Dedicated to my father and mother,
for,
I am what I am, just because of them!
My mother always wanted to visit Mathura and Vrindavan. This has been a dream of her's for quite a few years, and she could not take a vacation because she had to take care of my paternal grandfather who was with us. She wanted to make sure he was well taken care of. My grandfather passed away in peace at the age of 99, last year. Now, I felt, it was time for her to consider her desires. That is how we started thinking of this trip.
Her desire to visit these places increased many folds after she started reading about these places in a few magazines and books. My father also wanted to visit Haridwar and Rishikesh. So we decided to plan a trip to cover all these places. My cousin sister, Mrs Parvathi Mekkad, mentioned one day that her mother (my father's sister) wanted to visit Haridwar, and I asked my aunt if she would be interested in joining us. She was very excited and we decided to go together.
The planning started somewhere mid of December 2017. A lot of dates were discussed. We finally decided to have a week long trip from March 6th to March 13th. The major reason for selecting these dates is that my son's exams would start by mid of March, and it would be a good climate in the North then.
Loads of reading about the various places of importance at these places went into the planning. My father had been to Haridwar and Rishikesh before, and he also helped to decide the places that we would visit. We did not want to go with a tour package, as most of them covered only a very few places. For example, there were tour packages which covered Vrindavan and Mathura in a day. From the description of the places, I could not imagine how we could finish seeing the places in a day. We wanted to have a much more relaxed trip, and not a hasty one. We decided that it would be a better option to plan the whole itinerary ourselves. We felt it better to go to Vrindavan and Mathura before we went to Haridwar and Rishikesh. So we started talking to a few transport vendors who would provide transportation.
We had the following options:
- Use daily tour programs at all the four locations
- Having two taxis - one at Mathura to cover Mathura and Vrindavan and the other at Haridwar to cover Haridwar and Rishikesh. We could use trains to cover long distances (Delhi to Mathura, and then Mathura to Haridwar).
- Have a single tourist vehicle pick us from Delhi, take us through whichever places we wanted to visit and drop us back at Delhi.
After a lot of discussions among ourselves, and considering the cost for all the options we had infront of us, we decided to have a single tourist taxi to take us everywhere. I talked to a few vendors in Delhi and got the best deal from DriverIndia. The person running the business, Mr Bharat Kumar and Danielle were very helpful. So we booked an Innova to pick us from the Delhi airport and drop us back at Delhi after taking us through Mathura, Vrindavan, Haridwar and Rishikesh. The itinerary plan would be completely ours.
The rooms were booked at Vrindavan and Haridwar. Thanks a ton to tripadvisor.in for giving us access to all the ratings to various tour operators, hotels and places to visit that helped us finalize upon the travel agent and the rooms. I can't imagine planning the trip without such first hand reviews. Since I wanted other travellers to benefit from our experiences, I have added reviews of what all I could experience that was available for review in tripadvisor.in. This blog contains links to reviews that I have written about the various experiences we had during the trip. Please go through the links and let me know if the reviews were helpful. For your convenience, I have highlighted the reviews red for those I do not recommend (the brighter the red, the more I would advice you to avoid), and green for the ones I recommend.
Without more blabbering, let me start...
Her desire to visit these places increased many folds after she started reading about these places in a few magazines and books. My father also wanted to visit Haridwar and Rishikesh. So we decided to plan a trip to cover all these places. My cousin sister, Mrs Parvathi Mekkad, mentioned one day that her mother (my father's sister) wanted to visit Haridwar, and I asked my aunt if she would be interested in joining us. She was very excited and we decided to go together.
The planning started somewhere mid of December 2017. A lot of dates were discussed. We finally decided to have a week long trip from March 6th to March 13th. The major reason for selecting these dates is that my son's exams would start by mid of March, and it would be a good climate in the North then.
Loads of reading about the various places of importance at these places went into the planning. My father had been to Haridwar and Rishikesh before, and he also helped to decide the places that we would visit. We did not want to go with a tour package, as most of them covered only a very few places. For example, there were tour packages which covered Vrindavan and Mathura in a day. From the description of the places, I could not imagine how we could finish seeing the places in a day. We wanted to have a much more relaxed trip, and not a hasty one. We decided that it would be a better option to plan the whole itinerary ourselves. We felt it better to go to Vrindavan and Mathura before we went to Haridwar and Rishikesh. So we started talking to a few transport vendors who would provide transportation.
We had the following options:
- Use daily tour programs at all the four locations
- Having two taxis - one at Mathura to cover Mathura and Vrindavan and the other at Haridwar to cover Haridwar and Rishikesh. We could use trains to cover long distances (Delhi to Mathura, and then Mathura to Haridwar).
- Have a single tourist vehicle pick us from Delhi, take us through whichever places we wanted to visit and drop us back at Delhi.
After a lot of discussions among ourselves, and considering the cost for all the options we had infront of us, we decided to have a single tourist taxi to take us everywhere. I talked to a few vendors in Delhi and got the best deal from DriverIndia. The person running the business, Mr Bharat Kumar and Danielle were very helpful. So we booked an Innova to pick us from the Delhi airport and drop us back at Delhi after taking us through Mathura, Vrindavan, Haridwar and Rishikesh. The itinerary plan would be completely ours.
The rooms were booked at Vrindavan and Haridwar. Thanks a ton to tripadvisor.in for giving us access to all the ratings to various tour operators, hotels and places to visit that helped us finalize upon the travel agent and the rooms. I can't imagine planning the trip without such first hand reviews. Since I wanted other travellers to benefit from our experiences, I have added reviews of what all I could experience that was available for review in tripadvisor.in. This blog contains links to reviews that I have written about the various experiences we had during the trip. Please go through the links and let me know if the reviews were helpful. For your convenience, I have highlighted the reviews red for those I do not recommend (the brighter the red, the more I would advice you to avoid), and green for the ones I recommend.
Without more blabbering, let me start...
Day wise trip details
March 6th (Day 1)
At 5 AM, we started our journey from our home to the Bangalore Airport in a taxi (Vinayaka Taxi). The driver drove us so fast that we reached the airport by 6 AM. What a great start!! We had a lot of time to spend at the airport before we checked in, with us. So we decided to have breakfast from Mayyas at the airport. We had a few plates of iddli. They were very good (even though a bit expensive). By 7 AM, we entered the airport and stood in the queue for getting the boarding pass. We got it in a few minutes. Only carry bags were allowed for the kind of tickets I had purchased (Lite Fare). So we made sure not to carry more than 7 kgs of carry bags, and had even weighed them before we started. At the counter, they did not check the weight of the carry bags which was a good thing, as I was more confident that they will not do it even while returning too.
Father enjoying taking selfies
We completed the security check and was in the flight by 8:15 AM. My aunt was flying for the first time, and we managed to get her a window seat. She was enjoying the view thoroughly. The flight took off and landed us at Delhi at the scheduled times. Bharath Kumar and our driver were waiting outside the airport when we came out. They gave us a very warm welcome, and started our journey to Vrindavan. The route we took is as below:
The traffic in Delhi was pathetic. It took us more than an hour to get to the highway. We had our lunch from Radha's at Jewar.
Yamuna Expressway - Delhi to Vrindavan
The food was good. We reached Vrindavan by 5 PM. We found the hotel where we had booked, "Divine calling", pretty easily.
"Divine calling", Vrindavan. Every room has an induction cooker and a lot of vessels, Oven, Fridge ,washing machine, and much more!!
Review about the hotel is available here.
That evening, we went to the ISCKON temple which was situated just next to the hotel. This neighborhood is the main reason I booked this hotel.
ISKCON, Vrindavan
Review about ISKCON, Vrindavan is here.
We got great laddus and sweets as prasad from ISKCON. We took part in the arathi there,and visited most of the places inside until we started getting hungry. I could not figure out if they served dinner there. So decided to go out and search. We had tough time finding a good restaurant, and finally we ended up eating from a road side dhaba. It was not very clean and so we did not eat much.
