Enjoy folks...
MY CHAR DHAM TRIP
From 20th May 2006 to 4th June 2006.
Travel arrangements made by Jyoti Travels, Mumbai.
The director: Mr. Jairaj Jariwala
The cast: Mummy, Ms. Kamble, Ms. Mashilkar, Ms.& Mrs. Shettye, Ms.Jayu and her mother , Mrs. Sawant. Titu’s mother and aunt in the ladies section and Neelkanthbhai, Mr. Sawant, Mr. Sharad, Mr. Shettye, Mr. Titu, Titu’s uncle on the men’s side.
Star Performer: Now who else would it be? Any guesses? :P
20/05/06 Saturday - The day of departure
After days of anxiety the day we were finally waiting for had dawned. After our final minute preparations we left for Bombay Central to board the “August Kranti” which left from Mumbai around 5.40 p.m.
We had left home early around 3.30 p.m.; along the way we picked up Mrs. Jariwala. So we reached quiet in advance and had to wait around for the other members of the trip.
Typically waiting is quite boring and not as exciting as making someone else wait!
So when our troupe had gathered we proceeded towards the platform to our respective bogies.
The train arrived and thankfully left on schedule. So there our trip commenced. Our co-passenger was a hefty man along with his young son named Rahul. Now this little guy was so talkative and restless. Endless questions heaped upon his father made me feel ‘wow, how do parents remain so patient!’ Anyways he was quite fond of his “Superman” toy which he took great delight in hanging from the overhead berth. Seeing the plight of the toy I thought to myself ‘Poor Superman’.
We passed by many stations. There was a halt at Surat. I had fallen asleep on the lower berth which off course didn’t belong to us offcourse and when the passenger whom it was booked for got in at Surat and created quite a din at 10.30 p.m., I was mighty irritated. Ok so I woke up and went upstairs lol
21/05/06 Sunday - Delhi (Hazrat Nizamudin) to Haridwar
It was 3 minutes to 11.00 a.m. and we were still in the train. “August Kranti” was late by 2 hrs. Our last stop was Mathura where that bossy guy from Surat got down after apologizing for waking everyone up that night. Earlier he had called the T.C. to complain about the attendant who didn’t serve him dinner at night. Well first of all he dropped in at 10.30 p.m. well past dinner time. I don’t know what happened but the guy created an unpleasant atmosphere.
Although it was cooler inside our compartment, when I looked outside of the window there were fields upon fields but due to the intense summer gripping Northern India they were all dry with green shrubs of vegetation. I thought it must be really hot.
The electric power cables were running parallel to the train track on either side. The uncle opposite us (Rahul’s father) told us it is hot upto Haridwar and that we would also find Delhi hot, that Kedarnath and Badrinath will be cold. Upon hearing that I thought to myself ‘now this man is well built and if he finds it cold, I don’t know how cold someone with a mild constitution as me would feel’
Btw it was cold inside our bogey too. Mom said it must be 15° C in AC 2 tier. It was much cooler at night though especially on the overhead berth.
Finally when we arrived at the decrepit H. Nizamudin station I was both relieved and shocked by the heat outside. Relieved to step of the train and shocked in part by the state of the station! :( Thumbs down…
We got onto our bus. Passing through Delhi I saw Akshardham temple from a distance. The temple is even bigger than I expected.
One thing that stuck me about Delhi were the roads. The capital has indeed very good roads unlike Bombay which unnecessarily touts itself as a frontline world class city when our infrastructure is in shambles. We also saw the famed Yamuna river (very polluted) whose source we were going to visit at Yamunotri on our Char Dham trip. Mr. Jairaj informed us that the road we were on directly leads to Rajghat. We also passed by the infamous ‘Khoni-Darwaja’. (Bloody Gate where Bahadurshah Zaffar the last Mughal emperor of India had his sons murdered by the British.)
Since we were going to Haridwar, we turned right. In Delhi it seems vehicles were not allowed to put on music. As soon as we left the checkpoint and crossed over into U.P. the driver put on the songs. The first song to greet our ears was Himmesh Reshamiya’s “Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa”. Ok so the song could be called cool especially the remix but the repetitive “Uuuuuuuuuuuu” doesn’t quite hit the mark in my opinion. Except for “Yeh Hai Meri Kahani” from the movie Zinda all the rest failed to impress me cause they weren’t too meaningful. It was the first time I had heard all those songs in completion.
