It’s well said “Maa aap
bulandi”
Mata darshan was planned
several time but not working out due to busy college schedule of my both sons
who currently study in IIT Kanpur and IIT delhi. Finally, we were all set to go
for vaishno devi with well-planned itinerary.
Due to our sons’
schedule, we planned it for Dec 3rd week. The credit goes to my
wife who put her sincere effort and time to obtain the information and plan all
this. As per our research on internet and having a view on statistical data on https://www.maavaishnodevi.org/ website, it was observed that there will
be huge rush at this time. Having no other alternative we go ahead with that
and booked our train ticket accordingly. The train we booked was “Uttar Sampark
Kranti Express” which takes approx. 12 hours from New Delhi to Karta (SVDK).
The planning started
with booking online yatra slip on https://www.maavaishnodevi.org/. Here you will need to register yourself and
then you can start booking rooms, yatra slip, helicopter etc etc. Online Yatra
slip is free of cost and benefits a lot. Having this, you need not to be in
queue (which can be very long during heavy rush) which saves a lot of time of
individuals of-course. Online Yatra slip can be booked only 2 months in advance
and totally depends on availability. There is a constraint on number of people
in a day. Alternatively, offline Yatra slip can be obtained from various places
like Katra bus strand, Niharika guest house etc. Many hotel agents also help to
obtain this.
As per train schedule,
we reached Katra station @9:00 am. Katra railway stration is really awesome. It
took us approx. 15 minutes to get out of station to auto stand due to heavy
rush at station. On station there are number of traveler/hotel agents who
follow you and ask to get a room. You can get a good bargain if you had not
already booked one. We didn’t entertain any of the agents as we have already
booked our room in Ardhkumari – Shailputri bhawan and Katra – Niharika.
As planned, we directly
moved from Katra railway station to Banganga. This the main place from where
your trekking starts to bhawan. Your yatra-slip is verified over here and
scanned for record. As we were having luggage with us, we were expecting cloak
rooms near banganga but we couldn’t find any. Anyway, we crossed banganga check
post with all our luggage with us. As soons as you cross check post, there are
plenty private cloak rooms. Many shopkeepers also provide this facility and
honest enough. We deposited some of our luggage with a private cloak room and
get a receipt for the same.
So our yatra starts from
here @10:00 AM.
Jai
kara e shere wali da, bol saanche darbar ki jai.
From here trekking
starts which is approx. 13 km to bhawan. Due to cold weather, we had put a lot
of winter clothes and also some extra in our bags with us. There we booked a
porter to carry our bags. They are having proper registration number. We clicked
a photograph of porter along with his ICard and proceeded on foot.
[Me with my Pitthoo]
Upto to Ardhkumari, it
was wonderful and we reached there in 2 hours. My wife was keenly interested to
have a darshan for Ardhkumari gufa irrespective of how much time it was going
to take. So as soon as we reached Ardhkumari, we took the sequence number.
Would like to remind, here you will need your Yatra slip for obtaining the
Ardhkumari sequence number. Our seq number was 63 and at that time it was group
42 which was waiting for turn. As per our estimation, it was going to take atleast
2-3 hours. We had some snacks/Tea at Shrine board bhojnalya (having controlled
price and everything you will get on MRP).
As we had already booked
our room in Shailpurti bharwan @Ardhkumari, we proceeded to our room and
refreshed ourselves. Again checked the group number, it was 45, we thought
twice and proceeded to bhawan. We had already dropped some of our luggage in
cloak room there and continued with lesser luggage with us.
Just before Ardhkumari,
there are 2 ways to bhawan.
1st one
is traditional way and via Hathi maththa and distance is approx. 6.5 km to
bhawan. On this way there are a lot of ponies (Ghoda) but you will find many
shops along the way.
2nd one
is new way and via HimKoti and distance is approx. 5.5 Km to bhawan. This way
is new and is cleaner and ponies are not allowed here and you hardly get any
shop on this way.