Since I did not want to have breakfast from such places, I decided to explore the area. I took my parents and aunt to our room, and started looking for hotels that offered breakfast in Google maps. There were mainly 3 hotels that I saw nearby that had a good rating and that opened by 10 AM. I personally walked to two of them and inquired about their breakfast plans. Both of them were just average. The third one was "Dasaprakash". It was about 2 kms from where I was standing. Since it was already 9 PM, I decided not to visit the place and inspect, but rather call them and inquire whether they opened early. They said they opened at 7 AM. So decided to go there the next day.
At 5 AM, we started our journey from our home to the Bangalore Airport in a taxi (Vinayaka Taxi). The driver drove us so fast that we reached the airport by 6 AM. What a great start!! We had a lot of time to spend at the airport before we checked in, with us. So we decided to have breakfast from Mayyas at the airport. We had a few plates of iddli. They were very good (even though a bit expensive). By 7 AM, we entered the airport and stood in the queue for getting the boarding pass. We got it in a few minutes. Only carry bags were allowed for the kind of tickets I had purchased (Lite Fare). So we made sure not to carry more than 7 kgs of carry bags, and had even weighed them before we started. At the counter, they did not check the weight of the carry bags which was a good thing, as I was more confident that they will not do it even while returning too.
|
| Father enjoying taking selfies |
We completed the security check and was in the flight by 8:15 AM. My aunt was flying for the first time, and we managed to get her a window seat. She was enjoying the view thoroughly. The flight took off and landed us at Delhi at the scheduled times. Bharath Kumar and our driver were waiting outside the airport when we came out. They gave us a very warm welcome, and started our journey to Vrindavan. The route we took is as below:
The traffic in Delhi was pathetic. It took us more than an hour to get to the highway. We had our lunch from Radha's at Jewar.
|
| Yamuna Expressway - Delhi to Vrindavan |
The food was good. We reached Vrindavan by 5 PM. We found the hotel where we had booked, "Divine calling", pretty easily.
|
| "Divine calling", Vrindavan. Every room has an induction cooker and a lot of vessels, Oven, Fridge ,washing machine, and much more!! |
Review about the hotel is available here.
That evening, we went to the ISCKON temple which was situated just next to the hotel. This neighborhood is the main reason I booked this hotel.
|
| ISKCON, Vrindavan |
Review about ISKCON, Vrindavan is here.
We got great laddus and sweets as prasad from ISKCON. We took part in the arathi there,and visited most of the places inside until we started getting hungry. I could not figure out if they served dinner there. So decided to go out and search. We had tough time finding a good restaurant, and finally we ended up eating from a road side dhaba. It was not very clean and so we did not eat much.
Since I did not want to have breakfast from such places, I decided to explore the area. I took my parents and aunt to our room, and started looking for hotels that offered breakfast in Google maps. There were mainly 3 hotels that I saw nearby that had a good rating and that opened by 10 AM. I personally walked to two of them and inquired about their breakfast plans. Both of them were just average. The third one was "Dasaprakash". It was about 2 kms from where I was standing. Since it was already 9 PM, I decided not to visit the place and inspect, but rather call them and inquire whether they opened early. They said they opened at 7 AM. So decided to go there the next day.
March 7th (Day 2)
We went to Dasprakash restaurant at about 8:15 AM. The hotel was nice! We had proper south Indian breakfast - Dosa and Idly. I could see the joy and satisfaction in the eyes of my parents and aunt.
Dasaprakash
Review about Dasaprakash here.
From there, we went searching for Rangji temple, which was supposed to be on the way to Mathura according to Google maps. But it was not to be located. The locals told us that a lot of people were misguided by Google. Great start! So then, we went to our destination #2 - The Birla temple which was close by.
Review about the temple here.
After that we went to Krishna Janma bhoomi. We took the assistance of a guide who said he will guide us through the temple and Gokul for a nominal fee (100/-).
Review about Sri Krishnabhoomi here.
Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi is a very protected place, and we are not supposed to take photos of this place. I would recommend anyone going that side to pay a visit to this wonderful place.
We bought a few nice items like idols and show case pieces from shops inside.
Then we drove to Gokul, crossing Yamuna. Gokul is the place Sri Krishna spent his first few years. Vasudevar had taken Sri Krishna on a basket the night he was born to this place to save him from being killed by Kamsa. It took us about 30 minutes of drive to reach Gokul. Vasudevar would have walked a lot to this place. There is something quite magical about this place.
Review about Gokul here.
I would NOT recommend you go to this place. Even if you go, please do not fall prey to the "poojaris" here. They are just emotional black mailers.
It was 1 PM by the time we finished visiting Gokul. We had our lunch from Indian Spices on the way back to Vrindavan. The food was good there.
After that we went to the Mathura Museum. But unfortunately it was closed as the guy taking care of the museum was on vacation!!
It was 3 PM by then and so we went to our final destination for the day - Dwarakadeesh temple. Its a very crowded area, and you will have to walk atleast a kilometer if you do not opt to take a cycle rickshaw from the car parking place. Both the sides have shops selling rudrakshas, Gopi chunks, dress, jewellery etc. We enjoyed the walk, and bought a few Gopi chunks and a few rudraksha garlands. We took the help of a guide from here too. He first took us to the banks of Yamuna and then to Vishram Ghat. We stood at the banks of Vishram Ghat. Vishram Ghat is the place where Krishna and Balaram took Vishram (rest) after killing the evil Kamsa. We took some water from Yamuna and drank. Its said that its holy to drink water from Yamuna. Yamuna river was quite clean here.
Boating is available here
Review about Vishram Ghat here.
We then went to Dwarakadeesh temple which is one of the most famous temples in Mathura.
Review about Dwarakadeesh temple here.
We took part in a aarathi, and it was an excellent experience. After aarathi, we walked back to our taxi. We reached back Vrindavan by 8 PM and had dinner from a nearby hotel. We had somehow missed this hotel yesterday. The food was very good here.
We went to Dasprakash restaurant at about 8:15 AM. The hotel was nice! We had proper south Indian breakfast - Dosa and Idly. I could see the joy and satisfaction in the eyes of my parents and aunt.
|
| Dasaprakash |
Review about Dasaprakash here.
From there, we went searching for Rangji temple, which was supposed to be on the way to Mathura according to Google maps. But it was not to be located. The locals told us that a lot of people were misguided by Google. Great start! So then, we went to our destination #2 - The Birla temple which was close by.
Review about the temple here.
After that we went to Krishna Janma bhoomi. We took the assistance of a guide who said he will guide us through the temple and Gokul for a nominal fee (100/-).
Review about Sri Krishnabhoomi here.
Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi is a very protected place, and we are not supposed to take photos of this place. I would recommend anyone going that side to pay a visit to this wonderful place.
We bought a few nice items like idols and show case pieces from shops inside.
Then we drove to Gokul, crossing Yamuna. Gokul is the place Sri Krishna spent his first few years. Vasudevar had taken Sri Krishna on a basket the night he was born to this place to save him from being killed by Kamsa. It took us about 30 minutes of drive to reach Gokul. Vasudevar would have walked a lot to this place. There is something quite magical about this place.
Review about Gokul here.
I would NOT recommend you go to this place. Even if you go, please do not fall prey to the "poojaris" here. They are just emotional black mailers.
It was 1 PM by the time we finished visiting Gokul. We had our lunch from Indian Spices on the way back to Vrindavan. The food was good there.
After that we went to the Mathura Museum. But unfortunately it was closed as the guy taking care of the museum was on vacation!!
It was 3 PM by then and so we went to our final destination for the day - Dwarakadeesh temple. Its a very crowded area, and you will have to walk atleast a kilometer if you do not opt to take a cycle rickshaw from the car parking place. Both the sides have shops selling rudrakshas, Gopi chunks, dress, jewellery etc. We enjoyed the walk, and bought a few Gopi chunks and a few rudraksha garlands. We took the help of a guide from here too. He first took us to the banks of Yamuna and then to Vishram Ghat. We stood at the banks of Vishram Ghat. Vishram Ghat is the place where Krishna and Balaram took Vishram (rest) after killing the evil Kamsa. We took some water from Yamuna and drank. Its said that its holy to drink water from Yamuna. Yamuna river was quite clean here.
|
| Boating is available here |
Review about Vishram Ghat here.
