My First Trip to North India!!!!

(And also my first blog on my travel experience!! Thanks to all of them who made me to think I should convert my experience to words. I had gone through many blogs and discussions in TripAdvisor before travelling to Vaishno Devi. Thanks a ton to them too 😊. As I wanted to capture each and every single moment of our trip, I am not worried about the length. Hope you will not get bored !!)

Vaishno Devi!! Though my parents and my brother Karthik (CK) had visited Vaishno Devi earlier, somehow I missed the opportunity twice. After 10 years of looooooooong wait, finally I got the ‘Bulava’ from Maa. The plan started when our organization announced shut down period for us in December. I told CK about our shutdown holidays and he immediately said ‘let us go to Vaisno Devi’. Yes that’s how we decided to go and get her blessings.

We had enough time for planning (of almost 2 months) but since we had to book train/flight tickets on time, first we planned the main places to visit: “Delhi – Haridwar – Rishikesh – Dev Prayag – Vaishno Devi – Shiv Khori”.

Since the trip was planned during December, considering the risk of flight cancellation due to fog we thought of taking risk for one way and booked flight tickets only from Bengaluru to Delhi. We commuted to other places by train.

We planned as below:

• 21^st Dec – We booked morning flight from Bengaluru to Delhi
• 21st Dec – From Delhi Night train to Haridwar (had kept half day extra time for flight delay’s due to fog)
• 24^th Dec – Night train from Haridwar to Katra
• 27^th Dec – Night train from Katra to Delhi
• 28^th Dec – Night train from Delhi to Bengaluru

*Tip: Better to have 3-4 hours of gap between trains for safer side.

Online Yatra Parchi – Entrance ticket for Darshan:

•  If you are planning for Vaishno Devi it is better to purchase online Parchi well in advanced and we could save lots of time for climbing. You need to carry the printout of Yatra Parchi, ID proof (of each family member) along with the original Debit/Credit card through which you have purchased the parchi.

 For more details you can visit Shrine board website:

https://www.maavaishnodevi.org/yatraparchi_detail1.aspx

Preparations and Shopping:

• Preparations – In TripAdvisor, had seen suggestions to walk/jog for 10Kms daily. We could not practice that much but we managed to walk daily 30-45 mins, opting for stairs instead of lift at office, doing some basic exercise etc. 
• Warm clothes – As our parents were also travelling with us during this extreme winter month, warm clothes were the top priority item in our shopping list. We bought Sweaters, Jackets, thermals, muffler and gloves from our favorite local shop ‘Naazare Emporium’, Sayyaji Rao road - Mysuru for very reasonable rates. Few new shawls hidden somewhere in the cupboard finally came out for a purpose!
• Next comes the food – Being 100% vegetarian Brahmin family, we were aware that it is going to be very difficult for our parents to have Parathas or North Indian food daily. We then planned to take few MTR ready to eat packets for them. We tried Pongal and Bisibele Bath at home. It tasted like homemade food (though we did not open a single pack during our travel 😋)
• We also carried my Mom-made Ragi hurittu + Grated Jaggery and very innovative dry Gojjavalakki. (She used to sprinkle some milk to this dry mixture of Hurittu+Jaggery and water to gojjavalakki just 5 mins before our breakfast and mix it well.) It actually turned out as a life saver dish for our journey. My mom also prepared some super-duper snacks for the journey - Rave unde, Chakkuli, Kodubale, khara puri… Yummmm.
• Shoes – As from day 1 we had decided to visit Vaishno Devi shrine by walk, it was very important to get comfortable shoes for them. We bought casual slip on sneakers from Bata and found very comfortable.
• The Bags and the suite cases! – As our warm cloth sets were more, we found number of hand bags getting increased. Finally we dumped everything to big suit cases and backpacks instead of having more kits. We ended up with 4 luggage with 1 mini backpack. I was very conscious about the number of luggage we are taking as I had plans of shopping and I was very sure that I am going to add up 2 more luggage while coming back 😜.

 *Tip: Carry minimal luggage if you are travelling on your own and not with any tours and travels.

The Travel:

Day 1 - 21^st December 2017: Akshardham - Delhi

As already mentioned earlier on missing this trip 2 times, I was continuously praying to God that our flight should not get cancelled due to fog. We reached airport by 6 AM. I immediately ran to Flight information display to see if any Delhi flight is delayed or cancelled. Thank god I could see 3 flights were operating on time and I had a smile on my face 😊.  As we had enough time and I was hungry early morning, I wanted to have breakfast first. But Karthik insisted on completing the security check-in process to avoid last minute rush.

