USA visa website link

If you are considering a Tourist Visa to legally visit USA, here is the link that provides lot of information.

But I think this applies only to those from India. The other countries could be different. Some countries don't even need a formal Visa.

http://usavisitorvisa.com/usa-visa.htm

Fellow bloggers and travellers

I can't believe that I haven't posted any since a month. Time flies. Well, the truth is currently I have nothing to post in this blog. Perhaps I should visit my other blog which contains my North American visits and remember some of my travels in the USA and Canada, before 2006 and post them.

We are still one year away from our next visit to India for the Maha Kumbh mela. My request in the meantime is - if any of my readers have any advice on the Kumbh mela yatra, please be generous with your comments and advice for us.

Haridwar, Rishikesh and Badrinath - 1st time it was in 2006

Please see my post of August 7th, 2011 for the photos of Haridwar visit.

The main reason we included Badrinath was to visit Joshi Matt, which our travel agency did not include in 2006. Since it was one of the Shankar Peethams, Rao and Nirmala wanted to add to the number of Shankara peethams we visited. Second (my) reason is that we were in the vicinity anyway and for Bhuvana and Uma, this was their first time to this area and they were thrilled. Once we approached the TTD Devasthanams in Rishikesh, we found out that due to bad weather and land slides, the road to Badrinath was closed. Nirmala got us accommodation at the TTD facility. One room for all the four of us. Only two beds and a sofa were in the room. Uma opted to sleep in the varanda on the floor. His needs are always minimal. We had meals at Andhra Bhavan and prior to that we had darsans of Balaji and Chandramowli, both Temples are on the same street. No Temple bells this time. Remember in 2006, I woke up with the ringing of Temple bells at Balaji of TTD?

We decided to go to the Lakshman Jhoola early in the morning to take a dip in the Ganga waters.
Collected Ganga waters for our friends and family and the next day was to take a dip in Ganga in Haridwar, View the haarati there, visit Chandi Devi, Anjana Devi and Maansa Devi Temples. All this I briefly mentioned in my August posts. Photos of Maansa devi from another site.

Yatra special ----" English speeched " - enjoy!!!!

I can't believe that I found some in Andhra Pradesh. Anyway, here they are !!!

Coffee rates : One set (4)
                      Full set (6)
                      Half set (2)
Can you decode this? I could not.

Plane Dosa, plane omlette, plane parantha (?)

Conflake
With milk or sugar (what did they really mean by this question?)

Idle (very phonetic??)

Jam to a butter tost.
The following two, I found in Nellore (boohoo my birth place):

State Bank of India office:  Relation Ship Manager

BSNL Telephone company:  Prise (????) for FCT 1450 (rupees???)

The finale at Srinagar.

I settled the account with Noor that night itself. We wanted to leave early in the morning to arrive at Jammu before 4 p.m. I tipped the cook 200 rupees. He wasn't looking for any - a gentleman. since we were delayed by an extra day, I thought Noor might ask us to pay for the accommodation. But he waived those charges and asked the driver to take us to Surya excellency Hotel in Jammu. The rooms were 1800 rupees per room for two and breakfast and dinner were included. For the third bed in one room we had to pay extra and pay for the meals also. After lot of negotiation the next morning, they gave me some discount.
The meals were alright.

I came to know that in Srinagar, no Hindu style worship was allowed in the Temples. We visited only one which was not even functional. Once upon a time. it must have been glorious. Two soldiers were guarding it and one of them gave us a tour of the ruins. The driver told us that it was the Saraswathi Temple we were looking for. But it turned out to be a Shiva Temple. We visited several Temples in Jammu. The most fascinating one for me was Raghunath Temple. It is like visiting many Temples in one compound. I can't even describe how many were represented there. It was just wonderful.

We vacated the room by noon, visit other small temples and went to the railway station for our onward journey to Rishikesh. We thanked Suresh profusely, gave him a huge tip and continued the journey happily ever after!!!

