Badrinath to Bangalore-May 2008 :-)

[This post is continued from my previous post Kedarnath to Badrinath]

Day 8 :: May 28th- Wednesday :: Badrinath- Haridwar

Alarm rings at 3.30 am. Eyes refused to open, and yet we forced ourselves out of the bed. We got fresh and hurried to 'Tapt Kund' near the temple to have our hot water bath. We reached there by 4 am, but the kund was already overcrowded. But since there were 3 Kunds, the crowd was distributed. Unlike Gauri-Kund, here the Kund was very clean. Also the water in Kund was way too hot. We managed to get into the Kund, but could not stay for long, as it was too hot!! But I was happy that we managed to have our dips comfortably.

But the moment one gets out of Kund, the cold just beats you!! I was wondering at the contrast nature has provided!! We went to changing rooms and changed to dry clothes. Then we hurried to our room, packed things and started walking towards the bus stop. It was a good 15 minute walk to bus-stop. Time was about 5.15am and the sight of sun-rise was awesome. The best part was to see the snow capped peaks shining bright, and at some places, the color was looking golden.
This pic is awesome !! One range shining bright with sun-rays, while the others are waiting to get the sun-shine. Photo clicked at 5.15am

By 5.30am we reached the bus stop, where the Punjabi family had already arrived. They gave us a unexpected news that, due to some reason, the govt bus is canceled. But the bus folks had assured, they 'may' schedule a bus during later part of the day. By this time, the Lucknow family who were in our bus the previous day also arrived there to book tickets. We all were heading to Haridwar. So we decided to book a private taxi/vehicle. Punjabi family told they already looked for it, but all taxis are booked. But again, the men from all 3 family went in search of taxi and we ladies waited in the bus-stop. We started discussing that we will all need to adjust in taxi/sumo as we would be totally 10 including the driver.

Gautham came back in no time telling, a conductor of a private family tour bus, approached him and told there are 2 seats in the cabin. When Gautham told me this, I told its better to have a look at the cabin and the driver and then decide. We had a look at the cabin. It was clean and the seat was cushioned. The driver too seemed civilized and friendly. Definitely our journey would not be comfortable, but we thought it would be manage-ably uncomfortable. We went for it!!

We bid bye to our fellow Lucknow and Punjabi friends. They finally found a taxi and we were happy they would be traveling comfortably without us, as they would be only 8 in number.

Exactly at 6.30am, the gates opened and our bus started. It was my first experience to travel sitting in a bus cabin, and for a long time, I could not stop laughing secretly at the different kind of experiences we have been having in the tour and wondered what else was in store.

Just like we both, there was another cabin-traveller with us. He was from Mysore, who had come with a group for Himalayan trekking. The driver and conductor were local Garhwalis. In no time, we all started discussing about various topics. When people from different backgrounds and places meet, there will always be something new to discuss. Driver was informing us lots about local news. He told, majority of people here are Nepalis. He was also complaining "yahan ke log, doosre sheher jaake chahe barthan dhothe hai, lekin yahan kaam nahin karthe". Meaning, localites of this place, go to other cities and even do the job of cleaning plates there, but refuse to work here. He told thousands of Nepalis come here during the season, and slog. He told they have to make their yearly income in these 4 months.

Another nice part was, driver was playing many local Garhwali folk songs in the bus. We found it very pleasant, and so kept on asking him to play more. They were laughing telling, its always nice to listen to songs whose lyrics you don't understand. They told for the same reason, they love to listen to Nepali songs. Driver explained to us, some part of the lyrics of the folk song. They are very simple songs, for example, in one song, a local woman is singing for the forest officer, asking him , how will she feed her cow if he stops her from cutting the trees!!

Hence, with these talks, our journey was pleasant in spite of all physical discomforts we were having. I was initially skeptic, thinking I feel weird sitting in cabin with Gautham, among driver, conductor and a stranger. But my weird feeling soon vanished as we started laughing talking about n number of topics !!
Our bus waiting at an intermediate gate to let upcoming vehicles pass. Driver and Conductor of our bus buying something from a localite. You can see me waiting in the cabin ;-)
Mountain ranges one after another glowing in sun-light.

