Vaishno Devi

Time: April 23-29, 2023

Places: Amritsar Golden Temple, Wagah Border, Vaishno Devi, Kurukshethra, Delhi

Company: Wife and Daughter

Highlights: Well, wanted to go somewhere for summer vacations and considering we had been on an international travel just 4 months back, did not want to go through another round of complicated visa processing, setting up itineraries, etc. which comes with any abroad travel especially if going by ourselves. Plus, there was some discussion about my upcoming travel to US and hence could not plan a big trip well in advance. Mother-in-law visited pretty much the same set of places as mentioned above in Feb and that set us thinking why now. Anyways, I always wanted to visit VD since a very long time after I heard about how one had to crawl and enter the cave to get the darshan. Little did I know how much it has changed now!

So we mulled over merging Jammu and Kashmir together but decided that Kashmir needed its own vacation since there were many places plus it may need altitude-related medication, and wife/kid had had enough of it in the last 8 months. So then we added south of Jammu which was Amritsar to the itinerary. Then we searched for Shakti Peeths, if any, in and around Jammu, and there appeared a lot! This complicated the itinerary planning since preferred mode of rail traveling got jeopardised. So mulled over renting a car but that involved many state border crossings. So dropped that idea as well. Then we thought since it will be summer, may we should visit some hill stations such as Dalhousie but looking at the pics, it did not seem very enticing, especially after having had visited Himalayas recently. Seemed just like any other hilly mountain with snow-capped peaks, perhaps. 

Then we reduced the complexity of the itinerary, and removed the Shakti Peeths from our list barring a few. Due to some erroneous searching, found out that Jalandhar had a SP and we thought we will stop-over there since it was not out of the way. With this in mind, places finalized were AMR (for GT), JAL (for SP), Katra (for VD), LUD (another SP), Kurukshethra & Delhi. Now, had to plan air & train tickets. Do we land at Jammu or Delhi or Amritsar. Which trains were better - DEL to KAT or AMR-DEL? After multiple permutations and combinations, booked flight ticket for BLR-AMR, bus for AMR-KAT and train for KAT-LUD, JAL-KUR, KUR-DEL & a long DEL-BLR via Shatabdi to enjoy 1.5 days in train. Then found out about JAL after few days when I was trying to get the address of SP @ JAL and realized there was no Shakti Peeth in Jalandhar! Imagine the shock! But glad we did not hear this after landing at JAL! So, had to rebook and cancel some of the trains. Then, due to my upcoming US trip, had to prep, so decided to cancel the DEL-BLR train as well, so booked flight instead. Along with these travel cancellations, also had to cancel many hotels since the itinerary involved those. All in all, this itinerary was no less complicated! Finalized on BLR-AMR-KAT-LUD-KUR-DEL-BLR. And during the trip, this changed too! 

Day 1 - Apr 23: Had a great opportunity to travel via BLR new terminal T2 and its fantastic. It seemed like a garden all through, and totally out of the world. The flight from BLR to AMR was via DEL, so had dinner at IGI airport at a South Indian cafe. Tried out a new one this time compared to the last few trips and it was good. In the last 8 months, we have been to this IGI terminal so many times, we felt! Landed at AMR, and had booked an Ola to our hotel. Took the cab driver's number for morrow's Wagah trip.

Day 2 - Apr 24: Early morning start. Took a cycle-wallah for the Golden Temple. Even at 7:30 am, the queue was long and thick! It felt nice to be in the nice holy atmosphere. We first took some snaps and walked around the pool of water. The shades of the Golden doom kept varying with rising Sun. There was holy chant and hymns going on. Did not take bath in the pond, since had not planned for it. Looking at the queue, we thought we should have breakfast first since we were hungry. So took the prasadam, it was delicious. It felt like we were in an ashram with so many volunteers. This place is magical with so much of harmony all around! Then we entered the queue. 

