Jai Mata Ki!!

My trip to Jammu-Katra worked for me in before Diwali 2006.. infact I will say the trip just worked for me...
It was my first longest travel by Train.. I left Hyderabad by flight..reached Ahmedabad at13 2006.. I was supposed to make this journey with my aunt Mona, my uncle and my two cousins.. Manali n Rohan..
We left Ahmedabad on 14th2006 afternoon via train to Katra..
The journey was amazing I was crossing state borders.. Gujrat,Rajasthan , Punjab and finally Jammu.. Reached Katra on 15th evening..
Journey from Railway station to hotel was lovely.. could see huge mountains and valleys around.. breathtaking... At the hotel rooms we dumped our luggage.. had heavy dinner.. and we were all set to trek 13Km terrain to have darshan of Mata ji...
It was a pleasant cold Jammu Night... with my two kids cousins to accompany I already had a feeling this was going to be my most memorable journey..

Being scared to ride a horse.. and being enthusiastic to trek.. the only best way to enjoy the trek was on foot.. .For my baby cousin we has hired a 'Pitthu' ( a local Katra person who will accompany you all through the journey and carry the kids on his back )
All the way along the path you can hear praises being sung for Mata ji.. the atmosphere feels all cosmic..
The trail is well paved with stone walkway for pedestrians and horse rides..from the foot of the mountain you can see the trail well lit with lights all the way to the top..
On the way to the top there is good provision for restrooms, food stalls,rest areas..I was enjoying my trek thoroughly.. I had wrapped myself in sweater, jacket ,cap .. but halfway through the trek sweat made me shed the layered protection from cold…

Since my cousin baby brother ..was not walking and was being carried by pitthu…halfway through he caught cold…we had to make him walk to get his body temperature to normal…

This was or is my longest trekk so far ..we started at 11PM in the night.. and at sharp 6AM I was standing in queue in front of Mataji’s bhavan on top of the mountain.. 5200 feet above seal level.

I can say it just happened the time I reached the Bhavan .. was the time the Early morning aarti was to start.. and I could experience a 45minutes Darshan of mataji in the bhavan ..with divine songs and prayers sung.I prayed to God for making this trip happen and giving me a chance to be there and experience the divine pleasure to visit and see the Shrine. ( those 45 minutes I can never ever forget)…

On the way back from the Mataji’s Bhavan.. we had to visit ‘Bhairon Nath Ji’ temple without which the yatra is said to be incomplete .. it is another 1.42km trek from Bhavan.

The trek is pretty steep and tiring…since altitude starts taking toll here..I could not imagine myself riding pony on this trail.. so again like a ‘Shayadhri’s child’ I trekked this route on foot again…finally made it to the temple by 9:30AM ..took darshan.. and then just took some time to enjoy the spectacular view around…

Far away in the mountains.. I could see snow clad the mighty “Himalayas” .. I could not take my eyes off that sight.. I was speechless and spellbound with the beauty.. it was then I decided some day again in future I would make ‘Vaishnao Devi ‘ yatra happen and then visit the mighty Himalayas.. ( I have etched this deep in my mind.. I am sure..or I am being hope full I can make that happen)…

( The return from mountain top back to the foot is pretty easy..since all gravity works to help you move down..)

With this journey I carried home .. lovely memory of my 1^st flight,my longest train journey,my highest trekking record and yes yes never to forget Mataji’s darshan and the spectacular view of Himalayas…