The bus in which we were traveling, belonged to a private travel agency. It was booked by a single huge group from Nagpur under their package tour. Our cabin door was separating them from us, so I don't think they found us intrusive in their private travel plans. Only a couple of ladies from their group interacted with me during breakfast break, asking about our where-abouts.

We had lots of breaks-for breakfast, tea, lunch, water etc. Our driver had to oblige, whenever the family asked for a break. Our journey was pleasant till 11.00 am. After that, the only thing that was beating us was scorching sun. And with time, it only went worst, we felt we were sitting in an oven and were sweating like hell !! We were laughing at the contrast in weather up in Badrinath and weather as we descended !! Sunscreen, sun-glasses did not good to me. I was the one sitting next to the front glass of the bus, and sun was hitting me so hard from 11.00 to 3.30 that I got sun burn on my face !! I still have a mark, as a token of remembrance ;-)

We finally reached Rishikesh at 7.00 pm where the family wanted to stop for tea. We had plans of going for white water rafting the next day at Rishikesh, so when all were having tea, we went around inquiring about it in nearby firms which advertised about it. We were told that, they had no booking for the next day so far, so it would be only we two us, so the price would be slightly high. We lost interest in it, because rafting would be fun, only if there was a huge group going for it. The idea of only two of us, did not excite us much. So we dropped it.

At 7.45 we started back from Rishikesh to Haridwar. I loved this part of journey very much, because after a long long time, I was seeing and traveling on a straight road. I was kind of tired of seeing scary blindly curved roads high on hill for 8 days!!

Finally at 8.30, we finished our journey when he dropped us at Haridwar. He charged 500Rs together for both of us. Bidding them bye, we took a cycle-rikshaw and reached Kashi-mutt where we would spend our night and also the next day.

Reaching Kashi-mutt was the end of our adventurous , "unplanned" journey, as everything from now on was planned. We easily managed to get a room in Kashi-mutt. Also we had reached just in time for dinner. We were very very tired after the long 14 hr journey in the small cabin of the bus. After a nice dinner at the canteen there, the next thing we longed to do was to have a good bath. Need not say, its heavenly to have a bath after a dusty , sweaty 14 hrs journey !! After doing some laundry, we slept at 12.00 midnight. The best part, was the thought that,we need not set alarm for the next day !!

Day 9 :: May 29th- Thursday :: Haridwar
We wake up lazily at 7.30am. Get fresh and go to Veda-Vyas temple for pooja(Our room, temple are all in same premises. All are run by Kashi-Mutt) Have breakfast and come to room. We then do remaining laundry. After this, as we were lazily lying down and discussing what to do next, we fall asleep ...... zzzzzzz.......!! We wake up at 12.00 and jump out of bed, hurrying to temple for the afternoon Pooja. After pooja, we have a nice simple lunch at canteen, and then come to room again at 1.30pm. Our room had no chair, but only a huge bed. As we sat on it, talking "Enough of sleep...lets go somewhere!!"......once again, as we were discussing this, we lazily lie down, and fall asleep.......zzzzzzzzzzz....!! Ha ha ha :D Veda Vyas temple of Kashi-mutt, Haridwar

We wake up only at 4.30pm and laugh at ourselves for the way we fell asleep!! Looked like all our fatigue and lack of sleep from 8 days, was showing up now!! We were still feeling like sleeping, so we decided to do something fresh!! We pulled ourselves out of bed, and walked to the Ganga ghats near the temple. The ghats of our temple, is something I love!! Because Ganga is clean there, as very few come to these ghats. And more-over temperature is very high in Haridwar, so it is cooling to have dips here, unlike in earlier places, where the freezing weather does not let you do it. And not to forget, the absence of crowd. Ganga ghats of VedaVyas temple.