It took about 1.5 hours to enter the sanctum sanctorum. We did not know what we would see inside and was surprised there were no idols or saints inside. It was the Holy Book, and it was big & very wide. Everyone was paying obeisance and we did so too. Hair should not be shown inside the premises, so we three had a cloth tied to our heads. There are couple of flights and we climbed them up as well. More holy books and more saint-like creatures reading them. Finally we were done with Golden Temple, and we took one more cycle wallah to Jallian Wallah Bagh.

We did not have too much time, so hurriedly went from one spot to the other. From afar, it seems so less and so narrow but once inside, it opened up into a big empty place. No wonder there was no place to exit for the martrys when the shooting began. We saw the bullet holes into the wall, the well into which many had fallen, and the museum with all the gory history. Wonder how can Men be so cruel to fellow-men...

All done, we walked back to our hotel. It was about 10-15 minutes via narrow market streets, where we could see local life. We reached back the hotel and called the cab driver for the drive to Wagah Border. He took some time and we checked out meanwhile. It was about 11 am already and we just had couple of hours for our bus to Katra. 

The drive from Amritsar to Wagah Border took about an hour. It was on Grand Trunk road. As a child, I had heard a lot about how straight this road is, lined with trees. And it was a nice feeling to be on the road itself after three and half decades! We reached the end of India and parked the car in the parking lot which was now empty. Apparently the festivities starts in the evening from about 4 pm onwards and parking lot starts getting filled up from 2 pm. 

Since we were just visiting, and not participating in the festivities, we were not allowed inside the stadium-kinda thing which is built for the parade and other things that happen daily evening. There was an elevated platform where we could go and see Pakistan side of the border. It was my first sighting of Pakistan. Erstwhile India until a gentleman drew a line on the map and partitioned it off - how sad. Anyways, there didn't seem much to do without the pomp which was due to start in couple of hours, and for which we didn't have time. So we left the place, and got back to Amritsar. Driver dropped us off at the place where we could catch the bus to Katra. Had light snacks in the form of fruits and thankfully had booked an AC bus. It was needed in the heat now.

Journey in the bus was kind of slow. He stopped at 3-4 places and for long durations. Plus there was army checkpoints since we were now entering Jammu. Slept for some time, watched the scenery for some time, played with kiddo, etc. Once we entered Jammu, we could see Army at many places which was a sight for us South Indians! Finally reached at about 10 pm, after a long 8 hours. If in car, this could have been done in 5 hours perhaps.

Our hotel staff had arranged for pick up and a Maruti van came. It took us to our hotel which was quite close to the Railway station. The staff were polite and almost family-like. The room was neat and clean too. Only disadvantage being no eatery was nearby, and it seemed to be in a residential area. We managed with whatever we had and slept for the night. Morrow was the big day and highlight of the trip.

Day 3 - Apr 25: So we knew we had to register as a pilgrim beforehand and we had done that on the website. However, the hotel officials told that you still need to visit a counter either at railway station or bus stand or at base of mountain to get the tracker-badge (aka parchi pass) which all has to wear at all times. So we got up early and went to railway station since it was close to our hotel but there was an enormous queue. We enquired about the online thing that we had done and officials said online registered folks need to go to base-camp aka starting point. We could not rely on that information and hotel staff insisted that we get it done at the railway station itself. So, we endured the long queue to get our tracker-badges. This itself took a little over an hour, and considering we had a mountain to climb, this was an energy drain that we had not factored. It was close to 8:30 am when we finally got it and reached the base aka Banganga Gate. Security frisking happens here and we commenced the ascent. It was about 9 am by this time. Thankfully it was not too hot nor sunny.

The ascent zigzags across the mountain and is wide enough for climbers and pony and dolies which are carried by 4-6 people for elderly folks who cannot climb on pony. It is about 13 kms one-way journey. There are lots of shops for shopping, massage, food, etc. at the beginning but tapers away as you reach closer to Mandir. We thought we will have breakfast at one good-looking AC restaurant but they were taking too much time, so ditched them and continued on. Finally had some maggi at a smaller shop. Not that it was fast here either!