We then went to Dwarakadeesh temple which is one of the most famous temples in Mathura.
Review about Dwarakadeesh temple here.
We took part in a aarathi, and it was an excellent experience. After aarathi, we walked back to our taxi. We reached back Vrindavan by 8 PM and had dinner from a nearby hotel. We had somehow missed this hotel yesterday. The food was very good here.
March 8th (Day 3)
We had finished most of the places we had planned to visit in Mathura yesterday. Today we wanted to cover the places at Vrindavan. We started the day with a great breakfast from Dasaprakash. We then went to Prem Mandir which is just opposite to Dasaprakash.
Review about Prem Mandir here.
Its an amazing temple! Not a holy one, but an extravagant one! You might have to spend a couple of hours here.
There are lots of kids around who stick chandan on your face that read "Radhe Radhe" for a nominal charge. We all had it.
Radhe Radhe
Then we went to Madan Mohan temple which is about 3 kms from Prem Mandir.
The roads here are very narrow and dirty. So the taxi dropped us to a point from where it could not go and then it went to a small car parking area. We had to walk the remaining distance (about 300 meters). Extreme poverty could be seen everywhere around. Please keep in mind that there are lots of monkeys around, and they do attack you and guess what they want? Your spectacles!!! Even if you have fruits, they spare it, and just take away your specs! I thought this to be a myth and it happens to others only, but soon realized that its very common when my mother and me were pounded on by them as they tried to snatch our specs. Luckily, our specs decide to stay with us.
A ration shop near Madan Mohan temple
Street near Madan Mohan temple
A better view of the street around
Madan Mohan temple
People at Madan Mohan temple were kind of surprised at we being there. There was almost no one there. I dont know why people had rated this temple so great in tripadvisor.
Review about Madan Mohan temple here.
As mentioned earlier, the roads are very narrow here. And the only mode of transportation that works here to nearby places is either your leg, or a rickshaw. We decided to walk to the next point of interest, Radha Vallabh temple which is about 1 km from Madan Mohan temple.
Review about Radha Vallabh temple here.
Then we walked to Sevakunj. Again, the roads had a lot of shops on both the sides. I was carrying a water bottle and my specs in hand to hide it from the monkeys. But on the way my specs was snatched by a monkey, and I had no other option other than watch the monkey bite and break my specs. Within a minute one of the locals threw a couple of bananas towards it and it dropped the specs after accepting the bribe. The specs was not damaged much. At least I could manage with it until I got back to Bangalore. I wonder why these creatures are so fond of specs!
After Sevakunj, we went to Nidhivan. Both these places are gardens where Sri Krishna's and Radha devi's presence are felt by a lot of people. They believe that staying there after dark is not a good thing to do.
Seva Kunj. The guy with the stick was our guide here.
Nidhivan
Review about Sevakunk and Nidhivan here.
After a lot of walking, we were all so tired that if we were shown a place to lie down, in the middle of the road, we would. So decided to take a "Tuk Tuk" - an electric auto - to Rangji temple.
Tuk Tuk
Rangji temple from outside
Rangji temple from inside
The temple is magnificient, and is built in South Indian style. The priests are also South Indian. We got delicious curd rice as prasad from this temple.
Devotees waiting for Prasad - Curd Rice
Rangji temple pond
Review about Rangji temple here.
A monkey attacked my mother again inside this temple for her specs. By then my mother had gained enough experience to fight back and in the mother vs monkey fight, my super strong mother won (even with her half hand)!!! May be these monkeys are trained by some contact lens dealers here!
By then we were all completely exhausted. So we took a "tuk-tuk" back to the car parking area, and headed back to our room. By that time, I had a very bad headache. I had a light lunch and took a nap.
By 5 pm, we started towards Sri Gowardhan hills for parikramana. The Gowardhan hills are famous because Sri Krishna lifted this hill to protect people from heavy rains. There are lots of people who walk and take the parikramana. Since we did not have time and energy, we took in our taxi.
Gowardhan hill. You can see people doing parikrama with Sashtaanga namaskaar
Review about Gowardhan hills here.
By 6:30 PM we started back from the hill. We had noted a huge statue of a goddess on our way to Gowardhan hills. So on our way back we stopped there. It was the temple of Vaishnodevi.
Vaishnodevi temple, Vrindavan
Its a magnificent and highly protected temple and its worth a visit. Different forms of devi are sculptured here.
Review on Vaishnodevi temple here.
By 9 PM we were back at our room. Thus ends our stay at Vrindavan. We will be going to Haridwar tomorrow. Long drive. So we all had dinner and slept early.
We had finished most of the places we had planned to visit in Mathura yesterday. Today we wanted to cover the places at Vrindavan. We started the day with a great breakfast from Dasaprakash. We then went to Prem Mandir which is just opposite to Dasaprakash.
Review about Prem Mandir here.
Its an amazing temple! Not a holy one, but an extravagant one! You might have to spend a couple of hours here.
There are lots of kids around who stick chandan on your face that read "Radhe Radhe" for a nominal charge. We all had it.
|
| Radhe Radhe |
Then we went to Madan Mohan temple which is about 3 kms from Prem Mandir.
The roads here are very narrow and dirty. So the taxi dropped us to a point from where it could not go and then it went to a small car parking area. We had to walk the remaining distance (about 300 meters). Extreme poverty could be seen everywhere around. Please keep in mind that there are lots of monkeys around, and they do attack you and guess what they want? Your spectacles!!! Even if you have fruits, they spare it, and just take away your specs! I thought this to be a myth and it happens to others only, but soon realized that its very common when my mother and me were pounded on by them as they tried to snatch our specs. Luckily, our specs decide to stay with us.
|
| A ration shop near Madan Mohan temple |
|
| Street near Madan Mohan temple |
|
A better view of the street around
|
|
| Madan Mohan temple |
People at Madan Mohan temple were kind of surprised at we being there. There was almost no one there. I dont know why people had rated this temple so great in tripadvisor.
Review about Madan Mohan temple here.
As mentioned earlier, the roads are very narrow here. And the only mode of transportation that works here to nearby places is either your leg, or a rickshaw. We decided to walk to the next point of interest, Radha Vallabh temple which is about 1 km from Madan Mohan temple.
Review about Radha Vallabh temple here.
Then we walked to Sevakunj. Again, the roads had a lot of shops on both the sides. I was carrying a water bottle and my specs in hand to hide it from the monkeys. But on the way my specs was snatched by a monkey, and I had no other option other than watch the monkey bite and break my specs. Within a minute one of the locals threw a couple of bananas towards it and it dropped the specs after accepting the bribe. The specs was not damaged much. At least I could manage with it until I got back to Bangalore. I wonder why these creatures are so fond of specs!
After Sevakunj, we went to Nidhivan. Both these places are gardens where Sri Krishna's and Radha devi's presence are felt by a lot of people. They believe that staying there after dark is not a good thing to do.
|
| Seva Kunj. The guy with the stick was our guide here. |
|
| Nidhivan |
Review about Sevakunk and Nidhivan here.
After a lot of walking, we were all so tired that if we were shown a place to lie down, in the middle of the road, we would. So decided to take a "Tuk Tuk" - an electric auto - to Rangji temple.
|
| Tuk Tuk |
|
| Rangji temple from outside |
|
| Rangji temple from inside |
The temple is magnificient, and is built in South Indian style. The priests are also South Indian. We got delicious curd rice as prasad from this temple.
|
| Devotees waiting for Prasad - Curd Rice |
|
| Rangji temple pond |
Review about Rangji temple here.
A monkey attacked my mother again inside this temple for her specs. By then my mother had gained enough experience to fight back and in the mother vs monkey fight, my super strong mother won (even with her half hand)!!! May be these monkeys are trained by some contact lens dealers here!
By then we were all completely exhausted. So we took a "tuk-tuk" back to the car parking area, and headed back to our room. By that time, I had a very bad headache. I had a light lunch and took a nap.
By 5 pm, we started towards Sri Gowardhan hills for parikramana. The Gowardhan hills are famous because Sri Krishna lifted this hill to protect people from heavy rains. There are lots of people who walk and take the parikramana. Since we did not have time and energy, we took in our taxi.
|
| Gowardhan hill. You can see people doing parikrama with Sashtaanga namaskaar |
Review about Gowardhan hills here.
