamoon for breakfast with hot piping Tea.
Chetan decided to see if they could go down by the Copter so that Shraddha would not get wet if in case it rained. The copter guys told us that the service will start at 8:00 AM and we had to wait for more than an hour. Dattu replied back saying that for all you know if the weather worsens the service may not even take off. All of us finally decided to climb down.
So after this lite breakfast we started to climb down. Slowly winding our way down the road snaking along the Trikuta mountains, we started our decent. Taking pics of the scenic beauty, we saw the river TAVI emerging in form a stream down the hills. 
We may have reached around 2 kms when the Copter services started. Within a span of an hour and half there were some 16-18 sorties. The total copter flying time is just 8 minutes from Sanchichat to below at Katra. The must have worked in clockwork precision to accomplish this as after this time the copter service was stopped!Initially all of us started walking together, and slowly we broke apart. The sky was cloudy and the weather was a pleasant. All of us enjoyed it. After an hour or so we almost we in 4 groups. Mom and Dad with their stops and us also taking rest we were all leaving MATA’s bhawan.
While walking alone, I wondered the saying most religion talk of, “We all come alone in this world, and we go back alone”. Actually that was what I was experiencing. Even though I was descending, I was alone. My family was all scattered. In order to conserve energy, all of us were walking down silent. I was wondering if I had climbed up it would have been no different except that I would need more perseverance to climb up. More willingness to have the Darshan. But at the end of it all by myself. Doing a pilgrimage of this kind, one is almost with oneself. One can discover oneself in such a pilgrimage. If I look at my life, it’s the same. Just like this tree in the picture.At around 10:00 AM we reached Adkuwari a distance of 6.5 KM. All through the road, the weather, scenic beauty kept us engrossed in our way down. We saw a hospital down the way and some monkeys as well. We all met in one shelter. Everyone was a little tired but were in full josh to climb down. Even the kids Krutharth and Kaustubh were all eager to reach down. Chetan had carried his daughter in his hands all down till here. Resting here for some time we then started back further down.
So Krutharth and I started to walk down the remaining half. Ashwini decided to accompany my father and Mom started off by herself. Chetan and Lakshmi decided to wait and take some more rest. Dattu and his family had already started off their descent. Walking a few meters down, I met a pithoo (these guys carry kids on their shoulder up and down). He said he will carry my son till the end and asked me for RS 120. They charge around RS. 300 for the full up and down trip. As usual Krutharth was uncomfortable to sit on his shoulders. So the pithoo agreed to carry him in his arms.
The pithoo advised me to take the steps as it was faster to get down. I was about to say no when it started to rain heavily. As the normal road goes winding down and the step go through the market, I finally decided to heed to the pithoo’s advise. So we started to climb down the stairs. Meanwhile the pithoo started to tell me his life here. He being a Muslim was a staunch devotee of mata. He makes around 4 trips up and down this mountain every day. His family stays in a village on a mountain which needs him to walk for over two days to reach. He being the eldest did this work to keep his house fire burning. His younger siblings (4 of them in all plus 2 sisters) helped in doing some odd jobs during the farming season.
He was saying that MATA really protects him and gives him all he needs. His ROZA was a daily business as he would visit the shrine complex. He lamented saying that their life is difficult due to the militancy. He said they get caught in the cross fire of suspicion between the security forces and the militancy. He also shared with me about his way of life and what kind of hardships they face. Medical facilities are unheard of in remote places. Certain times like in winter, medical facility even if available is not accessible. Even my Bhabhi (she is a Gyanec) shared some of her experiences and the problems these villagers face during our drive from Udhampur to Katra. Winter according my Bhabhi was the biggest hurdle. Sometimes the roads are cut off for day. Man what a life these guys face. But before we take the services be it pony or pithoo or Doli, we haggle for prices with these guys. My pithoo told me that they have to shell out a portion (around RS 30) for the shrine board plus local touts who operate in this area.
I really felt sad hearing his story. MATA has been kind to me and has given me more than enough for my life, yet I cry for more. She has actually given me a bed of roses and I cry that the floor is harder and it hurts my leg! Man my mind and heart was in a torture. I asked for forgiveness to MATA for being so childish! I know my words may sound empty but one has to really experience and see for one self to believe it.
Meanwhile on the way we waited for the pithoo to have his breakfast while I and Krutharth brought raincoats made out of plastic carry bags! With these on us, we started our journey again. Pithoo could not carry Krutharth as my son did not want to sit on him and would rather walk. So we both ended up walking along with the pithoo. In the mean while the rain also stopped. With a prayer on my lips to protect Shraddha, we 3 climed down a total of around 400 + steps and we were at the base with only one break of 15 minutes exactly. We reached the photo shop 1st. It was 12:00 PM exactly. By 12:30 all of the remaining reached the place. We climbed into the taxi at 12:45 PM with a prayer and an asking to return to MATAs darshan once again on our lips!
By 2:00 PM we were home and all through talking about the experience of the trip. Thanks to Dattu for being able to come with us. His coming made a huge difference to us. At home, Sujata’s mother had prepared a yummy lunch for us. The walk down had all of us tired and we had a good sleep. Later on we just woke up for dinner and then slept of peacefully again.
Udhampur – 1st Sep
In the evening around 4:30 PM after Dattu and Kausthubh came back from office and school, we all decided to go to GOL Market for shopping. By the time we finished shopping it was 8:30 PM. Everyone bought something or the other they liked. Man what a shopping it was! Nice fun! Ladies enjoyed the most as they got to buy the most! We came home around 8:45 PM and the dinner was ready. After the dinner, with dreams on KASHMIR in our eyes we went to bed.