At one point we realized there were steps between the curves where it zigs and zags. The steps will bypass the slow ascent of the paved route, so we started climbing the stairs. But boy, on hindsight, not really sure if that was a good idea. For it caused severe pain later on, end of the day. But we sure felt we saved a lot of time by taking those stairs. At each stair-start, there is a board which depicts how many steps and that elders and pregnant ladies should avoid it. Some of the stairs were easily manageable and short but the longer ones could not be climbed in one shot.

We kept taking pics at different places and it was good to compare pics during day time and night time taken at the same location, one during ascent and one during descent. We reached Charan Paduka and Ardhakuwari but apart from a short break, did not rest for long. All along the route, there are enough spots for drinking water, loo, snacks, etc. and there is a background devotional music which will keep you egging on with 'Jai Mata Di'! At Sanjichhat, we got prasadam and it was delicious. From here on, the altitude drops so we were walking downwards and it was not so strenuous. We could do it fast and by 2:45 pm, almost after 6 hours of climb, we entered the Mandir premises. There was some confusion here, and we had to retrace our steps back to deposit certain items such as wallet, mobile phone, etc.. There was one more queue here but thankfully small. Then finally entered the queue for the darshan. It was a long one but not too crowded. The crowd started just at the actual cave entrance. 

As mentioned before, no more crawling needed. It is well paved and more of a tunnel than a cave now since we can walk inside with straight back! At the final spot where the queue culminated, I was searching hard where to look for the Mata idol and the priest took my head and turned it towards the three pindas (or small rockball-like structures) and that's when I realized that this is what Vaishnodevi is all about! It was like an anti-climax! We were done with darshan by 3:30 pm and we took our belongings and hurried to the ropeway to Bhairavnath which was about to close by 5 pm. There was one more huge queue for this and we were able to get the ropeway thankfully, else we had to climb one more steep ascent to reach this place. 

Mandir here was small and less crowded. Darshan got done within few minutes and we started descending at 5:30 pm. Descent was fast and at some places, we were almost running and sitting. Still, it took 3.5 to 4 hours! Wifey had an issue with her slippers, so she walked barefoot most of the trek. Even during descent, we preferred stairs to zigzag routes but it was really putting a lot of pressure on our knee joints. 

At Ardhkuwari, we read about the history of the place and realized there was one more cave temple nearby which really needed crawling and climbing which was somewhat difficult and made to seem like you are taking a rebirth with purity. Each of these places in Vaishnodevi has nice history and there are lot of websites which gives these details. But this cave entry is controlled and only batches of few people are allowed. There was huge queue here and people waiting their turn to enter the queue were lying all around. The temple gives blankets free of cost while they are waiting for their turn to beat the cold which was now enveloping all of us. We decided we were not up for more wait time and queue, so continue on downwards.

At the fag end of the journey, we were limping badly. Not sure if we would have been in the same state if we had walked down the paved route instead. At the final step, we turned back and did a big namaskar to the mountain and Mata Di for enabling us to successfully complete the yatra. Paavani was the most flexible of us three! It was now 9:30 pm. So, we had been walking/standing since 7 am!

Rest of the journey to our hotel (via the auto who thankfully knew the way since it was somewhere inside) was smooth and we ate whatever we had with us for dinner. As per original plan, we were supposed to go to Shiv Khori the next day which involved 4 kms of walking as per our research. But we were not in any position for any more treks for next couple of days! So, we changed our itinerary to just satisfy ourselves to a few notable places in and around Katra. Also we cancelled our KAT-LUD itinerary and instead changed it to Jammu-Kurukshetra directly. And then we slept. Btw, this website has a nice route map of the trek.