By 6:30 PM we started back from the hill. We had noted a huge statue of a goddess on our way to Gowardhan hills. So on our way back we stopped there. It was the temple of Vaishnodevi.
|
| Vaishnodevi temple, Vrindavan |
Its a magnificent and highly protected temple and its worth a visit. Different forms of devi are sculptured here.
Review on Vaishnodevi temple here.
By 9 PM we were back at our room. Thus ends our stay at Vrindavan. We will be going to Haridwar tomorrow. Long drive. So we all had dinner and slept early.
March 9 (Day 4)
We started to Haridwar by about 9 AM after having breakfast from Dasaprakash. It was a long journey. Google suggested that we take the following route.
We heavily relied upon Google maps. Our driver was impressed by the accuracy that the maps was giving. He said even though he had seen this, he has not used it much. He told us that he will use it from now. I taught him how to do basic navigation with Google maps.
The moment we entered Uttarakhand, the hotels were much more clean. One of my colleagues, who hails from Delhi, had recommended that we go to one of the "Jain Shikhanji". Jain Shikhanjis are a type of restaurants which are very popular... so popular that every one names their restaurants "Original Jain Shikhanji", "True Jain Shikhanji" "Original ka Original Jai Shikhanji" etc. We saw a lot of Shikanjis on our way, and decide to go to the one which had the best rating in Google. We went to "Agarwal Raja Shikanji" near Meerut for lunch. The food was very good. We continued the journey after lunch, mostly along the 6 lane road with agricultural lands on both the sides. Major cultivations were wheat, potato and sugar cane... acres and acres of agricultural land. We saw a lot of farmers taking harvest. This is something we do not see in Kerala as its highly populated. We might be getting our potatoes mostly from these fields, probably.
This is what we see both sides of Yamuna Expressway most of the time. You can see farmers harvesting potato.
Leaving Noida towards Haridwar
On our way, we stopped to have some tea as Dipu was feeling sleepy. I have been seeing this weird plant close to almost all the fields we were crossing. I was almost sure that it was the Ganja (weed/Marijuana) plant. The place we had stopped also had a wheat field nearby, and sure enough, this plant was there too. I took a close look at the plant and made sure that it was indeed Ganja by checking images of its leaves. There were so many of them! Wondering how the police was letting them grow them so publicly. If it was in Kerala, the field owner would have been behind the bars in no time.
Wheat fields with Ganja plants
The expert confirming its indeed weed.
We reached Haridwar by 5 PM (just as Google maps had predicted). The hotel, Hotel Urmi is on the way from Haridwar and Rishikesh. So, we had to cross the magnificent Har Ki Pauri to reach the hotel. Even after such a tiring journey, it was so refreshing to see the Ganges with all its might flowing.
Review about Urmi here.
The receptionist at Urmi told us that we could see the Ganga Arathi today if we started immediately. So we quickly went to our room, took a couple of towels, extra pair of clothes and rushed out. Dipu had been driving us for the last 10 hours or so. So I was not very comfortable asking him to drive us again. So I asked him if he was ok taking us to Har Ki Pauri. He asked what was there. When we said we were going to take bath in the Ganga, he was so excited, and he said he will also come along. We reached Har Ki Pauri by 5:40 PM. We were not sure where the arathi was happening. The banks were very long and crowded. People were floating leaf plates with flowers, incense sticks and lamps as a means of worshiping Mother Ganga. We decided to take a bath there. The banks have a full length metal chains which should be held to when taking bath. All of us had a bath there. I first took a bath Holding my mother's hand (The son is supposed to bath with his parents at Ganga). The water was ice cold. My father helped his sister (my aunt) to take the bath, and then finally I took one more bath holding my father's hand. Its said that its one of the many primary responsibility of a son is to take his parents to such holy places. Not sure of the authenticity of that, but I am sure my parents loved to be here! They were enjoying the time, and that was what was more important for me. Its said that its holy to "Gagna snan and Yamuna Pan" (bath at Ganga and drink Yamuna water). We all did both. Seat reserved in heaven for all of us! Yaay!!
Dipu also bathed with us. He was very happy to be with us, and even we treated him like a family member.
The banks had small metal casings where women can change their clothes.
What a bath we had at Ganga.. Heavenly!
After the bath, there were a lot of vendors who came to us offering a glass of milk. We did not know what it was for. I thought it was for us to drink. But later when I searched the internet for the reason, I found that we were supposed to pour it to Ganga. How stupid of me! I should have asked the vendors what the milk was for! I was just scared that I would be forced to buy it if I asked the vendors something. After the bath we walked along the banks. The nice breeze was so refreshing especially after the ice cold water bath, even though I was a bit scared if I would catch cold. We saw arathi happening at a distance. We stretched ourselves to get a good view of it, since I was sure we will not be able to go there before the arathi ended. The sun started setting and the environment was very nice. We then waked along the banks for some time, and we saw a few temples on the shore having their own arathis. Being a part of the arathis here is a thing that is not to be missed. It grew dark soon, and we decided to return to our room. I could feel some amazing energy and pleasantness here. I really did not feel this anywhere in Vrindavan or Mathura. May be its the closeness to nature with a magnificent river, and that too at the point where it touches the earth. Ganga is said to flow from heaven and touch the earth at Haridwar - I guess what it basically means is that human beings might have found it difficult to go to Kailas, and thus Haridwar became point where normal people could see and feel Ganga for the first time after its origin in the Himalayas. Any ways, Ganga was very very clean here.. unlike the old memories of Ganga I had when I saw it for the first time at Varanasi about 30 years ago.
Ganga at Haridwar - close to Har Ki Pauri
By 8 PM, we started back to our room, and on our way back, stopped for dinner at Chottiwala.
Review on Chotiwala restaurant here.
We went back to the hotel and had a good sleep. Since we were not as tired as we thought we would be, we decided to go to Rishikesh the next day.
We started to Haridwar by about 9 AM after having breakfast from Dasaprakash. It was a long journey. Google suggested that we take the following route.
We heavily relied upon Google maps. Our driver was impressed by the accuracy that the maps was giving. He said even though he had seen this, he has not used it much. He told us that he will use it from now. I taught him how to do basic navigation with Google maps.
The moment we entered Uttarakhand, the hotels were much more clean. One of my colleagues, who hails from Delhi, had recommended that we go to one of the "Jain Shikhanji". Jain Shikhanjis are a type of restaurants which are very popular... so popular that every one names their restaurants "Original Jain Shikhanji", "True Jain Shikhanji" "Original ka Original Jai Shikhanji" etc. We saw a lot of Shikanjis on our way, and decide to go to the one which had the best rating in Google. We went to "Agarwal Raja Shikanji" near Meerut for lunch. The food was very good. We continued the journey after lunch, mostly along the 6 lane road with agricultural lands on both the sides. Major cultivations were wheat, potato and sugar cane... acres and acres of agricultural land. We saw a lot of farmers taking harvest. This is something we do not see in Kerala as its highly populated. We might be getting our potatoes mostly from these fields, probably.
|
| This is what we see both sides of Yamuna Expressway most of the time. You can see farmers harvesting potato. |
|
| Leaving Noida towards Haridwar |
|
| Wheat fields with Ganja plants |
|
| The expert confirming its indeed weed. |
We reached Haridwar by 5 PM (just as Google maps had predicted). The hotel, Hotel Urmi is on the way from Haridwar and Rishikesh. So, we had to cross the magnificent Har Ki Pauri to reach the hotel. Even after such a tiring journey, it was so refreshing to see the Ganges with all its might flowing.
Review about Urmi here.
