Chota Chaar Dhaam

[4dhaam]

Short, sweet and effective itinerary

Having given the extensive 16-day itinerary, I was going through it again and again and was getting a feeling maybe in the over-enthusiasm to cover the places which I feel are important, I am making the tour a bit more hectic, especially given that we would be in the mountains for a total of 10-11 days. So I went back to the drawing board to restart. I realized my basic assumption was I started with 16 days. The second most important assumption was Char Dham is a given and you could see that it is reflected in the title of my blog. The third realization was it was mostly first-timers in the mountains for most, and it maybe a little tough on them. I decided to get the shortest possible itinerary with the temples of highest significance covered. The first ones I removed were Gangotri and Yamunotri as they covered half of the char dham time and as I mentioned earlier, they are token temples: you will not see the origin of neither Ganga nor Yamuna. Neither are the temples rich in architecture nor they are huge. They are at the most 150 years old. The next thing I removed was nine devi darshan and Dharamshala. And now I have got a good-looking, manageable 8 day itinerary, which even if rushed for a couple of days will not take big toll on the travelers. Day 1: Fly in to Delhi. Drive to Haridwar. Go to Har ki pauri, watch Ganga Aarti, and visit Sati temple where she is considered to have immolated herself. Day 2: Visit Mansa Devi and Chandi devi temples, Ram and Laxman Jhula, Swargashram, Shivananda Ashram and Saptarshi aashram. Drive to Kedarnath helipad. Visit Dhari devi temple, Devprayag, Rudraprayag, Agastamuni enroute. Visit Triyug Narayan Mandir, Guptkashi temple. Night stay near helipad. Day 3: Visit Kedarnath by chopper first thing in the morning and head to Badrinath. Night stay at Badrinath. Day 4: Visit Badrinath temple, Mana village where Vyasa gufa and Ganesha gufa are there. Mahabharata is supposed to have been written at this place. There is also Saraswathi Nadi which runs for few meters, and the famous Swargaarohana trek starting point of the Pandavas. Visit Joshi Mutt, where Shankaracharya’s northern dham peeth is there, and VishnuPrayag Night stay at Peepal koti. Day 5: Visit KarnaPrayag, NandPrayag, DevPrayag and be back to Rishikesh in time for taking the train to Jammu. Day 6: Arrive at Jammu early in the morning. Visit Vaishno devi by helicopter and be back by afternoon. Take the night bus to Srinagar. Day 7: Drive to Sonmarg. Sight-seeing and night stay at Sonmarg. Day 8: Visit Amarnath by helicopter and drive back to Srinagar by evening. You can fly out on the same day. Srinagar, considered paradise on earth, is a place where people say no amount of time is sufficient. With the punyam part done, the purushaartham can start and the return back home can be booked based on people’s convenience. For people not interested in snow and lush green nature, Gulmarg and Pahalgam can be pardoned. That leaves for one day full sight-seeing at Srinagar including the famous Moghul gardens and maybe end with a night stay at houseboat in Dal Lake. Total driving distance: 1500 kms. Total minimum cost: 45000

[4dhaam]

Nau devi darshan

I am sure most of the people would not know what Nau Devi darshan is and why did I include this tour as part of our package. I too did not know much about this particular yatra until last year. https://www.southerntravelsindia.com/Holiday-Packages-Itinerary-Nau-9-Devi-Darshan-Himachal_129 The above link gives a fair idea about what is included in the tour. Do not mind the number of days. But note that it starts at Rishikesh and ends at Vaishno Devi. There are quite a few stories about the significance of these temples, but the main reasons I included this in the list are: 1)      This covers 5 of the 51 Shakti peethas in India. 2)      Dharamshala, the winter home of Dalai Lama, is included. 3)      Jwalamukhi, one of the Ashtadasa Shakti peethas is included. I felt these three reasons were strong enough to give 3 days of the tour to these sacred places. As I said earlier, these are not the A list temples like Badri, Kedar, Vaishno, Amarnath, but if you compare with Andhra, you do Tirupathi, Sri Sailam, Kanaka Durga and Kalahasti; and then you do the Pancharaamas, these temples can have a similar correlation, but with a huge following in that region. Having said that, my intention is not to impose these temples in this itinerary, but to let you all know that they exist in the first place and that they are significant enough. And after multiple ways of trying to connect Char Dham to Vaishno Devi like flying, taking an overnight train and bus, this I thought would give us more value for our time. Yes, our itinerary would be squeezed a little by the inclusion of these temples, and we would be on road for 600 more kms over a period of 3 days, but these roads are hilly only at times. The list of 9 temples are: 1)      Manasa devi temple in Rishikesh 2)      Mansa devi temple in Panchkula 3)      Naina Devi temple 4)      Chintpurni temple 5)      Baglamukhi temple 6)      Jwalaji temple 7)      Bajreswhwari devi temple 8)      Chamunda temple 9)      Vaishno Devi temple

