my first visit to vaishno devi

Jai mata di!!

Our college organizes a trip to vaishno devi every yr but due to d dates clashing wid my exams I couldn’t go fr d frst 2 yrs. But this year I had made it a point that I will not miss it…thr being 2 reasons fr this- (i) I hd never bn to vaishno devi n I needed to pay my homage n (ii) I love to travel n explore….

I hd been saying this to my frnds,” this yr I havta go n I will go no matter wat”..bt to this one of my frnd asked me not to say this coz she said that u shouldn’t say it coz u wont b able to go unless u r called, “jab tak mata ka bulava nahi ata tum nahi jate, aur jab ata hai tumhe jana hi padta hai” . I ws kinda surprised to wat she said, frankly speakin I dint believe much in wat she said. Unintentionally I used to say it again n again out of my excitement, n she used to stop me. Seeing d seriousness in her eyes n realizing that she could b saying that out of her experience I stopped sayin so. I asked my oder frnds if thr ws smthin, sm kinda story related to this…bt all they said was that even they hav heard, “ aise bolna nahi chahiye.jab bulava ana hota hai aa jata hai”. (sry being a surd I know less abt d history of oder gods n gurus) I wanted to knw more bt I chose nt to say anything unless m actually going thr.

So here comes d day, 27th dec.2005, we were all set to go (internally I gt a lil scared wen my frnd hd said dat u wont go if she doesn’t want u to cm). bt now I ws relaxed n happy. Thr ws dis frnd of mine who had once said he wld like to go as evn he hd nt bn thr evr. But believe me thr ws absolutely no chance of his going wid us due to sm reasons. We hd lost touch, he got to knw abt it only a day bfr n he ws actually busy on d 27h morning, bt wat we saw ws shockin / surprising whatever u say. Our train ws to leave at 4pm n he ws thr wid us at 3.55pm. I still don’t knw wat to call it – mere destiny or mata ka bulava .. ?


We reached jammu early in d morning, frm thr we took our bus till katra. Our hotel named ‘jai ma inn’ ws nice I shld say. We were asked to tk sm rest n were told dat we cld strt wid our journey in d afternoon n we all will meet in d hotel d nex day(afternoon). We were 5 in a room. We started frm badh ganga arnd 3.30pm. we were around 12 in a group. 3 of our frnds decided to go bare footed. I ws down wid high fever n cough,bt d heavy anti-biotics I ws takin subsided d fever. We all hd strtd well bt after an hour or so we all dispersed, actually it ws me who detached frm d group coz they were stopping, talking, eating n I ws in no moods n condition to stop or evn talk(I could barely speak coz of my cough). I knew hd I bn wid dem they wld pamper me n all I wanted to do ws reach d ‘bhavan’. We frnds hd decided to wait fr each oder at ardh kauri whosoevr reaches thr frst. I ws d 3rd one to b thr. 2 of my frnds were ahead of me bt they hd left. Then came a group of 5 oder frnds, I joined dem in as they said, “ megha, netra n bhajji (my closest pals) were way behind n they were supposed to tk d oder route”. At that moment I realized hw lonely ws I as we hd covered jes half our way n noone ws gng to b wid me to talk(I hd strtd feelin better n I wanted to talk bt den I realized hw stupid I ws to leave dem behind).
These frnds they were a couple n oders I dint knw(were enjoying on their own). So smhw I decided to do it alone, slow n steady. I forgot to tell u guys, everyone was saying jai mata di while we were climbing, even I used to say so.. bt internally wat I kept chanting ws ‘ waheguru waheguru’. I dnt knw but I guess it cms up naturally being used to it. So I did my climb doing path all alone n ws d frst one to reach d bhavan. I waited fr my frnds at d joint whr d 2 routes met. Within half an hour all of us were there together except 2 of us who were ahead of me. I ws sooo happy to see them all. My dear frnds scolded me well fr nt being wid dem as my money n medicines were also thr wid dem ;-) but neva mind, we were all so excited abt d darshan. We even found those 2 frnds n gave dem a nice lecture too..lol.. here we go inside, one of my frnds who hd quite a lot knowledge abt d place n history kept explaining me n my frnd(frst time visitors) wat to do, hw to do n wat is it all about..

