We have been planning for Kedarnath Ji and
Badrinath Ji yatra for the last one year, but the same could not be
materialized for one reason or the other. This year, as soon as the dates of opening of temples of Kedarnath Ji & Badrinath Ji were announced we started exploring
the feasibilities for the yatra, but chances looked bleak as no breakthrough coming
along. I was chatting with one of my friends, when the matter of visiting both
these holy places just came up. He rang up somebody and gave me the name &
address of The Kumar Holidays, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Immediately I rang up Mr.
Vikas of The Kumar Holidays and gave him our requirement for Helicopter journey
to Kedarnath Ji & back (to skip walking 14 km one side). I also asked him
to finalise our itinerary from Delhi with details of Hotels (according to
confirmation of Helicopter seats for two couples in the age bracket of above 60)
& Taxi.
He came up with one proposal and after
discussion with fellow couple the itinerary was confirmed and 50% of the money
was paid. Mr. Vikas confirmed Helicopter (with Heritage Aviation Pvt. Ltd.) and
Hotel bookings. He also informed us to keep sufficient woolens for both the
places to keep us warm. Accordingly we prepared our bags.
On day one we left Delhi through taxi and
halted at Hardwar for the night.
Second day at 8 am taxi took us to Rudraprayag
(about 160 km from Hardwar) for night halt at Galaxy. Rooms at Galaxy were
very spacious fitted with air conditioners, yet the ambiance was not good,
without cooking facility. So it is rated at two on the scale of five. In the evening, Mr. Vikas telephoned me to
inform that Heritage Aviation not allowed by the Govt. so the Himalayan Heli
Services Pvt. Ltd. will take us to Kedarnath Ji from Serse(about 65 km from
Rudraprayag) helipad.
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| Snow covered Mountain at Kedarnath |
On
third day of our journey, in the afternoon helicopter took us to Kedarnath helipad (a 10 mts flight).
The weather at Serse was very hot, but we put up Jackets before boarding
helicopter. It was very cold at Kedarnath , jackets saved us from cold and light
drizzle followed by little snowfall. The temple at Kedarnath is hardly 600
meter from helipad but the same was closed for the afternoon. All the passages
from helipad to temple and other places are good with concrete. We checked into
Kanpur House by the side of Mandakini river. At the back of our guest house there
were mountains all around covered with snow. It was informed that the source of
Mandakini is also from these mountains.
Around 5 pm, one person from the guest house took us to temple of Kedarnath Ji, one of twelve Jyotirlings,
as mentioned by Hindu Guru Adi Shankrachrya (a great scholar of 8th
centSnowury) in his inscriptions. There was a big queue for darshan. Our turn came
after 3 hrs. We had good darshan at temple. Prayer at Jyotirling can be offered
in the mornings. It was very cold at Kedarnath. Except for parshad, nothing was
available in the market. Food without spices was prepared at the guest house
for us and it was very tasty. In the rooms we were provided with two quilts per
person, after some time our beds become really warm & had good sleep.
Keeping in view the availability of accommodation, location, food it is rated
at three on scale of five. In the morning on 4th day, hot water was
made available in rooms for bath. We
again went to temple and prayed at the Jyotirling. Unlike other Jyotirlings,
the one over here is of hard rock not in the shape of Shivalinga rather in the
form of back of bull. Here ghee is applied on Jyotirling and worshiped by
touching the forehead with Jyotirling. Thereafter we took helicopter back to
Serse. On way back visited Omkareshwer temple, at Ukhimath. Here idols of Lord Shiva,
Parvati from Kedarnath temple are brought during winters when the doors of
Kedarnath Temple remain closed. Daily puja is also conducted at this place
during this period. We spent night at Priya Darshani Resort at Sayalsod,
Rudraprayag by the side of a river. Though the room was without air
conditioner, yet the evening was very pleasant. Here we took dinner which was
very good. The resort is rated at 4 on the scale of 5.
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| View at Chopta |
Next
morning on 5th day, left for Badrinath about 150 km from
Rudraprayag. On the way halted at Chopta. We were informed that this place is
covered with snow during January-February & large number of tourists enjoy
the view. Most of the mountains are made
of loose stones and earth. Frequently these stones, earth slide down and fall
on roads blocking the passage. Beside this, water streams from mountains also
wash away the roads from different places. Border Road Organisation (BRO) are
doing great job in maintaining the roads. We checked into Janki House just at
the entrance of Badrinath city. The temple is about a km from this place. It is
mandatory to obtain tokens from the counter at lower taxi stand before darshan
at temple. In the evening we went through the process and got good darshan of Lord Badri Vishal i.e. Lord Vishnu (one
of four Dhams as professed by Adi Shankracharya) and other deities at Badrinath Ji temple
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| Badrinath Temple |
in about an hour. Cold
weather at Badrinath made our bare feet numb. Hot water gave us comfort. Here market is very good and
all variety of food is available. On 6th day after bath visited
temple in the morning, again offered prayers at holy shrine. Hotel is rated at
3 on the scale of 5. Last village on Indian soil is Manna just 4 km from
Badrinath bus stand. In this village we went to Vyas Gufa,
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| Vyas Gufa |
it is believed that
at this place Maharishi Vyas dictated epic Mahabharta to Lord Ganesha. This
cave was also searched by Adi Shankracharya. Near this cave is a tea stall
stated to be last tea stall on Indian soil. We tasted tea at this place which
was very good. Ganesh temple is also nearby. This Manna village is just on the the international border of
Tibet (now under China) & Nepal.
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| Ganesh Temple |
We
started backward journey to Rudrapryag and night was spent at Sheetal Resorts,
Jhurmoli, at Rudrapryag by the side of a river. The location of resort was very
nice & I rate the resort at 4 on scale of five. On 7th morning
left Rudrapryag for Hardwar. After spending night, left Hardwar early in the
morning & reached Delhi in afternoon of 8th day.
Thus Kedarnath Ji, Badrinath Ji yatra
concluded with good darshans at both shrines.