We collected our boarding pass and proceeded to security check-in. There was a huge queue for the same and CK was very proud and admiring himself on his decision of finishing off the security check-in process. We still had 2 hrs of time and I could not avoid my hunger. This time it was my turn and I was taunting CK for not having breakfast outside as with heavy heart we had to pay Rs 150 per dhose inside the airport.

We reached Old Delhi airport by 11:30 and before we landed we could feel the pollution out there. I felt as if I was not getting enough oxygen to breath (God please save Earth 😐). We took Volvo from airport to reach metro station.

From Airport metro we took Yellow line and reached Chandini Chowk by 12:30. As we had half day time we had planned to cover ‘Akshardham’.  Rikshawala took us to a decent hotel and we booked a room for half a day in ‘Hotel Le Mem’ for 1200 Rs. We had lunch and again took metro Yellow line, changed to Blue line at Rajiv Chowk to reach Akshardham. Our first Delhi metro experience was awesome! Karthik had done a very good research on Delhi metro and he had a xerox copy of the metro map in his mind. Good Job CK 👍.

*Tip: If you have plans to Roam around in Delhi using metro, I would suggest to go for Metro one-day travel card worth Rs 200 per person (150 + 50 Rs refundable).

Akshardham – It is a huge temple built for Swaminarayan - a yogi who began a seven-year pilgrimage across India at the age of 11 years. Here we saw the Exhibition (lifelike robotics and dioramas which display incidents from Swaminarayan's life), Neelakanth Movie (of about 40 mins displayed on India’s biggest screen of 85 feet wide and 65 feet tall), Fountain Show (of about 30 mins) and the Main Temple (having 11 ft tall Swaminarayan statue).

The architecture, Thematic Garden, Robotics, Use of light-sound & technology everything is simply superb. Since mobiles/cameras are not allowed inside the temple (cloak room is available to deposit the same), could not click any photos. I have added few photos downloaded from the official website which will give you an idea of how gigantic, artistic and beautiful Akshardham is!!

Thematic Garden

Akshardham Temple

11 Ft tall Swaminarayan Statue

The exhibition – Full of Robotics and dioramas

The Neelakanth Movie

Fountain Show

It is an amazing experience and cannot be explained in words. I would suggest one should personally visit at least once. You can also visit the official website - http://akshardham.com/ for more details.

We came back to hotel at 8 again by Metro, finished dinner and boarded our train to Haridwar.

Day 2 - 22^nd December: Ganga – The soul of India

We reached Haridwar morning at 6:00 AM. We took auto and reached Hotel Suryodaya. It is just 5 mins walk from Har Ki Pauri and is right at the bank of Ganga. Though its not a 5* hotel, we liked it as it was peaceful and we could enjoy watching Ganga Maiyya sitting at the back gate of the hotel.

Hotel Suryodaya and Holy River Ganges at the back gate

Sunrise view from hotel Suryodaya

At morning 7:00-7:30 we left to Har Ki Pauri to take Ganga Snan. It was around 10 degree temperature and the river was freezing cold. When I touched Maa Ganga I could feel the divine energy of her and for no reason I got tears in my eyes. That magical and spiritual moment made me to realize why she is worshiped as the goddess river in our country. Jai Ganga Maiyya 😊.

After having breakfast we visited Mansa Devi Mandir and Chandi Devi by ‘UDAN KHATOLA’ – the Cable Car. Unknowingly one old famous song was continuously running in my mind - 'Maa Mansa meri laaj tu rakh de, bigde kaaj karde mansa, meri laaj rakh de'.

Udaan Khatola

By the time we came back to Hark ki pauri it was almost 5:45 and we gathered to watch Ganga Aarthi - another Magical moment of my life. We were so moved by the divine atmosphere comprised of chants, lights, colors, bells and drums. One would reminiscence the whole Ganga experience for long time.

 

Ganga Aarthi

 Day 3 -23^rd December: Dev Prayag – Witness the Mother Nature

Next day early morning we traveled to Neelakanth, Dev Prayag and Rishikesh. We hired a cab from our hotel and the driver first took us to Neelakanth Mandir. After Darshan he stopped us near a small Dhaba. We had hot aloo parathas, garma garam chai and started to Dev Prayag. The route to Dev prayag is ghat section and you will witness the turquoise Blue Ganga accompanying you on your entire journey flowing with full force. What a journey!! We were mesmerized by her beauty and her musical sound. You just cannot stop watching her. While we were enjoying her beauty, my Mom observed something in white on the sky (near Teen Dhaara town). Yet again! Another reason to fall in love with our journey. It was Glimpse of Himalayas!! We immediately got down from car, clicked few pics and fed our greedy eyes with magnetizing view.