Our return and the helicopter and the corruption

It was extremely cold in the tent. Uma and Bhuvana were in a better location within the tent. Rao was close to the entrance Nirmala's bed was close to a window, which I noticed in the morning was open all night. She was given two comforters to cover herself and she wore the heavy sweater I took from the USA. But we all caught cold and were coughing and sneezing. We woke up in the morning, washd our mouth and face, had hot cup of spicy tea prepared by the cook. When it was time to vacate and finalize the bill, we were told that we had to pay for ten people since only five of us occupied the tent. No one else came to sleep there. But we had to argue a lot to convince the renter that it was not our fault. After we paid him what was really due, Uma wanted me to pay them a few hundred rupees extra as tip. I just could not understand his logic. After lot of discussion, I paid them and then I noticed that Uma paid him 100 rupees more. When questioned, he said that they did him favors by giving him a long woolen coat to cover etc.
Anyway,  we all walked to the Helipad by 6 a.m. I stood in line for the boarding pass. Bhuvana volunteered to keep all those waiting for the same in one line. Some of us had tickets, but no boarding pass. We assumed that we would be cleared first. But, the wait was never ending. We waited for 5 hours and the line did not move. Then Bhuvana found out that they were selling new tickets on the other side of the booth and giving them boarding passes. She and another young man started fighting with the govt. employees who were doing this. Finally we were given a number and were asked to return after lunch. The corruption there is unimaginable!! After a small healthy lunch which was free at the only dhaba there, we went back to the booth. It did not open at the specific time. More yelling, more arguing was going on. Bhuvana separated the people into two line. Those who have the tickets, those who want to purchase the tickets. She made sure that the officers did not sell new tickets until we were all given the passes. She was working on everyone's behalf there. So, they all respected her.
Finally, the helicopters were running and we went closer to the boarding area waiting to be called. Again, more corruption. A police officer by passed us and let a group of five board the helicopter. They were all talking in Tamil and looks like they were his friends. Mind you, this kind of treatment is very common in India. I see Nirmala having this special treatment in Tirumalai when we go for Balaji's darsan. But here, she also minded the discrimination!!!

Finally, we boarded the helicopter at 3:30 p.m. Only Uma had a working phone. I don't know whether I mentioned before - in Jammu-Kashmir area, only postpaid phones worked.  Not prepaid ones. BSNL clained there service is good there. Bit they never said that you have to have a post paid account. Uma contacted our driver Suresh immediately after landing and the wonderful Suresh met us promptly on the main road and we left a sigh of relief after all that ordeal.

All of us decided to finish dinner and then go to the boat house. Rao, Nirmala and Uma wanted a South Indian meal. We went to a place called Nathu's. They ordered Dosa which Rao said tasted awful and he could take only a couple of bite. I had Chinese fried rice and it was wonderful. Overall, we wasted money and food there. By the way, it was like a fast food, self serve type. But the tables and chairs were outside and so it was fun. We had Jelebi for dessert and it was yummy !!

Amarnath Yatra continued

Now that the darsan is over, we got on the pallaki and the carrier asked me how happy I am and how much I am pleased with them. I told them that it was very good and their service was good. Coming down hill wasn't easy. I was nervous because the ground was wet and the crowd was increasing. Everyone going up was focusing on returning before dark. They were given priority on the path. At one point, one of my carriers asked me whether I would be able to walk a short distance since the road is mushy and slippery, the four of them cannot balance easily. I enquired about Nirmala's pallaki and they said she is ok and is a bit ahead of us. I agreed to walk. The path was very slippery, narrow and scary. I was holding on to the bushes and rocks and at one point the walk was on a steep hill. I did not expect that. They were holding my arm trying to support and protect me from falling. I completely ruined my Saree and my new shoes that Gayatri bought for me. It was like a stress test for me. I thought that I would collapse. But I made it and here I am writing my posts. Later on I found out that the other party took turns and carried Nirmala on their back for that distance. He was frank. He said that since I am much heavier than her, they requested me to walk. Well, that is the truth.

When we reached the Dhaba area, where we were supposed to meet the rest of our party, we were let out of the pallaki. They asked for the tip. I gave them a very generous one and Nirmala also agreed to the amount. They were extremely pleased.

