Nirmala and I were very happy with our darsan of
Mata Vaishnodevi, even though the walk was more than we anticipated. If we had taken a Helicopter, I was told, the fee was 2200 rupees. But you need to walk again extra kms or take a doley from that point to near the shrine and that would cost extra 2000 rupees or more. That is why we hired the doley. Even after the trip we felt the rate was very high compared to the doleys at kedarnath and Sabarimala. Those hills are steeper and those roads are less comfortable.
The other couple met us outside the shrine as we did not wait for them in the darsan line. The lady was diabetic like Nirmala and was exhausted. The return trip was faster, less than 3 hours. Climbing, it took us almost 4 hours. Rao said his trekking also took about the same time. On the way down, at one check point, we handed over the receipt of the palanquin to the Govt. agency. Once we reached the palkis (palanquins) parking area, we paid them the balance and then a tip. For some reason, the other lady paid them only the tip and refused to pay the balance of 2400 rupees. It took lot of convincing on our part to make her pay the balance. It was dark since the Sun set and we now were ready to hire an Auto to go to the hotel. Suddenly, I was startled to realize that I did not know the name of our hotel. I checked with the other three and they also had no idea. Now, where do we go and who do we ask?. We did not see anyone from our group in the vicinity.
Now, it became my responsibility to think of a way out. I suggested we go to the place of booking in an Auto and since they were open all 24 hours, they may have record of our hotel address. We felt a big relief with that idea and after some enquiry, found the booking place.
Of course, the office was open. We were shocked to find that they never bother writing the name of the hotel. Now we are back to square one!! I had a vague memory of a police booth across from where we hired the Auto outside that hotel. Nirmala and I went to that police station, I looked around, but could not see a hotel. We walked around that area, the bus depot and talked to some people and finally tried to get information from the police. They were of least help. They were very brief and very unfriendly. So, we went back to the booking office. Nirmala did not bring her cell phone with her and she did not have the phone # of our guide in her memory. The other two were sitting in a small tea stall nearby and the man (I forgot his name) was showing his hotel room key to everyone that he met to read the small print on it and identify the name of the hotel. I tried to tell him that there was no name on the key and only the name of the manufacturer of the key was written. But, I could not convince him. He was a retired deputy collector from Anantapur. The rigidity of an Indian Govt. employee was obvious in him. His wife was getting restless. Nirmala and I hired an Auto and drove around to see whether we could recognize the hotel building. The Auto drivers were very much concerned for us. After a couple of rounds, I had no money left and we returned to the office. Then I reliazed that I did not have my footware. Since they don't allow in the Temple area, I did not bother wearing them at all. It was 8:30 in the night and I was the only sane, relatively physically fit. I started walking up and down the streets till 1 a.m. Amazingly, the roads were safe and the people were very helpful. Another auto fellow volunteered to take us around and he drove a lot even after I told him that we did not carry any more money with us. All he wanted was to find our hotel and to keep us safe. What a sacred place!!!!! Finally, we checked into a room in the attached hotel to the booking office (with minimal fecilities). Actually, the other gentleman decided to do that and he had enough money to pay, 250 Rs/room. By then, I owed him 500 rupees for the meals and the room.
Remember that we did not pay for the Auto nor did we take name or Id.
The saga continues................. This post became longer than I wanted it to be. More in the next.
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) asked me "how did you unite with others afterwards?"
Now I will write whatever I remember.
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 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 in only his socks. 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.