Glimpse of Himalayas

Himalayas & Ganga together

Highlighted path of Ganga flowing alongside Devprayag-Rishikesh route

Dev Prayag – One more Amaze of Nature and the birth place of the holy river Ganges. Here River Alkananda from Badrinath and Bhagirathi from Gangothri meets to form Ganga. You could literally see the color difference of 2 rivers. Alkananda is very calm & smooth while Bhagirathi flows with rapid force, roaring and foaming. However they both mix very well and continue their journey towards Rishikesh and Haridwar. This place left me a thought – Is Mother Nature teaching us the lesson of life on compatibility between different personalities?

River Alkananda & River Bhagirathi

This is how it looks when they both meet at Dev Prayag

With content heart we started to Rishikesh. We saw many groups were on their way to river rafting. By that time I had almost 100 times begged my brother to take me to river rafting. Though he smiled and denied, I was hoping he will change his mind by the time we reach Rishikesh.

On the way to Rishikesh, we had lunch at ‘Hotel Shiv Ganga’ near Kaudiyala town (Highlighted in above map). The food was very tasty and the main thing we liked about the hotel is again – Ganges on the other side of the road. Ganga was flowing with full force dancing on the big rocks. Post lunch we stood there for 10-15 minutes and gazed at her in rapt silence. We were so mesmerized by her beauty that we forgot to take photos. (Have added 2 photos downloaded from the internet.)

Hotel Shiv Ganga

We visited Lakshmana temple at Rishikesh and walked towards Lakshman Jhoola and clicked few pics. As it was already late, I had to drop my rafting dream and I convinced myself for boating. Though it was just 10 mins ride, reaching mid of the river and to see yourself surrounded by the gorgeous blue Ganga is a priceless experience.

Sunset at Rishikesh

Day 4 – 24^th December: The relax day

As we had to climb Vaishno Devi next day, we did not do much on 3^rd day at Haridwar. It was kind of a rest day for us. We visited Gayathri Devi Temple and Daksheshwar Temple (Father of Sati, Shiva’s first wife) where he performed Dksha Yagna.

At 6:00 PM we had train to Katra. Before leaving, we bowed to Maa Ganga again. Wish, we could follow her path and visit all the beautiful & divine places where she has left her trace.

Day 5 – 25^th December: The Day – Jai Mata Di

We reached Katra at 7:30 in the morning. 90% from the train got down in Katra. The White Bhavan on the ‘Trikoot Parvath’ was visible to railway station. Few groups started chanting “Jai Mata Di” right from there. We were getting goose bumps. God!! Finally the wait was over 😊.

We hired an Auto and the driver took us to 2-3 hotels. We got a room in hotel 'Sundaram'.

*Tip1: Would suggest, better book a hotel near parchi counter. It is also nearby to the market and you can go by walk for shopping.

*Tip2: If you are having a prepaid sim connection bought from any Indian states except J&K then it will stop working as soon as you enter Jammu. If required, you need to buy a new local sim card.

The hotel was good and we could see the Bhavan from our room balcony. We got a big room with 4 beds for Rs 1500. Room had geyser facility. We quickly got ready. Hotel staffs were good and they only dropped us to Ban-Ganga check post in their vehicle. We bought wooden walking sticks and the Red Jai Mata Di ribbons.

*Tip: Do purchase 1 or 2 walking stick (choose lighter one) if you are planning to walk to Bhavan. It will ease your climb in steep turns or when you feel tiered.

Ban Ganga - The name of this river comes from two terms, Ban and Ganga. Ban means Arrow and Ganga stands for the sacred river Ganges. It is believed that Mata Vaishno Devi, while on her way to the Holy Cave, created this water body with an arrow from her quiver, hence the name Banganga. It is also said that she had taken a dip in it and had washed her hair here. Thus some people also prefer to call it Bal Ganga, the term Bal meaning hair in Hindi (Courtesy – Vaishodevi Shrine Board Website).

We started to climb at 9:30 AM. On the way we had hot Maggie – my first Jammu Maggie moment! 😊Maggie tasted even better in that chilled cold weather. Would suggest, once you get ready better start your climb. Don’t waste your time for breakfast at katra. You will find a number of restaurants, juice counters on your way to Bhawan.