We have nice refreshing holy dips in Ganges. All fresh, we head to room, change to dry clothes and start off on an Phat-phatia (shared auto) to go to the famous Hari-Ki-Pauri Ganga ghats to see the Ganga aarthi. We had already seen most of Haridwar 2 yrs back , so decided only to do something relaxing. Hari Ki Pauri

We loafed around in the narrow, colorful crowded streets just observing and enjoying the sight of everything happening there. As we did this, we treated our taste buds with fresh made gulabjamun, rasmalai, dhokla etc. It was yummm...mmm !! ;-) In the rush, I hurt my toe nail badly in stampede and rushed to one of the doctors there. He gave me a tetanus injection :( After having dinner in a restaurant, we return to our room and sleep by 11.0pm!!

Day 10 :: May 30th- Friday :: Haridwar -New Delhi

We had our train to Delhi scheduled at 10.30 am. We wake up at 7.00 am, Pack up our bags, go to temple for Pooja, have breakfast and leave on an auto to the railway station by 9.15am. We reach Delhi at 2.30pm. Journey was quite un-eventful. We take a taxi to our relatives house there and spend the rest of the day there. We had seen most of Delhi couple of years back, so just spent quality time at their home.

Day 11 :: May 31st-Saturday :: New Delhi -Bangalore
We take our scheduled flight to Bangalore at around 3.30pm. Flight is usually the borest means of travel, with everyone busy in their own world. So I too spent the journey, dreaming and re-living some of the wonderful moments from our tour. We reached Bangalore airport and I loved the new Devanahalli airport. I felt it in par with the international airports I have seen in other countries. But saddest part was the bus journey from airport to Jayanagar. We started at 8.00pm from airport and after all traffic jams, reached Jayanagar at 10.00 pm!!!

It was a lovely feeling to be back home after 12 days of travel and tour!! Truly, no matter where we travel, at the end of everything, nothing can beat the feeling of returning to our HOME SWEET HOME !!!! :)

Kedarnath to Badrinath-May 2008 :-)

[This post is continued from my previous post Gaurikund to Kedarnath]

Day 6:: May 26th-Monday :: Kedarnath-Gaurikund

I wake up at around 6.00am and when I opened my eyes, the first thing that hit my thougt was the last stage of our trek where I thought I will not make it to the top due to my stiff painful legs. For a second, it all felt like a dream- we finally walking the last 2kms and reaching the top and then automatically being guided to this room by a noble stranger!!!I wondered if all that was a dream and thought "Did that really happen??" . "YES" - replied my stiff body and also my puffy eyes. ;-)

I thanked God heartily again. Gautham was also awake by this time, and we feared getting out of bed, because, we were nice and warm inside the super thick blankets, and who wants to face the cold outside again? Secondly , we were seriously expecting our entire body to be way too stiffened and all in muscle catch, as usually these are more felt on the day after the strain!!

But we wasted no time, and got out of bed, because, it was already late to go to temple. We knew people come way too early to stand in the queue. We hurried up and got fresh. The water was freezingly cold and we had a tough time using it!! Oh, forgot to mention, to our sheer surprise, our bodies were very close to normal. There was little bit of pain and stiffness, but it was totally manage able.

When we were ready to leave and opened the doors, we met our 'savior' at the door. On asking if it was ok to have the room till we finished darshan, he told, if we only need it to keep our bags, we can keep those in his shop near the temple so that he can give the room to someone else. We totally agreed with it and packed up things fast, took the name of his shop, thanked him again and left.