Now we looked every where for Umamaheswaran and there was no trace of him. Rao and Bhuvana were trekking, so, they would be delayed anyway. We reached around 3 p.m. They announced that the Helicopter service was cancelled due to bad weather. Now, we are supposed to find tent accommodation. We did not even bring a towel or tooth paste with us. Nirmala and I decided to wait for the others before deciding on the tent. Nirmala was weak and tired and so, I was going all over like a little girl looking for the others and talking to the security staff and so on. We were getting hungry too. We waited till 7 p.m. and then saw at a distance Rao and Bhuvana. Per Nirmala's advice I got out of the 'food line' and approached them. They said that they decided to take the pallaki for their return trip since it was getting dark and they were told that sometimes, they stop the devotees where ever they are and they may have to sleep in the cold. Bhuvana said that her brother came down at 3:15 p.m., rented a tent for all of us and he had been waiting for us there. (How would we know????).

Uma's pallaki carriers also helped him a lot. They carried him almost to the tent. But, he told them that he would pay them only after the rest of us arrive. When it came to paying, he did not want to tip. I felt bad because they had to come all the way to the tent to collect the money. till today I don't know Uma's reason for not waning to pay that money.

Anyway, all of us walked to that tent which looked like it was in a distant town. The rest rooms were a long walk too. If you need water for your use, you have to pay. Well, we were glad that at least there were rest rooms and water. It was about 40 degrees  and so, very cold. Nirmala was using all the warm clothes and so, I had to shiver a bit and cover myself with the comforters provided in the tent for the night. Roti and daal were served by the cook in the next tent. Uma was very pleased with the arrangements he made for all of us.

Will continue the saga in the next post.

Kumbh Mela 2013

I just came across this website. Very detailed and informative.

Here is the link:

http://kumbhmela.net/

Cut and paste if necessary.

Finally in Amarnath - a continuation of Aug 11 post

Now it is real. Within a few minutes, we landed and as soon as we walked a few yards, we were surrounded by the Doley carriers. They were a team of four. Noor warned us that depending upon the demand, they may ask up to 10,000 rupees for the return trip. Rao and Bhuvana decided to trek the 5 to 6 kilometers. The rest of us decided to go on a doley (pallaki). The first one asked for 3500 rupees. I felt it was quite reasonable - four of them have to share that money. Bhuvana was ready with her bargaining skills. I suggested that she can discuss other things, but not money reduction with them. So, she strictly told them that they will be paid only after our safe return, not a paisa before. They happily agreed. I don't know about the other two, but my carriers started praising me, calling me 'mother' immediately. I knew that they were mentally preparing me to give them a big tip at the end of the journey. That was another thing I noticed in India. The ride was good. The traffic was diversified - pallakis, trekkers, horse back riders. The military soldiers were controlling the traffic very efficiently. There were continuously crying children, fighting and arguing families and some happy faces throughout the journey. The carriers asked for some hard candy to suck on. I did not have any. They wanted tea and biscuits on the way. Tea was 30 rupees per cup. Tea and biscuits at another point was 120 rupees. Mind you, no restrooms anywhere. But, feel free to discharge anywhere you like. Absolutely no sanitation awareness.

I was able to see Rao and Bhuvana here and there for a while. Then, we were separated. Nirmala's pallaki was close to mine. But no sign of Umamaheswaran's.

We reached the last few steps to the Holy Lingam. One of them helped me all the way to the front of the lingam by holding my arm and shoulder. Some took off the shoes - I did not. The lingam was about 10 feet in height. We were able to stand and have good darsan for a few minutes, in spite of the pushing crowd. The priests gave me two coins as prasadam. Another blessed me by applying sindhoor on my forehead. By the way, as soon as we arrived there, I saw the flying dove. I wonder what the significance of that is!!!
Both Nirmala and myself were quite satisfied with our darsan and our helpers, who kept reminding me that they are like my children. Now, we came down the few steps and got onto the pallaki for the downward journey.
I took atlest 10 photos of the Ice Lingam from the place where we parked the doley. Surprisingly, not a single photo showed up in the Camera. All the other photos are there. Any explanation? The battery is intact!!!

About acclimatization and visit to the Kheer Bahavani Temple

My posts are going hither and thither,  not in sequence!!!

To get used to the changing altitudes, the trip to Amarnath was arranged in such a way that each night we are at a higher altitude. July 5th Srinagar, 6th to Sonamarg and 7th at Amarnath. We did not use any medicines to get adjusted to.

We arrived Srinagar on July 5th night. We stayed that night in the boathouse. The next morning, after breakfast, we decided to go to the Kheer Bhavani Temple. It was the second time for Rao, myself and Nirmala. For Bhuvana and Uma M the first time. We all enjoyed the darsan. Please go back to my post dated to see the details and picture of the temple. I just copied and pasted that post below, but no pictures.

