Staying in Vaishno Devi
After taking black tea from Pooja Halwai Shop which is the only eating joint serving black tea in Vaishno Devi i return to Parvati Bhawan. As i get ready i come across a family from Yamunanagar in Haryana which has come with their daughter. Here in Parvati Bhawan a set of bathrooms are fairly clean. Here i come across a personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) posted in Pune who has had the opportunity to visit Ahmednagar as well. I return the blanket and vacate the bed. I collect the prayer diary from the cloak room and head to the temple. There is no queue. I get inside the temple in little under 10 minutes. Giving a laminated picture of Lord Venkateswara to the priest he asks me if i have come from Tirumala. As i come out i head to Shiv Gufa and Hanuman Temple. Later i deposit the prayer diary and take a seat on a bench near Bathing Ghat. I visit J&K bank ATM and come across a man hailing from Kerala. The police station and J&K Bank ATM is the final point beyond which nobody can go as there are only hills.
Hike in Delhi Metro fare is unjustified
There is a family from Jhansi; there is a family from Bhopal; there is a family from Aurangabad in Bihar which has one of its member working in Delhi Metro and he defends the hike in fare by Delhi Metro given the raise the staff had to be given. There has been all round criticism of this fare hike which is pinching a large number of commuters. The minimum fare begins at Rs 10 and for anything above 2 km it is rs 20, the maximum fare is rs 60 and all this is unheard of. The minimum bus fare begins at rs 5 and the maximum going to rs 15. We need to discourage the people from taking out their personal transport on road and that was primarily the reason why metro was introduced with the added benefit of providing connectivity. If corrective measures are not taken it would hit the poll chances is the argument put forward.
There is a man from Amritsar doing business there. There is a family from Patna; there is a family from Sultanpur; there is a family from Sharanpur. There are different set of families from Panipat and Sonepat. There is a man from Pathankot who has been separated from his group while coming from Katra to Vaishno Devi Shrine. There are boys from Jullandhar; there is a man from Jammu; there is a boy from Amritsar working in the hotel industry in the front desk.
Frequent Announcements
Announcements are being made for Aarti. On frequent basis Announcements are being made for devotees who are walking from Katra to Vaishno Devi Shrine on cleanliness, health, moving in a group and refrain from using polythene and plastic. There is also frequent announcement on health camps along yatra route. There is a family from Berhampur in Orissa taking meals from Manokamna Bhawan 1 and i tell them about the places i have visited in Orissa like Puri and Balasore. As i head towards J&K Bank ATM i come across a family from Roorkee in Uttarakhand whose son is working in Gurgaon in HR Department in a firm.
There is a group from Hassan in Karnataka. As for their journey to Vaishno Devi they inform me they first came from Hassan to Bangalore, then taking a train from Bangalore to Agra, Agra to Delhi and Delhi to Katra. There is a family from Varanasi. There is a family from Kotdwar and they would be taking a flight from Jammu to Dehradun. There is a family from Jammu with the head of the family posted in Border Security Force (BSF). There is Mr Tulasi from Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu who has come with his family. I tell Mr Tulasi about the places i have visited in Tamil Nadu like Rameswaram, Kanniyakumari, Madurai, Kanchipuram and Chennai and a person from North India having visited these places he takes this as a compliment.
There is a man from Katni in Madhya Pradesh. There is Mr Ram Surat from Varanasi. In fact the number of families and number of groups from Varanasi could run in multiples. There is a family from Kharagpur in West Bengal. There is a couple from Haldia in West Bengal; there is another couple from Nadia in West Bengal. There is Mr Prabhakar Rao from Vishakapatnam who took a flight from Vishakapatnam to Delhi and from Delhi to Jammu. There is Mr Sandeep Kumar doing business in mobile accessories in Amritsar who frequently goes to Chandni Chowk in Delhi for business purpose. There is man from Agra who says petha of Agra is the only registered sweet in the country. There is a family from Pathankot which comes to Vaishno Devi once a year. There is Mr Babu Ram from Amritsar who has been coming since 1973. There is Mr Lakhan Panigrahi from Berhampur in Orissa. There is Mr Gopal Sharma at Parvati Bhawan. Get to meet a policeman from Vaishno Devi police station who probably goes by the name Mr Janak Singh. He has been recently posted in Vaishno Devi and has had stints in Doda and other places of J&K.