[4dhaam]

Optimal itinerary

Our most tentative travel dates are going to be Fri, Jun 15 to Sun, Jul 1, which is 17 days.

Fly to Delhi. Finish Char Dham in 8 days and end at Haridwar Finish nine devi darshan concluding at Vaishno devi in 4 days Drive to Srinagar and finish sightseeing in 2 days. Amarnathji Darshan 1 day.

Total travel time is 15 days and we have one day buffer, just in case. And, our last day is exclusively dedicated to flying back home.

Total driving distance: 2000kms. Total expected cost: 60000 (It’s a good idea to prepare for 10% extra).

If you look at it, this itinerary is a combination of 1,6 and 7, which would cost a total of 1.05 lakhs if undertaken separately. If we are interested in only 1) and 6), it is about 80k which is still a good 20k difference. However, if people are not interested in Nau Devi Darshan and Dharamshala, I would be the first person to raise my hand and say: let’s split these trips despite the difference in expense.

I will elucidate the various reasons for this tomorrow and I shall also explain the significance of the Nau Devi Darshan and the ease with which it can be accomplished. Just for the sake of comparison, Haridwar to Vaishno Devi is like Hyderabad to Vizag drive (even lesser in terms of distance), while covering Viayawada, Panchaaraamas, Pithapuram, Annavaram and Simhachalam. And imagine we are doing that in four days, which is ample time. Again for comparison’s sake, Anju and me did it in 2 days.

Unlike some people’s fears, I can guarantee you that this trip has been planned keeping elders in mind and giving priority to comfort and rest. Cut-off time for dinner at 9PM, sleep at 10 PM, at least 7 hours of sleep, and breakfast first thing in the morning. Having said that, the most important thing is to use daylight time very smartly and efficiently, meaning we got to be on road by 6:30-7:00 at the latest.

Any questions are welcome and after my research so far on this trip, it would be a good time to continue planning further once we all agree upon this itinerary.

[m-v-s]

Time vs Money vs Comfort vs Interest vs Speed

I just wanted to provide a few stats for folks to understand the various factors involved in getting to my itinerary which is going to come in the next post which is going to come shortly. Here the percentage interest means that even if you have only so much per cent of interest, you will still end of appreciating what has been covered after the trip. And percentage speed means we will not have much time to spend on relaxing at places during daytime and our day needs to start early if the percentage is close to 100. The cost is an approximation of what the tour operators offer (maybe 10 to 15 per cent lesser) just to give you an idea. Comfort means the ease with which you travel over the length if the trip.

1) char dham yatra including Dehradun and Mussoorie, Haridwar and Rishikesh flying in and out to delhi: 11 days 10 nights 45000 Drive in hilly terrain and high altitude is going to cause discomfort. 90% interest. 70% speed.

2) Amarnath yatra flying in and out of Srinagar 3 days , 2 nights. 25000 The 6 km stretch is going cause little discomfort for about 4-5 hours. 80% interest. 50% speed.

3) Vaishno devi flying in and out of Jammu. 2 days , 1 night 15000 Very comfortable. 50% interest. 40% speed.

4) Srinagar flying in and out of srinagar. 3 days, 2 nights. 15000 Easy peezy. 40 per cent interest. 75 % speed.

5) Amarnath + Vaishno devi flying in to jammu and out of Srinagar. 4 days, 3 nights. 30000 Discomfort for few hours. 80 % interest. 60% speed.

