Monday, July 28, 2008

This Day That Year - 28th July 2007

Day 14

So we're on our way up to Vaishno Devi Mata ka mandir. The walk is beautiful. It's misty and soon it's drizzling. D & I walk up all the way - chatting, looking at sights & he tells me stories of his previous visits here. We have no VIP passes and are wondering how many hours we'll have to wait in queue for the darshan. Ardhkunwari is the half way mark - the milestones seem to arrive really slow but I love the walk up into the clouds. At Himkoti we stop to eat dosas and garma garam rajma chawal. Kavitta catches up with us here and stomachs replenished, we continue to walk up! Soon we're at the mandir, we buy our prashad and are done with the darshan in a matter of 15-20 minutes. No long queues. We're thrilled and inspired to climb up further to Bhairon Mandir. The board says 1.5 kms and we think what the hell...why not? So we start walking. Sid & Runmee are way ahead on their mules! This particular stretch is really really steep and we're huffing and pufffing our way up. D & I stop to sit at various points. Sometimes we take the stairs but they're even more tiring! Many stops later, we're in the temple - darshan, parshad and out. Time to descend. We decide to take the stairs to save time even though we know we'll end up with wobbly knees! So we're rolling downhill - literally running along. A short stop at Cafe Coffee Day for a bite and back on the path. At the foot of the hill we indulge in threads, lockets etc. Then we pack ourselves into an auto back to Hotel New Ashok Palace. A hot water bath later, I'm knocked out on the bed for 4 hours. Then we're up and ready to drive back to Delhi. The biggest regret of the day: No camera on the climb :( We all thought we won't be permitted to take them inside the temple - discovered later that there were locker rooms! So anyways, soon we're dining at the 'Jewel', drinking chai by the roadside, clicking the very last snap of this trip @ Katra and are then on the road to Delhi. I am wishing we could extend the trip further. I am feeling sad about having to go back to the noise & chaos of the metropolis. I just want to freeze time here...in my most peaceful, dreamless 10 hour sleep on the drive back.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

when will you go online?

Anonymous said...

Concentrate to the things that could give information to the people.

Mridu said...

@lotto - I write for myself and for people who are interested in knowing what I have been upto :) It's not a Travel Blog!