At Ban Ganga temple, one group was serving Prasada - Rava halwa. It was hot and very tasty.

As it was Christmas and New Year holiday season it was very crowded. We could hardly walk due to too many pony rides and phalkis on the pedestrian way. You also have the option of climbing up steps which is shorter. We opted for steps wherever it was less than 100 in numbers.

*Tip: Make sure to watch out for the info on the number of steps at every point (marked before the stairs).

By 11:00, the day turned out sunny and also because of the climb we started feeling the heat. We started removing our jackets, sweaters, gloves, muffler and it became an extra luggage for each us. We were not even feeling like holding those woolen clothes because of the sweat. We stopped on the way, purchased one big hand bag and dumped our warm clothes in it.

By then we had reached Mata’s Charan Paduka Mandir - the place where the imprints of Mata's pious feet are believed to be imprinted on a rock slab. It is believed that when Goddess Durga was chased by Bhairavnath she stopped here and turned to see if he is behind her. After taking paduka darshan, we had fresh cucumber-radish to stay hydrated and continued our climb. 

Vaishno Devi Bhavan on Trikut Parvath

By 3:30 we reached Indraprastha (Ardhkuwari). You will find bhojanalay here. Since it was crowded and we had many coffee/juice breaks in between, we skipped our lunch. Battery vehicle facility is also available from here to Bhavan. But they said it will be available at 4:30. We wanted to reach bhawan before Aarti as the temple will be closed for 2 hours during Aarti time, so we continued walking. From Ardhkuwari the walk is comparatively easy as it’s straight road. On the way you need to show your Parchi and collect the group number. We reached Bhavan by 5. My parents stood in Bhaint shop queue (near main queue complex - gate No.1) where you will get prasad for chadava and me & CK went to cloak room just in front of the Bhaint shop to deposit our belongings. Lockers can be used (free of cost) for depositing our belongings that are not allowed inside the holy cave.

*Tip: shoes/socks, belts, wrist watches with leather belts, wallet (just carry the cash and card, leather items are not allowed inside), pen, pencil, comb etc are prohibited inside the cave. There are many security check-in points, so make sure what you are taking inside. If you carry the items which are not allowed, you will end up losing the same as it will be thrown away.

It was 5:30 by the time we joined the holy cave queue. Most of them were aware of aarti time (around 6:00 – 6:15 PM and the duration is of 2 hours) and hence were running to finish their darshan before aarti. 

There are 2 entries to take mata darshan – the original Old Cave and the New Tunnel. We were allowed through the New Tunnel to take darshan. Normally pilgrims are allowed from the Old Cave when the daily yatra comes below the 10,000 mark. I stood in front of Maa Vaishno devi and just thanked her for allowing me to get her blessings - most precious moment of my life, just beyond words !!

We came out of cave, took teertha coming out from the mouth of 3 lions. Stood in front of the big statue of Maa outside the tunnel - prayed for 5 minutes in silence and left to Swayambhoo Shiv temple (need to get down around 100 steps). The temple is very nice. It was less crowded as many people are not aware of this place.

We decided to have dinner and go to Bhaironath temple by pony. Finally we found South Indian cuisine - Sagar Ratna!!!! Idli, Dhose, Rice-Sambar everything was just delicious.

It was night 10:00 and all our warm clothes came out of bag once again as it was very cold (Maybe around 8-10 degree). We booked 4 pony from Bhavan-Bahironath Mandir-Sanji Chhat for Rs 800 per person. That was our first pony ride and I and my mom were very afraid. My mom got onto a lazy pony. It was very slow & took extra 10 mins to reach bhaironath mandir. The pony I got onto was very active and she wanted to run. The owner used to pull her tail to slowdown her. She used to nod head to leave her. We felt very bad for those dumb animals. 

*Tip1: Route from Bhavan to Bhairavnath temple is very steep and difficult to climb. Would suggest to go by pony if you have elders with you. There is also cable car project going on for this route.
*Tip2: Do collect your items from cloak room before leaving to Bhaironath mandir as you can directly goto Sanji Chhat/Ardhkuwari from there.

Darshan at this temple is easy as 50% people do not visit here, though it is said that - visit to Vaishno Devi Shrine is incomplete unless you visit Bhaironath Temple.

Mata Vaishno who was born to a couple in the southern part of India gave up all worldly desires and moved to Trikut Parvath to find the answers of her life. She took the form of a little girl and asked her devotee Shridhar to organize a big feast for all her devotees. Here, Shridhar met Bhairavnath and invited him too for the holy feast.

