“Trip to Vaishno Devi Temple on 31st Dec. 2005” — Dare to Dream, Care to Achieve.

During the year 2005, my husband and I decided that we would start our new year with the blessing of Goddess “Vaishno Devi ”. As opposed to attending the party on the 31st, we planned to hike and visit a temple. However, mountain trekking during winter, in snowy conditions was not an easy task. Especially if you’re not used to such extreme weather.

We had no clue what lay there for us. We finalized the plan and confirmed our bookings. We were ignorant and didn’t do any research or read about the weather and the conditions there. My husband preferred to climb the Vaishno Devi Mountain without shoes due to his religious belief and faith. He had done the same couple of times in the past anyways. However, he had never covered this journey during peak winters. We didn’t think twice and decided that our first new year celebration, together would be at Vaishno Devi Temple. The Vaishno Devi Temple also referred to as Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple is a prominent and widely revered Hindu temple dedicated to the goddess Vaishno Dev at a height of 5,200 ft.It is located in Katra, Reasi on the slopes of Trikuta Hills within the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir in India. It is one of the most visited pilgrimage centers in India. Every year, millions of devotees visit the temple. The devotees choose different ways like walking bare feet as well as crawling up to seek Goddess’s blessing and pay gratitude for the wish fulfillment. A 13-kilometer trek from Katra town leads to the Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage site, where the goddess manifests in a cave. In the last ten years, a helicopter service has also been introduced and you can reach the peak within 10 minutes. It has made the pilgrimage easier for old people, kids, and many others.

I visited Vaishno Devi for the first time when I was in high school. It was a fun trekking experience and after the climb, I felt victorious and blessed on seeing the Goddess statues in the cave. After all the hardship, sweat, and tired feet when you meet the goddess, you get emotional. It is the belief in the Hindu religion that only the lucky ones will be able to cover this journey and see the goddess in the cave.

People believe that when they trek this height with complete faith, their problems will be solved. It says, your unfulfilled wish may come true as well. Human faith is an amazing thing. Simple faith and belief in that power can drive and motivate any person to climb such a height. Some devotees take any amount of pain to cover this journey. Despite illness and age, many try to complete this trek on foot and get successful too.

This temple is quite old, and nobody knows when it was established. In earlier days, the climb was way too difficult. The path was grueling and steep and there weren’t any facilities on the way either. However, things are far better and improved in the last some years. Now the rough, rocky path has been paved and flattened to some extent. There are resting areas every KM and no dearth of restaurants, food, and water supply throughout the stretch. Before 2002, old people couldn’t cover this gruesome journey on foot. There are options to go by horse, but it was torture to your butts and not so comfortable for old people and very young. Then the other option is Palanquin, which requires cruel physical labor by bearers. It’s quite painful to see the workers carrying heavy weight to such a height. All these options are there today but they are certainly not so comfortable. In the last 10 years, the helicopter service has started too, which takes you to “Sanji Chhat” from Katra. Sanji Chhat is a little plateau two and a half kilometers short of the Holy Shrine of Vaishno Devi Ji. Since the upward gradient ends at this point and because of the scenic view it offers, this place is a pleasant halt for the pilgrims. It is quite a famous spot as walking is easy for the main temple, Bhawan. This service is expensive but very convenient at the same time. However, this service is unavailable if the weather is windy, snowy, or rainy. Despite all this, it takes some courage to climb 13 km. Some devotees love to climb barefoot and chant “Jai Mata di”. There are enthusiastic climbers, which keep singing a song about the goddess and chanting slogans throughout the journey.

When they go past by you, they give you the well-needed dose of energy and confidence to continue your journey. Their spirit is highly contagious. Whenever you start getting tired and feeling low, some or other such group come across and you feel rejuvenated and get your excitement back. They are the motivators. However, you certainly need to be in good health if you want to cover this journey on your foot.

We reached Katra in the mornings of 31st Dec. 2005. We both were excited to begin our journey in the late afternoon so that we can reach the top before midnight. We wanted to start the new year after offering our prayers to the goddess. The plan was to reach the top before midnight. As we started the hike, we could sense the bitter cold and heavy chilly winds. As we were climbing up, the chilliness in the air was increasing. I forced my husband to wear socks as he was climbing barefoot. We planned to reach the top by 10:00 pm or before. We didn’t know what was waiting for us there. Due to the cold, we were getting tired fast. As we were ascending to the heights, we noticed the crowd climbing along with us. They were singing, chanting the songs of the goddess and that reignited the enthusiasm in us. It brought the smile and confidence back in us and we continued to cover the treacherous distance. After trekking for more than 4 hours, we reached the top. We were excited but within moments we got the shock of our life. There was a big queue from “Sanjichhat” itself. It felt like the entire city had planned to come here to celebrate the new year in the temple. In my past travel experience to Vaishno devi, I had never seen these many people. My husband, who is quite a frequent visitor was equally surprised. The caveat was none of us have visited this place on 31st Dec. This was our first time during this peak cold weather and on the 31st evening. Well, we had a pass for the special entrance, so we stood in that queue thinking we would be able to get entry into the cave fast. The queue was moving at a snail’s pace. I was getting irritated. Especially the cold wind was bothering me a lot. I never lived in Delhi, so I wasn’t used to such adverse weather. I grew up in warm cities in Gujarat so for me this cold was unbearable. I tried to remain calm and composed. But after waiting for an hour, we realized the queue wasn’t moving at all. It seems the Governor of the state had flown to the mountain to do the prayers. Considering his security and status, nobody was allowed inside the temple, for the next couple of hours. Sounds silly but it happens in India. As the temperature was dropping and the clock was ticking, I started losing my patience. My husband was trying to deal with the situation and was ready to wait. But I gradually started giving up. Every inch of me was craving some warmth. I wanted to be inside the building, covered with blankets. After waiting for more than 2 hours in the queue, I asked my husband to drop off the long, serpent-like queue and return to the hotel. My husband wasn’t ready to go back and wanted to wait. We also tried to find a lodge, but everything was pre-booked and unavailable. Considering the severe weather and my poor tolerance towards cold, he agreed to climb down with a heavy heart. He seemed very upset, but he knew that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate this cold. The queue wasn’t moving, and everybody was battering the chilly wind. We both finally dropped out of the queue and went to the restaurant to eat something. We badly needed some warmth and energy to climb down. I was upset with my husband for planning this trip. He wasn’t entirely responsible, but you know how human beings are. We always blame others for our miseries. I did the same too. I blamed him for everything. My point of argument was as he was a frequent visitor, he should be knowing about the weather condition as well. Quite silly of me! Isn’t it?

