Back to Ahmedabad

24 August 2008,

We checked out of the hotel next day morning @ 8 AM. It was time to move back towards the polluted atmosphere of city. The next destination of our journey was Hrishikesh . Chamba is around 62 kms from Hrishikesh. This distance could be covered in around 3-4 hours.

We were looking for an acceptable (if not decent) place for breakfast. After traveling for an hour or two we took a halt at one of the road side dhaba.

According to us, "Aalu bhaaji" (a dish prepared from potatoes with or without gravy) was the best option (as if we had choices! :D :D). By the time they prepared Aalu bhaji for us, I bought a packet of potato chips from the shop besides the dhaba to help myself.

The dhaba was blessed with river flowing in the back yard. This attracted me - although there was nothing special about the place. Devbhumi (Devbhumi = abode of Gods . Uttarakhand , also known as Devbhumi, hosts some of the holiest Hindu shrines for more than a thousand years now and pilgrims have been visiting the region in the hopes of salvation and purification from sin) has always attracted me despite of all the odds. I don't know why ! Logically odds drive people away and make them more resistive. However it turned out to be reverse with me. There is something in this soil which keeps on attracting me towards itself. Not sure if this is the case only with me though!

The more challenging the trip became, the more it interested me. I wish next time we can go for the darshan of remaining 2 shrines - Kedarnath and Badrinath. Looking @ the time-work matrix, I am not sure if this wish will translate to reality, since some other important commitments are coming my way in future. Lets see what future has in store for me.

Oops, I am already off the track. Back to topic - Somehow we swallowed the Aalu bhaaji and had tea and then continued with our journey towards Hrishikesh. At around 1 PM, we reached Hrishikesh. Juices have been our best buddy on the entire journey. This time as well, we stopped @ a juice stall in Hrishikesh and helped ourselves with fresh fruit juice. Just opposite to the juice stall was Rajasthan handicraft emporium. We popped in and checked out things there. Well, honestly speaking, we found everything over priced and may be this was one of the reasons that the place experienced only niche customer base :P.

Since we have been to Hrishikesh previously, we didn't explore it much and moved straight towards Haridwar. Around 3 pm we were back to Haridwar. Well this time as well, lucky enough that we were able to find a unit @ Gujarati Bhawan. Generally in Shravan, Gujarati Bhawan is quite occupied and finding an accomodation is not easy. Actually, had we been a day late, we too won't have found a unit. Next day I was able to see the sign board of "No Vacancy" in front of the booking office.

Well, there is no support for phone or advanced booking @ Gujarati Bhawan. Can't help it, that's the way it is.

We had no planned activity for rest of the day. After some rest we moved to "Har ki Paudi" for the darshan of evening aarti (prayer) of Gangaji. We reached well ahead of time. I and dad took bath in the holy waters of river Ganga. Well by now mom learned quite a lot about photography. She kept on capturing our snaps. After the aarti, we hanged around in the market. Mom did some shopping of diya's and other stuff which could be presented to other society members.

Time moved quite fast and by the time we noticed, it was almost 10.


25 August, 2008

Next day morning, the first thing that we were supposed to do was to book a return ticket for us (we did book it in advance - according to schedule, 2nd September was the return date, however the schedule changed later on due to land slides). We got up early in the morning (6:30 am) and got ready by 7:30 am. As expected the queue was already formed by the time I and dad reached the station. Both of us queued on 2 different windows and kept waiting for next three hours. The reason both of us queued was just to kill the time. Finally dad's turn came first. This trip some how kept on surprising me and this time it was coz of the tickets.

I did not expect a confirm ticket - well not at least for all 3 of us and that too for a journey on the very next day. Lucky enough we got a confirm booking for all of us - again the 2nd A/C coach. Well 2 of them were together and mine, the 3rd one was different. One more funny thing about this journey - Both ways (to and from Ahmedabad) my seat was opposite to the Ticket Checker's seat :P.

This i guess is a rare & funny coincidence or am I too popular amongst the Ticket Checkers? :P

Nothing much for rest of the day. We followed the same routine --> Evening Ganga aarti and roaming around in market. Had dinner and that was the end of day for us.

26 August 2008,

We checked out of Gujarati bhawan at 1 PM and headed towards the railway station. Although it was walkable, we still hired a auto rikshaw to help us with the luggage. Mom and Dad reached the station walking and i accompanied the auto rikshaw.

The scheduled departure of "Haridwar Express" was @ 3 pm. We boarded the train @ 2:30 pm. I was experiencing a mixed feeling - both happy and unhappy simultaneously. Happy since i could spend more time back in Ahmedabad. Catch up with friends and visit my college to meet the professors. Unhappy - coz I had to shorten my journey. None the less the journey was enlightening.

After a 27 hours, we alighted @ Kalupur railway station - Ahmedabad on the next day (August 27, 2008) @ 6 pm. Here we are, back to the polluted environment of the city. One of the main reasons of existence of this blog is this journey. Had it not happened, probably i would not have written this blog as well. The pics that can be seen for this post are miscellaneous one's. (including clicking the monkey :P) As I could not give them justice else where, I am posting them here. If you been tracking this blog, I hope the effort and time i spent on this blog helped u with your Virtual Yatra.