The receptionist at Urmi told us that we could see the Ganga Arathi today if we started immediately. So we quickly went to our room, took a couple of towels, extra pair of clothes and rushed out. Dipu had been driving us for the last 10 hours or so. So I was not very comfortable asking him to drive us again. So I asked him if he was ok taking us to Har Ki Pauri. He asked what was there. When we said we were going to take bath in the Ganga, he was so excited, and he said he will also come along. We reached Har Ki Pauri by 5:40 PM. We were not sure where the arathi was happening. The banks were very long and crowded. People were floating leaf plates with flowers, incense sticks and lamps as a means of worshiping Mother Ganga. We decided to take a bath there. The banks have a full length metal chains which should be held to when taking bath. All of us had a bath there. I first took a bath Holding my mother's hand (The son is supposed to bath with his parents at Ganga). The water was ice cold. My father helped his sister (my aunt) to take the bath, and then finally I took one more bath holding my father's hand. Its said that its one of the many primary responsibility of a son is to take his parents to such holy places. Not sure of the authenticity of that, but I am sure my parents loved to be here! They were enjoying the time, and that was what was more important for me. Its said that its holy to "Gagna snan and Yamuna Pan" (bath at Ganga and drink Yamuna water). We all did both. Seat reserved in heaven for all of us! Yaay!!
Dipu also bathed with us. He was very happy to be with us, and even we treated him like a family member.
The banks had small metal casings where women can change their clothes.
|
| What a bath we had at Ganga.. Heavenly! |
After the bath, there were a lot of vendors who came to us offering a glass of milk. We did not know what it was for. I thought it was for us to drink. But later when I searched the internet for the reason, I found that we were supposed to pour it to Ganga. How stupid of me! I should have asked the vendors what the milk was for! I was just scared that I would be forced to buy it if I asked the vendors something. After the bath we walked along the banks. The nice breeze was so refreshing especially after the ice cold water bath, even though I was a bit scared if I would catch cold. We saw arathi happening at a distance. We stretched ourselves to get a good view of it, since I was sure we will not be able to go there before the arathi ended. The sun started setting and the environment was very nice. We then waked along the banks for some time, and we saw a few temples on the shore having their own arathis. Being a part of the arathis here is a thing that is not to be missed. It grew dark soon, and we decided to return to our room. I could feel some amazing energy and pleasantness here. I really did not feel this anywhere in Vrindavan or Mathura. May be its the closeness to nature with a magnificent river, and that too at the point where it touches the earth. Ganga is said to flow from heaven and touch the earth at Haridwar - I guess what it basically means is that human beings might have found it difficult to go to Kailas, and thus Haridwar became point where normal people could see and feel Ganga for the first time after its origin in the Himalayas. Any ways, Ganga was very very clean here.. unlike the old memories of Ganga I had when I saw it for the first time at Varanasi about 30 years ago.
|
| Ganga at Haridwar - close to Har Ki Pauri |
By 8 PM, we started back to our room, and on our way back, stopped for dinner at Chottiwala.
Review on Chotiwala restaurant here.
We went back to the hotel and had a good sleep. Since we were not as tired as we thought we would be, we decided to go to Rishikesh the next day.
March 10 (Day 5)
Yesterday itself we had inquired about the complementary breakfast that we had opted for when booking the rooms. They told me that the breakfast would be ready by 8 AM, and the spread would have idly, paratha, poha and bread. We went to the restaurant by 8:15 AM. The breakfast was very good.
Breakfast at Hotel Urmi
By 9 AM, we started towards Rishikesh. Rishikesh is about 20 kms from the place where we were staying. A lot of roads that lead us to interesting places like Dehradun, Badarinath, Kedarnath etc were seen on the way. The landscape here is so nice that its scenic everywhere. At Rishikesh, we parked our car at a parking ground. A guide there approached us and offered to guide us the entire Rishikesh for 100/-. He first took us to a Shiva temple which had a Shivalinga which is about 12 feet tall.
Then we went to Adi Badari temple. People who could not go to Badarinath, could go to this temple. Its a Vishnu temple with sculptures of all the avatar's of Mahavishnu. We then went to a Lakshmana temple nearby. We saw a Rudraksha tree there.
Rudraksha tree
The particularity of this temple is that Lakshman had done meditation here (and Sri Rama at Devaprayag) as a part of their prayashchitta as they had to kill Ravana and Indrajith who were brahmins by birth. We then crossed Lakshman Jhula. Lakshman created a bridge for him and Sri Rama to cross the river. Later locals used tree trunks and ropes to cross Ganga, which usually ended up in tragedies. By seeing these frequent tragedies, a rich businessman from Kolkata got the Britishers build a metal bridge across the river in the early 1900s. Its a crowded bridge which can be used by bikers and by people on foot.
Review of Lakshman Jhula here.
View from Lakshman Jhula. Behind is the bank where we had a bath and a great time.
Built to last - in 1928
Lakshman Jhula - side view
The guide showed us a couple of multi storied shopping complexes on the other side of Ganga, which we did not go to. There was boat rides available here too (500/- per person for an hour or so).
Boat rides
We then crossed back and went to a Khadi Bhandar shop. The shopkeeper showed us a "Eka Mukhi rudraksha seed" among a lot of other interesting and rare items. We bought a navarathna maala (1500/-) and a few Rudrakhsha maalas (400/- each) from here. He also taught us some tips like how a fake rudraksha can be identified by putting it in water. If it floats up, its a fake made by wood. He also had a good collection of crystals. He told that the way to identify a crystal is to rub it with another one, and if its real, sparks will come. He showed us the sparks too.
Raw Crystal
We then went to the main Lakshman temple. Not that great. Now we had a few more hours left and the only place we had to cover was Ramjhula and then take part in Ganga Arathi at Rishikesh. So we decided to go to the banks of Ganga and sit. We had to go down steep to a bank which we had spotted from Lakshman Jhula.
The bank where we went (Across the river)
It was not surprising that I finally ended up in the water. The water was very very cold. There were a lot of smooth stones. Its said that stones here can be considered as Shivalingas. We collected a few. Soon I ended up taking a few dips.
Auto-dry after a bath in 5 minutes!
We did not have to use a towel to dry ourselves, as the wind did it for us in a matter of a few minutes. After spending more than an hour here, we went back to have lunch. We had lunch at Ganga Jamna restaurant. Its a good restaurant.
Review of Ganga Jamna restaurant here.
After lunch we went to Ram Jhula. We crossed Ram Jhula.
Ram Jhula
Ram Jhula is as crowded as Lakshman Jhula. River Ganga was flowing gently with crystal clear water. We could see the fishes swimming around, even though we were about 50 - 70 feet high.
Once we crossed Ram Jhula, we visited Swargashram which was constructed by Kambiliwala as a service to all the devotees travelling. Free food is given to everyone who comes here.
Then we went to Gita Bhavan. Gita Bhavan has rooms for staying. Gita Bhavan has amazing pictures about the life of Sri Krishna and Sri Rama. They also have an amazing collection of books which we can buy. Dont miss this place if you ever visit Rishikesh.
One of the thousands of pictures displayed at Gita Bhavan
We then reached Triveni Ghat, where the Arathi was done . The place itself had a great feeling. The crowd here was not that huge as in Haridwar. There was a huge tent that was created which could seat about 200 - 300 people on the banks of Ganga. Seating arrangements were made inside it. The arathi could be watched from here.
Preparations for arathi
There were already about 200 people, and we managed to sit in the front row itself. While we waited for the arathi, I took rounds of the place, and took a few closeups of the lamp with which the arathi would be done. 18 tables were set on which the priests will stand and do the arathi. It had several layers of wicks and was magnificent. As the sun set, the priests stood on the table and started dancing according to the live music that was played from the tent. The arathi went on for about 30 minutes.
Even the visitors got a chance to do the arathi by a lamp that was passed on to us. Luckily I got a chance to do the same, and later I got one for my parents too. After the arathi, the priests distributed the prasad - flowers and sugar balls. The music went on for another hour or so and there were people (even foreigners) dancing to the tunes, thoroughly enjoying every minute of the song.
After the arathi, we went back to our hotel after a dinner from "Chottiwala". By now we covered most of the places we wanted without much ailments for any of us.