Day 4 - Apr 26: We got up quite comfortably late, had whatever we had for breakfast and checked out by 11 am. We had hired an auto to show us around Katra and our first stop was Nau Devi Cave temple. We had zero expectations but were mildly surprised by the cave temple. Here, one really had to crawl and go inside the sanctum sanctorum! So a nice experience. Out side, we were surprised to see natural water pools where lots of them were having fun, like swimming pool. We continued on.

Next stop was even better. This was Baba Dhansar temple. Again, one has to walk down about half a km of distance to enter into temple premises which is also a cave but one has to just stoop. Not crawl inside. But the best part of this place was the aquamarine water pool in front of the cave. There was continuous water flowing from up the mountain to this pool. Where does this water come from - no one knows, since it was peak summer and there was no rain since many days. Yet there is constant flow of water and the water fall was so refreshing! From this pool, it channeled towards the rive downwards and it was fun to keep our feet on the flowing water. Spent a lot of time playing with this flowing water.

Headed back to the auto, had some snacks and ice cream and wherever we went, the Trikuta mountain stood tall and we were amazed by it. Our next stop was Baba Jitto Mandir. There was more history here and it was fascinating. Spent some time sitting at the temple, walked across the river to visit the place where holy water was coming from the mountain where some folks were taking bath. Also visited adjoining garden area and took some pics.

Next stop was a small Ganesha temple plus few more idols. Got that done quickly and finally auto driver dropped us off at Bus stand. It was about 4 pm by now. We had lunch at a nearby restaurant and took a bus to Jammu. The road from Katra to Jammu reminded us of many US mountain roads that we have been to, such as Smoky Mountain or Rocky Mountain. It was wide and winding and beautiful with amazing scenery. Took about an hour and half, and we were in Jammu.

We got down near Raghunath temple but still had to take an auto who could get us closer. It was about 6 pm when we entered the temple. The temple is vast and has many things to see. We spent about an hour roaming and was about to leave when suddenly a bunch of drummers came in and started drumming loudly for arathi. So we continued to stay on. It was a nice experience. They went drumming from one idol to the other and it went on until 9:30 pm. Finally it was temple closing time and we exited. Our train to Kurukshetra was at 11 pm and we took one more auto to the railway station, boarded our train and retired for the night.

Day 5 - Apr 27: We reached Kurukshetra at about 7:30 am, refreshed ourselves in the station waiting room. Just outside, we took an auto who promised us to show few important places in the city for about 4 hours. So, we started off. Our first stop was Sanehit Sarovar Surya Kund and nearby Surya Narayan Mandir and Laxmi Narayan Mandir. Those were quick stops. 

Our next destination was Sarveshwar Mahadev Temple and Brahma Sarovar. This was a big rectangular pond, very well maintained. We spent quite a lot of time here taking pics. There are nice statues here too about Krishna giving his sermon to Arjuna and its pretty famous in Kurukshethra. Also has vast views of the Sarovar (pond).

The next destination was Jyotisar. This is the place where Krishna & Arjuna conversation occurred which is crux of Bhagavadgeetha. And here is where Krishan revealed his Vishwaroopa Darshan. There is an iconic statue made out here where Krishna is oh-so-tall whereas Arjuna is barely visible, like a rat at the bottom right. Excerpts of Bhagavadgeetha are all epitaphed across the place. Some big trees give the place a soothing atmosphere. It is hard to imagine the great war between Kauravas and Pandavas happened at this exact spot.

The driver then took us to an under-construction Iskcon temple. It is coming up in a grand scale, looks like. Next stop was Bheeshma Kund. Here is where Bheeshma was lying on a bed of arrows until he chose the time of his death (he had that boon). There is also an indication of ground where the arrow was hit by Arjuna so that water could sprout up to Bheeshma when he was thirsty.