We were hungry like tigers, because the only good thing we had after the previous day lunch was the 14 km trek !! So at 6.45 when we got out of our rooms, the first thing we did was hit a dhaba and had an alu paratha. That was surely the best paratha EVER!! While we were enjoying our paratha, another family on our table started speaking to us. They were from Goa. The first thing the lady in the group told me was "Sorry". I was wondering why. She continued "Yesterday, when I was being taken up in Palakhi, I had seen you both. I saw you were having lots of trouble, but he seemed to be fine. I think you were standing and trying hard to breathe, when my Palakhi guy just dashed you hard. I felt very sorry for you, but could do nothing". I just laughed out loud and told that its the most common thing to happen when all walk together and there is nothing to apologize. But no doubt, I truly appreciated her concern.

Then we started chit-chatting about our mutual experiences in Palakhi and foot. They told, they too were totally wet after the heavy rains and had to bear the worst cold they ever felt, and they could literally feel their bones freeze. They told, since they sit idle on Palakhi, their body does not generate heat. They also told us, they were envying the pedestrians like us, because at least the walk was keeping us a little warm. In return, we told, the advantage they had was, they had to bear it all only for short time, maybe 5 hrs and also , they reached here by dark before temperature went to sub-zeroes.

After this discussion, we were shocked knowing that the family had already finished their darshan at the temple!! They told people are on queue from 4.00 am. So the darshan tickets for the day are already booked till 3 in the afternoon and they have stopped issuing tickets too. They told they caught a Pandit there who took them from the side door for some extra money and asked us to do the same. They also suggested that we reach back down to Gaurikund by afternoon, because weather gets bad in the afternoons. Giving us these tips, they left.

We wished that we had woken up early to get into the queue. But the previous night we were way too tired to even think about the next day and slept without setting the alarm. Since there was no use regretting, we started walking fast to the temple. To my surprise, the weather was very pleasant. It was cold, but was truly bearable. Best part was the bright sun, shining high in the sky with all its power. As we walked towards the temple, the first sight of it , just took away my breath!! I dont think any other temple would be in such a beautiful location as this!! It was right amidst the semi-circle of peaks, half of them completely covered by snow!!

We looked around to see the long queue. We thought for a while what we needed to do. We realized that we had to have darshan and leave by afternoon and reach down by night in any case, beause, we had hired the room in Gaurikund for 2 days only and we feared, we may loose our luggage which we left in the room if we reach late. So we decided to take Pandits help and skip the queue.

We spoke to one of the Pandits there, and he already had few people like us with him. He told it may take an hour and we agreed. I stood there waiting, seeing the majestic peaks, and wondering, how powerful must have been the accomplishments of Shankaracharya, to reach this place without any winter gears or vehicles and to set up this temple here!!

Close up of the Kedarnath temple.

After waiting for about an hour and half, at 9.00, we got to enter the temple and we performed our pooja there to the Jyothi linga of Shiva. Need not say it was overly crowded and very chaotic partly due to the line jumpers like us. And partly because, like most temples of North India, we were allowed to touch the Shivling and perform rituals, and one could stay there as long as one wishes, as there is no one to ask us to leave the place.We managed to sneak through and perform the pooja by pouring the Ganga jal that we carried from Gangotri .

By 9.15 we came out of the temple. Then we went to the Shankaracharya Samadhi. There was nothing antique about that place. There was just a modernly constucted hall, with Shankaracharyas idol, below which we were told there is the Samadhi. We both after coming out from the temple

So by 9.45 we finished seeing everything there. When we were about to leave the temple area, I met one of the girls from the farmer community of our bus. On inquiring, she told that they all came up on foot, and reached at 11.00 pm. And that they stood in queue from 4.00 am and had finished their darshan already!! I was totally amazed seeing their level of energy to wake up at 4 after a walk till 11.00. She was in a hurry, so I could not ask anything more. Then shortly we met our room owner, who I will forever refer to as our 'savior'. I thanked him again and told him that he may not realize how big a help he had done last night and also that I truly felt like he was God sent savior. He just laughed and told that was nothing. We bid bye to him.

After having tea and snacks, we started our walk back down exactly at 10.00 and reached Gaurikund exactly at 2.00 pm. Obviously the downward walk is much easier and we reached in just 4 hrs, since gravity acts like a true friend, we would be walking from low oxygen to high oxygen area and not to forget, the weather was extremely good with bright sun kissing us all the time.