Yesterday itself we had inquired about the complementary breakfast that we had opted for when booking the rooms. They told me that the breakfast would be ready by 8 AM, and the spread would have idly, paratha, poha and bread. We went to the restaurant by 8:15 AM. The breakfast was very good.
|
| Breakfast at Hotel Urmi |
By 9 AM, we started towards Rishikesh. Rishikesh is about 20 kms from the place where we were staying. A lot of roads that lead us to interesting places like Dehradun, Badarinath, Kedarnath etc were seen on the way. The landscape here is so nice that its scenic everywhere. At Rishikesh, we parked our car at a parking ground. A guide there approached us and offered to guide us the entire Rishikesh for 100/-. He first took us to a Shiva temple which had a Shivalinga which is about 12 feet tall.
Then we went to Adi Badari temple. People who could not go to Badarinath, could go to this temple. Its a Vishnu temple with sculptures of all the avatar's of Mahavishnu. We then went to a Lakshmana temple nearby. We saw a Rudraksha tree there.
|
| Rudraksha tree |
The particularity of this temple is that Lakshman had done meditation here (and Sri Rama at Devaprayag) as a part of their prayashchitta as they had to kill Ravana and Indrajith who were brahmins by birth. We then crossed Lakshman Jhula. Lakshman created a bridge for him and Sri Rama to cross the river. Later locals used tree trunks and ropes to cross Ganga, which usually ended up in tragedies. By seeing these frequent tragedies, a rich businessman from Kolkata got the Britishers build a metal bridge across the river in the early 1900s. Its a crowded bridge which can be used by bikers and by people on foot.
Review of Lakshman Jhula here.
Review of Lakshman Jhula here.
|
| View from Lakshman Jhula. Behind is the bank where we had a bath and a great time. |
|
| Built to last - in 1928 |
|
| Lakshman Jhula - side view |
The guide showed us a couple of multi storied shopping complexes on the other side of Ganga, which we did not go to. There was boat rides available here too (500/- per person for an hour or so).
|
| Boat rides |
We then crossed back and went to a Khadi Bhandar shop. The shopkeeper showed us a "Eka Mukhi rudraksha seed" among a lot of other interesting and rare items. We bought a navarathna maala (1500/-) and a few Rudrakhsha maalas (400/- each) from here. He also taught us some tips like how a fake rudraksha can be identified by putting it in water. If it floats up, its a fake made by wood. He also had a good collection of crystals. He told that the way to identify a crystal is to rub it with another one, and if its real, sparks will come. He showed us the sparks too.
|
| Raw Crystal |
We then went to the main Lakshman temple. Not that great. Now we had a few more hours left and the only place we had to cover was Ramjhula and then take part in Ganga Arathi at Rishikesh. So we decided to go to the banks of Ganga and sit. We had to go down steep to a bank which we had spotted from Lakshman Jhula.
|
| The bank where we went (Across the river) |
It was not surprising that I finally ended up in the water. The water was very very cold. There were a lot of smooth stones. Its said that stones here can be considered as Shivalingas. We collected a few. Soon I ended up taking a few dips.
|
| Auto-dry after a bath in 5 minutes! |
We did not have to use a towel to dry ourselves, as the wind did it for us in a matter of a few minutes. After spending more than an hour here, we went back to have lunch. We had lunch at Ganga Jamna restaurant. Its a good restaurant.
Review of Ganga Jamna restaurant here.
After lunch we went to Ram Jhula. We crossed Ram Jhula.
Review of Ganga Jamna restaurant here.
After lunch we went to Ram Jhula. We crossed Ram Jhula.
|
| Ram Jhula |
Ram Jhula is as crowded as Lakshman Jhula. River Ganga was flowing gently with crystal clear water. We could see the fishes swimming around, even though we were about 50 - 70 feet high.
Once we crossed Ram Jhula, we visited Swargashram which was constructed by Kambiliwala as a service to all the devotees travelling. Free food is given to everyone who comes here.
Then we went to Gita Bhavan. Gita Bhavan has rooms for staying. Gita Bhavan has amazing pictures about the life of Sri Krishna and Sri Rama. They also have an amazing collection of books which we can buy. Dont miss this place if you ever visit Rishikesh.
|
| One of the thousands of pictures displayed at Gita Bhavan |
We then reached Triveni Ghat, where the Arathi was done . The place itself had a great feeling. The crowd here was not that huge as in Haridwar. There was a huge tent that was created which could seat about 200 - 300 people on the banks of Ganga. Seating arrangements were made inside it. The arathi could be watched from here.
|
| Preparations for arathi |
There were already about 200 people, and we managed to sit in the front row itself. While we waited for the arathi, I took rounds of the place, and took a few closeups of the lamp with which the arathi would be done. 18 tables were set on which the priests will stand and do the arathi. It had several layers of wicks and was magnificent. As the sun set, the priests stood on the table and started dancing according to the live music that was played from the tent. The arathi went on for about 30 minutes.
Even the visitors got a chance to do the arathi by a lamp that was passed on to us. Luckily I got a chance to do the same, and later I got one for my parents too. After the arathi, the priests distributed the prasad - flowers and sugar balls. The music went on for another hour or so and there were people (even foreigners) dancing to the tunes, thoroughly enjoying every minute of the song.
After the arathi, we went back to our hotel after a dinner from "Chottiwala". By now we covered most of the places we wanted without much ailments for any of us.
March 11 (Day 6)
The only place that we needed to cover now is Haridwar. God has been so graceful that none of us had any ailments of any sort until now. After breakfast at the hotel Urmi, we first went to "Saptarshi Ashram", a place that was walkable from our hotel. It was just 15 minutes walk (thanks to Google maps), and we were at this peaceful ashram. A lot of mango trees filled the compound. We saw a lot of very simple, but clean "ashrams" where people could stay. There are a few temples also dedicated to the seven saints (Sapta Rishis). I talked to a couple of cleaners there, and they were all so contented with life. They even refused to accept money from us when given. We also saw a place where free food was given to whoever came there.
Free food to visitors
Review about Saptarshi Ashram here.
Next we went to Shanti Kunj. On the way, we bought a few items like packaged Ganga Jal, a few show pieces. We enquired about the "weeds" we have been seeing all along. The shop keeper said that its very common, and is considered just like grass. Anyone who wants can pluck a few leaves, grind it and "have" it for a kick. That was an enlightenment. Need to try it one day!
Shanti Kunj was started by a person named Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya, who did not have any formal education, but got enlightened and has authored a lot of books. He is supposed to be the fourth birth of Kabirdas. Visitors need to take a pass before they can enter the campus, and they will have to show an ID card to get the pass. We were wandering inside the campus when we were welcomed into the "South India block". We were given a warm welcome, and a volunteer named Sheshadri Aravind (aged about 80) escorted us, and showed us all the places around - the library, the ever lit lamp. This is a place where a lot of courses on Indian culture is conducted. The main mantra is Gayatri Mantra. Facilities are given for students to stay and learn. Quite an inspiring place to be in. Soon we found that the volunteer was a professor from Andhra, and was teaching at California University at USA who got so inspired by this place that he decided to stay on. We had free lunch from there. We have to take steel plates kept, eat the food and keep it back after washing them. Even though we had plans to spend half an hour here, we ended up spending about 3 hours here. Our minute-wise planning got a bit distorted now!
Shanti Kunj gate. Visitors need to take a pass before entering.
Annadan hall
Samadhi sthal
Having lunch
Mr Sheshadri Aravind, the great personality who took us around and explained things with so much of patience.
Review about Shanti Kunj here.
We then took an auto to hotel Urmi. We took rest for half an hour. Next we were to visit Manasa Devi temple and Chandi devi temples. We first went to Chandi Devi temple and took ropeway tickets to both the temples (270/- per head). The temple was beautiful and was at a height of about 1000 ft.
Review about Chandi devi temple here.
Since we had to reach Har Ki Pauri for the arathi, we hurried to Manasa devi temple which was on the other side of Ganga and took the ropeway to the temple. Manasa devi temple was quite crowded.
Couldn't resist checking the technical data.. Its in my blood!
In the queue waiting for the ropeway
We have to meet both the mothers
Review about Manasa devi temple here.
We soon finished the darshan and hurried to Har Ki Pauri. The place was filled with lots and lots of people. Somehow we managed to find a place to stand. In a few minutes the arathi began. The arathi was magnificent. It was not as peaceful as the one in Rishikesh (which I enjoyed more than this over crowded one). The arathi at Rishikesh was more of a dance style, but here it was just arathi, I felt, and its for a lesser time here.
