LORD OF LORDS "MAHAKAL"

I reached Mahakal at the time of shayan aarti (the prayers offered to God at night for good sleep), the Jyotirlinga is adorned with saffron, cashews, cannabis pipes(bhang) adding beauty and glory to the God. At once, my eyes were stucked seeing the beauty of the shrine and the tranquility that the temple holds. It was really amazing to see Mahakal in front of my eyes, but I want more, I want to be very close to him.

Jyotirlinga of Mahakal

So, here comes my wish to be fulfilled, I had not slept for once in a night because I've to get ready for early morning prayer(Bhasma Aarti) which starts at 4 am but you have to be in queue at around 2  am in the morning to get inside the premises. In the bhasma aarti, the girls have to wear only saree, while the boys have to wear lungi only, otherwise you are not allowed inside the premises. It is the only time of the day when you will get to serve your heartiest prayers in the form of Jalabhishek thats too of Shipra river to the Mahakal, the serving prayer lasts for two hours where the shrine is bathed with Bhasma(ash) came from crematorium(shamshaan), but the last 15 minutes were like I was having face to face appointment with God like he came himself to ask what I want. It was really the moment that I can never forget in my life, "the real encounter with real God".

I was so fortunate that I experienced to see all of the prayers offered to Mahakal, It was believed that mere look of Mahakal with truest of your intentions can uplift all your negativities, afflictions and sins out of you. One can also have a prasad of chappan bhog offered to Mahakal at an cost of just Rs 5, a slip that is provided by registered shops inside the temple acting as a coupon for you till the day.

Inside View of Mahakal Temple

Since I am an extreme devotee of Lord Ganesha, so the land where Matarani and Lord Shiva is present, how can one forget the  presence of their dear child, Ganesha, so here it is, Bada Ganesh Mandir, also known as Chintaman Ganesh as mere look of him freed you from all of your stress. Inside the temple, a huge idol of Lord Ganesha is present.

Meanwhile, there is also an embodiment of 5 dham in Ujjain, so if you won't be able to reach five dhams in your life, you can take a privilege of that also in Ujjain. 

So, a trip to Ujjain proved to be calm, placid and serene for my soul and mind. Coming back from Ujjain, I lost all of my lavish desires, the only thing that comes back is relaxing mind and a positive feeling towards life. Its like a restless soul turned into relaxing soul. It is the most inexpensive and promising trip as well as it takes  just two days to cover entire major destinations in Ujjain. 

LAND OF FAITH & MYTHS "UJJAIN"

Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, the popular destination for all the Hindus, I ended up here few days ago with less faith, more for relaxing holidays but the serene and powerful impact of surroundings be it air, land and people make me to fall over indispensable faith again. Believe me, whether you are theist or atheist, a trip to Ujjain is promising to all. You can see some of the magical powers always chasing you in form of prayers, chants and god. It is called as land of miracles, and it is really one of its kind, ruled by generous, yet powerful king Vikramaditya, one can still find some traits of him in the public over there. My trip to Ujjain started with Guruji who resides there, giving his life in devotion to Mahakal (Lord Shiva).

A portrait of King Vikramaditya

I took a direct express train to Ujjain from New Delhi which is the cheapest, yet comfortable mode for travel. We reached in the morning  to Ujjain station at 9 am and it seemed like it's quite afternoon, the land and air both are heating up my soul.

Chirping of birds at railway station

I took an autorickshaw to Mahakal temple where my arrangements were previously done by Guruji. It was amazing feeling to experience over there, the devotees were roaming all around, you can feel the pious presence of God and Goddesses all around there. It is said that there exist 33 crores of God and Goddesses in Hindu religion, and trust me no matter whom you have a faith on, you can feel his sacred presence on that piece of land.

Inspite of being so reverent place, the land of Ujjain can also promise you showing  your childhood fantasies in reality. You, might have heard about the stories of Vikram Betaal, so one can see that famous tree where Betaal used to hang still there on the ghats of Shipra river. 

