Jai Mata Di
Against all odds, I managed to make a trip to Vaishno Devi - finally being able to
complete the 'trek' about which I had heard lots - those stories about having to pass through the cracks in the rocks, going through tunnels, and all. It was nothing less than divine- an out of the earth experience. I was fascinated with the sheer beauty of the place - lush green forests, and some of the most beautiful peaks, with natural colors of Jammu making the whole place just picture perfect.
The weather played its role in adding a certain surrealness to the whole place - when we started it was sunny and we had to stop to get caps - without realizing that
these caps would be very helpful in another couple of hours when rain would start poring in - Not withstanding the downpour and the fact that we were drenched completely, we carried on our ascent - braving the weather and egged on by echoes of 'Jai Mata Di' chants throughout the valley - thereby completing the sound and light show making it a memorable climb to the top. The icing on the cake was when we were able to attend the aarti in the evening and darshan once in the evening, and once again before departing.
Though we took the new route, which avoids the Ardhkuari, and Sanjhi Chat, the smell of horse dumplings was not missed much, and only came as a refresher on our way down, by when we were too tired to care too much...
A couple of interesting observations
- we met a few dhaki's playing the all famous bengal's dhak beat and charming everyone to get dancing and forget the tiredness of the climb
- noticed that pine trees display the effect of photo-kinethesis growing in only one direction
- you cant trek much on wet shoes, socks - there is the excuse of me backing out from the the climb to Bhairavs..
Jai Mata Di
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PS Jai Mata Di / Jai Mata ki is used in every way - to say hello, good-bye, "Thank You", and "No Thank You"
