Years back we planned a trip to Vaishnodevi temple in Jammu and Kashmir .
In nineties terrorism has already sprung in kashmir valley ,and Vaishnodevi was in the hotspot .
Premilas cousin was a senior army officer .
We requested him for help before we ventured .
He arranged everything through his friend as ettan was not posted there.
So we took a train to Jammu from Delhi .
Since it was winter and AC tkts were not available to book ,we booked in sleeper compartment .9
Never did we think our journey would be a horror.
From the moment we set foot on platform with two small children and luggage ,we knew we were in deep trouble .
North Indian stations in winter those days is not a pretty sight.
The platform was filled with people of all kinds ,old ,young ,children ,families ,sleeping ,sitting,smoking ,
some were even cooking with tiny stoves .
Coming from south india this was new to us .
The train too didnt come to platform on time
We wondered if we could reach our compartment comfortably
And when it did it was with great struggle .
We managed to reach our reserved compartment but found it full of army people lying on every available space .
Many had warned us that sleeper compartments in north india have no rules
We managed to evict them from our berths as they respected families and ladies .
We slept tired and cold but going to toilet wasnt easy .
By morning we found train was much delayed due to thick fogs and we would reach Jammu only by late afternoon .
The cold fields of Punjab sped by in a haze
Hungry and exhausted we blamed ourselves for this colossal mistake .
Somehow we reached Jammu got out .
Our destiny changed then .
We saw two military police smartly dressed saluting us and taking our bags .
They escorted us into army room in station and later to an army jeep .
We would go to Udhampur army headqaurters and spend the night in the officers guest house ,and the next day leave to Katra the foothill to Vaishnodevi temple .
The army guest house and camp was neat , sophisticated ,and as guests of a senior officer we were given an excellent place to stay.
We had dinner in the officers mess and slept well .
Two jawans were deputed to take us up to Vaishnodevi and back till we returned to Delhi from Jammu .
They were Bhagwan from UP and Pande from Bihar both were in civil dress.
We instantly got close to them and they both were very friendly with Sruthi and Shyam .
After breakfast an unmarked army ambassador car came for us .
The road to khatra from Udhampur was high range and fraught with danger as terrorism was rampant in those parts and it was snowing on off too .
An obvious army car would be a sitting target .
Both Bhagwan and Pande regaled us with tales .
The car left us at khatra .
Now a train goes upto khatra as Modiji has extended railway line for pilgrims .
From khatra we needed to climb the hills .
Though there were nice sloping tiled paths with steps on off ,plenty of shops, it was steep and a hardy climb .
Gulshan Kumar of T series a great devotee of ma Vaishnodevi had built the path .
Pande and Bhagwan took each of our kids , as they were not very happy in climbing a mountain whose top is reached after a couple of hours .
There were two other modes of climbing,one can be carried on a chair like a palanquin or on back strapped to climber caled Pithu specially for children ,
or by horse back .
Bhagwan and pande said those were not needed .
They asked us both to plod up slowly with our sticks which we all bought
they started running up with the children who joined them laughing.
Soon we lost sight of them .
It was hot in the lower area but got colder as we climbed higher.
The magnificient Himalayas stretched in front of us in panoramic beauty
The snowy peaks glistened in the pale sun .
We could have tea etc on the way and songs blared from shops .
Devotees danced sang and chanted Jai Mata jee to drumbeats to inspire those who plodded on .
After around 3 hours we reached the top.
The children were waiting happy with their army uncles .
We went into an army outpost and office freshened ourselves removed footwear to go into the temple.
The altar was inside a cave .
Earlier one needed to crawl a long distance those days there was a covered path .
Still nearing altar one needed to walk bent for a short distance .
Luckily we went by VIP entrance as army guests .
The army was all powerful in those areas .
After darshan we refreshed ourselves had some food .
We needed to climb some more to reach the Bhairon temple
This time we took horses though it was scary as the horses more like ponies tended to go the edges .
After Bhairon we started walking down.
I thought going down would be easy but it wasnt so at all .
Our knees hurt as we climbed down steeply .
Evening came but we were only half way through.
In the great distance we could see Khatras lights.
It was around 6 pm when we reached khatra totally exhausted .
Both children were tired
Thanks to bhagwan and pande who carried them down for some way
Our car was waiting and we were taken to a hill station called Patnitop .
We were to stay in CRPF camp there that night .
Pande and Bhagwan left us in a lovely guest cottage in a snowy slope and went to thier lodgings there.
An army cook made us hot chappatis with sabji .
He had to go for sentry duty after that ,so told us to have good rest and went away .
Children had already slept off in bedroom under heavy blankets
We too tried to sleep off but it was bone chilling cold.
There was no electricity only an iron fire bucket in hall .
We both foolishly carried the bucket with hot coals into bedroom for warmth .
As we were dozing off ,we suddenly realised we could all be dead of carbon monoxide poisoning by morning in the closed room .
In a panic we carried the hot fire bucket back to hall calling ourselves rank idiots .
Morning came
It was scintillating
Our cottage in camp was like in a fairy tale with powdery snow ,tall firs and poplars and so cool .
Children too were fresh .
We told of our idiocy to Bhagwan and Pande who had a hearty laugh.
After breakfast we went by our car to a skeing area where we threw snowballs and enjoyed ourselves .
Later we drove back to Jammu station and we parted with Pande and Bhagwan hugging them and giving them some gifts we had bought for their families .
We were in touch with them for some years .
This time the military police in smart uniforms escorted us in Jammu station into our berths
They stood gaurd in front of doors to see only reserved passengers got in .
So we returned very comfortably
Jai mata jee
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