From Ardhkumari, there
is a tunnel which carries you to himkoti way to start your trekking via that
way @2:00 PM.
Anyway, we took the
himkoti way and started our journey. We were at bhawan @5 PM. There again your
yatra slip is checked and verified. At the same time you will get group number
as well. We were expecting a huge rush, but there was not any rush at all. We
were not even given the group number. I enquired the person, what is our group
number. He told us, group number is not required, just go and have darshan. I
was not convinced, I asked him again “ bhai group number to de do”. He stared
at me and said “samajh mai nahin aata kya, khali pada hai, group number ki
jaroorat nahin hai, jao aur darshan kar lo” J
I was elated and
whispered “Jai Mata Di”.
Now the next task was to
submit our luggage, belt and shoes to locker. Before that we took our Prasad
from the “Bhaint Shop” which you will get at your left side when you enter the
complex. Prasad is at fixed price and no bargain or negotiation is required
here.
Just opposite to “Bhaint
Shop”, there is cloak room 1. This is less crowded but a little far from
bhawan. Due to less crowd, we preferred that and deposited all our luggage,
belt and shoes in that cloak room. Would like to remind, you will need to show
your yatra slip over here to obtain cloak room. Another 2 cloak rooms (2 and 3)
are near bhawan but are overcrowded. There is not much distance between cloak
room 1 and 2 & 3.
We started for main
bhawan having only Prasad with us. Your coconut will be exchanged with token on
the way. Keep this token with you.
There the queue was not
much and hardly 20-25 people were there in queue. With-in no time, we were in
divine gufa in front of maa vaishno devi.
While inside the cave,
you will have darshan of mother goddess in three pindi forms - Maha Kali, Maha
Lakshmi (Vaishno) and Maha Saraswati. It was a divine moment and cannot be
expressed in words.
On exit, holy water
coming from the mata’s feet can be collected which is coming out of stone
elephants’ mouth. On the way, we were provided Nariyal back exchanged with
token. After that, you will be given Prasad (mishri) and Mata’s khazana in
paper pouches. So, we had done Mata darshan very peacefully and were very
happy. It was approx. @05:45 PM at that time.
It is believed that the
Yatra is not considered complete without having a darshan of Bhairon after
Mata’s darshan. Bhairon mandir is 2.5 km. from Bhavan and is quite steep. We
collected all our luggage from cloak room. Before proceeding to Bhairon, we
went to Shrine’s bhojnalya and had good eatables like Chips, tea, Biscuits and
Rajma Chawal. Now we were full and ready to proceed for Bhairon baba darshan.
There you will get
ponies to bhairon. Due to steep trekking, many people prefer these. The rates
are almost fixed. Just do not forget to obtain Icard and Registration number
after booking the pony. We hired one for my wife. Me and my 2 sons started on
foot only. We were there at bhairon mandir @6:00 PM. No rush was there so it
hardly took us 10 minutes for darshan. Thanks GOD, we reached before 07:00 PM
as Mandir is closed during 07:00 PM to 09:00 PM for Aarti/cleaning etc.
After bhairon darshan,
we took some rest and had some eatables and refreshed ourselves. We were free
by 06:30 PM. Now, our next target was to go to Ardhkumari and have darshan over
there. We again proceeded to Ardhkumari @07:00 PM. It was very cold by that
time and we had put on some more clothes.
We reached at Ardhkumari
mandir by 09:00 PM. There we checked the sequence. Our number was gone so we
had to take another sequence which was 142. We were still having the old
sequence number (63) parchi with us. The current group number was 115 at that
time. We were all tired and hungry. We put all our luggage to our room (already
booked) and went to Shrine board’s bhojnalya. Rush was there but it was
manageable. We had complete dinner and decided to wait for our turn. We
enquired from authorities, when can we expect our turn. They told that 142
sequence number can be expected @2:00 in night. Having no other alternative, we
waited in front of mandir for our turn. It was not more than 10 minutes, we
found that authorities were calling all group whose sequence has been passed
and sequence number is less than 100. Our old sequence was 63 and we were still
having the old parchi as well.
