Day 1
Kochi-Haridwar
We started from Kochi, Kerala the southern most state of India mainland. In Kochi it was sweltering 35o C. Haridwar was way up in Uttarakhand. Rather than taking a flight to Simla, we took a flight to the capital, Delhi. It was a four hour flight. Our flight was delayed by an hour. When we reached Delhi, we took taxi which we had booked earlier. We sped off to Haridwar. On the way we stopped at Muzaffarnagar. Well, not exactly, we stopped on the bypass. We were planning to stop in the town for lunch at my dad"s collegues place. We had forgotten it was holi!. When we heard the news, we changed the plan. No one wanted to get drenched. Instead the folks brought the food to the bypass. Along with food, they gave us supplies. We were extremely, extremely satisfied.
HARIDWAR
Haridwar(gateway to Badrinath) or Hardwar(gateway to kedarnath) is a busy little modern city in central Uttarakhand. it is only an hour away from Dehradun and about five to six hours from Shimla. Here pilgrims usually start their once in a lifetime ultimate pilgrimage. From here, piligrims travel to Rishikesh, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. The Ganga river flows through city centre.
We reached Haridwar at noon and checked into Hotel Aastha Palace. We were going through the main road searching for the hotel. Finally I saw the building but had no idea how to get in. Then we found a tiny road that leads to the hotel. Our Innova barely got in.
Our room was pretty neat and clean. We ordered some coffee via room service.we were sugggested to go to Har-Ki-Pauri in a rickshaw. We were 7 members and the rickshaw comfortably gobbled us up!
in Har-Ki-Pauri, we first saw Ganga Maiia (mother ganga). We were reluctant to take a holy dip because we had heard about the dirty water but what we saw was different. The sky blue waters were cold and clean! It was so pure!
We went to see the Ganga Aarthi(the puja done at the sunset and sunrise)
Advice:Please beware of some people who may cheat you. They cheated my dad out of 3100 rupees! They might approach you, try to help you, but it is for big money. There are places where you can buy floating diyas. If a man says some shlokas and hocus-pocus please don't give him anything and get out of there.
Also watch for pickpocketters!
We watched the aarthi but couldn't enjoy it even though it was beautiful, because of the crowd.
We went back to the room after taking a holy dip in Ganga. Holy moly! it was cold. As soon as we got out, I felt warm again! The water was refreshing and it washed off my headache.
After the dip, we settled for a modest meal in one of the restaurants. Man! we were tired. I dozed away as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Day 2
Haridwar-Rishikesh
The next morning we visited nearby temples. First we
went to the temple of Mansa Devi(incarnation of Brahma, the creater), goddess
of mind, granter of wishes. The people pray to her and try to make their wishes
come true.
It is not easy to get there by foot as it is on top of
the mountain. So we need to get the ticket for cable car. My suggestion is to
take special ticket(premium). You can avoid the super long queue and get to the
top faster.
From the cable car, there is fantastic view of the
ganges and Har ki paudi. After praying we came down and took a rickshaw to Ma
Chandi Devi Temple (incarnation of Parvathi after slaying the demons chand and
mund). Here also the same premium ticket can be used. Ma Chandi Devi temple is much
higher than Ma Mansa Devi. In fact you can see Mansa devi temple down below
when you reach the top. From there we headed towards Rishikesh.
Rishikesh is altogether a much more peaceful area. We checked into the hotel
Greenview. It is a decent place with a decent restaurant in front. There is an
establishment known as Parmath Niketan Ashram. The daily activities include
meditation and yoga. Every evening the students with Guru conducts Ganga Aarti
on the banks of Ganga. The Ganga here is very cold. Brrr…..! We were surprised
to see an extremely peaceful crowd as we were expecting an overwhelming crowd
just like in Haridwar. We could even find a place to sit. The sight of Ganga
Aarti was really beautiful. We could find there a lot of foreign tourists who
has come to attend the aarti from Ashram. They have come to learn about the
Indian –Hindu culture. We took bath in Holy Ganga and we went back to the
Hotel.
Day 3
RISHIKESH
Next morning we left the hotel towards Ram Jhula(Bridge
). It was strong but swung about in the wind. From the other end of the bridge
we took a rickshaw to Lakshman Jhula.
Near Lakshman Jhula, we found a guide who took us
around the place. There is a govt. approved shop for rudraksh, precious stones,
crystals etc. When we finally crossed
Lakshman Jhoola, we came to know that the original Lakshman Jhoola was made by
Lakshman for his brother Ram and Sita. That bridge was destroyed after that.
Guide took us to a sacred place where Ram is supposed to have taken rest on his
way to Lanka. He also took us to the
temple of Adi Badrinath.
Adi Badrinath- In olden days, people used to walk to
places like Kedarnath and Badrinath. Not everyone could make it. Then they
would come to Adi Badrinath temple and return home.
We also visited a temple where we saw the 24 avatars of
Vishnu. In the same place we could see the tree of Rudraksha. Rudraksh is
considered to be lucky charms.
After that we took the same rickshaw and went to
Triveni ghat. Here the three rivers, Ganga, Saraswati and Yamuna meet. Nearby
we saw Rishikund which is believed to be used by Ram for taking bath.
Rishikesh-Haridwar-Muzzafar Nagar-Delhi
After a good lunch we began our journey back to Delhi.
We stopped at Har Ki Paudi to grab the holy Ganga water. Later we stopped at Muzzafar Nagar , went to our family friend’s house and
had typical Uttarakhand chats and sweets. We arrived at Delhi little late as it
was heavy traffic throughout the journey. We checked in to the Hotel ‘The
Class’. We were bound to catch a flight next morning so we directly went to bed
after dinner.
It was a wonderful journey, a beautiful, must visit
destination, should be visited at least once.