The famous Vikram Betaal tree

Alongside of Shipra river, it is believed that ones who had afflictions(doshas) can be freed from them by serving prayers for them. So, myriad of priests are residing there, promising to entangle you out from your doshas. Also, the famous Kalpvriksha(the tree which is used to fulfill all the wishes) exist there. So, there are countless scopes where you will be listened by god.

Priests doing rituals for getting rid of afflictions

Next destination is Manglnaath temple, the only temple dedicated to Mars planet in the world. The nice thing about the temples in Ujjain is all of these temples are naturally originated and the way the shrines are adorned is just mesmerising and makes you hypnotized once.

The most attention seeker is Kalbhairov Mandir there, the uniqueness about there is that you will get all the liquor shops outside the temple, and hold on, it is not at all offending, the liquor is given to Bhairo Baba in form of Prasad and yes, you will get one too for your way back home to share it with your family and friends...!! How amazing is that..!

Kalbahiron Baba shrine

You will be surprised to know that Baba is capable of drinking entire liquor offered to them in a day which is poured by the priest in the plate and many researches have been done to know the scientific reason behind it but none is able to find where that liquor goes.

In the evening, I got a chance to see Harsiddhi Mata Mandir where the elbow of Matarani has fallen, so you may predict how pious this place can be. One could fall for her the way she is adorned, seeing the kindness in her eyes makes you forget everything at an instance. I reached there at the time of evening prayers offered to Mata, the best thing about Hindu prayers is the intonating and lavishing music they used to deliver to the goddesses letting all your negativity out of you and pleasing to your ears. I also saw the ignition of the famous traditional deepmala there also, which is ignited by the devotees only when their wish has been fulfilled by the Mata . It was an enlightened feeling there taking you to centuries ago.

Inside view of Gribhashaya of Harsiddhi Mata Mandir

Harsiddhi Mata

In a way, we ought to see the famous Ram Mandir lying on the banks of Shipra river where the spectacular Kumbh Mela is going to be held, one can find huge preparations going on by the government these days. 

Also, there one can observe the footprints of Lord Krishna as he had taken his teachings from Sandipani Guru, one can still see some of his remains in the form of museum protected by his heirs and the government. 

I took my first meal for the day in the evening and I must say, if you are a foodie, then Ujjain will definitely going to disappoint you as you won't get anything special out there to eat. So, after dinner, I am going to have my first step in Mahakaleshwar temple, where the sacred shrine of Mahakal resides.

To know more about Mahakal, follow me on my next post LORD OF LORDS "MAHAKAL". 

FEW WORDS FROM HEART

I am not a writer and I never wanted to be one, I never thought of writing a blog before going to Kashmir, sharing my experiences with people like this, but may be the hospitality, love and warmth of the Kashmiris forced me to pick my pen up to write about the stories they ever wanted to tell the world. They hail from the most beautiful land known in the world, they are the most beautiful people themselves, they dont need to prove anything, they are the multitasking and multi talented people who are blessed with the extreme pictureperfect beauty of nature. 

Yes, things are somewhat tough there but it was not exactly as shown by the media channels and the corrupt politicians. I think I am very immature to write on such a bold subject, I was writing with the experiences what we have observed about Kashmir, their people, their warmth and affection of treating people. They welcome you with all their hands and hearts open. 

Its not like what we see here, the nature and some malicious people is not destroying them, its our thinking, its our perspective that ruin their ventures, its our fear of losing ourselves by going there seeing the myriad of problems on media which actually was not as big as shown by them. They know how to tackle the toughest challenges of their life, the clouds burst, the floods cant destroy their will, their power, their courage. The only way we can support them is by reducing our fear, by accepting faith and trust on their genuinity, even the nature wants it, thats why all the charming beauty lies there.

I must say if I got a chance I could spend my entire life there serving the nature. Some told me after coming back  that we met the right people that's why my entire trip goes well, but for me, the people are always good, its our perspective of seeing them that decides their behavior towards us. I am proud that KASHMIR is a shining crown of INDIA.

