Our Vaishnav Devi Trip

If you are going on a vacation with my dad, his youngest brother (my chotka papa), and his youngest sister (my chotki fua) with her husband (my chotka fufa), you can be certain it is going to the most interesting and amusing vacation!! I was lucky to go on one such trip with all four of them in our group to Vaishnav Devi. It has been the most fun and memorable trip ever.

Initially when the trip was planned, I was excluded because I had exams. Thanks to Patna University our exams got postponed. But then my younger sister's exam came up and this time the trip itself was about to be cancelled. But there is a famous saying about Vaishnav Devi……”if Devi Ma calls you, whatever happens you will go there to visit her !” And that's what exactly happened. My sister's exams got postponed too!!

“Chalo bulawa aaya hai…mata ne bulaya hai” !!

We went to Jammu and Katra by train. The town of Katra is located in a high altitude and in the hilly region of lower Himalayas in the Trikuta range and the shrine of Vaishnav Devi is situated about 61 kms from Jammu, at an altitude of about 5,200 feet over the sea level. The exact location of the site up hill is around 14 kms from the Katra town . Our real journey began from here where we had to walk to Vaishnav Devi temple.

The elders decided to plan the budget and made chotka fufa incharge of all the finances and nicknamed him “seth jee”. As we covered some portion of the yatra, we decided to stop for dinner at a restaurant. With our appetites satisfied we continued on our journey. After walking a few more kilometers chotka fufa realized he left his purse with all the money at the restaurant. There was panicky amongst the elders, not that we kids were much bothered by the whole hustle. We walked back to the restaurant and to our surprise a man came running behind us with the wallet. Well… that was one honest person! Impressed by the honesty of the local people, we once again continued with our journey.

At exactly half way of the yatra, we came to a place called Ardhkumari. This was the place where Vaisnav devi hid herself from Bhairavnath. We had to literally crawl through the cave to see where the devi hid herself. We formed a single line and moved in the cave with other people behind us. My dad, uncle, fua and fufa created a sudden chaos in the cave. All four of them suddenly discovered they were claustrophobic. They pushed other people, they screamed, they cried, they even showed they were fainting so that they could get out of the cave! But there was no way out, except to move with the queue. After much uproar and panic we finally came out through the other end of the cave! My poor dad looked breathless. My uncle was sweating and looked shocked with fright. My aunt looked at us for help and cried “get me out of here!” And where was my other uncle? Everybody panicked again looking for him. Someone shouted that as soon as he entered the cave he forced the people behind him and managed to get out again! Much to everyone's relief we saw him standing near a shop smiling.

We resumed our yatra once again. After hours we finally reached the temple of Vaishnav Devi. It was almost morning. All of us showered and walked towards the temple. We were made to sit in front of a cave, through which we had to walk to see the pindis(idols). We sat down waiting for the temple entrance to open. There were people everywhere. They all looked happy and sang devotional songs. I had just closed my eyes to feel the devotion when I heard whispering and confusion besides me. My dad whispered to her sister “oh no not a cave again!”. My aunt looked in the direction of the temple with fright! My other two uncles were sitting a little further from us. But, to my dismay I heard them shouting to my dad “another cave…. another cave” All four were rather nervous! They could not believe they had walked the entire night to go through a dreaded cave! My mom tried to relax them, but oh no....They were not taking any chances this time! Not after the ardhkumari cave experience. A priest came up enchanting shloks and verses. He signaled all the people to get up and go in the cave. Everyone maintained silence. Everyone except four people! My dad and uncle got up. A few people were directing us to the cave. My dad refused to go in the cave. My aunt and both uncles refused too. There was total confusion, with some people trying to convince them to enter the cave. Someone shouted at them to remain silent and pray to god. My uncle replied "there is a cave and you want us to pray. How can we!" My mom then asked someone if they could enter the temple through some other route. Much to everyone’s relief they could! While the rest of us walked through the cave, my dad, uncles and aunt walked through the tunnel happily. Inside, we prayed to the three pindis with great devotion.

On our return back, it began to rain and our group got separated. I found myself walking with my dad and sister. The rest were nowhere to be seen. As we walked we came across a small shrine. There were not many people there. All three of us were so tired that we did not want to climb the stairs that led to the shrine. An old man came to us and told us to climb the stairs and see the bhairavnath temple. He said not many people come to visit here and we were fortunate to be standing there. My dad gathered strength and began climbing the stairs. My sister and me followed behind him.

We finally met my mom and the rest of the group at Katra again. My mom was really happy to see us safe. Everyone had been worried about us.

And thus our Vaishnav Devi trip was a great success. From here we left for my elder sister’s place in Phillaur. Jai mata di....!