Bhairav after seeing the beauty of Mata Vaishno Devi, demanded alcohol and nonveg in the feast. Despite Maa’s refusal, he didn't stop and rather started following her and disturbed her meditation.

Bhairav kept chasing Mata Vaishno consecutively for nine months in the Trikut Parvat and followed her into the cave. But, Maa quickly opened a path on the other end and escaped. Yet, Bhairav was adamant to chase Mata and she finally took her real form to behead the notorious Bhairav's head.

Before dying Bhairav realized the powers of Vaishno Devi, genuinely apologized for his misbehavior and asked for her forgiveness. This melted Mata Vaishnavi's heart and she forgave him. She also gave him a boon that visit to Vaishno devi Shrine is incomplete unless you visit Bhaironath Temple.

From Sanji Chhat to Ban-Ganga we again had to walk. Due to cool weather we could climb down easily. As the temple will be open 24*7, we saw many people climbing up late night, it was really safe. When we reached Ardhkuwari, we came to know the group number available for the cave entry was at 10:00 AM next day. This is the Cave where Goddess Vaishno Devi had stayed and meditated for nine months due to being chased by Bhairavnath. We dropped Ardhkuwari visit and got down by 2:45 mid night. You will easily get Auto’s outside Ban-Ganga gate. We hired an auto for Rs 200 and reached hotel.

Day 6 – 26^th December: Shopping Shopping!!

Though it was almost 25 kms walk the previous day, we did not feel the tiredness or leg pain. Yet we stayed back in hotel, took rest and sorted our baggage’s. We left for lunch + shopping around 3:00 PM. We found Sagar Ratna hotel in Katra too !! We were so so soooo happy 👏. We ordered hot yummy rasam and south Indian thali’s.

The market lane is right in front of Sagar Ratna hotel. The shops were colorful and very reasonable. Shopping for those cute little dolls in our family circle took half of our time. We got bright colored woolen Kaftan, bangles, bracelets and other accessories for them. Then it was the time for my all-time favorite and the beautiful 'Kashmiri Aari work’ collection. We purchased salwar suites, stoles for me and my cousins. Matching accessories also got into our shopping bags. But Aari work on leather clutches grabbed our attention and we bagged 10-15 clutches for friends and relatives. We also bought a bag full of Kashmiri spices and dry fruits.

Day 7 – 27^th December: Shiv Khori

We had booked a cab through touristcab.in for Rs 2500 to visit Shiv Khori and Nav Durga temple. We started at morning 8:00 AM. Shiv Khori is just 75 kms from Katra. But as the road was under maintenance, driver said it will take 3 hrs to reach. As our driver was from a village near Shiv Khori, he was aware of the tourist places nearby and had good contacts. He took us to a dabha near a village on the way. We had homely tasted paratha’s and again ‘Maggie’. (To my friends who were wondering on my WhatsApp DP – guys, my ‘Jammu wali Maggie moment’ was captured at this place 😋).

On the way, driver called someone at Shiv Khori and did advance booking for 4 pony rides. We reached Ransoo - the base camp of the shrine, located in District Reasi. Though it’s just a 3-3.5 kms trek, its bit steeper than Vaishno Devi. It took half an hour to reach temple. It will take minimum 2-3 hours if you go by walk.

Skiv Khori temple is a majestic cave which is known for many magical and mystical facts. It is of about 200 mts long, 2-3 mts height and just half to 1 mtr wide. You need to crawl and sometimes walk very carefully holding the rock/rope tied inside the cave to reach the garbha gudi – the main mandira where the pooja takes place. It has svayambhoo Shiv linga along with Maa Parvathi and lord Ganesha-Subrahmanya. The holy cave is full of natural impression & images of 33 crore Hindu Deities and their vhahanas and hence it is also known as ‘Home of Gods’. We felt - the entire cave’s rock formation was looking like Jata’s (matted hair) of lord Shiva. The priest will explain you the main impressions like – Vaishno Devi Pindi, Kamadhenu, lord Vishnu’s Sudarshan Chakra on the roof of the garbha gudi, Nandi Gana, Sheshnaag, sapthrishi etc. But I believe if we spend some time and carefully observe the entire cave, we could definitely see some more holy impressions. It is also believed that the cave has 2 Suranga Maarga (secret tunnel), one will lead to the Amarnath cave and the other to heaven (from where Deva Gana came to this cave).