When we started the downward journey, Gautham got little keen about taking the mule ride, just to experience the fun of it!! But I strongly denied it , because, firstly I wanted to test myself seeing how long will I take to walk downwards. Secondly, the very thought of having the jerky, fast, downward mule ride just scared me to core. (Thats because, previous day, I had observed many people scream when their mules seem to run very fast when walking down and I had also seen how the mules slip when they run down.) Thirdly , I thought, when we get old, we will anyway have to take it, so lets walk, when our legs are strong enough for it.

And we both totally enjoyed our walk down. And during the first 7 kms downward, with every step, I was wondering "Did I take these many steps yesterday??" And I kept telling Gautham many times that "I can't believe I did it yesterday.....I can't believe I did this yesterday!!" ;-)

Also we made sure we grasped all that we had missed the previous day due to pain and fatigue. We walked slowly, enjoying the sight of beautiful peaks and also my favorite job of simply observing people. I was totally amazed seeing the Pitthus. I wondered, how a thin looking Nepali can carry a huge looking, atleast 80 kgs weighing person on his back and climb 14 km uphill ??I just observed his thin legs and wondered what gave them the power and strenght for this?? I pondered about it and got my answer. The sad answer is -Hunger!!!

We took some breaks in between and carried on our pleasure trek downwards. Gautham motivated me to join him on this off the walkway-trek. They were actually short-cuts, but time-wise , its the same because, even though, you walk less, you walk through the ups and downs through stones, mud and sometimes water stream. I tried 2-3 shortcuts and after that stopped,because the stones were not very stable here, and I feared that if I get a sprain, I may miss the fun of remaining 4 days of tour. Gautham went ahead confidently for few more short-cuts and I preferred to take the long-walk way. This was off the walk-way short-cut which Gautham was loving.

After a lovely 14 km downward walk, we reached Gaurikund at 2.00 pm. We reached our rooms, dumped our bags and went to a nearby dhaba for lunch. Then we came back and had a nice afternoon nap. This recharged us well, and we were fresh when we woke up at 5.30. Gautham had to go to GMVN ticket counter, in between at 4.00, to book our tickets to Badrinath for the next day. Luckily we managed to get the tickets.

At six we got out of room and started loafing around. We went to Gauri temple and also went near the Mandakini water ghats. Mandakini is the tributary of Ganges which flows in GauriKund. The sight of Mandakini saddened us pretty much. Mandakini had a nice flow of pristine green crystal clear water, but was looking very dirty due to just one pollutant-PLASTIC. The main products were the thin, use and throw raincoats and water bottles.

I decided to try my luck in the Kund once again and entered the ladies side of the hot water Kund. This time, there was no water in the Kund as it was all drained out so that fresh water collects in. There were lots of ladies near the water source, again arguing and fighting to get turns under the fresh hot water . This time I was determined to touch the water. So amidst all this , I managed to get my hands and feet wet and feel the hot water. Water was boiling hot and I was totally amazed feeling it!!

The rest of the evening went normally, loafing around, and then dinner at Dhaba by chit-chatting with a tamilian couple who shared our table. We got back to room, packed up stuff and slept at 10.00 pm, all set to board our 5.00 am bus on the next day.

Day 7:: 27th May-Tuesday :: GauriKund to Badrinath

We wake up at 4.00 am, get fresh and reach our bus at 4.30 am. We have by now learnt that we must reach the bus early in order to find space for our bags in the boot of the bus. This time we had last but one seat on the left side of the bus. This bus had the least leg-space we ever saw in any bus. But soon we derived a way to sit comfortably in it. :-)

The bus was soon full and as per schedule, it left the bus stop exactly at 5 am. But we could only travel at snails speed due to the traffic jam, all due to the senselessly parked vehicles. Since there is no enough parking space in Gaurikund, many buses were parked on the narrow roads leading to Gaurikund. We only travelled 4 kms in 4 hrs!! So we were still near Gaurikund even at 9.00 am!! But the biggest relief was that, we had a sensible driver and conductor this time. So we completely trusted them and did not worry ,even at times when our bus seemed to be on the last gravel of the hill.