Still, I and my family were really thankful to all the people who made this trip success,  especially Mr. Shahid Bhat who treated us, cared for us like his own family, he did not said that only, he actually meant it. Had he not been there, Kashmir cant be such a wonderful experience for us. I have been there just for fun, enjoyment and relaxing holidays, I never thought that We'll make such good relations from the people out there that we'll never forget in our lives.

I made very good friends out of this trip, some memories that will always be cherished by us, I do not know when I am going to meet them again, but I would definitely love to trek the unexplored regions of Kashmir and its nearby area in future soon. With the beautiful memories, signing off from this blog from our mesmerising Jannat-e-Kashmir, please spare me for the pictures and my writing as an amateur photographer and writer tried her best to showcase the beauty of Kashmir, the heaven on earth which is just impossible to be captured in words or framed in pictures. 

RELAXING AT GARDENS

After Amarnath Darshan, our next destination led us to the local sightseeing tour of Srinagar which we started with the famous Mughal Gardens, "Shalimar Bagh" made by Shah Jahan, richly lined by fountains and its door gives you the tradition Mughal impression, there were some ramps made in between and entirely cultured by the wide varieties of richly species of flowers rare to be seen. In the gardens, one can find the local crowd enjoying with their families and friends, the well managed and well furnished plants all around gives you a relaxing experience all over.

Some views of Shalimar Garden

After relaxing there for sometime, our taxi drove us out through the lining of Foreshore (referred as Mumbai's Marine Drive by locals) to the Pari Mahal, constructed by Dara-Shikoh, the eldest son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for her queens in order to view the entire Dal Lake from there. It is a six storeyed building and from each storey, one could observe the entire Dal Lake. 

View of Pari Mahal from Dal Lake

Inside view of Pari Mahal

The beauty of Dal Lake can be seen from its terrace

Beautiful sunset from its corner

Shades of the evening

From the Pari Mahal, we headed towards Chashm-e-Shahi, the place where water from natural spring emerges, much pure than our normal mineral water and it is chilled enough too. One could observe the small kashmiri boys playing there so childishly giving you unending joy. It was really amazing to feel proud that there still exists a state in India where parents are so willing to let their children play with nature which helps in building their confidence, otherwise in plains, we only have big malls, supermarkets, PS3, etc to entertain our children from where they could only feel gadgets, there is nothing natural or evergreen for us to show them.

Entrance view of Chasm-e-shahi 

Source of Natural Spring

From there, we met Shahid and his brother Faisal, this was going to be our last yet memorable meet  in a week's stay of ours in Srinagar. They drove us to the highly respected Hazratbal, my sister Pooja eagerly wanted to be there and by her wish, we got to listen the last closing prayer of the day. It is believed, whatever you wished there, you got that thing. From there, Shahid took us to the shop from where we purchased a woollen jacket for our father. Throughout the time, we let his car windows opened as we want to sublime that fresh and unpolluted air of Srinagar in our souls. He then dropped us to the hotel. Its time to say goodbye to our friend who cared for us more than a family member in the unknown city making Kashmir really an unforgettable experience for us urging our minds to stay more in this heaven.

After having our dinner, we did not talk much, might be, we want to occupy our minds only with all  the unsaid experiences we felt in the Jannat.  

The next morning we went to Shankracharya temple, it was located on highest range, with around 289 stairs for climbing up. The cameras and mobile phones are not allowed there so have no good picture of inside view of temple. It was the oldest temple having shrine of Lord Shiva, the temple was built by Adi Guru Shankracharya where he did his penance(tapasya). Some of his purest remains were still remain preserved by the authorities.

View of Shankaracharya temple from Dal Lake

The immensity of the temple can be judged from the fact that when you stand on its roof, you can observe the view of entire Srinagar. After coming from the temple, we took our breakfast in the famous Krishna Dhaba in the Dal Market which is the only yummiest source of delivering vaishno (pure vegetarian) food to the tourists.

Having our stomachs so deliciously full, we boarded our flight from Srinagar to Delhi storing pleasing memories in our heart about the rich culture of Kashmir and its people.

