part 3 my north india trip :mana & Hardwar

// read the other two parts of the trip to understnd better //
After finishing our badrinath visit and feeling the presence of god , we went to the last Indian village called "mana" , last as in last Indian habitation before Tibet begins. Well people who stay in this place are the richest people i hav seen in the world! Rich as in not monetarily , but rich in terms of health,peace,nature' s beauty, godliness of the place, sound of the river, sound of the beautiful birds .They are actually amidst the most beautiful places in the world - badrinath, the valley of flowers, the starting point of saraswati river, himalayas ofcourse and hem-kundh sahibh(the most important place of Sikhism). gosh it is the place where mahabharth epic was written (ved vyas recited the epic to ganesh ji in this very place) .People of mana are indeed rich isnt it? it was truely breath taking.
Then after visiting mana and feeling that 2 eyes are not enough to see this place we left for our journey back to hardwar(another 2 days of ruthless ghat section & vomiting sensation!)We reached Hardwar where we dipped ourselves in the sacred Ganges.She does look beautiful! And there i had the opportunity to see the "bum bum bole guys" again in huge number! the funniest scene was a foreigner making his child wear that saffron dress and chanting bum bum bole!!We had the opportunity to visit the mansa devi temple and see the amazing (& extremely crowded ) Ganga aarti!
Last leg of the trip was shopping in delhi.A spl mention about my fren kritika, for guiding me throughout the trip!thank u so much girl! we ended the trip with a lot of shopping in lajpat and sarojini :)
It was a refreshing experience altogether visiting these diverse places in 15 days.They will remain some of the most memorable days of my life.
p.s- we reached back safely , we had big doubts on that!! :) thanks to the almighty

part 2 my north india trip : the journey to the himalayas

// read the part 1 of the north India trip to understand it better//
After the beautiful feeling and memories which i gathered in Agra , we set out to Badrinath!! The most awaited leg of the whole journey.We were joined in by 12 others (family frenz)en route to Badrinath. We had to first go to Haridwar from Delhi. Well the journey to Haridwar from Delhi was one hell of an experience ! I did not think i would reach Haridwar in one piece!All 15 of us boarded the train at 9 pm from the old delhi stn into the train which would take us to Haridwar in 12 hrs.In north India this july-aug time is the "sawan ka mahina" which is the "kaavad" season.People from all over the country throng to Haridwar wearing saffron colored attire carrying the "kaavad"( a bamboo stick with two bottle like things attached on either sides to carry the ganges)to pour on the shiva ling on shiv ratri.So all these kaavad enthusiasts (ticket-less mind u) just rushed into the train sat on places which were reserved(including ours!!)and kept screaming "bum bum bole!!" trust me i was scared to death , they all seemed like these hooligans who would throw us out of the train if we even asked them to move an inch ! A good ticket collector came to our rescue and shooed them away !! But to my astonishment when we reached Haridwar the next day, i saw at least a thousand of those "bum bum bole guys" sitting on top of the train!! I felt the India which these firangi ppl die to see!! i felt the raw side of our country which i had only read about!I could not help but smile to myself at their determination to reach Haridwar without tickets!Nevertheless they did!
From Haridwar we set out on a 2 day journey to the Badrinath shrine. Hold ur breath, 2 days of traveling on the ghat section!! 2 days of traveling on the merciless cum beautiful , ruthless cum heavenly roads to the heaven on earth!(quite literally, well one wrong step & one might reach the "real heaven")The roads were so crooked,curved,steep that my heart would keep missing beats once in a while!The road has a legacy of bad accidents, it carries caution boards saying accident zone every 5 mts.The road is breath taking firstly because the beautiful and equally ruthless Alaknanda river(tributary of the Ganges)is a constant companion throughout the journey uphill, secondly because of the mighty and majestic Himalayas towering upon us and showering stones and boulders every few minutes! One has to be really lucky to go and come back safely.It was a risk we took and we realized that it was completely worth it!
Two days we traveled in our 18 seater bus on those scary roads of the gharwal section of Uttarakhand. We stopped in Karana Prayag for a night , we kept getting stuck on the roads as boulders would block it very often.The efficient Army road -clearing machines are a blessing in that hilly region!The might of Himalayas is truly mesmerizing.If alps is like a beautiful princess then Himalayas is like a strong handsome king!!The river traveling with us is a sight worth seeing.She is beautiful and ferocious at the same time! One would not survive 2 mins if fallen into it!! yes thats how she is!With at least one person throwing up because of the ghat section every hour ,all of us singing songs,praying god , loving the nature ,clicking pictures we finally reached Badrinath after a memorable journey uphill!
Badrinath is definitely a place every single soul who likes nature (irrespective of his/her belief in god) should visit!Its a place rightly called as "dev bhumi" situated 10 000 ft above sea level , where two hills "nar" and "narayan" meet and are separated only by the beautiful Alaknanda.The place is peaceful not crowded, one can actually feel the presence of the power above us. It is home to many sadhus and people in search of spirituality!A hot spring called "tapt kundh" right beside the freezing and crystal clear Alaknanda is a proof of god's presence!Its indeed the heaven on earth.

