Another Ropeway to Chandi Devi Temple and off to Delhi - Part VIII

A Hi, hello and a trip is born..-Part I

Here we go, up and away to Dehradun.. Part II

Hotel Sakoon, Dehradun at a glance... Part III 

Exploring Dehradun- Part IV

Off to Rishikesh.. Part V

Ganga Aarti at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar- VI

Temples and Ropeways in Haridwar- Mansa Devi Temple- Part VII

We got off the ropeway and began walking back towards the shop we had entered to reach here. It was again quite a walk, but this time we were all tired and hungry/thirsty as well. Finally we reached the store, and decided to take a short break before getting back on the road again. We got the guy to make us a masala pepsi which was quite a soother.. When we enquired about the ropeway to Chandi Devi, we were told an auto had to be taken to go up the hill and it would cost us like 350bucks. After a bit of haggling and debates, we gave in and took the auto. It is another 5-8 kms from Har Ki Pauri..

The auto guy dropped us near the ropeway and said he would wait for us there. We made our way through the gates, a small children's play area towards the Ropeway. And off we went on another adventure ride up the hill. This time the ride was few minutes longer, 5mins to be specific and scenes were quite different as well. There was a beautiful forest beneath us and we noticed men standing near each of the towers. We wondered how they got there, what was their job and how boring/scary it must be just standing there all day!

Anyways, we got off the ropeway, had to go up a flight of steps, before reaching the main temple premises. Left our footwear and made our way towards the last flight of steps which were quite steep before reaching the main shrine. Wonder why God wants us to do all these treks to come visit them!! It is never as easy as getting off the road and walking into the place.. 

When I was asking around about the temple, I came to know it is among the famous Shaktipeethas in Norther India. People come to this temple if they have a wish.  According to the Hindu mythology, Lord Indra's kingdom was taken over by two demon kings named Shumbh and Nishumbh. When the demon kings crossed their limits, Chandi Devi was given birth from the cells of goddess Parvati.

[Clicked this at Manasa Devi Temple premises]

[Pic courtesy: Indianholiday]

Chandi Devi Temple, Haridwar (Hindi: चण्डी देवी मंदिर, हरिद्वार) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Goddess Chandi Devi in the holy city of Haridwar in the Uttarakhand state of India. The temple is situated atop the Neel Parvat on the Eastern summit of the Sivalik Hills, the southernmost mountain chain of the Himalayas. Chandi Devi Temple was built in 1929 by Suchat Singh in his reign as the King of Kashmir. However, the main murti of Chandi Devi at the temple is said to have been installed in the 8th century by Adi Shankaracharya, one of the greatest priests of Hindu religion.^[1][2] The temple also known as Neel Parvat Teerth is one of the Panch Tirth(Five Pilgrimages) located within Haridwar. [Ref wikipedia]

While we were getting for our turn to say our prayers to the Goddess, a woman ahead of us burst out into screams and that she had been possessed by the Goddess. Her family took her aside and tried calming her down.. Oh well,the things you see in these places... I shrugged it off and made my way out of the temple, checked out the few stores along the way before heading back to the ropeway station.. I was kinda done for the trip, I was done with temples!! I am one of those who believes I don't really have to go to a place of worship to make a wish/prayer, and am happy doing it my way.. 

The ride down was fun, and we intact wanted to do just another trip up & down.. but the scaredy poo in our gang wouldn't hear of it... We instead went down to the cafe and risked our lives having what they called Masala dosa and rajma chawal..both were quite sad...  

The one thing you need to watch out for in these places are the monkeys.. They are quite a menace, infact we spotted a lady standing near the wall as two men chased after monkey that had stolen her handbag.. wonder if she got it!

Oh well our time in Haridwar was coming to an end, cos the next morning we were off to Delhi and then onwards to Chennai ... 

More follows.... 

