Day 2:
We woke up at 4:40 am to attend the most hallowed Ganga Aarti
on Har Ki Pauri @ 5:30 am. Amidst the
divine intonations and rhythmic ringing of bells sacred vibes permeated as
aarti was offered on the serene ghats under the rising Sun. Several small diyas
and flowers are floated down in the river during the ceremony. This sacred
ritual leaves an immortal impact on all the devotees. Due to heavy rains, Ganga
waters were flowing at a very high speed and even the water level was high.
Though it was endearing to watch, taking a bath can be dangerous.
Later we planned to visit the most famous Mansa Devi temple atop
of Bilwa Parvat on the Shivalik hills, the southernmost part of the Himalayan
Ranges. As we entered the ticket counters, we saw serpentine queues of tourists
impatiently waiting for their turns to get buy tickets for the Udan khatola or
the rope way. As the wait for the cable cars seemed indefinite, we thought of
trekking the hill to reach the temple. Upon enquiry we found out that by walk
it would be approximately 1.5 km trek. The initial walking stretch had roughly hundred
steps followed by a well laid out road. Walking up the steep slope was a true
test to our stamina and body clearly signalled its frailty and begged for a
better stringent exercise regime to become fitter. With every steep climb, our
weariness was nullified by the panoramic view of the holy town. River Ganga waters added the extra touch of
beauty to the vast green expanse around Haridwar. All along the climb, we enjoyed
watching several troops of monkeys, the rightful habitants of the hills. The
temple was thronged by several thousands of devotees and is packed to the
fullest. The principal deity, Mansa Devi is a form of Shakti and believed to be
emerged from the mind of Lord Shiva. She is regarded as sister of Vasuki and
Naga and believed to fulfil wishes of sincere devotee. The inner shrine has two
deities- one with eight arms and other with three heads and five arms. We
completed the darshan and trekking by foot in one and half hours. Haridwar is
literally floating with tourists and it would be impossible task to visit
Chandi Devi temple atop Neel hill before 12 noon. Temples here are closed
between 12 to 2 noon for lunch. We wanted to reach Mussoorie by evening en
route Rishikesh, so dropped the idea of visiting other ashrams as well. We
checked out of room and hired a rickshaw to reach the parking lot. Ride in the
rickshaw through the narrow market lanes of Haridwar was too good.
Rishikesh is 20 km away from Haridwar hence most people visit
both these places. As we moved on to the Haridwar-Rishikesh road it is packed
with vehicles. Bad roads and frequent breakdown of the vehicles on the road
made manoeuvring on the road impossible. Several police were stationed all
along the way to ease the traffic movement, but traffic was just crawling. The situation
was worsened as vehicles could go in a single lane at the railway crossing as a
result we could manage to traverse a path of 18 km in 90 min. It was the most tiring and strenuous part of the journey so
far. Nearly almost all the Babas, Swamiji’s or Sadguru’s had their ashrams in
either of the two places and all along the way we travelled we saw several
temples. It was so distressing that the two most famous pilgrimage centres with
huge tourism potential were replete with poor infrastructure. Indian tourism
industry and particularly religious tourism is making steady progress. But it
is disappointing that government has miserably failed in proper upkeep and
maintenance of the religious places and in building the infrastructure to
encourage tourism. Tourism as an industry has huge potential to generate
assured revenues and provide employment to millions of youngsters. Although the
drive from Haridwar to Rishikesh is supposed to be extremely beautiful as the
road passes through Chila elephant corridor, choked roads and crammed vehicles obliterated
the real fun.
Tirupati Balaji Temple on Haridwar - Rishikesh Road
Rishikesh is more beautiful than Haridwar, even the Ganga
waters are much cleaner. Located at the foot of Himalayas it has acclaimed
International Fame as Rock Group Beetles landed in the Maharshi Mahesh Ashram
in Rishikesh. Rishikesh is gateway to the Chardham yatra and widely famous as
the World Capital of Yoga. There are numerous ashrams and yoga centres across
the town and the place is frequented by foreigners. Though there are so many places to visit, due
to paucity of time and the jammed roads we decided to visit Lakshman Jhula
which is 5 km from the city. The drive
to Lakshman Jhula was through winding roads with steep ascent at several
places. In short it was like a miniature roller coaster ride at some places.
But all through the drive we could look at the pristine Ganga streaming through
the hillocks. It was very pleasant place and positive vibes seem to emanate
from the vibrant streams. Again as we were closing to Lakshman Jhula, crammed
roads made the passage through the hills difficult. There was huge commotion on
the road leading to Badrinath as the road ahead was blocked due to landslides.
There was hectic aerial activity as helicopters were ferrying men and food
supplies to people stuck in the hills. Massive relief operations were underway.
Lakshman Jhula is an iron suspension bridge and believed to
be used by Lakshman, to cross the river Ganga on a jute rope. Later a hanging
rope bridge without a pillar was built in his honour which existed till 1889.
It was 284 f long, but was washed way during floods in 1924. The present bridge
is 450 ft long and 70 ft above the river was constructed by Public works department
during 1927-29. The place is famous not only for its religious sanctity and
ancient origin but also for the market which sells wooden articles, rudrakshas,
holy books, gems and local jewellery. A thirteen storied Trayambakeshwar temple
is located on the other side of the jhula and houses various deities. The top
floor of the temple offers an excellent view of the surroundings. Other
important temples around the jhula are the Saccha Akhileswar Mahadev Temple
with 11 ft tall Shivling and has two spatika lingas also. Sri Raghunathji
Mandir, it has the idol of Lord Badrinath, Lakshman Mandir the only temple
where idol of Lakshman alone is worshipped. The entire area of Lakshman jhula
is a different entity engrossed in enchanting mantras and holy recitations from
the temples all around.
Rishikesh located at the confluence of Chandrabhagha river
and Ganga is now developing into an adventure capital of India offering scope
for wide variety of adventure sports like white water rafting, trekking
expeditions to Himalayan Ranges. It is also strictly vegetarian city, alcohol-free
by law and completely bans plastic bags. After the brief stint at land of
sages, we moved onto Dehradun, 42km away. As we moved away from Rishikesh
towards west roads were less crowded and the drive was more relaxing. Road is
in very good condition but one has to be very careful with the 6-seater autos. Drive
on Rishikesh –Dehradun road was great fun and mesmerizingly beautiful as it
passes next to the elephant corridor. After every 2-3km on road, sign boards
with warning about the attacks of wild elephants were planted. Though we
couldn’t spot any elephant a troop of monkeys crossed our path. Dense
vegetation, a rarity in the concrete jungles of metros is a visual delight here.
We passed through several villages and since the road was well maintained, we
could traverse the distance very fast with the speedometer often kissing
100kmph mark. But the speed had to be curtailed as we approached Dehradun
Railway crossing, where traffic was passing through in a single lane. Our
intention in travelling to Dehradun was not to explore the city but to go to
Mussoorie. Perturbed by the volume of traffic moving towards Mussoorie, we were
doubtful about finding accommodation in the hill station hence we planned to
stay back in Dehradun at night. But luckily we managed to get a beautiful room
in Bharat resorts @ Rajpur on Old Mussorie road, 19 km from Dehradun. The
resort is ideally located to savour the scenic grandeur and beauty of the Gharwal
hills and provided desired refreshment and relaxation after the tedious journey.
After a quick shower and sumptuous dinner we discarded all our plans of
visiting some nearby places and retired to bed.
Rishikesh
Rishikesh –Dehradun Road
Photography: T. L. S. Bhaskar, Ramaharitha and Samanvit Teegela
@ Copyrights reserved.
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