Arathi at Har Ki Pauri
Review about arathi at Har Ki Pauri here.
We did a small pooja for all our forefathers for their peace. The priests there would not spare you if you just look at them. They would call us and start chanting some kind of versus and charge you money. The more you stay near them, the bigger the charge gets.
After the pooja for our forefathers
Caught! :)
By 8 PM, we started back to our hotel. We bought a can, and filled it with Ganga jal. We had the dinner from another hotel named Anna Jal near Chottiwala. The dinner was good. We had a nice sleep afterwards.
Haridwar and especially Rishikesh has left a wonderful impression within me. I would like to come back here and spend a few more peaceful days here.
The only place that we needed to cover now is Haridwar. God has been so graceful that none of us had any ailments of any sort until now. After breakfast at the hotel Urmi, we first went to "Saptarshi Ashram", a place that was walkable from our hotel. It was just 15 minutes walk (thanks to Google maps), and we were at this peaceful ashram. A lot of mango trees filled the compound. We saw a lot of very simple, but clean "ashrams" where people could stay. There are a few temples also dedicated to the seven saints (Sapta Rishis). I talked to a couple of cleaners there, and they were all so contented with life. They even refused to accept money from us when given. We also saw a place where free food was given to whoever came there.
|
| Free food to visitors |
Review about Saptarshi Ashram here.
Next we went to Shanti Kunj. On the way, we bought a few items like packaged Ganga Jal, a few show pieces. We enquired about the "weeds" we have been seeing all along. The shop keeper said that its very common, and is considered just like grass. Anyone who wants can pluck a few leaves, grind it and "have" it for a kick. That was an enlightenment. Need to try it one day!
Shanti Kunj was started by a person named Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya, who did not have any formal education, but got enlightened and has authored a lot of books. He is supposed to be the fourth birth of Kabirdas. Visitors need to take a pass before they can enter the campus, and they will have to show an ID card to get the pass. We were wandering inside the campus when we were welcomed into the "South India block". We were given a warm welcome, and a volunteer named Sheshadri Aravind (aged about 80) escorted us, and showed us all the places around - the library, the ever lit lamp. This is a place where a lot of courses on Indian culture is conducted. The main mantra is Gayatri Mantra. Facilities are given for students to stay and learn. Quite an inspiring place to be in. Soon we found that the volunteer was a professor from Andhra, and was teaching at California University at USA who got so inspired by this place that he decided to stay on. We had free lunch from there. We have to take steel plates kept, eat the food and keep it back after washing them. Even though we had plans to spend half an hour here, we ended up spending about 3 hours here. Our minute-wise planning got a bit distorted now!
|
| Shanti Kunj gate. Visitors need to take a pass before entering. |
|
| Annadan hall |
|
| Samadhi sthal |
|
| Having lunch |
|
| Mr Sheshadri Aravind, the great personality who took us around and explained things with so much of patience. |
Review about Shanti Kunj here.
We then took an auto to hotel Urmi. We took rest for half an hour. Next we were to visit Manasa Devi temple and Chandi devi temples. We first went to Chandi Devi temple and took ropeway tickets to both the temples (270/- per head). The temple was beautiful and was at a height of about 1000 ft.
Review about Chandi devi temple here.
Since we had to reach Har Ki Pauri for the arathi, we hurried to Manasa devi temple which was on the other side of Ganga and took the ropeway to the temple. Manasa devi temple was quite crowded.
|
| Couldn't resist checking the technical data.. Its in my blood! |
|
| In the queue waiting for the ropeway |
|
| We have to meet both the mothers |
Review about Manasa devi temple here.
We soon finished the darshan and hurried to Har Ki Pauri. The place was filled with lots and lots of people. Somehow we managed to find a place to stand. In a few minutes the arathi began. The arathi was magnificent. It was not as peaceful as the one in Rishikesh (which I enjoyed more than this over crowded one). The arathi at Rishikesh was more of a dance style, but here it was just arathi, I felt, and its for a lesser time here.
|
| Arathi at Har Ki Pauri |
Review about arathi at Har Ki Pauri here.
We did a small pooja for all our forefathers for their peace. The priests there would not spare you if you just look at them. They would call us and start chanting some kind of versus and charge you money. The more you stay near them, the bigger the charge gets.
| ||
After the pooja for our forefathers
|
By 8 PM, we started back to our hotel. We bought a can, and filled it with Ganga jal. We had the dinner from another hotel named Anna Jal near Chottiwala. The dinner was good. We had a nice sleep afterwards.
Haridwar and especially Rishikesh has left a wonderful impression within me. I would like to come back here and spend a few more peaceful days here.
March 12 (Day 7)
Today we are going back to Delhi. We started at about 8 AM. There were a couple of temples we missed to visit in Haridwar like Sri Mayadevi temple, Vaishno devi temple and Daksh prajapathi temple (mostly because of the over time at Shanti Kunj).
At Vivekanda Park, Haridwar - Photo by the selfie-freak, papaji!
Since Daksh Prajapathi temple was on the way, we decided to stop and visit the temple. We reached the temple by about 9 AM. The temple is beautiful, and has interesting spots like the place where Sri Parvathi was born, Sati Kund and a lot more.
Dakshaprajapathi temple entrance
Dakshaprajapathi temple
Sati Kund
Birth place of Parvathi devi
Ganga devi at Dakshaprajapathi temple
We can do pooja here on the shivalinga
Review about Daksha Prajapathi temple here.
We then started towards Delhi. It was the same route we took earlier. On the way we had lunch from a Jain Shikanji. We were, by then, very tired. We reached Delhi by 5 PM. It took us some time to find the hotel. We bid farewell to Dipu. He was an excellent driver, and he also liked us.
Dipu, our driver
Delhi is very crowded, and the place where we were staying - Pahad Kunj was not that different. We were staying at Hotel Prince Palace.
Review about Prince Palace here.
We were staying close to Ramakrishna Ashram, and had a Metro station nearby. Even though we were very tired by then, we thought of going to Red Fort. The hotel receptionist advised us to take the metro to Red Fort. We reached there by 6:10 PM, but by then it was closed.
Red Fort
So we roamed around at Chandni Chowk. We went to the bird hospital, and sat there for some time.
Since we were hungry (at least I was) we searched for a hotel, and found Haldirams a km away. We went there, but it was too crowded, and too costly.. one plain dosa was about 150/-. So we went to another hotel nearby called Rambhoj. The hotel was good. I soon found that the hotels here do not offer any beverages. Strange. On the way I saw a lot of street vendors selling drinking water for 2/- per glass. A very good thing.
We then took a metro back to our hotel. The people in the Metro were kind that they gave seat to my elderly parents and aunt. I think the character of giving seats to elders is deeply rooted in all of them. By 9 PM, we reached our hotel. Since we had enough food from Rambhoj, we slept off.
Today we are going back to Delhi. We started at about 8 AM. There were a couple of temples we missed to visit in Haridwar like Sri Mayadevi temple, Vaishno devi temple and Daksh prajapathi temple (mostly because of the over time at Shanti Kunj).
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| At Vivekanda Park, Haridwar - Photo by the selfie-freak, papaji! |
Since Daksh Prajapathi temple was on the way, we decided to stop and visit the temple. We reached the temple by about 9 AM. The temple is beautiful, and has interesting spots like the place where Sri Parvathi was born, Sati Kund and a lot more.
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| Dakshaprajapathi temple entrance |
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| Dakshaprajapathi temple |
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| Sati Kund |
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| Birth place of Parvathi devi |
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| Ganga devi at Dakshaprajapathi temple |
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| We can do pooja here on the shivalinga |
Review about Daksha Prajapathi temple here.
We then started towards Delhi. It was the same route we took earlier. On the way we had lunch from a Jain Shikanji. We were, by then, very tired. We reached Delhi by 5 PM. It took us some time to find the hotel. We bid farewell to Dipu. He was an excellent driver, and he also liked us.