Temples and Ropeways in Haridwar- Mansa Devi Temple- Part VII

A Hi, hello and a trip is born..-Part I

Here we go, up and away to Dehradun.. Part II

Hotel Sakoon, Dehradun at a glance... Part III 

Exploring Dehradun- Part IV

Off to Rishikesh.. Part V

Ganga Aarti at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar- VI

Once we were done with the morning dip in the Ganga, my friend A had a list of temples that had been shared by another friend's sister. She rattled out the messages and my mind voice was screaming "Oh no, oh no, please let us not get dragged to all these temple.. one or two I can deal with.. not that many".. lol.. 

Friend went on to enquire about two temples at the hotel reception and the girl said they can be accessed by Ropeway["Udan Khatola" as the locals call it], which was down the road on Har Ki Pauri.. We said ok, and hailed an auto to get to the 1st temple- Mansa Devi Temple. The earlier trips had all been short and we paid the auto guy Rs10 each,this time we thought it would be slightly more.. We were in for a pleasant shock, to say the least. 

The auto guy dropped us off about 6kms down the road, and said we had to walk the rest of the way as roads were blocked. He then went on to demand Rs150 for the ride.. We were zapped.. Went and asked the cops how much it would cost and they agreed with the rate he quoted. Beaten, we paid him and began walking uphill. It was a narrow road with small houses and shops on either side. Since it was Vasant Panchami, there were kids all through the road flying kites. 

We walked and we walked and kept walking... after a point came upon a store where the guy asked if we were headed to the Mansa Devi temple. We said yes and he then asked us to go down the narrowest flight of steps to the ropeway. We went through the store, down the narrowest staircase and discovered there was a mini town down there. More shops, homes and a railway track right alongside these was what we saw...  Walked down for a km or so and we finally spotted the ropeway ticket counter.. Phew!! Bought tickets for ropeway ride to both temples [ Mansa Devi & Chandi Devi] at Rs228 per person.

While there, a lady cop called my friend aside and asked her to fill out a survey form. For what you ask? Well, there was plans of opening a South Indian hotel there and they wanted to know what dishes would work.. I joined in and we filled out the form. Also chit chatted with the lady cop, and she commented "your hindi is good, how is it that you speak it so well?" :D 

Anyways, we walked into the Ropeway centre, and the excitement within me was building up... One empty box came by, we hopped in- my friends on one side and me on the other .. And we were off, this ride was about 3mins.. The total length of the rope-way is 540 metres (1,770 ft) and the height it covers is 178 metres (584 ft). [sample video]

You get off the ropeway and walk along a path, a series of steps before reading the temple complex  Leave your footwear and walk further down to reach the main temple. Mansa Devi Temple is dedicated to goddess Mansa Devi and is located atop the Bilwa Parvat on the Sivalik Hills, the southernmost mountain chain of the Himalayas. The temple therefore is also known as Bilwa Tirth [ is one of the Panch Tirth -Five Pilgrimage sites]. The Goddess is an avatar of  Shakti and is said to have emerged from the mind of the sage (Rishi) Kashyapa.  

The term Mansa means wish and it is believed that the goddess fulfils all the wishes of a sincere devotee. People who visit the temple, make a wish and tie a red thread around the tree within the premises.  It is said that once your wish is fulfilled  you should come back and untie a thread.I also noticed many putting sticker bindis or leaving a pad of bindi around the temple. Luckily it wasn't too crowded... Oh and one thing I found weird was there were all these smaller shrines around the main shrine, with a priest in each of them. If you are interested, you prostrate before God and offer prayers, and then the priest thwacks you on our bag with his hand, and in the Hanuman shrine he had a Gaddha of sorts made from cloth that he used to thwack the devotees with... Friend got thwacked in almost all the shrines and I passed it up, happy with my Hello.. :D

Oh, must tell you how amazing the view from the top was.. It was quite breathtaking, and the ride back down to the ropeway centre was beautiful.. There are lush green forests all the way around,  trees in different shades of green and brown. The Ganga river flows like a snake down below and you just feel so free and liberated... I loved the ride and it was quite an experience. 