We sponsored Aarathi this time, the water was white like milk this time in the sacred spring attached to the Temple. We had kheer as prasad, washed the container with soap and water and returned it to them.

The rest rooms are extrmely clean here, no money is charged. The medical volunteers come, set up a booth and the service is free, irrespective of who you are. Of course, it is only minimal check up and minimal medicine that is provided.

When I was coming out of the Temple, I met a gleaming Andhra lady who told me that they have just returned from Amarnath darsan and the Lingam was huge and beautiful. I told myself that we just have to wait another day to gleam about our darsan.

The following is a copy and paste from my post of 2010.

The Kheer Bhavani temple is situated at Tullamula in the Srinagar district. The Kheer Bhavani temple is devoted to Ragnya Devi, a Hindu Goddess. Representing the goddess is a sacred hexagonal spring at Tullamula village, which houses a small marble temple. The legend goes that Lord Rama worshipped Ragnya Devi during his exile. After the exile period got over, Rama asked Lord Hanuman to shift the seat of the goddess.
It was the wish of Mother Ragnya that her seat be place at Kheer Bhavani Mandir in Kashmir. And this wish was conveyed in a dream to a pandit, Raghunath Gadroo. The temple of Ragnya Devi is called "Kheer Bhawani" because numerous devotees offer milk and kheer to the sacred spring. It is believed that milk and kheer turn to black color to warn of any impending disaster. We were told that the spring water changes color frequently. Maharaja Pratap Singh got the temple constructed in 1912. Later, Maharaja Hari Singh undertook  restoration work on the temple.

The eighth day of the full moon in May( Jeshta ashtami - wow,  my birthday) holds great significance for the devotees of Ragnya Devi. They fast on this day and gather at the temple in huge numbers. It is believed that on this day, the goddess changes the color of the spring's waters. The Kheer Bhavani temple serves as the venue for an annual festival held in May-June, on the occasion of Jeshta Ashtami. During this festival, a large number of Hindus visit the temple to seek blessings of the goddess. Another occasion on which the Kheer Bhavani temple gains special importance is Shukla Paksha Ashtami. On this day, havans/yagnas are performed to please the goddess.


We did not go to Shankara Temple which is a long drive locally and on top of a hill. Last year we three climbed all the steps and made to the blissful darsan. Again, please go back to that post to read it.

Sonamarg to Baltal and on to the Helicopter

Sonamarg is about 90 km NE of Srinagar and is a very popular place. They used to 'shoot' many Hindi movies here. I don't know whether it is still a practice!!!

 The drive is a spectacular sight in Kashmir, in Sindh Valley. The Sindh Valley is upwards and is of sixty miles long and deep rock-girt gorge to open grassy meadow land. You have to see it to believe it.

Sonamarg ' meadow of gold ' has its backdrop snowy mountains against a cerulean sky. the Sindh river flows along here. Ponies can be hired for the trip up to Thajiwas glacier a major attraction during the summer months. I think this is what Rao, Uma and Bhuvana tried to see and since Uma was not up to it after a Km walk, they returned. I have some photos of them in one of the previous posts.

A breathtaking view of Himalayas from Sonamarg valley

The climate of Sonamarg is very pleasant, but the rainfall is frequent though not heavy. Shangloo arranged our night stay in Snowland Hotel. As usual, the arrangement should have been two beds in each room with extra mattress for the third. But due to over booking by the management, we got one double bed and one mattress on the floor (which Rao obliged to occupy). 

About the bathroom here - any water that we put in the wash basin came out on to the floor. After one person used, the hot water was not available (they said once opened the hot water tap, it should run continuously, otherwise it will stop). To add to this, due to the power cut, we had to wait till the power came back for the other two to shower. The management was extremely polite. They follow the rule of "'you don't have to oblige, just speak obligingly" !!!  

They had food available in their own cafe. The hotel charges included breakfast and dinner. So, we had one meal there and the other in a neighborhood vegetarian restaurant. They promised to pack our breakfast. A sandwich and a piece of chocolate cake. Because of the egg in the cake, we requested two sandwiches for each one of us (but later on, when we opened our bags, there was one very tasty chutney and vegetables sandwich and the cake).

