Another August and another trip outside Mumbai. This time, a trip to the northern most Indian state of J&K to visit the Vaishno Devi shrine near Katra.
Thanks to my friend's initiative, who has been visiting the place once a year, the air travel and hotel reservations were done pretty peacefully.
A unique way of spending the long weekend as the cheapest possible trip schedule came out to be Sunday-Monday.
Alas, at the very last moment, Mayank canceled his tickets due to ill-health. The person who was most looking forward to the trip couldn't make it. As they say, 'Mata ka bulawa aaya nahi is baar'.
So the 2 Mulundites made their way out to Jammu during the wee hours of the morning on a tiring and excruciating journey to Mata's abode.
With the first leg of the journey from Mumbai to Delhi being uneventful to say the least - except that the seat left vacant by the absence of the third musketeer was occupied by a young good looking lass :). For the first time and quite possibly the last.
With more than 2 hours to kill in Delhi, you would think we would be the first ones inside the plane, but no. For the first time in my life (quite a few firsts in this trip), our names were called out by the airline saying the damn plane was waiting for us!!! Sooper.
After reaching Jammu, we made our way to the hotel via a (very expensive) pre-paid taxi, (who says Mumbai is expensive must try this once!!) who drove me nuts with his exemplary driving. I wanted to visit the God, not be with her this early. To say there were couple of nerve wrecking moments is to put it mildly.
After a short nap, we were ready for the long road up the mountain. I will be the first to admit that I miscalculated how hard the 14 km distance {one way!!} would be. I made up my mind to walk the entire stretch. Nishit gamely joined me - knowing he had a bad back and warning me all along what we were in for. Nevertheless, with Mata's blessing, the 5 hour ascent began!!!
With Men, Horses/Pithus [mules] and Palkhi carrying men all sharing the same way up AND down, it was a true test of skill, health, endurance and willpower. (I recommend only the healthiest individuals to trek up to the summit, else you are going to need tonnes of adrenaline and sheer willpower to push yourself to the top.)
With evening turning into night and steps getting steeper, the ascent turned tougher and tougher. We tried to take as less breaks as possible but after a point, you just have to listen to your body. At one point, having covered more than 70% of the trip, the sheer brutality of the walk lay in front of us. Lights tracking the path lit up the night sky and an imposing final stretch loomed.
Most beautiful - one look up and you could see only twinkling stars. Nothing else.
Most scary - one look down and Pitch Black. Nothing else.
After 4.5 hours of walking, we entered the final section which took about 30 mins and in fairly anticlimactic fashion, it was over. The Darshan took 5-8 seconds max - kind of rushed my prayers - hopefully you got it, Mata!!
Then began the descent. OH MY GOD, the descent. Unbelievably underestimated on our parts as to the degree of difficulty we would have to endure. I think we took more breaks coming down the first 5 km than going up the same distance.
With the bodies almost to a breaking point and more than 7.5 km to go, there came a Godsend!!
A dog might be man's best friend but in this part of the world, it is the good old horses who are there to help their masters. That they get whacked for slowing down hurts me to no end, but that's a diatribe I will keep to myself.
The last stretch of 6-7 kms covered in less than an hour which otherwise would have taken 3 hours (maybe even more).
But, we got it done in the end. A gruelling 28 km mountain journey in 8 hours!!! The walk started at 6:15 pm and the night capped at 2:45 am!!
Throughout the walk, hoardes of people chanted 'Zor se bolo, Jai Mata Di' and it was Divine help that we made it to the end. A body full of aches and pains but a mind full of peace and hope!!
If you thought what we experienced above was exhausting, our return journey back to Mumbai might make you cry. In order to take advantage of cheaper flights, we went from Jammu to Srinagar (further up north), then flew to Delhi and then flew to Mumbai completing an almost 12 hour stint after getting up with about 7 hours of sleep!!
God bless our souls!!
ZOR SE BOLO, JAI MATA DI
OH SHERAWALI, JAI MATA DI
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!!!!
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