Around 1.30 p.m. we stopped for lunch at a dhaba which was strictly ok. It was indeed very hot in Delhi. Delhi I supposed was 2°-3° hotter than Bombay. Meerut seemed hottest to me perhaps 37° to 39°. On the way to Meerut there were a lot of eucalyptus, date and mango trees. I had never previously known that North India had so many rivers crossings and not just big but smaller rivers as well, since my only other trip to this part of India was to Jammu and Kashmir and that was way back when I was just a child.
Here I also got to see a strange decoration of salads sold on carts! Also ‘channa garam’ is sold in a ‘haandi’ here. Quite interesting to see the different ways things are sold in different places.
We stopped this time at Cheetal restaurant at Khotoli in U.P. This place has a very scenic garden. Haridwar was now around 100k.m. from here. Jai uncle informed us the roads from here upto Haridwar was straight but from there on all roads would be winding.
Here we had some cold drinks the bill for which we paid out of our own pockets. Now this is a self serve restau. And as mom and I were leaving I chanced to see one of the most fab sandwiches I have ever seen. Regret! Regret! Regret! for this “sandwich-fan”…
Cheetal restaurant presents one with a lot of photo ops. The landscaped gardens with get this in a corner chilly and tomato plantations accompanied by lotuses and also other varied flowers and creepers along with palms and manicured grasses is a visual delight. The only sore sights were the “exotic” birds in cages. I would describe their state as “In a Golden cage”. The more pleasant sight was the nightingales in the adjoining underbrush free and definitely happier. So silly to see people taking pictures of the caged birds though.
Ok so there was a lot of singing in the bus as all were in an upbeat mood. Frankly speaking if the crows had heard our melodious voices they would have run err… flown away!
Except ‘Titu’ ’s uncle whom someone (I wont say who) later christened as ‘Mukesh’ (since he sang all of Mukesh’s classics – Oh and don’t worry too much for missing them since these were strictly heartbreak songs. Me thinks “God save romance”.), the rest of us had drab voices.
We passed through the famous town of Roorkie famous for 2 things throughout India, one is IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) and Roorkie Cantt (military training institute).
Around 7 or so we reached Baba Ramdeo’s Patanjali Ashram which is just on the outskirts of Haridwar. Since he is now everybody’s favourite baba we had to take a halt here.
Quite grand this Ashram is! And if you don’t believe it see this picture…
Pictured above: Ramdeobaba's Patanjali Ashram
Need I say more?
Wonder how these babas get all their funding from!? And devout followers don’t seem to mind or think rationally. Well the insides are even grander with a large hall with granite flooring, a mighty big domed ceiling and gigantic pillars! And all this in the name of an “Ashram”. I frankly state that I don’t agree with the blind adulation that so called ‘holy people’ get. And unscrupulous politicians can join the same tribe along with corporates. But anyone who has ever read Ramayana or Mahabharata and its descriptions of an “ashram” will be left stunned as I was.
Mercifully the baba wasn’t there and even better that we had a quick stop but the garden was great and had it been day I would have perhaps taken more pictures not that I didn’t at this time too as you can see…
Pictures above : Riddle me this now which is the more beautiful flower? lol
And as it happened my roll was over.
We first got Darshan of the Ghat and mighty Ganga at Haridwar. Our hotel was Hotel Basera which I was a little impressed by cause the lane leading upto this hotel wasn’t too clean looking and I wasn’t expecting anything nice. But it was decent with a t.v. set which I always do well with. Thank you!
The news that greeted me was that Hingis had won her first title this year and being her avid fan I was over the moon simply thinking how glad everyone on our site must have been and missing the grand celebrations.
Next up was dinner which I enjoyed thoroughly. Especially the salad which I love so much. While we were having our dinner Jai uncle informed us about the next day’s itinerary. The next day was totally booked for Haridwar and Ganga pujan which was to be performed at Har-Ki-Pauri or Har-Ki-Pairi as it is referred to.
No comments:
Post a Comment