We woke up at 3 a.m. and were ready by 4 a.m. Baltal was only 15 Kms., but we weren't sure how the traffic would be and our Helicopter boarding time was 7 a.m. The breakfast was well packed and even though we paid for the hotel till noon, we had to vacate it. They offered to hold our luggage in the hallway, but we decided to keep it under Suresh's guard in the car. Suresh parked the car at a distance in a lot and walked us to the Pad. We reached the Helipad by 6:30 a.m. 

Here, there are many military, security men and women who appeared very busy. But no one was able to give correct information regarding where to form a line when we hold the boarding pass etc. Finally our turn came to go through the gates to the Helicopter parked area. I decided to stand in the front in the waiting line. at that gate. By then, I learned how to manipulate the 'push and shove' of Indian queues. Just before they called our numbers, they weighed each person in order to distribute the weight in each Helicopter. Rao went in a different copter. With 5 in each, one lady was added to us four. Additional person was in the front seat next to the driver. I thought that I would be afraid of heights. It wasn't so - I enjoyed the ride. The peaks were beautiful (yet at that point, it was nothing like the Rocky mountains of Colorado of my Karma Bhoomi.
Caution: They gave us boarding pass only to Amarnath, for the return, we would get at Amarnath helipad. Sounded very easy - but wait till another post for that story.

Srinagar to Sonamarg to Baltal to Helipad and to Amarnath

Our Train (Uttar S Kranti) from Delhi arrived in Jammu around 6:30 a.m. As we waited to contact the driver over the phone, Rao went around exploring the station and by the time he returned, it was 7:15 a.m. We easily identified Suresh, the driver outside the station. He helped us load the luggage also in the car. It was like a small SUV. I forget the names of Indian cars. It was quite spacious and comfortable. Like I wrote before, due to the traffic and road conditions, we reached our destination around 8:30 p.m. Very tiring and not much to eat, we were exhausted. We were thankful that Bhuvana's aunts packed us some fresh food and so we survived on the train.


Our room # was 32. Two double beds. Bhuvana and her brother got two bed room also. After showering etc. met with Noorji and the cook prepared roti and dahl, salad etc.


We slept well thinking about our next day drive to Sonamarg on the way to Baltal.

Haridwar - Ganga, Chandi and Maansa Devi Temples

We bathed at Lakshman Jhoola in Haridwar. The evening Aarathi (offering of the lights) was beautiful. I will write details in the future post.

https://picasaweb.google.com/pyadavalli/Haridwar?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Temples around Jammu

More photos of Jammu Temple, Jammu Railway station, Raghunath Temple, Mahamaya Temple.

With a photographer like Bhuvana, we were blessed with wonderful photos.





Also, the link again:

https://picasaweb.google.com/pyadavalli/JammuTemples?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Before the yatra - Chennai beach and Delhi

Now that I have mastered the loading of photos, I am providing a slide show as well as a link.

We went to Marina beach in Chennai before our Yatra. You can see Priya, Gayatri's mother-in-law and Sridhar, the great brother-in-law. The other set of pictures are from our Delhi tour - Qutb minar and India gate etc.

Again, copy and paste and 'taste' the link if you want.

https://picasaweb.google.com/pyadavalli/ChennaiBeachAndDelhi?authuser=0&feat=directlink

About Shangloo Travels and arrival from Jammu

A friend of mine in Philadelphia area gave me a contact name of her friend Mohammed Deen in Leh, Kashmir. Last year we could not contact him during our failed darsan to Amarnath. This year we decided to go through a local travel agency in Srinagar itself. I researched a lot and communicated with other bloggers on line. Finally,  The same person recommended this Shangloo travels. The next thing we know is that Mr. Noor M Shangloo, who is the director of operations is communicating with us. We paid the money as soon as we decided who are all going with us. The usual three of us, Bhuvana and her older brother, Umamaheswaran.
Shangloo delivered more than we expected. House boat rooms were beautiful and comfortable - meals were so so.