When moving at snails speed, we got a closer look at the plastic hazard. It was a pain to see the amount of plastic dumped just about anywhere and everywhere on the hills and in the water. Small example of huge plastic hazard that we saw....bottles are just about everywhere

And worst of all are the thin colorful plastic raincoats. They are just broken down to smaller and smaller pieces in water, making it impossible to clean them up. At least bottles can be hoped to be picked some day. But not these.

I was pained seeing this plastic hazard. I also felt guilty when I thought of the empty water bottle I dropped in dustbin of our room. I feared that the dustbin would be emptied in these waters shortly. So virtually, I too would have contributed to this. I remembered that, none of our farmer friends carried water bottles. Each one of them carried water in their personal steel containers and refilled it at every bore-well they saw. Something to learn again!!

I diverted my attention off from plastic hazard soon, as the sight was very depressing. So I turned to something most cheerful. Observing the flood of people!! The roads were so much jam packed with vehicles, that people had no space left to walk. Everyone coming TO Gaurikund, got down from their vehicles, to walk and reach Gaurikund. But soon they realized, that walking too wasn't easy. But nothing could stop them, and we saw people(men, women and even kids) climbing and walking on the railings at the edge of the hill- just to keep moving!! To add onn, to the crowd, there were also some porters with their mules, adding lots of chaos and fear to the already existing complexity.

But all this provided very good entertainment to the people in the bus like us. People in the bus, immediately started commenting , laughing and admiring the spirit of the people. So there was no need of 'breaking the ice' session between us. There was a Punjabi family of 3 from Bhatinda and also a family of 3 from Lucknow in the last 6 seats of the bus behind us. We all got along very well during the entire journey.

Finally after 4 hrs of wait, the traffic jam eased at 9.00 am. It was a smooth ride after that. We had a gala time chit-chatting with our fellow friends about variety of topics. The most interesting ones being North Indian V/S South Indian cuisine and customs. They wondered how we South Indians can satisfy hunger with Idlis and dosas. And we wondered how could they digest the loads of ghee that they generously add to their parathas ;-) Also everyone had their own story to tell about the overpriced dirty rooms and the cold Kedarnath trek. We were shocked listening that some paid even 1200 Rs per night for the rooms!! I thought we were lucky to get it for half the price atleast!! Ohh, forgot to mention - everybody were all in praise for the amazing facilities and management at "VaishnoDevi" - something that was totally lacking here. And yeah, we both also got a pat on back for visiting places like Kedarnath at this young age ;-)

Everyone in the bus were hungry, but driver refused to stop anywhere for breakfast ,as we had already lost time in traffic jam. He told he will stop for early lunch at Chopta. He did as he told, at 11.30 and we ate till our stomachs were more than full, because, it was both our breakfast and lunch(and if there is any jam ahead ,then dinner too;-). Yet again, we had the delicious simple lunch at a small roadside dhaba.

And yeah, I must mention here that, when I had got down for lunch, I was literally limping. The results of our 14 km trek, was finally out!! We had got multiple muscle catch in our legs, all because our legs we were stationary today with no walk or exercise. I knew a full days journey was pending and it would only make the 'catch' worst.

The driver was in a hurry because he wanted to reach JoshiMutt before 4.30Pm. JoshiMutt is a place 50 km before Badrinath. From this place, its a one way journey to Badrinath. Meaning, the roads between JoshiMutt and Badrinath are gated. This measure is involved to minimize the risks on the highly high, narrow roads betwwen JoshiMutt and Badrinath. So at a time, there will be only downcoming or upgoing traffic-not both. The gates at JoshiMutt are closed when traffics are released from Badrinath and vice versa. The last gate open at JoshiMutt was at 4.30pm. So if reached after 4.30pm,we would not be allowed to go. This means we could go to Badrinath only next morning, spending the night at JoshiMutt. So our good driver was driving fast, and yet very carefully, thus keeping all of us fearless.

