Last time I was in Jammu was once in 1982 I think when as a final year medical student I came with my classmates for a week long stay in Srinagar ,that was,in blazing month of May when Delhi and Jammu were furnaces .
From Jammu where we reached by train from Delhi we went up to valley by a tortous 12 hour bus drive .
It was at night and I remember a town Batota where we had dinner of famus Rajma chawal .
I found some passengers adding rum to thier dinner too !
The next visit to Jammu was I think in early 2000s with Sruthi and Shyam as children .
This time we travelled in winter and it was truly cold .
The Delhi Jammu travel by train was a horror we cannot forget .
We had booked in Sleeper compartment from Delhi to Jammu due to lack of tickets we took unwise decision to book non ac sleeper between Delhi and Jammu ,we thought since it was winter we wont miss AC but never imagined non booked passengers filling a reserved compartment as in south this never happened .
it was filled with many who had no booking and most had no intention of leaving though respectful of our spaces .
The night we spent with people sleeping on floors aisles etc luckily they did not share our berths ,going to rest rooms were a torture as we had to step over many ,one time I stepped on someones fragile bag and something broke and the man punched me on face in anger though not hard ,it shook me a lot and decided never to travel in north india by train ,he later apologised as many shouted at him as it was my right to walk to rest room and he was the unauthorised person in compartment .
No TTR entered compartment even next day .
Train stuck in thick fog reached Jammu hours late ,by Punjab the crowds had melted away leaving us in relative peace .
Those days domestic flights were less and it was early days,of terrorism too .
many wondered at our risk of taking young children to such cold forebading places .
Our plan was to reach Jammu and go to Vaishno devi shrine .
Premilas cousin Harish pankan an army brigadier had made all arrangements for our safe travel from Jammu on and the horror in Delhi Jammu was totally unexpected .
I even was woken up on our return by a burly huge sardar policeman as I had a hooded jerkin covering my face and he wanted to find out if I was a terror suspect ,my Hindi illiteracy made it worse and Premila had to tick him off that I was no terrorist but her Dr husband and he stop being rude ,the sardar mumbled apologies and left .
I wrote it as Janpath jerkin in my blog then .
On reaching Jammu two military police awaited us ,they told us they would be with us for few,days,till we returned back ,one was from west Bengal other from UP they became friendly with Shyam and Sruthi and took care of them till our return .
They laughingly listened to our horror stories of train time and promised that our return journey to Delhi we would be VIPs ,they kept thier word as on our return to Delhi again in non AC sleeper they evicted all those withoutv booking from our compartment and gaurded both doors till departure that no one dared to enter ,on train they arranged military personell to check on off on our comfort telling them two army Drs are travelling in the compartment .
No one dared to enter it then not even the TTR !
From Jammu they took us to Udhampur army northern headqaurters where we were arranged to stay in Army officers mess .
It was truly a honour to be considered for staying there and we came to know of the army discipline neatness respect to guests and excellent food in mess .
Next day in an unmarked Ambassador as army jeeps were targetted we went to Katra .
Now trains ply between Jammu and Katra .
even a Vande bharath .
From katra we had to climb up almost for 4 to 5 hours but in a concrete sloping path built by famous music cassete and film producer of T series Gulshan Kumar who was murdered by terrorists for his known piety and a well known Hindu who ignored thier demands for funding money .
It seems after a visit to a shiv temple in Mumbai a terrorist sidled upto him with a revolver and keeping it close to his head told him I will send you now to your Shiva ,we hear Gulshan calmly told him please do what your karma is I will go through mine ,
We dont know if it really happened as someone in front of a gun may have pleaded to be not shot but its possible too since for Hindus soul can never be destroyed
The path of vaishno devi is trumy a testimony for the great man .
It was a tough climb with devotees chanting Jai mataaji ,both shyam and sruthi were taken by hand by Pandey and Bose and with fun and laughter they climbed .
we had darshan in VIP Army que rested in army area ( Army was king in those areas )
Later it took 8 hours of trudge to reach katra we then went by car to Patnitop a snow,laden hill station stayed in a CRPF officers area in a cottage
we frolicked in snow next day and returned back to Jammu and Delhi in style .
This time Jammu is pleasant a bit warm in day .
we plan to go by road to Srinagar spend 4 days and return and have arranged a car .
Yesterday we went to beutiful Raghunath jee temple dedicated to Sree Ram and walked in busy market area around .
My views of chaotic traffic in Cochin took a beating when I saw the mess in Jammu !