There is Mohammad Rizaq, Shamsher Singh, Mohammad Ramzan, Jan Mohammad all working as pithoos or carrying palkis. Most of them happen to be from Rajouri. There is Baldev Raj in security in Vaishno Devi Shrine. There are men engaged in cleanliness going by the name Ashok Kumar and Preetam. There is Naresh at locker room 2 and 3.
Slokas in Sanskrit
Some of the slokas and hymns in Sanskrit and Hindi in praise of Vaishno Devi Ma being played go like this.
Ya devi sarva bhuteshu Shakti rupena samsthita
Sarv Ambike Gauri Narayani Namostute
Namaste Saranye Shibe
Ma Tu sherawali, Ma tu paharawali Aaya Bhakt jholi khali
Ma sher par sawar hokar Aayi hai Darshan Ki shub ghadi aayi hai
Tera bulawa jab aaya mata raniye Mein ek pal na gavaye mata raniye. Pahado par tera dera wahi lage man mera
Tu sab duniya ki wali hai
Perhaps Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra could also be played for the benefit of devotees.
During Aarti Om Aim Hreem Kleem Chamundaye Viche mantra is sung regularly.
I am told about a Pithoo dhaba run by shrine board. The food provided there is stale. So all pithoos prefer to have their food in Manokamna Bhawan and Manokamna Bhawan 1. Perhaps the shrine board could look into this.
There are series of Cera water tanks and they are huge tanks. Perhaps the people would be cleaning these water tanks regularly and locks should be placed on them for safety reasons. About 20 metres from bathing ghat there is a Screen which has a dustbin below. Pindies are being shown on screen. The dustbin should be removed from there.
Near Helicopter booking centre there is urinal on right. Next to that there is a path leading to the shrine. This urinal should be removed.
Return Journey
The return journey started from Vaishno Devi Shrine at 11.30 pm on a Monday night. Mr Ghulam Qadri is the pithoo who comes with me. He has four daughters and two sons and all along the way he is a man which most would cherish to interact with. Mr Qadri has taken a room on rent in Katra and on the days when he does not get customers he goes back to his room. As for security inside the shrine there are frisking at three spots. That is admirable. All women should be frisked thoroughly as is done with men as that would bring safety to the proceedings. As for machines with which baggages are screened effort should be made to see they are in order and such screening machines should be placed in places where search is done by hand between Ban Ganga and Shrine(Bhawan).
After taking black tea from Pooja Halwai Shop which is the only eating joint serving black tea in Vaishno Devi i return to Parvati Bhawan. As i get ready i come across a family from Yamunanagar in Haryana which has come with their daughter. Here in Parvati Bhawan a set of bathrooms are fairly clean. Here i come across a personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) posted in Pune who has had the opportunity to visit Ahmednagar as well. I return the blanket and vacate the bed. I collect the prayer diary from the cloak room and head to the temple. There is no queue. I get inside the temple in little under 10 minutes. Giving a laminated picture of Lord Venkateswara to the priest he asks me if i have come from Tirumala. As i come out i head to Shiv Gufa and Hanuman Temple. Later i deposit the prayer diary and take a seat on a bench near Bathing Ghat. I visit J&K bank ATM and come across a man hailing from Kerala. The police station and J&K Bank ATM is the final point beyond which nobody can go as there are only hills.
Hike in Delhi Metro fare is unjustified
There is a family from Jhansi; there is a family from Bhopal; there is a family from Aurangabad in Bihar which has one of its member working in Delhi Metro and he defends the hike in fare by Delhi Metro given the raise the staff had to be given. There has been all round criticism of this fare hike which is pinching a large number of commuters. The minimum fare begins at Rs 10 and for anything above 2 km it is rs 20, the maximum fare is rs 60 and all this is unheard of. The minimum bus fare begins at rs 5 and the maximum going to rs 15. We need to discourage the people from taking out their personal transport on road and that was primarily the reason why metro was introduced with the added benefit of providing connectivity. If corrective measures are not taken it would hit the poll chances is the argument put forward.
There is a man from Amritsar doing business there. There is a family from Patna; there is a family from Sultanpur; there is a family from Sharanpur. There are different set of families from Panipat and Sonepat. There is a man from Pathankot who has been separated from his group while coming from Katra to Vaishno Devi Shrine. There are boys from Jullandhar; there is a man from Jammu; there is a boy from Amritsar working in the hotel industry in the front desk.
