One thing that I was happy about is that, it won't be long before we would reach Delhi. It was just a couple more days away. A couple more days, until I can use my phone again. :(
So. We started at around 8 30 am from the hotel in Srinagar. There weren't many stops in between. Just one stop at around 2 pm for lunch. Mum and my eldest aunt fell sick. Mum due to lack of sleep and my aunt due to some nausea. And that lunch stop was heavily debated by my uncles, as to when we should stop. I was very thankful for that lunch stop, as I was hungry myself.
We had lunch at a dhaba, where we were served with rajma-chawal and rotis. After about 20 minutes, we were on our way again. I do remember trailing a lot of army vehicles, after which I guess I dozed off.
It was around 5 30 pm when I woke up to find our qualis crossing through a major army district, Chandanwadi. An hour later, we end up in front of a hotel in Katra. It was still bright even at that part of the day and was very warm, unlike what we had experienced till then in Kashmir.
Through some contacts, a darshan for Vaishno Devi had been arranged for the next morning and we had even obtained helicopter tickets.
Now- certain things about Vaishno Devi temple.
1. Popularised by the owner of the T-Series cassettes company, Late. Mr. Gulshan Kumar, this temple has grown to become a very popular Hindu pilgrimage destination.
2. This temple has access only by 3 means of transport-
(a) By helicopter, which takes you to a helipad located at about 4 km from the temple. After which you either have to walk or take a pony, which costs a reasonable amount.
(b) By pony
(c) By walk.
Taking either of b or c, you will have a pathway which is about 14km long and it is very steep. It takes about 8 hours for you to climb, provided you dont stop for too long. My cousins and their parents decided to walk and just only managed it.
3. And it is believed that when you pray at this temple, your prayers are always answered and no one returns disappointed.
Alright, we had dinner at a hotel near to where we stayed and went off to doze for the night. Nice room really and for the first time in all of the last 4 days, I got a mattress of my own. Nice sleep for the first time in the last 4 days too. And yes, I really did miss someone. The someone was always on my thoughts though.
Yawn. Wake up at around 8 am. We were supposed to start by 9, which later became 9 30 and then finally 10 30. I was pissed by that time. Finally, we proceeded to the heli-pad. One more hour's wait. It was 11 35 am when we got into the helicopter and 11 39 when we got off at the other end. Just 4 minutes.
It took us a good part of over 3 hours to have the darshan and return to the heli-pad again. We were at the helipad by around 2 30 and by 3, back at the hotel, while my cousins and uncle and aunt were climbing up, to stay for the night.
Then, shopping after 6 pm. As usual, the ladies... And I was so very tempted by the sight of a nice kashmir willow. That was for my cousin, not me. I had this nice opportunity to interact with a Katra based bat maker. My god. All those pieces of willow, come from Kashmir. They cost about 3k here in Chennai, while it's less than half of it there.
Hit the sack, a little while after 10 pm. The last few hours in Kashmir. :)
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