This trip was mainly for paying our respects and obeisance to our departed ancestors and praying for their souls.
We left for Allahabad (now called Prayagraj) from Yesvantpur. The Lucknow Express departed at 1.30 pm on the 5th of October.
We reached Allahabad on the morning of the 7th at around 4 am. There was a driver name Ajay Kumar who picked us up at the station and dropped us off at Shiv Mutt. After a quick bath and coffee, my parents did some rituals and then we headed off to the Triveni Sangam for a dip that is considered very auspicious. Three rivers meet at the Sangam – the Ganga, Yamuna and
the invisible Saraswathi.
There were also some rituals on a boat during which my dad had his mustache shaved. After that, we had a dip at the Sangam – the exact spot where the 3 rivers meet. The water was not too cold.
We also visited the Veni Madhavan Temple in Prayag, which was a must for people undertaking the Kashi Yatra.
After returning to the Shiv Mutt and completing the rituals, we had our lunch and then left for Kashi or Varanasi. The road was pretty good and we reached Varanasi in the evening and checked into Ganga View Guest House, which was only a short distance from Venugopal Vadhyar’s house. He sent us some idlis and sambhar that were very welcome after the journey from Allahabad.
The next morning, we got ready at 7:30 and were accompanied to Venugopal Vadhyar’s house by his assistant. After some rituals, we headed to Kedar Ghat (for a dip and some more rituals).
On the 9th, we had a set of rituals on a boat that visited all the Ghats. There were too many to name, but to mention a few – Assi Ghat, Manikarnika Ghat and Karnataka Ghat. The water was relatively clean and we had a dip again in the Ganga at the end of the boat ride.
At the conclusion of the rituals, we had lunch at Venugopal Vadhyar’s house and it was time to head to Gaya. Before that, we relocated from Ganga View Guest House to the Marwadi Seva Sangh located near Assi Ghat.
It was a 6-hour journey to Gaya on a highway that went straight from Varanasi to Gaya. The highway was basically running between Delhi and Kolkata. The interesting thing was that though there were toll booths, there were no distance indicators along the entire stretch until we reached Bodh Gaya (Bodh Gaya and Gaya are different).
After reaching Prasad Bhavan, where we spent the night, we had a light dinner consisting of rotis and curry. The accommodation was adequate for the 4 of us and reminded us of a traditional home.
The next morning, we headed to Vishnu Pada Temple, located near the Phalguni River, for more rituals. After which, we concluded the rituals at the Akshaya Vata Temple. The sastrigal (priest) conducting the rituals explained that most of the rituals were out of gratitude for one’s parents for raising us.
After the feast for the Brahmins was concluded, we left Gaya for Varanasi at around 4:30 in the evening. This time it took around 5 hours and we reached the Marwadi Seva Sangh, Varanasi at around 10 pm on the 10th.
The next day was spent in Varanasi visiting the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and doing a pooja to complete the “Kashi Yatra”.
At night we had dinner at the Marwadi Seva Sangh – Rs. 100 for a thali (meals) – which was quite yummy.
The next day, we checked out of the Dharamshala and headed to the station, where we caught the Neelachal Express to Delhi at 7:30 am. We reached Anand Vihar Terminus at around 9:30 pm and took an Ola to Hazrat Nizamuddin, well in time to catch the Kota Dehradun Express to Haridwar.
We reached Haridwar at around 4 am, spent some time at the station and then headed to Hotel Gopal. Since we checked in earlier than the normal check-in time of 11 am, we had to pay Rs. 800 extra!
After taking rest, we headed to Har ki Pauri Ghat where we took a dip in the Ganga. The water was not too cold.
In the afternoon, we headed to Manasa Devi Temple, accessible only by ropeway (Rs. 130 per head). There was a lot of waiting to get on and off the ropeway, but the views were spectacular and it was totally worth it. Finally, we visited Har ki Pauri and took in the sights of Haridwar at night.
The next day (14th), we checked out of the hotel and headed to the station to catch Hemkunt Express to Rishikesh, which was only an hour and a half away.
After reaching Rishikesh, we were able to find an auto to Tapovan where the hotel Vedas Tapovan was located, but could not locate the hotel after trying for several minutes. Finally, we found a lane opposite the Balaknath Temple, heading steeply down where the hotel was located. Again, we were early for check-in, so we stored our luggage and headed to Laxman Jhula (quite a walk), which was closed for construction. We had aloo parantha for breakfast and headed back to the room for some rest and recuperation.
The next day (the 15th), we visited Shatrughan Ghat and Ram Jhula. Both were pretty impressive! This was followed by a dip at Triveni Ghat – again the water was not too cold.
Rishikesh was hot as hell during the day and cold at night!
Finally, we headed back to Shatrughan Ghat to see the Ganga Aarti in the evening around 6 pm. The Aarti was very impressive and was the highlight of the trip!
The next day (the 16th) we headed to Devprayag by Bolero. The trip cost Rs. 5000 for the round-trip. The road was along the edge of a cliff with bird’s eye views of the Ganga. It took us about 2 hours to reach Devprayag, where we had a dip at the Sangam (confluence of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi that become the Ganga). There was a distinct change in color between the 2 rivers – the Alaknanda being muddy, while the Bhagirathi being crystal clear with a hint of aquamarine. Again, the water was not too cold. There were changing stations and toilets – a little bit better developed than other locations.
We had lunch at Devprayag and headed to Vashisht Gufa (cave) where Sage Vashishta is said to have meditated. It is now an ashram along the banks of the Ganga. After that, we returned to Rishikesh.
The next day, we spent the day in visiting Ram Jhula and Geeta Bhavan (an ashram located on the opposite bank of the Ganga, where the walls are inscribed with verses from the Gita).
By afternoon, it was time to check out and head back to Haridwar by Hemkunt Express. We reached Haridwar in the evening and checked in to Hotel Himalaya, a short distance from the station. By then, most of us were down with cough and cold. We checked out the next morning (18th) and caught the Ujjaini Express to Hazrat Nizamuddin.
We then caught the Chennai Duronto to Chennai at around 4 pm from Hazrat Nizamuddin. It was a 28-hour journey to Chennai with food served. There were limited stops and the train was extremely fast (a bit too fast!). We reached Chennai at around 9 pm on the 19th. The next train was the Bangalore Mail that departed around 23:00 and reached Bangalore at around 4:30 am on the 20th.
It was interesting to see the Ganga at different locations – from a fast-flowing stream in Devprayag, to a larger river in Rishikesh and Haridwar and an absolutely massive river in Prayagraj and Varanasi!
The main issue was that there was too much luggage, so that each of us was overloaded and there were multiple gettings-on and gettings-off to catch the various trains. My dad being 80+ posed some challenges, but we finally made it back from an exhausting but fulfilling journey and a trip of a lifetime!
Ganesh Gopalan's Blog 