Bhadrakali Mandir was next. This is a Shakti Peet. Very nice and large temple, with artistic sculptures. We spent considerable amount of time here. And the last destination was Sthaneshwar Mahadev temple. Quick visit and we were back to the Railway station. Perhaps we skipped a place of visit or two since we spent more time at Jyotisar and Brahma Kund but we covered the important ones, anyways. We were done in 4 hours or even less. Our next train to New Delhi was on time and we bid adieu to this historic city of India.

Reached New Delhi at about dusk. Took an auto to a nearby hotel which we had booked. Unfortunately no great restaurants nearby, yet managed to find which was decent. It was our first good food for the day! Also, the hotel which we stayed was surprisingly very clean and neat. Didn't expect that so near to the railway station. It had been a tiring day, so we slept early after arranging for cab for the next day.

Day 6 - Apr 28: Our last day of the trip. We had a whole-day sightseeing cab arranged. Previous night we had chalked the route of the important places of visit so that our last stop was airport drop-off. Accordingly, our first stop was Red Fort. It was already 11 when we reached, I agree we should have left early! Lot of people! I don't remember the last time I was here, maybe early 1990s, and this place is huge! Lot of area to cover, and us with limping legs, it was hard to walk fast, climb up/down steps. We did cover pretty much all the salient points of the Red fort though. Spent over two hours, I guess.

Next stop was Birla Mandir. It was about to get closed, thankfully we just made it. Saw the idols and the doors were shut, although we could still see from the sides. Realized our driver was taking us for a ride with some unnecessary delays, longer routes, etc. so that we end up paying him more than what was already committed. He should have informed us about the timings of Birla Mandir too. Anyways, since there was no one here, it was calm and peaceful. 

Then we were passing through India gate when Paavani wanted us to go up close. So the driver dropped us off at a place nearby and we walked close to India Gate, posed for some pics and then headed back to the car. Parliament House and Rajya Sabha came on the way to Lotus Temple, so we just saw it from the car itself. He could not even park the car on the road. Also saw Indira Gandhi's house.

Lotus temple had huge queue but thankfully it was moving fast. First time I was here when I was a kid  was when I felt the beauty of silence but now I am used to it much, so it did not have the same impact. But the place is wonderful, just as beautiful as it was back then. Took some more clicks and then our last stop was Qutub Minar.

But the driver had his own plans. All through the way, he was suggesting it is going to be delayed, more kms, etc. So, suddenly asked him to drop us off at Qutub Minar and he can drive back without airport drop - so that we need not pay him more than what was agreed. It was like a battle of wits, and he seemed to be checkmated and lost his argument. Still he persuaded us to a Rajasthan emporium where will get some points just for taking us there.

Final stop was Qutub Minar. Seemed like ruins but still an archaeological marvel, I suppose. Took quite a lot of pics with varying backgrounds, sizes, etc. until we got tired of it! And then it was time to depart New Delhi. We were searching for a bus when an auto driver said he'd take us. Little did he know that autos are not allowed inside Terminals! Neither did we! So we ended up walking about half a km to the airport. 

We were right on time. Next set of formalities happened in a jiffy - check-in, security, walk to the gate. Had the same South Indian snacks at the same place we had had two times in the last 9 months, and then boarded our flight. It was a safe flight, and we reached BLR airport past midnight. Cab drive back home was not so smooth but safe! And that's how our summer vacation came to an end!

Epilogue: A suddenly inspired trip to Vaishno Devi, clubbed with New Delhi sightseeing and then places in between like Golden Temple and Kurukshetra - this is what this trip became after so many permutation and combinations! All that research on Shakti Peets, summer hill stations like Dalhousie, Mussourie, etc. could not make it to the itinerary. At one point, I lost count of all the train cancellations in this trip - maybe it was 6 or 8! So many dynamic changes to the itinerary. It was like being in a whirlwind! Also the climb up and down of VD was extremely tiring and legs were sore, and we were glad that we did it at an early age and not when we were old. Definitely memorable!