PRANAM TO BABA BARFANI

The early morning we got ready to meet Baba Barfani, Shree Amarnathji, our taxi was waiting for us outside hotel at 5 in the morning. We had to reach by 9 am to catch our helicopter ride from Neelgrath helipad near Baltal, but as we were proceeding to our way, the clouds and the foggy weather following us throughout making our journey pleasant and exciting, yet making it fearful for our flights to take off as it was impossible for chopper to fly helicopter in foggy weather amidst of steep hills. So, we had to wait whole day for the weather to be supportive to us so that our helicopter might take off. Though, We had yatra permits along with us also that would help us to walk the entire path or ride through horses or take a pony,  but we were firm to wait for another day, for the weather to be clear. So, by the evening, 4 pm, it was declared that no flights would be going to take off. 

Dense fog covering our ways

Lets walk towards river for some relaxing moments

So, here started with our next adventure without wasting a day, a trip to meadow of Gold, Sonamarg. Sonamarg is indeed a beautiful place most popular for Thajwas Glacier and its amazingly picturesque beauty in the scenes of our favourite Bollywood movies like Satte pe Satta, Ram teri Ganga Maili ho gyi,  Heena, Mann, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and many more.  It is the beauty of Kashmir that we praised in movies guarded by the people over there so profusely. 

View where the famous movie Satte pe Satta shot

Thajwas Glacier was the only place in my month of travel, i.e., August where we observed ice all over. Its just the first time in my whole trip where I and Pooja actually got to trek otherwise we along with Shilpa had to take care of our parents so either had to go by their choice of way, but it was quite fun to be on family trip, you got to be extra cared of and you feel the extremely protective and innovative nature of each of them which you had never experienced before.

Thajwas Glacier

Our taxi driver Mushtaq accompanied us to icy glacier  which is waiting for us to touch us, throughout the way, the gushing sounds of river water cracking rocks filling music to our ears and the spellbound picture perfect beauty seemed pleasing to our eyes. 

In the way, the flock of sheeps took our sight on them, we tried to touch one of them, but Mushtaq warned us as each of them were guarded by a dog who was always ready to bite at you, if you did any harm to them.

Unique but different in its flock

Finally after walking for around one hour in the fascinating beauty of nature, we found our feet on ice which was just like a refrigerator. It seemed like someone had put you all inside a compressor, but I would like to mention that the excitement of being refrigerated was so high that we shred off all our warmers till we reached there...!!

After experiencing the ice so closely under our feet, there was nothing more, we could desire of now, we played there though the ice was not as much as we expected, but it was cherishable for us to find that much also. We returned quite freely as it was less tiring to climb down the mountains than to climb up.

Till the time, Shahid booked our hotel in Ganderbal (8 kms from Sonamarg), Hotel Snow Hill, it is worth mentioning here that the hotels were quite expensive and full that day because of the cancellation of helicopters, many devotees waited in Sonamarg Hotels for another day, I didnt know how Shahid managed to get the hotel on such a short notice so well. In the hotel, we were welcomed with warmth by the hotel staff, this is what Kashmiris are to be praised of, they were always so welcoming to their tourists, that they recieved you with all the affecion they had. We were served with kahwas in the traditional style kashmiri cups, that made that beverage more pleasing. In the night, we had our dinner which we ordered very light as we were already very tired, the entire night it was raining heavily making us feel the next day was going to be real tough for us.

The next day we all set to check out at Neelgrath helipad whether the flight was going to take off or not, the weather was not again clear in the morning, so it was a common decision that we'll go by horses as it was not quite possible for us to wait for another day. 

So, I called Shahid, told my plan to him, he quickly made all arrangements for us. But as the Baba listened to our eagerly pledge which mata had declined to reach to him by helicopter, the weather was cleared within 5 mins, from the dense fog, there we saw a sun shining on our head, so what we took our helicopter ride to Panjtarni, a place where waters from 5 streams merged. At that time, the only thought that comes in my mind, "Woa...bhagwaanjii ab aap bhi maze lene lag gaye..??"  But from the whole  incident, I learnt one thing, never ever take alternatives in your life because that will always make you puzzled, stick to one decision and have full faith on it and you will definitely gonna get it. Had there been no Yatra Permits with us, we never went to cancel our tickets in rush and booked them again out of our own foolishness. 