Our package included picking us up at Jammu on the 5th at the train station, taxi at our disposal during our stay of three days, Helicopter return fare, accommodation for 2 nights at boat house or hotel (our choice) and drop off at Jammu station on the 9th. We agreed to pay 17000 rupees each. Our Taxi contact was Lalit. His mobile # was e-mailed to us. When we contacted him from the train, he gave us the driver's name and number. We promptly located each other and met with him around 7:30 a.m. on July 5th. The driver Suresh is seen in one of the photos. Very satvic wonderful guy. It took us 12 hours to reach Srinagar due to heavy traffic, slopes and wet weather. Actually, there was a scare of the roads being closed from Jammu to Srinagar when we were about to leave Delhi. By God's grace, the roads were opened for our arrival.

The distance between Srinagar and 

• Amarnath: 143-km
• Jammu Tawi: 293-km
• Delhi: 900-km
• Sonamarg: 87-km
• Pahalgam: 86-km
• Leh: 434-km
• Yushmarg: 47-km
• Aharbal: 51-km
• Gulmarg: 56-km
• Katra: 285-km

By the way, in case you go to these regions, make sure you have a postpaid mobile phone and that too only BSNL seem to work. The prepaid ones don't work there. Umamaheswaran got one and all of us used it when needed, especially to communicate with our agency and families.

This and that - venting

See my post dated June 4, 2011. I included a link to the Indian Railway system and coding.
Most of our reservations were made by Bhuvana's family. Very efficiently done - but they were all either WL (wait listed) or RAC (Reservation Against Cancelation). Some how with some extra fees for changing, canceling and multiple bookings etc., we managed to travel comfortably. Indecision bothered me the most. Not knowing what is going to happen next was the key to my frustration. When we had extra time between trains in Delhi, we decided to take a city tour in a taxi. We saw very little (Kutub Minar, my last preference) and he charged 3000 rupees for picking up and drop off at the station and giving a car tour of a small portion of Delhi roads. We boarded the train to Jammu by night fall.

I would like to dedicate a special post for my Travel agency, who made excellent arrangements for us.

Moghul gardens, Srinagar

I would like to start off with these photos. See another 4 posts with photos or links to photos.

Dal lake and Moghul gardens.

Link to photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/pyadavalli/KashmirAndMore?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Please copy and paste the above link into your browser.

More photos of Kashmir and Amarnath

I just learned to do this today. My previous post is the fist attempt. Any advice is welcome to improve the look of the post. Most of the photos are from Bhuvana's camera. My camera 'swallowed the actual Ice Lingam photos. No idea how it happened. I took so many - booohooo.

Do you need to sign in to see this slide show??? I created a link in another post.

Some photos of the yatra - not in any date order

Darsan continued....................

Once we entered the Temple, Nirmala managed to bypass a portion of the crowd for us. She greeted someone she knew and he arranged for us to stand in front of the beautiful Venkateswara form for quite a few minutes. Usually, it is a few seconds and if you are lucky, you are allowed to stay for 2 minutes before the volunteer security pushes you out. I was lost in time and enjoyed the bliss!!! The shrine was charged with energy. Rao and I slowly came out and waited for Nirmala. We reached the Hundi (where we make our material offeringsI and offered money. Another friend from Chennai gave us some money to be deposited on behalf of his grand daughter five year old Akshara who lives in Cleveland area.

On Wednesday I went to my native town Nellore to visit my sister. She lived on the 4th floor and the elevator was out of order as usual. I had to carry my two small pieces of luggage by myself. Surprisingly, I had no difficulty, no gasping for breath. I spent a night there and returned to Tirupati on Thursday. It is a 3 hour trip each way by a fast bus.

The same evening, we went to Tiruchanur to have the darsan of Padmavathy. While we were standing in line holding the ticket for the kumkum pooja sponsorship, there was another couple in front of us who had sponsored a bigger pooja and while the priest was paying a lot of attention to them, he thought that we were in their group and mistakenly made us sit in the front along with them. We had wonderful time and did not realize that it was an error until suddenly he ignored us, did not give us kumkum or prasadam and was profusely thanking the other couple. What ever the mistake, we had wonderful time and we left with happiness.