She even asked d two of us if we wld like to go to bhairo mandir? My pals were too tired (I mean megs , netra n bhajji) n they were in no position to go, so they had asked me to do whatever I felt like. The sad part ws I wanted to go bt we wld b apart again. Bt as I wanted to go,me n my pals decided to meet in d hotel d nex day as they wld reach thr befr us.. So me n 2 of my oder frnds we took off fr bhairo mandir. It ws quite steep, bt I ws al d more excited. It ws around 3 am dat we were done wid it. Wat peace , wat solace , wat an atmosphere.. I ws lovin it.

We strted to climb down n it ws as if our feet moved on their own. One of my frnd gt a cramp in his leg so we stopped in a nearby hospital which ws on our way bk to get sm sprayin done. Wat funny place it ws. Thr ws this gal frm d oder college, she gt actually ill, her eyes were all swollen n she hd high fever n d doc over thr looked like a ‘chapdasi’ no kiddin. He wanted to gv her an injection to which we all said “no”, jes by lookin at her face he said ‘ she may hav gt gastroentritis’…it turned out to be really funny as one of her frnd shouted wat did u say ‘ arithritis’??gosh It seemed like a paagal khana..well I hd suffered twice wid gastro so I knew it wsnt so, I explained it to her frnds. Then thr ws this guy who gave her d proper medicine n we gave sm balm to our frnd n left d place. We reached ardhkuari at arnd 5 in d morning, wen my frnd showed me a new way, a shorter one to reach bhavan. I had taken d longer route wen we were climbing dat ws coz d frnds I were wid hd no clue abt d new route( mujhe to abc bhi nahi pata thi wahan ki).bt neways. Our frnd hd gt sm severe pain so we asked him to tk ghoda n go.. so he did..

Wo man!! Nw we were climbing down d stairs n we were 2 of us, it ws 5.30 in d morning n still it ws pitch dark. Suddenly d lights went off….n believe me thr ws no single light around….we clnt see anything.. so we sat whr we were standing, on d stairs. Jes as we looked up in d sky,,,,,,god dat ws d best part of my whole trip, thr were millions of stars all over me( taaron ki chadar thi), it ws as if they were hanging down d ceiling. N thr wat we saw ws non stop shooting stars( I saw around 4-5 toot te tare), hd I looked fr more cld hav seen hundreds of dem. That ws d only light which ws surpassing my soul. It ws beautiful.!!!

It hd bn 15 mins nw..no light.. so we both decided to climb down else we cld be late fr d hotel.we hd sticks in our hand, we used them , beating them on d ground to find our way ahead. We felt like blinds. We were slow n it took us half an hour to reach some market on our way bk. We asked d shop fellow n he told us that it could take anoder hour or so fr d lights to cm bk. Bfr we cld say say smthing, thr were lights evrywhr J . we increased our speed, it ws already 6.30 n no sun arnd..we decided to run down d stairs chanting jai mata di on evry step. N in no time were through n hd reached badh ganga , at 7.30am. The morning view ws beautiful n we were feeling gr8 as we hd accomplished our task. We tk an auto to our hotel. Our room ws left open fr us as my oder pals hd already reached, they were so fast asleep dat they dint evn get to realize wen we entered n joined dem fr d sleep..
We woke up in d afternoon , had our lunch, took our bus n reached jammu station to catch our train fr delhi.. While returning bk we all shared our experiences, wat did we all do wen d lights went off, who reached wen, n stuff.. Fun thing fr me ws like I did my climbing doing path d whole time.. n while returning I ws chanting jai mata di J

Thanku god fr sucha lovely trip n jai mata di..