part 1 one my north india tour - taj mahal

“wo kehte hai na badrinath jana ho to bulawa aana chahiye “ well our bulawa came as a call from our family fren- uma aunty.The trip was to tour the beautiful places of Uttarakhand – haridwar,rishikesh and badrinath.My 3^rd year engineering holidays were going on but we were very reluctant about it at first because it is a very dangerous trip, dangerous as in the road to the place situated 10,000 ft above sea level is merciless.we were torn between danger and the once in a lifetime opportunity of going with people we know. We chose the latter. It was a dream to go to the Himalayas, to stand on the lakshman jhula, to take a dip in the sacred ganges, to see how ferocious a river can get . My dad decided to fulfill another dream of mine , to see the magnificent Taj . There was nothing else which could increase my excitement levels! We set out on july 19^th ,8:30 pm in rajdhani express to delhi. It was 36 hrs journey, one of the most memorable journeys of my life! we bonded very well with a Punjabi woman, uncle from meerut, one old woman from nainital we sang songs, dicussed cuisine.. thanks to mrs bhatti(Punjabi lady) that my mom can cook yummy aloo parantha and dal makhani now!!! We reached nizammudin on 21^st morning , we had booked our stay in SBI guest house situated in south delhi –NFC .

We set out for a delhi city tour on that very day at 9! We saw the local places from qutub minar ,dilli haat,raj ghat,vijay path, india gate,indira Gandhi memorial to lunch in the famous pandara road’s Gulati! Next day early morning we set out to see agra and mathura . Must say that the agra red fort which is one hell of a place where akbar once kept his 500 "keeps" at a time under one roof!! Phew! (psst whatever happened to the love story shown in jodha akbar movie!)must say these kings did have a very colourful life! Mr shahjahan who LOVED his beautiful Irani wife- mumtaz had 14 kids with her in a span of 18 yrs of married life.. he built the taj mahal after her death (she died while delivering their 14^th child) stands testimony to his love, though he also dreamt of constructing a black mahal made of black granite next to it on the other side of the river, it couldn’t be fulfilled due to his imprisonment by his own son aurangazeb. It touches ur heart when u see the efforts shahjahan made to see his wifes dead body and taj everyday even though he was grounded and paralysed .. The red fort symbolizes love,lust,greed,anger,architecture,marvel and the mughal lifestyle. temperature soaring with 45 deg Celsius , humidity touching 70 perc , roads getting dirtier, urine smell becoming stronger one wonders what the hell is he doing here? Is taj mahal , afterall a burial worth a visit ? ? whats this hype all about especially after standing in the queue in that scorching sun for hours ! well the first look of taj mahal says it all.. that was the first time when a monument actually blew me off my mind. Was completely taken aback after looking at the marble beauty. A walk to the place where their dead bodies are kept and the beautiful balcony behind the mahal. Wah! Taj! That was everyone’s reaction! The quotes from Koran , the marble carvings.. the love behind building it.. the effort made by the man to see it everyday from the red fort..the whole aura is just mesmerizing.. I was in love with the place.. the temperature ,humidity , sweat all vanished in one second after seeing the taj..sheesh.. it was a dreamland! My mom and me just dint wanna get back to our couch from there! I would love to go there once again with my husband holding his hand and admiring the beauty of the monument and the legacy of love