So it
was like “Bol saanche darbar ki,………… jai” J J J J
We entered the complex.
There the queue was long and it took time everyone to pass through holy cave as
the cave is very narrow. We were all done by @11 PM and were out of
Ardhkumari’s gufa. We had some snacks and tea over there while returning to our
room. We slept peacefully overnight and woke up refreshed.
It was 05:30 AM, we had
some snacks and tea etc over there. By 06:00 AM, we were ready for our downward
journey to banganga. This time we took stairs through-out our way and reached
Banganga by 08:00 AM. From there we collected our luggage from cloak room and
proceeded to Katra bus stand. It was 08:30 AM by that time.
We proceeded to
ShivKhori from there. Shiv Khori is surrounded by green luscious mountains and
is at a tracking distance of 3.5 kms. It is about 140 kms from Jammu and less
than 80 kms from Katra. On the way we had our lunch at dhaba. It took approx. 3
hours to get there. Reaching there, you will again need to obtain Yatra parchi
for each individual. It took us approx. 10-15 minutes to obtain the yatra slip.
Ponies are also available there. We took ponies for the up-way and had darshan
of Shiv Lingam over there. We started our back journey on foot and were back by
04:30 PM. We reached at our hotel at Katra –Niharika by 08:00 PM.
Now, our next and big
target was to have dinner J. We had already collected information from internet for good
eating joints in katra. “Manoranjan” dhaba is very famous and situated in
kartra main market. We reached there but it was not easy to take seat over
there. We were in waiting and seats were allocated depending upon how many
members were there in group. We were 4 members, waiting for approx. 10-15
minutes, we were allocated tables. The dinner satisfied our taste buds. On the
way back, we had some tea and snacks again in our Niharika hotel and headed
towards our room. Room was 4 bedded AC, very clean and spacious. In all manner
it was very good and satisfying. We had a good sleep over night.
Next morning, we were
all refreshed and went to see local market. Before starting, once again we had
our breakfast at Manoranjan dhaba. If you are planning to buy Walnuts, you need
to be very careful about quality. Getting good quality walnuts over there is a
challenge in itself if you are not extra careful. You will end up spending
handsome money but get less satisfying quality. In katra main market, there is
shop called “Baniya’s shop”. The shop is very big and having many items which
the pilgrims want to buy. The price was fixed and quality was good. We did
almost all our shopping from that shop. No bargain, fixed price shop J
In the evening, we had
our train scheduled @07:00 PM. Before moving to station, we had our lunch at
“Sagar Ratna” in katra main market. We boarded the train at scheduled time and
reached New delhi almost in time.
Key points to Note:
1.
Book online yatra parchi
in advance.
2.
Get stamped your yatra
parchi for sure (if Offline)
3.
If want to book rooms at
bhawan, you need to be very quick and a good internet connection is required.
Booking start exactly 2 months in advance @12:00 sharp
4.
Do not take stairs while
going up if you are not regular walker and very fit physically. It puts a lot
of pressure on your knees.
5.
Have plenty of water
during the way.
6.
Keep as less luggage as
possible during the way
7.
During winter weather
have complete arrangements of garments.
8.
No need to carry
eatables on the way, there a plenty of options
9.
Beware of monkeys. If
you are having white polythene with you or any other eatable, they will surely
snatch it.
10.
Shops on the way charges
almost double. At Shrine board’s bhojnalya, you will get quality items and at
MRP.
11.
Do bhairon baba darshan
after mata darshan
12.
Keep your patience
13.
Keep your body language,
language and thoughts clean
14.
Only thing which is
allowed at bhawan is Prasad and cash, no leather items.
Jai Mata Di.
If anybody is planning
to Vaishno Devi and is having any query, I can be contacted at my email address nkgupta2001in@gmail.com
