Dalhousie-a trip into the hills

The Vaishnodevi pilgrimage was completed and the majority of the party departed to Delhi. My sister Vandana and I stayed back as we wanted to visit some places in the North that we had not seen and were curious to see the places that we had only read about. From Jammu we boarded a bus that took us to Pathankot there we had yummy aloo parothas for breakfast and started inquiring about a bus that would take us to Dalhousie. We were told that there was one only at 11a.m so we decided to take a taxi to Dalhousie. We had a lovely drive up into the hills and later checked into the Hotel Geetanjali that I had booked through the net. Though the hotel was very old and worn out it was comfortable and a huge room which consisted of a dining room, a bedroom and an old British style bathroom. There was no other means of sightseeing so we asked the taxi that had brought us to Dalhousie to take us around. The taxi took us to a place called Khajjar which is also known as Mini Switzerland it was a beautiful meadow surrounded by pine trees. It was a picturesque place. We lazed around in the meadow, had lunch and started our return journey to Dalhousie. The natural beauty fo the place was breathtaking but the other places like saatdhara etc. were a waste of time. Then it was time for what women do best-shopping we got off at the Mall and window shopped at the Tibetan market . Then we drove to the hotel watched some T.V and crept into bed after a few painkillers as our limbs were still aching after the arduous Vaishnodevi trek. Next morning we drove back to Pathankot and got a bus to Amritsar.

Summer of 2008

Jai Mata Di!!!

This was the cry that echoed through my mind when I agreed to join my sis and sis-in-law on a pilgrimage to Vaishnodevi the abode of Mata Vaishnavi. We planned our journey well in advance and everything just worked out well as a jigsaw puzzle falling into place. There is a strong belief in devotees that the journey is possible only when the Goddess wishes you to visit her. I had images of hindi movie heroes and heroines walking up to the shrine to have their problems solved and I also wanted to experience the bliss that they had experienced. The numbers in our group kept on increasing with my cousin Hema also joining us for the trip. It was a nice get together as we cousins had spent many summers in each others company as children this was probably a first as we reached middle age. Finally we were five cousins along with my uncle and aunt and Hari and Pavan as the male escorts. We all congregated at Jammu on the 9th of May and drove to Katra on the 9th evening. My aunt and uncle were booked for the next day by helicopter so twelve of us proceeded towards the Trikuta mountains.We reached there around 9 p.m. and stood there trying to assess our physical capacities , some of us chickened out of the climb and got onto ponies others started the arduous trek uphill. Exhausted we reached the shrine at around 2 a.m. had darshan and started the trek downwards at 7 a.m. reaching the hotel by 10 a.m. It was a dream fulfilled.