My first Badari Yaatra - Part 1 - 05/11/2024

 Prologue:

This was my first ever visit to this holiest of holy places for Sanaatanis. The idea came from Suma Aunty sometime around June and I just said ‘Yes’, without a second thought or as much as a blink! She said that one of her known persons, Anil, wanted to scout the places for him to organise a discourse trip next year. What better person to accompany us than Suma Aunty, as she had traveled to those places many times and knows around like the back of her palm. Another advantage was that she had extensive contacts in those places and could do accommodation booking, on the fly, which was what she did for our sojourn there.

So, around August-September, the tickets were booked and a special darshan at Badari was secured to see the Lord being offered Shayan Aarti before the doors were locked for the night.

Unbeknownst to me, I was told to accommodate one more person, Sumitra Padagi, into the group. I had no clue about this person until I delved deep to find her coordinates. Lo and behold! She was my second cousin with whom I had lost contact over the years of my drifting across the country and overseas. We were indeed very happy that we could get together again after decades. She then persuaded her husband Dwarkanath (ex-CMD of BEML) to join the group as he would have me as company. Thus began our 5-wo/men troupe to explore the Dev Bhoomi (as they call the province of Uttarakhand).

Towards mid-October, I was told to sneak one more person, Radha, a friend of Suma Aunty, into the fold and thus we became a group of six. Preparations for food and other pooja stuff were getting on by the womenfolk for the 10-day journey, courtesy of Suma Aunty, Sumithra and Radha. Suma Aunty (as I had experienced and described in my blog of September last year), was meticulous in planning and preparing all pooja items like drapery over the Lord’s idols, bead garlands, assorted dry-fruit bits for Naivedya and Prasada, et al. She had also prepared dry fruit globs, to nibble, for our sustenance during the treks and long-haul drives. As a preparation, she also sent a carton load of eatable stuff by courier to New Delhi so that the package can be picked up by our vehicle before reaching Dehradun. Sumithra and Radha too, had chipped in with a variety of nibbles from our part of the country.

All reservations done we waited with bated breath for the D-Day to fly out to the North. Checked the weights of the baggage and off we went to the airport to catch our 13h55 Indigo flight to Dehradun. Our transport for the next 11 days was to meet here, Sanjay - our Saarathi (Driver) had preloaded the vehicle with sufficient potable water, milk and curds. 

The Story:

Day – 1 (05/11/2024)

We landed in Dehradun as scheduled, around 17h00 on the 5^th of Nov. Radha had arrived here a couple of days earlier and was at the Airport ahead of us. While waiting for our transport to arrive, we could glimpse at the sun, setting a tad earlier than normal with the winter approaching. Luggage secured, passengers found their places with their handbags, in the cozy (1+1) seating arrangement of this 10-seater luxurious capsule that became our second living quarters for the next 10 days. The parcel sent by Suma Aunty had not been delivered yet and we were deprived of our main breakfast/lunch and other nibbles sent by courier.

So, off we went on our first journey together, with the intention of visiting Pancha Badari, Pancha Prayag and as many other places as we could see as per Suma Aunty's itinerary, chanting 'Jai Badari Vishaal'!

Our first stop was Mann Ichha Devi Temple around 8 km away, just a km deviation from Rishikesh Road. Our exercise of climbing up & down started from this temple as we had to climb the winding stairs to reach the top. Monkeys present were a concern for a few of us but didn’t deter our resolve to have a darshan of the Devi in Pindi form. Sought blessings from the Devi for a trouble-free journey and visits to all the holy places in our itinerary.

                

    Mann Ichha Devi Temple                                        Mann Ichha Devi Temple

Enroute, we had our first cup of masala tea at Shivpuri, while coffee aficionados had their cuppa and we proceeded towards Srinagar (yes, there is a Srinagar in Uttarakhand too!) where we had dinner at a roadside restaurant and then on to our night camp close to Rudra Prayag, where we had our first of the ten-night halts of the tour at Hotel Blue Orchid. The place was quite comfortable and we couldn’t have asked for much as it was for just a night. 

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Camp Coordinates: Hotel Blue Orchid - Jhirmoli, Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand - 246171

Email: info@hotelblueorchid.com  Web:www.hotelblueorchid.com  Phone:+918273708462   

https://maps.app.goo.gl/trrU4NSCgHGGXAem6

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Continued..... in Part 2