As we got off the ropeway and walked back to the store from where we had reached here, I was already looking forward to the 2nd ropeway ride to Chandi Devi Temple.. Had forgotten that i was being dragged from one temple to the other and looked forward to the ride, the view and the excitement.   :-) 

Ganga Aarti at Har ki Pauri, Haridwar- VI

A Hi, hello and a trip is born..-Part I

Here we go, up and away to Dehradun.. Part II

Hotel Sakoon, Dehradun at a glance... Part III 

Exploring Dehradun- Part IV

Off to Rishikesh.. Part V

Ah, we had finally reached Haridwar, checked into the room - Hotel Khanna Palace [it wasn't in Har ki pauri as Cleartrip listing had stated but was about 5kms,which was alright..]. Since there were no traffic restrictions or crazy crowds we were in a good space. 

After checking in, we had a cup of tea and decided to head out towards Har Ki Pauri to witness Ganga Aarti. Since the next day was a special day -Vasant Panchami, friend said it would be best we do all possible today itself as it might get beyond crowded tomorrow. Off we went, walking, we walked and walked and walked till we couldn't walk anymore..[lol..i exaggerate], but we must have walked a good 3-4kms and it was close to 6pm, we did not want to miss the Ganga Aarti and so decided to hail an auto . The auto stopped at a certain point and we had to walk uphill once more for about 2kms till we reached a flight of steps that led to a path beyond which lay the main Ganga temple where they did the evening Aarti... As we were walking towards the temple, we heard the loud speakers blaring songs in praise of Ganga Maiya and Shiva.  You will find hawkers sell wick lamps or diyas to float in the Ganges.We spotted a bridge, and cops nearby. When we enquired about the Aarti, cops told us it was over but a lady sitting nearby told us to hurry and that the Aarti was just about the begin. 

Ganga Aarti was basically a small puja done for the River and Aarti showed to the river by 5 different priests around the main temple in Har Ki Pauri. The steps are filled with people who have come ahead of time and grabbed a good spot. We stood on the other side of the river which offered a good view. The temples were all beautifully lit up and all we could see was a ocean of bobbing heads and cameras ready to click away when it began. 

Ganga Aarti in Hardwar city starts at around 6.30pm. 02 times Aarti is performed daily at the Har ki Pauri Ghat. Morning sunrise and evening sunset.

Aarti symbolize 5 thing mainly these are 1) ether (akash) 2) wind (vayu) 3) fire (agni) 4) water (jal) and 5) earth (pruthvi). In Sanskrit the meaning of "Aa" is "towards or to" and the meaning of "rati" is right or virtue". The atmosphere is quite electric during this time...

Once the Aarti was over, we spent some time wandering the narrow alleys, the shops and street food here before calling it a night. We were exhausted, and had practically no energy to walk back to the hotel, but there was no choice... The night was chill, and we had to walk and walk and walk some more... just after the barricades, we managed to hail an auto and head to the hotel.. The next day was a special day, one where people who had come to Haridwar will take a dip in the Ganga... We had decided to come over around 7ish and hopefully the water will not be freezing cold then was the only thing running through our minds.. 

What happened next follows next... :-) 

Off to Rishikesh.. Part V

A Hi, hello and a trip is born..-Part I

Here we go, up and away to Dehradun.. Part II

Hotel Sakoon, Dehradun at a glance... Part III 

Exploring Dehradun- Part IV

It was time to bid adieu to Dehradun and make our way to Haridwar, but we had to make a brief lunch stop over at Rishikesh at a friend's sister R's place. When we enquired at the hotel, the cab rates seemed quite steep, we decided to explore other options. Remember the Auto Ashok Uncle I had written about in Part IV? Well, we went back to ask him if he knew any reliable cab guys who would take us to Haridwar. He did know someone and the rate quoted was also reasonable. So we went ahead and asked the cabbie to come to our hotel by 9.15 so we could scoot by 9.30. 

The last time I visited these parts of the country was a good two decades ago, from College. We were about 100 odd girls from College who did a North India tour - 15days.. Delhi, Kulu Manali, Shimla, Chail, Haridwar, Rishikesh... was a fun trip, packed with quite a bit of adventure courtesy the rains and girls being girls... Haridwar and Rishikesh were fairly crowded, dirty messy and there seemed to be people everywhere. I wondered what it would be like now! With these thoughts I wandered off into la la land.. 