We had to spend our whole night in the tents, where we met Shastri, Union President of Tent Association, he hailed from Pahalgam and was doing such a spritual work there for the proper and comfortable settlement of the devotees. After talking to Shastri, we realised that the media picturised Kashmir as another world, but it is the crown of India which even god appreciated for, one can imagine it from a fact, the highest pilgrimage of Hindus, the holy shrine was care taken by Muslim community residing there, they do it with pride, like their own culture, they take care of our basic necessities from our comfortable stay to the food we eat, helped us through ponies or horses to walk us through the cave, the soldiers there guarding the shrine or taking care of medical facility, if needed, all of them are Muslims. They are us, they are humane, they are the most sensitive people residing on this earth, so why does this media and politicians , some corrupt people destroying the image of entire nation. The God is one, and its child is one, its just that our ways of saying prayers to him are different like the different languages we follow here. 

Shastri arranged the most expert and trained palkis and horses for us on advice of Shahid. They took us to the holy cave in the morning, finally after climbing around 489 stairs, we encountered Baba Barfani, I did not know what others in my group prayed for, I seriously thanked him for arranging this trip and letting me meet such a nice people on earth. I got prasad from inside the cave but that for me, it did not only belong to me, it was all for Shahid, who helped me out throughout the journey inspite of struggling with his own issues, he was sent to me by God so that I could fulfill the dream of my parents. So without even a second thought, I gave it whatever I got from there to him as soon as I returned. 

Holy Cave of Shri Amarnathji

Our happiness did not know any boundations after we returned from darshan, it was euphoric and that was the day in last four months when I felt like sleeping actually because I got what I wanted through this trip, the unending satisfactory smile on each of their faces. 

On the banks of Panjtarni, we got a chance to interact with an Army Officer who was on his duty there, he told us that Kashmir was a real safe place to visit, there were no as such problems shown by media, the army was always there to guide and protect it. 

At the Neelgrath helipad, Pooja met Irfan from Irfan Arts & Creations, Kashmiri with a real fascinating and innocent smile, he used to do handwork on Shawls manually, he sold pashmina and told us the value of Pashminas meant to Kashmiris that it can be resold back as we did with gold, it was new to us but as well as relishing to our ears that how much they value it. We purchased some shawls from him to gift to our relatives and friends who were waiting so curiously for us. 

In the evening, we returned back to the hotel in Lankar resort after 3 long days but still with satisfaction in our hearts, got freshed and relaxed for some time, till we all set to go for our next destination of local sightseeing in Srinagar to please our hearts to the last night in Jannat-e-Kashmir.

CALLING FROM PAHALGAM

The next morning, its time to say goodbye to our two night pleasant and homely stay of houseboats and we transferred our luggage to hotel, 'Lankar Resort' near Nigeen lake which was already booked by Shahid for us . The hotel  gives you a pleasant first impression with the walls furnished by the pictures of famous sightseeing in Srinagar(Dal Lake, Shalimar Bagh, Pari Mahal), the rooms are really comfortable promising enough to give you luxurious stay. There was no time to us to sit and relax in our new stay, so we just put our luggage safely in the rooms with the help of service attendants and started our journey to the beautiful valley, Pahalgam, also known as the meadow of shepherds, this time accompanied by Shahid throughout our way. It is always fun to have a localite with you as your guide, but we had him as our friend, as our family member in the unknown city.

We shared pleasantaries with each other, because of him we got to know about the importance of walnut trees that they are banned to be cut or harmed by any of the means by J& K government until or unless they are dried or fallen by themselves. They treat it as their treasure, their asset as it is used to make many durable articles which uplift the economy of their state. So, one could imagine in a country, where golds and diamonds are considered to be precious, the people in this state felt their treasures in walnuts, deodars and pashminas, how simple and genuine can these people be..!