Frequent Announcements
Announcements are being made for Aarti. On frequent basis Announcements are being made for devotees who are walking from Katra to Vaishno Devi Shrine on cleanliness, health, moving in a group and refrain from using polythene and plastic. There is also frequent announcement on health camps along yatra route. There is a family from Berhampur in Orissa taking meals from Manokamna Bhawan 1 and i tell them about the places i have visited in Orissa like Puri and Balasore. As i head towards J&K Bank ATM i come across a family from Roorkee in Uttarakhand whose son is working in Gurgaon in HR Department in a firm.
There is a group from Hassan in Karnataka. As for their journey to Vaishno Devi they inform me they first came from Hassan to Bangalore, then taking a train from Bangalore to Agra, Agra to Delhi and Delhi to Katra. There is a family from Varanasi. There is a family from Kotdwar and they would be taking a flight from Jammu to Dehradun. There is a family from Jammu with the head of the family posted in Border Security Force (BSF). There is Mr Tulasi from Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu who has come with his family. I tell Mr Tulasi about the places i have visited in Tamil Nadu like Rameswaram, Kanniyakumari, Madurai, Kanchipuram and Chennai and a person from North India having visited these places he takes this as a compliment.
There is a man from Katni in Madhya Pradesh. There is Mr Ram Surat from Varanasi. In fact the number of families and number of groups from Varanasi could run in multiples. There is a family from Kharagpur in West Bengal. There is a couple from Haldia in West Bengal; there is another couple from Nadia in West Bengal. There is Mr Prabhakar Rao from Vishakapatnam who took a flight from Vishakapatnam to Delhi and from Delhi to Jammu. There is Mr Sandeep Kumar doing business in mobile accessories in Amritsar who frequently goes to Chandni Chowk in Delhi for business purpose. There is man from Agra who says petha of Agra is the only registered sweet in the country. There is a family from Pathankot which comes to Vaishno Devi once a year. There is Mr Babu Ram from Amritsar who has been coming since 1973. There is Mr Lakhan Panigrahi from Berhampur in Orissa. There is Mr Gopal Sharma at Parvati Bhawan. Get to meet a policeman from Vaishno Devi police station who probably goes by the name Mr Janak Singh. He has been recently posted in Vaishno Devi and has had stints in Doda and other places of J&K.
There is Mohammad Rizaq, Shamsher Singh, Mohammad Ramzan, Jan Mohammad all working as pithoos or carrying palkis. Most of them happen to be from Rajouri. There is Baldev Raj in security in Vaishno Devi Shrine. There are men engaged in cleanliness going by the name Ashok Kumar and Preetam. There is Naresh at locker room 2 and 3.
Slokas in Sanskrit
Some of the slokas and hymns in Sanskrit and Hindi in praise of Vaishno Devi Ma being played go like this.
Ya devi sarva bhuteshu Shakti rupena samsthita
Sarv Ambike Gauri Narayani Namostute
Namaste Saranye Shibe
Ma Tu sherawali, Ma tu paharawali Aaya Bhakt jholi khali
Ma sher par sawar hokar Aayi hai Darshan Ki shub ghadi aayi hai
Tera bulawa jab aaya mata raniye Mein ek pal na gavaye mata raniye. Pahado par tera dera wahi lage man mera
Tu sab duniya ki wali hai
Perhaps Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra could also be played for the benefit of devotees.
During Aarti Om Aim Hreem Kleem Chamundaye Viche mantra is sung regularly.
I am told about a Pithoo dhaba run by shrine board. The food provided there is stale. So all pithoos prefer to have their food in Manokamna Bhawan and Manokamna Bhawan 1. Perhaps the shrine board could look into this.
There are series of Cera water tanks and they are huge tanks. Perhaps the people would be cleaning these water tanks regularly and locks should be placed on them for safety reasons. About 20 metres from bathing ghat there is a Screen which has a dustbin below. Pindies are being shown on screen. The dustbin should be removed from there.
Near Helicopter booking centre there is urinal on right. Next to that there is a path leading to the shrine. This urinal should be removed.
Return Journey
The return journey started from Vaishno Devi Shrine at 11.30 pm on a Monday night. Mr Ghulam Qadri is the pithoo who comes with me. He has four daughters and two sons and all along the way he is a man which most would cherish to interact with. Mr Qadri has taken a room on rent in Katra and on the days when he does not get customers he goes back to his room. As for security inside the shrine there are frisking at three spots. That is admirable. All women should be frisked thoroughly as is done with men as that would bring safety to the proceedings. As for machines with which baggages are screened effort should be made to see they are in order and such screening machines should be placed in places where search is done by hand between Ban Ganga and Shrine(Bhawan).
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