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Published: January 1st 2007
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Impromptu plans always have an element of excitement and nervous energy. It just kicks one into action from the state of idleness, and even before you realize, you are out on another trip. So it happened with us on an idle Wednesday in the 52nd week of 2006. Seed ideas of big plans for the New Year’s eve (it also happened to be a weekend) was taking shape. Everyone around was excitedly exchanging ideas of adding more glitter to the party. Being the “party animals”, as we always like to believe we are, we also had our share of ideas and plans. But in the midst of all these, unconsciously the soul was still craving for something different. So, when someone broached “why not start the new year with a trip - lets purge ourselves at Haridwar”, all 4 of us swooped on to the idea. A few quick phone calls to the booking agents for the tickets in the early morning Shatabdi Express made sure there was no looking back. We were going to be in Haridwar on Jan 1st, 2007 for a day trip.
The night of 31st continued into the wee hours of morning. By the
time we returned home we barely had enough time to dump the essentials into our backpacks, and head for the railway station. Once in the train we just slipped into a sweet slumber in no time. We had no intention of waking up anywhere before Haridwar, but the friendly steward in the train did not want to deprive us of our morning breakfast and tea. We probably looked really in need of that. Shatabdi Express is a gem of the Indian Railways with a service that comes as close to the in-flight service, by the railways standards. You are served breakfast in a 4 hour trip to Haridwar, and attendants do respond to passenger requests in the most unexpected and welcome change in railways hospitality. However, in this case, we would have loved if we were left on our own in our sweet dreams.
I believe it was around 9 o’clock when the train reached Haridwar -- on time. We had expected the chill from the hills to hit us as we came out, but it was pleasantly warm even in the peak of winter season. Even before we could take in a breathful of fresh air of Haridwar,
on the steps of the ghat
as close to the holy dip as possible in came the auto-drivers and taxi-drivers like swarm of bees. This is where frequent travel helps - you are experienced to handle and haggle with these people for a fair price, who given a chance will leave you wondering whether a taxi in Haridwar is chariot driven by Lord Krishna himself. But, we had an even easier route, a contact from an earlier trip, who promptly sent us a car for the entire day. Didn’t I tell you it helps to travel and meet new people?
We headed straight to the ghats, the Har-ki-Pauri Ghat. The place where millions of pilgrims from all over India, and also the world, are seen coming in incessant flow just to take that holy dip which will cleanse them of all their sins. This is the place where the holy Ganges emerges onto the plains after its long winding trip down the hills from its source far off in the glaciers of Gomukh. This place is so steeped in spirituality that probably an atheist might even be inspired to take the holy dip. We tried too. But the water was cold, not unbearable, but enough to scare us off. The call of spirituality
could not inspire us much, except for one brave soul among us, who decided this is his chance to begin the year with a clean slate. We followed suit till the stairs of the ghat. The devout among us went to visit the temples. These temples of Haridwar are some of holiest of holy places to the faithful. The spiritual rejuvenation that one derives from one visit to Haridwar probably cannot be captured even in a million words. I am too ignorant to even make an attempt here.
The real spectacle of Haridwar is its ghats, especially the Har-ki-Pauri Ghat. One can sit here all day watching all kinds of people teeming the ghats. You will see a conglomeration of people from all parts of India, and a smattering of foreigners dressed in saffron kurtas or other Indian dresses. Some of them are neck deep in the water chanting the “Ganga stotras” or the “Surya pranam mantras”. While the “tourists” are busy soaking in the holy atmosphere, there are plenty other people busy in their livelihood. I caught sight of a bunch of people who were diving into the river from time to time and surfacing with a handful
of mud. Wondered what they were doing, and found out that they were searching the water for trinkets and changes. That’s how they make their ends meet everyday. You might also get accosted by some saffron-clad monks asking you for alms. This is quite common. Use your best judgment to decide whether you want to be generous because it is not unlikely to run into fakes. There are several other activities that were going on non-stop at the ghats. I would love to recall all of them and document; its just that my memory failed to retain the excess of events.
We could very easily have spent the whole day there in Haridwar. But we wanted to enjoy the serene environment of Hrishikesh. It’s a short drive from Haridwar. Late afternoon we reached our destination. It didn’t take us long to walk around the little ton of Hrishikesh. It has a number of ashrams, the oldest one of them being the Geeta Bhavan. We were not so much interested in the temples and ashrams, as we were in the sunset from the banks of the ganges. So with cups of steaming tea from the roadside stall we settled ourselves
on the banks. I don’t know what it was, but every one of us got lost in his own thought. It was as if the place just brought out the introspective self. We spent more than an hour sitting there and sipping cups of tea, till the sun set, and we were brought out of our trance by the evening arati on the other bank.
It was time for us head back to Haridwar, and catch our train home. But it was not to be. The journey back to Haridwar was uneventful, but on reaching the railway station we realized we have been conned by our travel agent. We didn’t have reservation in the train.
We were tired and furious, but little could we do then. We tried the best option we had - rented a car to drive back to Delhi. Everything was fine till we started off from Haridwar. Only few minutes out of Haridwar we realized what a grave mistake we have made by trying to drive through the night; the fog was so dense that it looked like we are driving through a wall. The visibility was down to zero. But the funniest thing was the nonchalance of our driver who kept on driving behaving as if this is just so common. We realized that it is our life at stake, and convinced him that we take this venture next morning. We thanked our lucky stars next morning on our way home when we saw a few accidents on the same road we would have taken. It was probably one of the worst fogs I have ever encountered anywhere.
A first of January worth remembering. When we reached Delhi all of us were happy to think one thing, what better way to start the year.
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priya
non-member comment
awesome
The pic of the sunset at Hrishikesh.....................awesome Narration is also really very nice.Where did you lost in thoughts,Prad? The holy start of the year.........cool.