Next morning, we were ready by 9, but the cabbie arrived only by 9.30 and then there was a bit of tussle fitting the bags into the boot, la la la.. and we finally hit the road close to 10am. By the time we reached R's place it was 11.30.. The house looked majestic and grand from the outside and even more as we entered the gates. Since all of us had been to Rishikesh earlier, we were ok to just chill at their home and head out from there. 

We got a tour of the home and the temple, while walking around, I noticed the river was less than a km from their home and was filled with birds. Was told quite a few birds come there and recently there was like a million Siberian Ducks that had come down to the river bed. I spotted few Rollers, Hoopoe, Bee eater, Kingfisher, Red-wattled lapwing,  Cormorants along the way.. Was such joy! Apart from the birds, I also saw not one but two Mongoose during our brief stay there.. R told us that one day three mongoose had come inside their home, she opened the main door and they waltzed right out the door to the gate and beyond.. :O 

If there was one thing I knew it was that where there was a Mongoose there were bound to be snakes around.. oooh... probably the only thing that had me dreading living there, other than this I would have been a happy camper here.. The peace and silence all around was sheer bliss.. 

 We had a relaxed lavish lunch, post which we walked around all the way to the river bed to see the Siberian Ducks.. There were babies, there were adults and they were happily yapping away amidst each other.. 

By the time we got back from our walk, it was nearly 3pm and after a quick call to our hotel in Haridwar, we were reassured there were no traffic restrictions or blocks. Was such a relief [R and gang had been to Haridwar earlier for the Maha Kumbh Mela and they had to get off and walk nearly 10-15kms].. We left Rishikesh around 4pm and looked forward to the next two days at Haridwar in the Kumbh Mela..... I was quite excited and anxious about the Mela, wondered if the place would be packed or if we would have room to breathe.. Had visions of Sadhus, Naga Sadhus, and millions of people rushing towards the Ganges to take a dip... 

Exploring Dehradun- Part IV

A Hi, hello and a trip is born..-Part I

Here we go, up and away to Dehradun.. Part II

Hotel Sakoon, Dehradun at a glance... Part III

Now that we had satiated our hungry tummies, we decided to get out and explore the town of Dehradun. I had done some research and so had the friend, we thought we will see two places - one was about 6kms away and the other 12-15kms. Did not want to be greedy, or just visit many without actually spending time anywhere. After enquiring with the hotel, we decided it might be cheaper to head out and hail an auto. Friend and I headed out down the road, where we found an auto who agreed for a decent price. Little did we know that he would be such a treasure chest of information on Dehradun and show us more than what we had agreed upon! 

[The one place I had kinda wanted to visit was Ruskin Bond's home, but then it was a good 100 odd kms away.. Sigh~ that will have to wait for another trip..]

Auto Ashok uncle[Ph: +91 9997375724] is how I have saved his number on my phone and I would highly recommend him to anyone heading to Dehradun. 

Sahastradhara 

Sahastradhara referee to “thousand fold spring”, and is quite popular among visitors.  You will find a small waterfall of sorts tumbling over rocks across places, and this water drips from limestone stalactites, making the water rich in sulphur which gave it the nickname "sulphur springs." The water is crystal clear and has healing properties, it is said a sip of this water is enough to cure any ailment in the human body. Apart from the water fall, there are quite a few caves, covered with plants with water dripping down the leaves. There are staircases to these caves but it gets slippery with the water flowing constantly, so be careful!  We noticed there was a ropeway to go up the hill but on that day the ropeway was down for maintenance. There is a small Shiva shrine along with Guru Dronacharya within a cave a few steps away.   

We noticed there was a waterpark nearby with colourful slides and play area, guessing the access is further up the road. 

We spent about an hour here.. it was beautiful!! As we left here, I could hear the water dripping down the plants and monkeys jump from branch to branch looking for some nibbles. 