There is also a mythical story behind this cave:

Bhasmasura - a devotee of the lord Shiva, performed great penance to obtain a boon from him. Pleased Shiva asked him to request for a boon. Bhasmasura then requested to grant the power that – when he keeps his hand on anyone’s head, will get burn into ashes. Shiva granted this power to him. Bhasmasura later said he wants to test if he really has got the boon or not and said will attempt the same on Shiva. Shiva fled, and was chased by him. Wherever Shiva went, he chased him. Hence this holy cave was built by lord Shiva himself to hide from bhasmasura. Later when Vinshu took Mohini avatar and killed Bhasmasura, entire Deva Gana – 33 crore Hindu Gods visited this cave and worshiped lord Shiva and family.

While coming back, we went to same dabha for lunch where we had breakfast.

On the way to Nava Durga temple our driver took us to 2 more places:

• Jitto Mandir – It is a temple built for Jitto Baba, a great devotee of Maa Vaishno Devi. People say, He visited Vaishono devi mandir daily for continuous 12 years by walk. Later Maa pleased by his devotion towards her, took birth as his daughter.
• Shihad baba waterfalls near Chenab River is 400 feet high natural waterfall. There is a small temple of Shihad baba (Shiva) beside the waterfall. 

Way to Shihad Baba Waterfall

Nava Durga temple – You need to get down around 100 steps to reach main temple. There are two caves - one having a Shiva Linga and the other the Nava Devis. The temple has Pindi’s of the nine ‘devis’ (goddesses) Shailaputri, Bharmachirini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skanda mata, Katyayani, Maha Kali, Maha Gauri and Siddhidatri. The surrounding areas of the Nava Durga Temple are very green and clean. Darshan did not take long time as this temple is not over crowded. There is a shopping complex at the exit. But since this is a tourist place, the cost will be high compared to Katra.

We came back to hotel by 7:00 PM and left for railway station. Not sure if all hotels at Katra provide cab facility to their customers, but our hotel staff were kind enough to drop us back to railway station in their vehicle - free of cost.

Day 8 – 28^th December: It’s Delhi again

We reached Delhi around 3:00 PM and hired an auto to find a hotel to freshen up. Now it was time to explore New Delhi!! We booked a room in Hotel Tashkent, Paharganj for Rs 1300/half day. Paharganj is the best place to book a hotel as it is just 2-2.5 kms away from railway station and it’s the heart of the city.

The auto driver waited for us and took for Delhi Darshan. ‘New Delhi’ experience was different from ‘Old Delhi’. As already mentioned - Old Delhi is highly polluted and crowded. Whereas New Delhi (the places we visited) were very clean, Big-Roads full of Greenery. It gave us a feeling as if we were in Core Bengaluru. We spent some time at Rashtrapathi Bhavan road and India Gate. Both are very nice places and you will definitely feel ‘Mera Bharat Mahaan’😊. We also visited Birla temple. By the time we came back to hotel it was 7:00 PM and we still had almost 1-1.5 hours to relax.

Sunset at Rashtrapathi Bhavan Road

India Gate

Birla Temple

Being a die-hard fan of Sanjeev Kapoor's 'Food-Food' Channel I wanted to visit at least one place telecasted in 'Eat-This' program, surprisingly we saw ‘sitaram Diwan Chand’ Chole Bhature shop (since 1955) just opposite to our hotel. But unfortunately it was closed and we could not taste any Delhi Street Food.😟

We had train back to Bengaluru at 9:00 PM. We sat in train bidding goodbye to the Country’s Capital. We were supposed to reach Karnataka mid night and Bengaluru by 2:00PM. When we got up next day morning, instead of hearing ‘Chai-Chai’ we heard ‘Chai-train 5 hours late’!! Yes we were 5 hours late and we were still in Maharashtra 😕. At 10:00 AM train started and again around 1:00 PM it stopped in Andhra for 1-2 hours. We had no other option but to try all snacks coming in train. The churmuri and instant veg salad were awesome. We were amazed by the speed that boy was cutting the veggies. He just sprinkled a pinch of salt & pepper and served it in a rolled paper. It was as delicious as any continental salad. Again at another Andhra station when the train stopped for crossing, we had yummy plate idlis. Food is the best way to keep yourself busy during train journey 😋. We finally reached Bengaluru at night 10:30. Our cab arrived and safely dropped us to home by 12 mid night.

It took more than a month for us to come out of this dream-like journey. I again traveled to these wonderful places while recollecting these memories and putting it to words!!

-Sandhya.