So post lunch, it was a non-stop journey to JoshiMutt. Most of the people in our bus, who had tight schedules kept their fingers crossed to see if we would make it to JoshiMutt before 4.30. But we saw that he could not make it. We only reached JoshiMutt nearly at 5.30. We observed that , as we neared JoshiMutt, our bus was stopped for every other person who hand signalled for the bus to stop. In short, many localites were getting on and off our bus. We were all wondering whats happening.

We got our answers, as we reached JoshiMutt at 5.30 where many more localites where waiting for our bus. We got to know that, since the local bus from JoshiMutt to Badrinath was canceled for the day-for reasons unknown to us-Our bus was now used as the local bus. This proved to be a blessing to us, because, even if it was 5.30, we were allowed to cross the gate and go ahead, for the only reason that the locals stranded in Joshimutt, could reach up to Badrinath by boarding our bus.

So once again we traveled, on high hills, on narrow fragile roads. Our driver had to drive very carefully as the vehicles coming from opposite side would not anticipate a vehicle from our side. So hence in the slow scary journey, we got to enjoy the glaciers and beds of ice which were seen at many places, as we reached close to Badrinath.

We finally reached Badrinath at 7.15pm. The first thing I observed was that Badrinath was very different from either Gangotri or Gaurikund or Kedarnath, in the way that, Badrinath seemed to be much more organized and spacious in comparison with above mentioned places. It had wider roads or walkways and the buildings were much more spread-out, giving a feeling that , it is prepared to handle any amount of crowd. I loved this feeling of being able to breathe fresh here :)

We did not have to go in search of rooms here. As, we planned to stay at KashiMutt- a hermitage constructed by the Swamiji who has been blessing our family since ages. We walked nearly 20 minutes from bus-stop to reach there and easily managed to get a room. We left our bags in the room and went out to get a feel of the place. The first sight of the temple was awesome. The temple is very colorful, a true beauty to the eyes.

We walked near the temple area and saw the infinite looking queue constantly moving inside the temple. Deciding visit temple, very early next morning, we walked towards a "restaurant" to have dinner (First time in our journey, where we could see restaurants and not dhaba). On the way, we met the punjabi family from our bus. They told that, their pundit told them to visit temple right now. They were told that, the temple is supposed to close at 9.30pm, but no matter what, they wont disappoint the people who are waiting in queue since long hours. They told us, they will join the end of queue and will complete the darshan today.

We were a little confused as to what to do. We had no clue how long it would take for us, if we get into queue now. We pondered about it as we had dinner and decided to give it a try now. We hoped it would be something like our Gangotri temple experience earlier, where we escaped all the queue just because we went right at the time when temple was closing.

To our sheer disbelief, it actually happened so!! We hardly waited for 15 minutes in fast moving queue and manged to get into temple at 9.10pm. We came out by 9.30 pm. Since devotees are not allowed to perform any rituals here, the queue moves very fast unlike in Kedarnath. Colorful Badrinath temple.

We met our Punjabi friends on our way out and we thanked them for their wonderful idea of visiting the temple at this time. Along with them, we headed straight to the bus-stop, to book tickets to Haridwar for the next day.We were told that there is bus at 6.30am next day and that the tickets will be issued only on the next day.

Deciding to meet them at bus-stop the next morning at 5.30am, we walked back to our room. We were very happy that, we were truly lucky, to have finished the darshan this easily. On reaching our room, we wasted no time and went to sleep, mainly because we were very tired, and also because, we had to wake up by 3.30 am the next morning, to have our dips in the fuming hot tapt kund near the temple before reaching the bus stop at 5.30 !!!

[To be continued in my next post]