He showed us apple gardens with the taste of best chucha(tea in kashmiri language).

Pooja enjoying amidst apple gardens

In the way, he told us about how Kashmir had survived the floods last year with the courageous efforts shown by the people there, how they helped each other in recovering from the natural tragedy which came like a haunting monster to them all of a sudden. The relief camps done by them to serve their own people in the most disastrous situation they had ever faced, the first two struggling days when not even army or local police helped them, its their ability, their courage, their passion to live, their love, their care, their strength gave them hand in hand to protect their people and their tourists. I could still feel the glory of protecting his people with some pain in his eyes of being witnessed that heartbreaking situation still with a satisfaction that he did his best efforts to save his people, his state. I could realise that that must be the most toughest time for the people of Kashmir to see themselves flooded everywhere, the flood might washed away their homes, their money but not the richness in their hearts. It is this richness that makes them able to stand again boldly enough on their feets with pride. I must say, the people there doesn't need the sympathy of others, they only need your extreme faith on their state and them to grow and build themselves.     

We brought towards Sangam on our way to the valley where the river Lidderwat confluences with the glaciers of Sheshnag Lake from Himalayas. 

Confluence of two rivers known as Sangam

Finally, we reached to the beautiful green valley of shepherds, Pahalgam. It is famous for its horse riding, here one could observe the 'Mini Switzerland'. It is filled with luscious evergreen trees covering the entire valley. We hired seven horses there for the popular sightseeing like Waterfall, Kahmir Valley, Baisaran, Dubian and Pahalgam Valley recommended by Shahid to us. They charged 1600 INR for each horse though the applicable government rates were different. As we started to ride, we were mesmerised by the magical greenery of the valley, the tallest trees, the natural plantations as long as your sight falls was something your eyes longed desperately to see in the plains where we live.

Our first stopping point was waterfall, the crystal clear beauty it was, we relaxed there for sometime, but unfortunately my aunt was not feeling comfortable so she had to go down the valley with Shilpa with a heavy heart where I asked Shahid to take care of them which he did very nicely and I was really thankful to him from the bottom of my heart for it because of him we were relaxed somewhere inside that they were safe down.  

The next we saw Kashmir valley, from where the entire view of Kashmir can be seen, must say at that time you will feel like you are at top of the world, there's nothing more beautiful than that.

Trying to hug entire kashmir with my small hands...

The next stoppage is our much awaiting 'Mini Switzerland' also known as Baisaran, though it was not covered with ice as Switzerland supposed to be in our dreams, as we got a little early to visit the place, but it still seems astonishingly beautiful and eye catching. The locals got you to pose with their sweet and cute sheeps and rabbits. One can enjoy adventure like Zorbing at a cost of Rs 150 per head there which makes you look your world upside down at same time. We got a chance to experience that wonderful moments also.

A view of Mini Switzerland

Getting ready for Zorbing

Since we were quite worried about our aunt and Shilpa, so we have to rush to the downstairs quickly leaving our exploration for the spellbound beauty of Pahalgam for our next trip. The one could enjoy the places like Chandanwari, Aru Valley, Betaab Valley, Sheshnag lake there which are located few kms away from there. We promised the valley that we would come back again to explore its hidden magical beauty from us. 

On the way back, Shahid took us to the famous kahwa shop, though the kashmiri delight is kahwa, but the taste of it changes with every  few kilometres and undoubtedly, that is the best kahwa I had tasted in Kashmir. The name of that place is Zamindari Kesri Kings in Pampore located at few distance from Pahalgam. Pampore is famous for its plantations of saffron and Zamindari Kesri Kings is doing its best job to deliver the purest of its species, one can get any dry fruit from there in its purest and amazingly form.

Plantations of Saffron

So, late in night we reached the hotel back and we were quite amazed with the most delicious dinner ordered by Shahid for us, the masaledaar bhindi, the zaykedaar paneer still watering my mouth while writing this. We scrounged on the food, let our stomachs full, relaxed in our rooms for Amarnath Darshan next day.