ON A HOLIDAY WITH DAD...

PART II-LESSONS @ VAISHNODEVI- Will Power-All It Takes!!!

Moving towards the most important destination of our trip i.e Vaishnodevi..We stayed at a hotel in Katra and started the climb at around 5.15 pm...I am not a trekker and not very much into exercising as well..The result...well I was not given a very warm welcome by TRIKUTA PARVAT..Moreover excited that I was with my new SONY CYBERSHOT...that I found everything on my way photogenic and made the biggest mistake of taking breaks every now and then to click snaps...Whatever reason I attribute..the fact remains that I found the journey tough and challenging..

We thought that this fatigue is the only test we have to give to reach Bhawan..but we were wrong..When we reached Adhkuwari which is a cave halfway between the lowest point of Banganga and the temple...we saw a huge crowd of people waiting for their turn to enter the cave and our registration confirmed that we would have to wait for atleast one day to pass through the Adhkuwari cave...We decided we shall do it upon returning and moreover since the temple at Adhkuwari was closed for the Arti we did not even visit the temple ,thinking we would do it upon descent...The first lesson I learnt later-Dont leave todays work on tomorrow...It will never happen...

The price paid was that we were not able to do both Adhkuwari cave and temple...

Well..the journey was no doubt a challenging one...a trekkers' paradise..but a hard nut to crack for someone like me...As we were moving away from ground level ,it began to get colder and also with sunset it started getting darker as well.....

The journey was quite tough...but as they say when the going gets tough ,the tough gets going...Just when we were at a mere half kilometre from the Bhawan the going turned tougher than it was...

The Vaishnodevi shrine board has erected shelters at regular intervals with lights,a real boon for the Yatris..specially those travelling after sunset...Moreover this place never sleeps...The temple and the road are flooded with devotees round the clock..
When we were half a km away from the Bhawan,there was a power cut at the shelter and everything around us turned pitch dark...Moreover the lightening made the aura even more scary and to add fuel to fire it started raining...I must admit that such climate change is not very unusual there but for me it was a taste of what adventure is like..We sat where we were for around 15 minutes and then when the rain stopped we started our journey again...When we reached there was a big confusion there and the rain had started again...However we finally entered the Bhawan and had a holy sight of the goddess...It really felt great to enter the cave and the experience was that of extraordinary contentment...We were allowed inside for barely 20 seconds and all whatever we wanted to pray had to be summed up in that much time...But I was at a loss of words to express my happiness...

As we left the holy shrine the happiness took the form of tears and rolled down our cheeks ...A feeling of being blessed,being protected and a feeling that now nothing can go wrong...in life ,because there is an invisible power protecting me,inspiring me to tread the path and reassuring me that I am not alone...that I will never be alone...in my difficult times...A feeling of gratitude for the life I am leading,for the wonderful parents I am born to,for the supportive and caring friends I have and for every small and big thing..It's strange..I wanted to ask for so many things from God..but when I reached I realised that I already have everything I can ask for...

At times in a hurry to ask for more and more..we forget all that has been conferred upon us by the Almighty..All those times when he has given us more than what we deserved...But in those some special moments I remembered this...Thanks to Mataji for this feeling....A feeling which only a devotee who goes there can feel!!!

We came out,extremely tired and our bodies refusing to move an inch..Here I saw one or those sights which really surprised me..There were around 8-10 thousand people outside the temple and in the small and big eateries and dormatories outside sleeping peacefully under the warmth of the blankets distributed by the shrine board...They were probably taking rest and would later start climbing to Bhairavnath..another temple 2kms above the Bhawan...But the sight left me shocked at the amount of faith which prevails in the hearts of the people...

After we came out the biggest question which before us was whether to go to Bhairavnath or not...Here I learnt another lesson...the most important of the trip...The importance of WILL-POWER in life...Sachin may say that Visa Power is all it takes.but that day I realised it's WILL-POWER which is more important...I accept that my body fatigue took over my tremendous desire to complete my journey by visiting Bhairavnath...And after 1-2 hours of unuccessful attempts at trying to find a place to rest,we started the descent..First time I slept on a small little bench of an ordinary eaterie...may be because god wanted me to get a feel of the real world..the lakhs of poor and homeless who sleep like this...Again a feeling came to me... that God has been so kind to give us a house-a shelter and sufficient clothes to protect us from vagaries of nature...How fortunate I am!!!

Is'nt it strange that we dont value the things we have..when we have them...Food,house,money,friends,relationships....we realise their true worth when they are away...Just like that night we realised the true worth of shelter and also that of our family...How incomplete I felt without them...Had they been there..this difficulty would have been lesser and it would have been easier to forget the pain in our body and concentrate on the mental happiness which the holy sight had given us..

Finally we started the descent but before that we took a final darshan on the LCD screen outside with thousands of thoughts in mind and just one wish...of coming again...once again...with full energy-both physical and mental...

I felt as if I was leaving something close to me behind and would have to come once again to collect it...

Now that we started the descent I realised that a herculean task lay ahead...But it was relatively easier as compared to the climb...Pitch dark night,cold weather ,a beautiful moon shining in the sky...(Luckily it was a full moon day) re-energising us with it's vibrant presence and both of us -me and dad started the downward journey...The whole night we walked...and finally with the blessings of Mataji..around 7.30 am we reached our hotel...

My body felt the impact for a very long time and the fatigue lasted almost 2 days..BUT......
My memories ,the experience and the unique bonding which I developed with my dad during the trip will last much longer...atleast a lifetime!!!

Our next destination Patnitop was a beautiful and refreshing experience...beautiful clean landscape...amazing weather and extremely photogenic surroundings...

Our bus journey from Katra to Amritsar took us a long 8 and a half hours despite the 6 hours promised by the travel agent and in one irritated moment I told dad..."lets cancel our train tickets and return to Mumbai by air!!"Little did I know that some supreme power heard me and said "TATHASTU"

Well thats another interesting part of our story...We 'll see it in part 3...Till then Keep Reading...Jai Mata Di!!!