Delhi is very crowded, and the place where we were staying - Pahad Kunj was not that different. We were staying at Hotel Prince Palace.
 |
| Dipu, our driver |
Review about Prince Palace here.
We were staying close to Ramakrishna Ashram, and had a Metro station nearby. Even though we were very tired by then, we thought of going to Red Fort. The hotel receptionist advised us to take the metro to Red Fort. We reached there by 6:10 PM, but by then it was closed.
|
| Red Fort |
So we roamed around at Chandni Chowk. We went to the bird hospital, and sat there for some time.
Since we were hungry (at least I was) we searched for a hotel, and found Haldirams a km away. We went there, but it was too crowded, and too costly.. one plain dosa was about 150/-. So we went to another hotel nearby called Rambhoj. The hotel was good. I soon found that the hotels here do not offer any beverages. Strange. On the way I saw a lot of street vendors selling drinking water for 2/- per glass. A very good thing.
We then took a metro back to our hotel. The people in the Metro were kind that they gave seat to my elderly parents and aunt. I think the character of giving seats to elders is deeply rooted in all of them. By 9 PM, we reached our hotel. Since we had enough food from Rambhoj, we slept off.
March 13 (Day 8)
The last day of our tour. We woke up at about 7 AM, and wondered what to do next. I had a feeling that we might be tired and would not want to go anywhere, and so I did not plan anything at Delhi. As expected, none of us had any mood to do any sight seeing today. We searched for nearby vegetarian restaurants for breakfast, and was shocked that there were none. Most of the restaurants were not open even at 8 AM. and this is in the middle of Pahad Kunj - where maximum hotels are present. We finally found one restaurant - Sita Ram Divan Chand - about 700 meters from our place, and we decided to go there (what other choices did we have!). Now, at that restaurant, the only item available through out the day is Chole Batture. All of us were quite disappointed.
Review on Sita Ram Divan Chand here.
So we bought 2 plates of Chole Batture and shared among ourselves. Another interesting thing is that they dont serve any beverages - no coffee, no tea, no milk. We saw people having coke with Chole Batture. What a healthy combination! We saw a street vendor selling tea, and we took the permission of the restaurant guy for having tea here. The breakfast was kind of pathetic, more because we were not used to eating such oily stuff for breakfast.
It was 9:30 AM, and still the city was sleeping! No crowd on roads. So we went back to our room. The sight seeing places in Delhi would take about 4 hours to visit and come back. We had to leave to the airport by 1:30 PM so that we can catch the flight at 6:30 PM. So we decided to go to the Ramakrishna Ashram nearby. As we were walking, me in the front leading the crowd, my father just behind me, then my mother and then finally my aunt, one guy on a bike snatched my mothers gold chain. But since the chain was quite thick, he could not snatch it out of her neck. But the chain was broken, and we recovered some of the pieces of the chain from the road. The people around were indifferent to this - which means that this was a common thing there. And one person blamed my mother and asked her why she did not walk around with her sari covering her. What a city! This is the worst city I have ever been. We any ways went to the ashram and spent about 30 minutes there. Since none of us had the mood to go for any more sight seeing (all of us were scared), we decided to go for lunch. We found a restaurant named "Madras restaurant" nearby. But when we reached the place, the place was dirty, and the hotel was nothing better than the worst hotel in Bangalore. So we decided to search for another restaurant. Soon we found another one named Darbar which had a much better review. We had lunch from here.
Review about Darbar restaurant here.
After lunch we went to Cannaught Place. There was some "Bandh" going on in the city because of which a lot of shops were closed here. We then went to Palika Bazar which is an underground market at Cannaught Place. The shops were open here. Nothing too different from the streets of Bangalore. We roamed around for some time there, and went back to our hotel. I then booked an Uber to the airport. I initially had plans of taking the metro, but with the heavy suitcases, and the risky roads we need to walk along, I thought its better to have an Uber. We reached the airport by 4 PM. We boarded the flight at 6 PM.
Gossip at the airport
Flying back!
The flight was smooth. We landed at the scheduled time - 10:30 PM. I had booked a cab from Delhi itself to pick us from Bangalore airport. The driver received us and got us home by 12 AM. Manju had prepared delicious dinner. I was missing her and my kids very badly for a week! We all had dinner, and I dropped my aunt at my cousin's place.
The trip was very good and went exactly as planned. Most of the places we visited had to offer what I had read in various blogs - exception is Madan Mohan temple. God blessed us all with a good health, and we were able to cover almost all the places we wanted. With this, the confidence of my mother to fly has increased manifold, and she is ready for the next one! :)
The last day of our tour. We woke up at about 7 AM, and wondered what to do next. I had a feeling that we might be tired and would not want to go anywhere, and so I did not plan anything at Delhi. As expected, none of us had any mood to do any sight seeing today. We searched for nearby vegetarian restaurants for breakfast, and was shocked that there were none. Most of the restaurants were not open even at 8 AM. and this is in the middle of Pahad Kunj - where maximum hotels are present. We finally found one restaurant - Sita Ram Divan Chand - about 700 meters from our place, and we decided to go there (what other choices did we have!). Now, at that restaurant, the only item available through out the day is Chole Batture. All of us were quite disappointed.
Review on Sita Ram Divan Chand here.
So we bought 2 plates of Chole Batture and shared among ourselves. Another interesting thing is that they dont serve any beverages - no coffee, no tea, no milk. We saw people having coke with Chole Batture. What a healthy combination! We saw a street vendor selling tea, and we took the permission of the restaurant guy for having tea here. The breakfast was kind of pathetic, more because we were not used to eating such oily stuff for breakfast.
It was 9:30 AM, and still the city was sleeping! No crowd on roads. So we went back to our room. The sight seeing places in Delhi would take about 4 hours to visit and come back. We had to leave to the airport by 1:30 PM so that we can catch the flight at 6:30 PM. So we decided to go to the Ramakrishna Ashram nearby. As we were walking, me in the front leading the crowd, my father just behind me, then my mother and then finally my aunt, one guy on a bike snatched my mothers gold chain. But since the chain was quite thick, he could not snatch it out of her neck. But the chain was broken, and we recovered some of the pieces of the chain from the road. The people around were indifferent to this - which means that this was a common thing there. And one person blamed my mother and asked her why she did not walk around with her sari covering her. What a city! This is the worst city I have ever been. We any ways went to the ashram and spent about 30 minutes there. Since none of us had the mood to go for any more sight seeing (all of us were scared), we decided to go for lunch. We found a restaurant named "Madras restaurant" nearby. But when we reached the place, the place was dirty, and the hotel was nothing better than the worst hotel in Bangalore. So we decided to search for another restaurant. Soon we found another one named Darbar which had a much better review. We had lunch from here.
Review about Darbar restaurant here.
After lunch we went to Cannaught Place. There was some "Bandh" going on in the city because of which a lot of shops were closed here. We then went to Palika Bazar which is an underground market at Cannaught Place. The shops were open here. Nothing too different from the streets of Bangalore. We roamed around for some time there, and went back to our hotel. I then booked an Uber to the airport. I initially had plans of taking the metro, but with the heavy suitcases, and the risky roads we need to walk along, I thought its better to have an Uber. We reached the airport by 4 PM. We boarded the flight at 6 PM.
|
| Gossip at the airport |
|
| Flying back! |
The flight was smooth. We landed at the scheduled time - 10:30 PM. I had booked a cab from Delhi itself to pick us from Bangalore airport. The driver received us and got us home by 12 AM. Manju had prepared delicious dinner. I was missing her and my kids very badly for a week! We all had dinner, and I dropped my aunt at my cousin's place.
The trip was very good and went exactly as planned. Most of the places we visited had to offer what I had read in various blogs - exception is Madan Mohan temple. God blessed us all with a good health, and we were able to cover almost all the places we wanted. With this, the confidence of my mother to fly has increased manifold, and she is ready for the next one! :)
The trip was very good and went exactly as planned. Most of the places we visited had to offer what I had read in various blogs - exception is Madan Mohan temple. God blessed us all with a good health, and we were able to cover almost all the places we wanted. With this, the confidence of my mother to fly has increased manifold, and she is ready for the next one! :)
