The road to Badrinath felt much smoother. Better paved, yet narrow. Drivers all over India are ingenious. This place is no exception. In the midst of people, animals, other vehicles, they drive fast and try to go ahead. This path was smoother. No trekking for any of us. The scenic beauty continued. Still I did not see much variety in vegetation. No wandering animals or not too many birds flying. The river Alakananda was flowing with great poise. At one point, they stopped the traffic, made it an one way street and let the returning traffic go ahead. The reason being that it was dangerous for them in the dark night. I assumed that they had a longer way to go. Waiting was also fun. We got down and walked around. Some of us exchanged our seats and had conversations with other fellow passengers. The ten year old Mohil was our favorite. He was so charming and intelligent that he stole everyone's heart.
On the way to Badrinath there were many pilgrim places like DevaPrayag, KarnaPrayag, Nanda Prayag, Rudraprayag and Vishnuprayag. The sthala purana says that Lord Vishnu told Narada that both Nara & Naryana forms were his own. It is also believed that Narada even now is worshipping the form of Nara - Narayana with Ashtakshara mantras. Like many of these Temples, this Badrinarayana Temple also dates back to Vedic times. The idol of Badrinarayana is said to have been carved out of a Saligrama.
Many devotees, took a dip in the hot water springs of Tapthakund before entering the temple. It was crowded. Men and women had separate places. Nirmala and I waited over a small bridge. We did not go near the Kund. We had good darshan inside the temple. We were fortunate enough to stand in front of the idol for an extra few minutes. There was chanting going on!!
Behind the temple were mandir of Lakshmi Narasimha, shrines of Ramanuja acharya etc. If I remember right, there was a shrine for Adi Shankara also. As we exited the Narayana Mandir, there was a small booth and they were accepting sponsorship of pooja for Mahalakshmi and anna daanam. We filled out a form and when he saw the address, he told me that for an NRI, it would cost more (would you believe that?). I am sure Sri Mahalakshmi doesn't feel any different towards us!!!
Over all, it was a very blissful time. Health (both physical and mental) had improved, the day-to-day annoyances were not there. Even though trekking was not involved, we walked a lot, climbed a lot!! There were some in our group who hired local dandies ( human carriers) to carry them from the hotel to the temple. It was somewhat of a steep climb.
By now even Nirmala was comfortable with the temperatures outside. Kedarnath was much colder. Here the altitude was about 3100 mtrs. One need to carry sweaters. perhaps woolen clothing and their own medicines. Only vegetarian food is allowed here. No alcoholic drinks are allowed. I think I saw a Post office, a Bank and a state Hospital also.
I could not believe that our package tour was over. We returned to the hotel and after a good meal and rest, all gathered outside near our bus and had many photos taken. Exchanged some addresses and phone numbers. With some - 'good bye' hugs.
Each family had their own personal agendas for the next few days. We returned to our TTD center and Nirmala again managed a decent room. Our next agenda was to go to Haridwar. I have already included it in my yatras list. My dream to visit Swami Sivananda's ashram was being fulfilled!!!. I will share that soon.
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