6) Amarnath + Vaishno Devi + Srinagar flying in to Jammu and out Srinagar. 6 days, 5 nights 35000 Discomfort for few hours 80 % interest. 75% speed

7) Nine devi darshan, Chandigarh, Bhakra Nangal dam and Dharamsala flying in to Chandigarh and out of Jammu 5 days, 4 nights. 25000 Very comfortable. 90% interest. 85% speed.

8) Nine devi darshan, Chandigarh, dharamshala, bhakra-nangal dams, amritsar, baagah border, kurukshetra, delhi shopping: 7 days, 6 nights. 30000 Very comfortable 90 % interest. 85% speed.

P.S: There is a secret ninth itinerary which is a slight addendum to one of the itineraries here which is of no significance at this time.

[4dhaam]

The curious case of Amarnathji

First things first. Amarnathji shrine is open for extremely few number of days per year. The good news is that, this year, fortunately, it is open for 60 days almost more than half of last year. The bad news is that the season happens to be the monsoon season and the Yatra is known to be stopped occasionally sometimes just for a day and sometimes for days together, although the latter is a rarity. The good news is that the opening date this year is at least a week before the monsoon officially arrives. The bad news is that it is an extremely difficult trek that takes 2-3 days for an average person from start to finish. The good news is that we need not worry about food, water and accomodation as there are free langars, free water all through the trekking path and tents provided at a nominal cost. The bad news is that the nights are extremely chilly and despite the mattresses and sleeping bags provided, it gets tough on an average person. The good news is that there is a chopper hservice provided by different companies the flying time of which is as low as 10 minutes. The bad news is that the helipad drop point is a good 6 km away from the shrine and it takes 5-6 hours for the round trip back to the helipad. The good news is that there are ponies and dolis available for the entire 12 kms. The bad news is that the pony rates may vary from 1000 to 2000 and the Dolii from 2000 to 3500. The good news is that the Amarnath shrine board has chopper service for 3500 plus service charges round trip. The bad news is that there are only 150-200 seats available per day and the booking starts only two to three weeks from today, i.e, end of March. The good news is that there are other competitor chopper companies who offer package tours. The bad news is that they are charging around 13000 per person with 2 nights accomodation and travel, which if we do by ourselves would cost half or even lesser and most of the companies have dates as late as July 4, 6, 10. The good news is that some companies are offering chopper service for even 7000. The bad news is that it is not same day return, meaning we have sleep in the tents which would not work for us. The good news is that there is availability on the 30th June by one operator at 13000. The bad news is that there is every possibility we can get even 29th for 3500 when the official shrine board’s chopper service providers’ booking opens but that's a BIG If. The good news is having spoken to different people who have gone there before, reading through various forums, and even speaking to Amarnathji shrine board, I am being advised not to be desperate and pay double the price and the chances of getting the desired number of tickets on the desired date at the desired price are pretty good despite the odds provided we are at the website ready to book the tickets on the date and time the booking opens, the details of which would be provided by the Amarnath shrine board at least 2-3 days in advance. The bad news is that this is the bird we have in hand, and I am inclined not to go for it for the reasons mentioned above. If, for whatever reason, we are not able to get the booking for our desired dates later, it would automatically mean Amarnath and Jammu would be excluded from this package and we would just finish Char Dham and return. The good news is we might just have another reason to go on a pilgrimage-cum-pleasure trip some other time and this current trip would be 10 days instead of 16.

The bottomline is I need confirmation at least from the people who have so far confirmed that they are okay with this based on the information I have.

P.S: I have confirmed info just now from people who traveled in 2015 that they have booked in Mid-May for travel on the second day of piligrimage start date. I am advised to stay put and wait for the shrine board’s booking to open unless we are desperate.

Fingers crossed.

[4dhaam]

Background

 Quite a few number of people have been asking me about going to the Char Dham yatra over the past one year. The interest has increased further in recent days and so has the seriousness. So I took up moderating and facilitating this effort with this the sole aim of the confidence that the people have shown in me more than anything else. I have already been to Char Dham and Vaishno devi in the recent past, and with the little experience that I have got, the main place where I could be of help is to reduce the tour cost and increase the number of significant places to be seen in the given timeframe of 14-17 days.

