Trip to Vaishno Devi

Our daughter's name is Vaishnavi and there is a little back story behind her name. In the sixth month of my pregnancy I had Mata Vaishnodevi in my dream and she told me that there is a baby girl in there and asked me what I would name her. In total rapture , I replied that I would name the baby after Mata herself and the mysterious part of this dream is that I have never seen her before. Yet when I had Mata in my dream, there was only one name on my lips. Considering it to be 'Mata ka Bulawa' we set off to pay our obeisance to Mata in 2007 DEC after Vaishnavi's first birthday.

Since we haven't been there before, we left the kids in my hometown Visakhapatnam, or Vizag as it is fondly called, with their grandparents, and came back to Hyderabad. To our suprise we had tickets available to Delhi just the next day (normally trains to Delhi are jampacked and one needs to book well in advance to get reservation) so gladly booked and started packing hurriedly. We planned our itinerary during the journey. We reached Delhi,from there we went to Agra. We found out from the station master that there was a train to Jammu that passes thru Agra so we decided to take it.Finally the train came and the TC allotted berths to us against some cancellations. That part ended well and we sighed a relief. The next morning we woke up and enjoyed watching the fields in Punjab. Reached Jammu at about 11 am.

Then we took a cab to Katra, the base camp to reach Vaishno Devi Shrine. It was 7 pm in the evening by the time we were out of our hotel. Though we were apprehensive of the hour we wanted to see Mata as soon as possible, so we started off on our trek. Also we did not book any room on the top so we thought we would complete the darshan and come back.

To my surprise there were a lot of people walking up their way chanting 'Jai Mata Di ' as they do. But the real knock came from a guy who was lame in one leg but still was trekking his way up with the help of a stick. Really sometimes we harp on petty things when instead we should be counting our blessings. It was after I saw him that I decided never to be unhappy considering that I'm all hale and healthy.

We continued on our trek and gradually the temperature was dropping.We reached the top by 1 am. It was so cold over there and we were shivering completely. I dawned upon us that it was impossible to go back at that hour considering it would only get colder. Then something miraculous happened. A guy walked upto us and said he was leaving since he had a flight to catch and asked us if we would like to have his Dorm that he had booked. We were overjoyed that we could sense Mata's blessings even before darshan and paid the person the dorm's rent.

We proceeded to the cave where she resides and there she was giving us the Pindi Darshan, The Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati and Mahakali. We spent a good five minutes inside and we could hear a stream of water flowing somewhere behind the rocks. It was magnificent.

Once we were out we proceeded to the dorm and spent the rest of the night there. At 5 am we were up again and on our way to the top of the mountain ie. the Shrine of Bhairavnathji. It is said that the yatra is not complete unless one visits the Bhairavanth temple. We reached the top and it was very very cold there what with the Himalayan winds sweeping across. We lost sensation in our bare feet and our hands and face became blue. Finally took Bhairavnathji's darshan and started our descent.

Reached Katra and we took a bus directly to Delhi. We had a good time and returned to the station to catch our Rajdhani back to Hyderabad. The memories of this trip stayed with me for many days. Even now when I think of it I get transported to the cold foothills of Himalayas.

Our Trip to Goa

Its a beautiful Sunday morning... As I sit back lazily with a cup of coffee my mind goes back to Nov 20 2003. We got four days off from work and my hubby suggested we go to Goa. As luck would have it all the Goa bound trains and buses were full. We tried all possible options but to no avail and I should admit I could see the dissappointed look on his face. We decided we are going to Goa come what may. And the next morning early at 5.00 we set out.... well ...on our bike.. ..where else but to Goa.We asked the driver of a goa bound bus for the route and the distance (around 780 kms)We packed some biscuits and eatables,made sure tank was full with petrol..some woolens and lots of enthusiasm and we were on our way.The route we took from Hyderabad was via Raichur in Karnataka but after that we werent sure about the route. We didnt get much advice from passersby, some even looked at us strangely ..but nevertheless we continued our drive, stopping by when tired, but taking only short breaks. Practically we didn't know what the major towns in that route were and we werent having a map. Not the right way to set out but we weren't bothered.. being young and fearless, we continued our journey having tea and biscuits at roadside teastalls and stopping for 5 minutes when legs ached.
It was 5.00 in the evening when we reached Bagalkot and we understood that we cannot cover the entire distance to goa that day itself. Nevertheless we continued and reached Belgaum by 8.30 PM and decided to stay there for the night. Considering it was a hectic day, we took a decent room in a hotel ,took a hot shower, had dinner and not a word ... both of us fell asleep. But we knew we had miles to go.. so woke up at 5.00 am again the next day and set off to Panaji .

The ghat road Via Londa is a beautiful stretch and we enjoyed our journey immensely..
stopping by to take pictures or sometimes just to take a peek into the vally.. it was beautiful ..We reached Goa at about 11.30 am and believe me we were immensely pleased with ourselves..having travelled a distance of 750 odd kms on a two wheeler. Our spirits hit a new high and we felt on top of the world.We checked into a nice resort and took some rest ..That evening we went to Calangute beach ..had a good time ..later went for a cruise on the Mandovi river.. after that excruciating journey it was totally relaxing.. being the cold November air .. It was very romantic and totally worthwhile. The next day we set out on our exploration.. we went to Majorda beach, Goa port and some very unusual places that the regular tourist wouldn't get to see..all day we drove but what was there all along was that undying spirit. We went to Dona Paula that evening ..watching the sun set in the Arabian Sea was a soothing sight. It was an incredible experience that would stay with us all our lives. That night after dinner we came out for a walk..the laid back streets of goa were immensely rejuvenating.

The next day was our big day again. Got up at 5.00am and started this time taking a lot of beautiful memories .. joyous moments ...romantic feelings .... and last but not the least the India map that we bought the previous night. This time around we had the western ghats to cross and we took the Maharashtra route (via Sangli Solapur Humnabad Hyd).Across the plains of Maharashtra we drove with the road passing through vast plain deserted land. It was a long day and it was 7.00pm when we reached Solapur and Hyderabad was 300kms away. The town looked musty and somehow we didnt like the idea of staying there for the night. But even if we went further there is no decent place on the way where we could stay for that night.We made up our minds to continue driving thru the night. And yes it was a tough decision considering the cold winds blowing across the plateau.. but all we had on our minds was to get back home.. and we did ... We drove through, having just the silvery light of moon and an occasional lorry that went past, for company. It was getting colder and colder and the night seemed longer than it was. He stopped occasionally for tea and a smoke but never losing heart. It was 3.00 am by the time we reached home. We ourselves couldnt believe what we just did.. we pinched ourselves. I made some coffee and we sat back thinking about the adventure...

It was definitely a high point in my life and something that we could discuss.. relish ... reminisce ...something that we could take with us through eternity.......