Now that Nirmala showed up with mild infections, we went to visit the doctors etc. on Friday and with whatever time was left, finished our packing. The next day w left to Chennai railway station. Waited for about two hours for Bhuvana and her brother Uma to arrive )they are local Chennai). They made all the train reservations for us and held the e-tickets. We had to wait for the railway official to show up and allocate our seats/beds etc. This happened only after 6 p.m. Bhuvana brought plenty of delicious home made food for all of us to eat on the train. We also took some and the food was abundance. The company was good and we sang bhajans, recited Hanuman Chaleesa and had blissful time. By the time we reached Delhi, we could not finish all perishable food and had through it away. I felt very sad for that. The taxi arranged by Bhuvana's uncle was waiting for us at the station, the train was amazingly on time and we spent the day at her Uncles' place. They are twin uncles with wonderful wives. We decided to hire a taxi and go around part od Delhi before our night train time.

Darsan of Balaji.

Nirmala advised that Tuesdays are usually less crowded and we could join the senior citizen line for darsan. I was happy because we don't have to bypass the crowd and everything is legal. Looking at me, they did not even check the p-roof of our age. Rao and I sincerely carried our Passport/Visa books. Nirmala had her usual Devasthanam badge!!

We took an Auto-rickshaw to the bus stand. Nirmala went to the counter and bought the return tickets.
Got comfortable seats and a beautiful ride. It was hot, but, did not matter. The vegetation is enormous. Reached the senior citizen line by 9:30 a.m. In spite of security and volunteer scouts supervising the crowd, many young men and women climbed over the fence and joined the line in a very disorderly manner. They appeared to be educated young men and women - just the Indian way of life, I guess.

At and from Chennai airport - a preface

The flight from Brussels arrived on time. Customs and Immigration was a 'breeze'. The employees were extremely polite (unlike at Bombay airport). When asked, the security at the exit door directed us to the Taxi counters. There were three booths. the first one said it costs 450 rupees. Just checked the second one - they wanted 350 rupees for the same size and type of taxi and same destination. Naturally, we picked the second. One man helped load the trunk with our suitcases. Did not wait for a tip - but we paid him anyway.

Reached Nandanam (Gayatri's in-law's location) very early in the morning. Were greeted by happy faces of the family.

We enjoyed our stay with them for more than three days. Visited three Temples that I mentioned in my previous post. Spent a lot of time at the Marina beach. Will post those photos soon.
Informed Nirmala about our arrival. Mohan had our tickets ready for Tirupati by the train named Saptagiri. It was a Sunday and the Tirupati platform was literally packed with people. All were standing shoulder to shoulder - I never saw such a crowd on a train platform, even in India!!!

Reached Nirmala's abode, had dinner and rested well. This was Sunday. Planned to visit Tirumalai on Tuesday. More next.

Astronomy, Astrology and just to keep the blog alive

The following link is very interesting and informative for those that like to explore The many calendars.

I love it, even though it is a lot of reading.
I still haven't gotten the mood to write about my 2011 yatra. Will do it soon. In the meantime, this link should keep you all busy!!!

http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm

Positive beginning - Jai Amarnath

American Airlines was excellent this time. Jet Airways was so-so. Had wonderful time with Priya and family. We visited Hanuman, Rajarajeswari and Shiridi Sai Temples those 3 days. Also, went to the beach. Received by Nirmala in Tirupati as usual. Happy to see each other again. Visited my two sisters and really great rapport. Made a few phone calls and sent mail to some - those that communicated with me.
Today, the yatra begins. We are leaving by train from Chennai to Delhi. Meeting Bhuvana and her brother on the train. Very excited about Bhuvana's company. We reach Jammu on July 5th morning. From then, may not check mail till the 15th. Our helicopter tour is on the 7th.

I will write the details after my return. Unlike last trip, this time, it sounds very positive. Nirmala was slightly sick, but she is doing good today. The heatwave was the reason.

Will talk to you all later.

Random thought - Shakthi Peetham

I was talking to a friend today about the Shakti Peetham in Kashmir. We both are going to be in Kashmir this summer and we all want to see this Temple. I did some research and sent her the links. Then suddenly I remembered another Temple. I don't recall posting about it in my blog. So, just thought that I should post the following information that I gathered long time ago. If any of my readers are interested, they can include it in their plan. 

Here it is:


Regarding the temple of Shrinkhala devi near calcutta: 
It is said to be situated as you said in Hugli district in a place by called Pandua.