Honestly, we both should have done some research or enquired before planning this trip, perhaps. At the same time, we were highly disappointed as we didn’t achieve what we wished for. Being sad, unaccomplished and with a heavy heart, we started ascending down. We tried to find a lodge. hotel for an overnight stay but nothing was available. We had to return empty. We were angry with the whole situation, which we never dreamed of.

The same day in the evening, we had to leave for another tourist place, which is on top of the mountain, Patni top. Patni top is a hill station and a very famous place for sightseeing in the mountains. We reached back to the hotel and caught sleep for a couple of hours. We both were angry, dissatisfied, and unhappy. We slept for some hours and then started our drive to Patni top. We tried to distract our minds by enjoying the snow and sightseeing at Patni top. We were forcing our minds to believe that perhaps we were not destined to offer prayers to three Pindies at Cave on the 31st night. It was hard to believe but we had no other option. We ate dinner and slept early as we were sore after climbing and tired. In the morning, we woke up early and planned to go out but again we were shocked. The entire city was “snowed” and covered with 4–6 inches of snow. I had never seen so much snow in my life. There was no electricity or warm water in the hotel. The hotel management advised us and other guests to leave and drive back to our respective places. It was weird but that can happen in India in Hill stations. The hotels are not well equipped and they don’t have great facilities to run the hotel and keep the guests warm in such inclement weather. This happened in the year 2005. I hope now things might have improved. Our driver was trained, and he safely drove us back to the hotel in Katra. We were getting more irritated as all our plans were getting disposed of by god’s will or say the cruel weather.

We reached back to the hotel in Katra and started re-planning. We both wanted to visit the temple and seek the blessings of the goddess, before leaving Katra. We thought this was our only chance to plan this hike again. We were discouraged, sored, and exhausted but determined to give it one more attempt. We thought of using a helicopter service at least to reach there to save some time. But very soon, this idea was squashed by snowy weather. Unfortunately, due to snow and rain in the mountains, helicopter services were halted, temporarily. We left this option and thought of taking a horse ride. We were not sure about safety considering the slippery track, snow, and icy path while climbing up. However, we were assured and told by horse riders that it was indeed the safest option.

We were so driven and focused that we didn’t think twice. We started our journey on the horse along with the riders. We sat on the horse and the caretakers, and riders walked along to ensure the horse was not going on a different track. Usually, these horses are well-trained and remember their route better than any human being, I would say. It was not a comfortable ride in the night for sure as many times I felt the horse was going to slip. But every time, I felt I was going to fall, I was proven wrong by the horse. He maintained the balance quite well. The tracks were a little slippery and icy in some places. So, both the horse and the person were taking additional precautions. The unusual thing was, as we were climbing to the top, we could hardly see any other person on the way. We didn’t think much about it and continued the journey. It was a slow ride as compared to any other normal day. After around 3 hours, finally we reached Sanji Chhat. Beyond that point, horses are not allowed to go. We must cover the remaining distance on foot. It was snowing, and wet everywhere. We started walking towards the temple and realized, there was no queue, no other person in front of us or behind us. We paced our footsteps and reached inside the cave, where three Pindies of the goddess are situated. I cannot forget that moment forever. There was no mad rush or crowd around us. It was like time has stopped. Inside the temple, it was just us, the priest, and the beautiful statue of the goddess- the source of power behind our climb for the second time in 2 days. The priest was sitting there and got shocked when he saw us. He asked us to sit and do prayers at peace with him. He was a little angry with us, why did we climb up on a snowy night? It was quite unsafe and dangerous to do that. Well, we spent more than 10 minutes inside the cave and were very happy and satisfied. On usual days, you were not given more than 30 seconds to spend in the cave. Usually, the priests and the army officers would tell you to hurry up and leave fast. This is all done to manage the crowd and for safety too. But that day, there was no one waiting behind us. So, we had all the time in the world to enjoy some pious moments. Finally, we could achieve what we planned for. This whole incident taught me many things. You can achieve anything in life if you dare to dream, work hard, be committed and take some risks of course. Had we not dared to climb on that snowy night we could have never had those beautiful, cherished memories and precious memorable moments of life.