Tibetan Monestary

Our original plan was to visit Sahastradhara and Tapkeshwar temple before heading back to the hotel. But our auto uncle had other plans, he told us he will show us few other places before Tapkeshwar, which was along the route. We said ok.. All along the ride, he gave us insights into the town, the history, and how things have changed over the years... It was fascinating..

So anyways, about 10kms from Sahastradhara he halted the vehicle at the Sai Baba temple where my friends went in for a prayer. I had a call, which I took casually strolling down the road. That is when I discovered the Buddhist temple/Tibetan Monestary next door to the temple. There was no one around and I ventured in cautiously with my DSLR dangling from my neck. The place was empty, calm and peaceful, but for a few monks standing in the building near the rear side. The main temple was closed, but I managed to walk around the campus and it was beautiful. According to a plaque near the wall, this was the Sakya Monastic Institute and was established back in 1964 by His Holiness The Sakya Trizin. Reminded me of the Namdroling Monestary in Coorg. Later when talking to a monk he mentioned since it was their New Year the temple shut early in the afternoon and would open the next morning only.

The others too joined me; we roamed around for a few minutes before heading back to the auto. The weather by then had gotten chill and the wind was blowing in our faces as the auto road along. Our auto uncle announced we were headed to Tapkeshwar. 

Along the way, he stopped at a Government place pointing out to the Helicopters parked there, saying these were used for people travelling to Badrinath [if I remember right]..

Tapkeshwar

The vehicle came to a hault near a tree and the auto man told us we had to go down the flight of steps to get to the temple. Unlike our South Indian temples there are no flower vendors or bustling market nearby, it was quite silent.  We went down nearly 150 steps after which we turn left and walk down a slope of sorts to reach the cave that houses the Lord.

The Tapkeshwar temple was again a fascinating one! Situated by the forest side, the main Shivalinga at the temple is located inside a cave. Water drops from the ceiling of the cave trickle down over the shivalinga which is apparently quite a sight during rain/monsoon seasons.

Legend has it that Dronacharya [the teacher of Pandavas and Kauravas in Mahabharata] once lived here, which is probably why it is called Drona Cave. Story goes that it was here that Guru Dronacharya and his wife, Kripi, were blessed with a son, Ashwathama, and milk started dripping from this cave owing to the powers of Lord Shiva for Ashwathama who needed this milk. This mythical stories revolving around it has endowed the temple with a hallowed aura. The river flowing through this temple is the infamous Tons River of Dehradun.

While walking inside the cave, we noticed there were quite a few shrines, including one of a standing Ganesha [orange in colour] upon whom people had stuck coins and Rupee notes. There was also a tiny room of sorts with a huge stone lamp that is said to go on forever..

As you get out of the temple you will notice another flight of steps leading to a bridge and a temple beyond the same. The one thing that kept running in my head was “how on earth did people discover these caves/temples and decide to build a temple, a bridge and connect them all”

We climbed back up the steps and paused every now and then to see a Sadhu sleeping on the sidewall, and in one spot we heard Michael Jackson songs playing from an old tape recorder….

Getting out of the temple, we finally decided we were done and asked auto man to drop us back at the hotel. But oh no, he wasn’t done. All through the journey back, he took us through Army cantt areas, showed us the Survey Of India building which is where all Maps are authenticated, the Doon School, the largest Blind school, the Braille printing press [which was unfortunately shut as it was late in the evening] and also told us of many other places that was scattered across Dehradun. We were mesmerized at how much the town had and the man knew!

He dropped us off at Paltan bazaar saying it was a good place to check out and that our hotel was just down the road on the other side.  When we asked him about considering becoming a tour guide, he smiled and said “No, but if I find people who are interested, I will definitely share what I know..”

We walked towards the market that seemed to be bustling with activity, there were shops on the  pavement and bigger ones as well, tucked between them were food outlets. Well, it was one packed market and we were all set to get lost with the crowd... 

I was already dreaming of what lay ahead the next day when suddenly I spotted a few guys sitting on stools applying mehndi on eager hands..