Why Char Dham? In my opinion, having seen all the four temples, Badrinath and Kedarnath carry a huge significance from a religious perspective, but Gangotri and Yamunotri are token temples of the origin of Ganga and Yamuna. So you will not see neither Ganges nor Yamuna originating from that place today as the Gangotri glacier has receeded over the years and Yamuna originates from a nearby glacier which is more than a kilometer high in altitude and is extremely difficult to access. Having said that, Ganga and Yamuna occupy huge significance in the Hindu mythology and religion, and people feel that having gone to Kedar and Badri, lets finish this in the same shot. It would take four extra days and cost as much in terms of money. And yes, having finished the ‘Chota Char Dham” piligrimage as it is frequently referred to, there is a huge sense of satisfaction that people have undertaken this tough piligrimage despite their age and physical conditions.

Why Amarnath? Amarnath is considered one of the toughest and significant piligrimages for the Shaivites. Despite not being a jyotirlinga, Amarnath carries utmost respect not just for the locals but for people all over India. The accessibility of the natural ice shivling over the past few years has made it even more popular with over 2 lakh piligrims. In my opinion, Kedarnath, Amarnath and Kailash form the shiva piligrimage trinity in that order of significance in terms of the effort it takes to get there both in physical and monetary terms.

Why Vaishno Devi? Unlike the popular myth down South that it is very tough to get to Vaishno Devi, it is one of the most easiest piligrimages today, similar to the lines of Tirumala. Undoubtedly, the temple ranks amongst one of the top 3 in terms of money offered by piligrims in terms of donations. This is not one of the ashtadasa shakti peethas unlike popular belief, but it still can be considered as one of the most important Durga temples in the country.

Why all 3 in a single shot? Anyone would ask me if I was out of my mind to even propose all the three in a single piligrimage tour. (For people who do not know, Char dham are in uttarakhand, vaishno devi in Jammu and Amarnath in Kashmir, over 150 kms from Srinagar and 600 kms from Jammu). In fact, I too thought quite a bit from the perspective of people’s age, physical conditions, weather conditions, financial angle and the length of the tour. The singlemost point that drove me to propose this as a single tour was the cost of the tour and the number of places one would cover if we undertake this as a single tour. (Please go through my detailed itinerary 1 in the thought process that went behind this.) Also, it would be kind of a relief for a lot of people to cover these in a single shot given the extra number of days to finish Vaishno Devi, Amarnath with the bonus of Srinagar , called Paradise on Earth, in just 5 more days.

Is it practically doable? Without doubt, I would easily do it, but it would definitely need a bit of determination from the 55 plus people to finish the tour. I personally have traveled with 8 people older than 50 mostly women at different times and people had absolutely no problem finishing this. But the common thread that ensured they finished without issues was their strong will that ‘I have to do this’ apart from huge amount of bhakti towards Kedareshwara or Badrinath or the two sacred rivers. You have to keep in mind that these ar high altitude places and dizziness, vomitings, tummy upset, feeling cold despite traveling in summer are all part and parcel of the package.

Why June? This year, Amarnath is open from Jun 28 to Aug 26. July and August are monsoon months in Uttarakhand, and monsoon means landlsides, road blockages, chances of being stranded on roads for a day or even 2, and even chances of temples being temporarily closed. Monsoon usually extends to first week of September and if the monsoon is harsh towards the end, it would get to at least September 10 for return of normalcy on roads. So what it technically ended up to was finish Char dham before the monsoon started and keep Amarnath towards the end when the temple opens. Or, visit Amarnath towards the closing time and take a risk, although less, with visiting char dham in first week of September. The former seemed a better choice because Eid is on Jun 15, Thursday , which means the trip length can be extended by 2 more days.

So here we are. The preparartions for the tour have officially started. Whoever wants to break the coconit is most welcome to, and start accumulating good karmas and punya to ensure we have a hassle-free piligrimage. From past experiences of different people,it’s also a good idea to have a target count of even a small less time consuming mantra like Om Namah Shivaaya and finish it either by the time the tour starts or ends. It would give an extra kick to the whole experience.