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.