Shrinkhala devi was supposed to be in the past.
At present there is no temple in the place, a minar was built there by muslim invaders and at present the place is under the protection of Archeological society of India, the doors were locked and we came to know that entry was banned into the temple for security reasons.  
There were ruins of temple in front of minar.
Another supportive evidence about the temple was obtained when we enrquired local residents, Every year during magha maasa (Around February) a festival by name MELA TAALA of about 30 days duration is celebrated in the premises of the minar which is attended by local hindu and muslim communities in large numbers (More than 1 lakh). It is one of the important celebration of that place. 
Another interesting fact is that near to Pandua there is a temple of Hanseswari mata which is regarded as Shakti peetham.

Taking into consideration all the above facts observed and collected it could be a possibility that it was the place where there was Shrinkhala devi temple.

About Indian Railways

Now you all know that we are aiming at Amarnath darsan next month. July 7th was chosen by Shangloo travels, per our schedule. Hope we are successful this time. In this process, I tried to understand the Indian Railways terminology. While searching for all kinds of information, I came across the following link and it is wonderfully useful, may be a bit old, but not outdated.
Click here.

Since I found it on google search, I guess it is ok to use that link here.

Check these out - interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_in_India#Jesus_in_India

http://mukti4u2.dk/Srinagar_Shankaracharya_Temple.htm

I forgot to write about the Shankaracharya Temple in Srinagar which just the three of us Myself, Rao and Nirmala visited (I mean the rest of the group did not join us). It was 400 plus steps, but I slowly managed to climb and it was worth the strain. The Temple is charged with divine energy. Now that I found these links, we can see all the details.

This was added to my Vaishnodevi adventure post

I almost forgot that I did not complete posting the rest of the saga. Today is May 17th, 2011 and one of my readers (a new addition as a reader) who is like my own daughter asked me "how did you unite with the others afterwards?" 

Now I will write whatever I can recall.

We woke up in the morning, had a bath in the attached tiny bathroom. The hotel waiter brought us a bucket of hot water. W came back and sat in the front room of the booking office. All the autowalas started coming one by one. They were all looking at us. Each and everyone was whole heartedly sorry for us. Around 8 a.m., an auto arrived. We saw my husband Rao, our (useless) guide Anbu and another friend from the group Shankara Narayana (who adopted me as his sister). I ran and hugged Rao. Shankara Narayana and Rao hugged both of us. We never hugged anyone like that. I started sobbing. Anbu looked very compassionate at that time. He was equally worried for the two of us. He immediately went into my good books. They told us how they spent a sleepless night worrying about us and so on. Rao also had a small adventure. He trekked down all by himself without shoes. Someone stole his brand new walking shoes. When he came down, he also forgot the name of our hotel. By 10 p.m. he somehow located it with a land mark. 

All the autorickshaw drivers were watching us like they did a happy ending of a movie.

Suddenly I remembered the driver who drove us around the previous night. He was parked at a distane and when I asked them, they unanimously declared that he was the one. I walked over, gave him 500 rupees (that I took from the 'brother') and thanked him. We reached the hotel.

Yatra 2011

I can't believe that I decided to this one more time. This time I hope to blog better. My children Gopal and Gayatri have been providing me with the tools and examples from other bloggers. But, I haven't paid much attention to their advice. Now, Gayatri gifted me with a book. 'Globejotting" by Dave Fox. Gopal in the past provided me with links on how to let the world know about my travel journals. I wish to use both of these this time. I would like to receive comments and advices from my readers. Any comment is accepted - no hard feelings. Our next yatra is in very initial stages of planning. We should finalize this week and the whole world will know. Two more people are asking to join us if we went to Amarnath. And we are focusing on that only, anyway.

About the actual yatra, in my next post.

Thoughts about next yatra

Now that the snow has melted and spring is nearing, we are thinking of completing our Amarnath yatra. No travel group is willing to arrange just Amarnath. They want us to pay for the whole package, which is a waste of lot of money for us. Moreover. I have several medical checkups in April and on May 10th my Cardiologist has to give me permission to go to that altitude. Based on that only I cant even buy my ticket to India.
If there are any readers of my blog who had travelled on their own and made this yatra, please make a comment and let us know how to go about it. We can communicate with e-mail. The only information I have is that the darsan dates begin on June 29, 2011. I checked with Southern travels and they give discount only for accommodation. We have to pay for all transportation charges in the package even though we join them for only Amarnath. They were very prompt in replying which I appreciated very much.