The three “Ws”-When, Why and Who
Badri has been beckoning me since two years. But Corona played spoil sport and I was waiting for an opportunity to travel to my favourite temple, nestling in the Himalayas. Urmila’s announcement on the dates for Arun’s wedding in Faridabad set the ball rolling. I seized the opportunity to reach out to Amrita Chitti, Parthasarathy Chitappa who quickly conveyed their willingness to join the Yatra alongwith Hema. My friend Jayanti had already indicated her eagerness to join me on another temple trip since we had been to Vaishno Devi together. That’s how hum paanch got together to undertake our Badri Yatra. I became the self styled leader because I was the senior most (in terms of number of times I had gone to Badri) but all of us were leaders without title in our own way and we had the best leader, Badri Vishal to steer us through the yatra.
(Note: Jayanthi’s mom too was supposed to join us but could not undertake the yatra this time due to health issues. I really missed Jayanthi’s mom since she is a vibrant and fun personality)
Strange but true
The sceptics will be surprised at the series of co-incidences, the sudden sightings of posts, pictures, videos related to Badri on whatsapp groups, immediately after we made the decision on undertaking Badri Yatra. All wasn’t rosy, there were articles on landslides, the roads being closed and buses falling into ravines. But do the faithful ever get deterred by the tough and arduous journey to reach the destination??
Preparations and Prayers
Fortunately, I had only one job to do, booking, planning and generally checking how best to combine piety with comfort. I enjoyed it thoroughly but was apprehensive about the quality of accommodation since everything was guided by googleaachaariyan. It is important to acknowledge the reality that we are a far cry from our Azhwars and Acharyas who walked across the length of the country or rode a horse to have darshan. We did what we could best do in our limited capacity-google all reading materials, download/recite the pasurams pertaining to the three Divya desams which were part of our Yatra-Devaprayag, Joshimutt and Badrinath. Chitappa went the extra mile, as always. He brought out a small booklet with anecdotes, pictures, interesting articles on Badri as a souvenir for the yatris.
Day 1-08th Sept, 2022-Delhi to Devaprayag. Overnight halt at Hotel Chakasha Govindam, Devaprayag
We started early, keeping in mind the long journey ahead. When Jayanthi and myself went to pick up Chitappa, we were super impressed with the Officers’ guest house at Chanakyapuri. The opulent accommodation reminded me of his continued influence and fan following in the administrative services. The place was nothing short of royal. To our chagrin, before we could blink, Chitappa and chitti had hopped on to the back seat of the vehicle. They were wiser after their recent trip to Ayodhya and Naimisaranyam and wanted to enforce strict rotational seating rules. We couldn’t argue with Chitappa that the younger members would happily take the back seat and enjoy it just as they enjoyed the back benches at school.
The first stop for breakfast made us realize that our Driver Viren bhai was a good driver but not a smart one. He couldn’t process our instructions of strict veg, no onion no garlic food etc. He stopped democratically at a place where everyone ate everything, including things that crawl and creep😊 We learnt our first lesson on our driver’s abilities in general matters of food and stopped at another vegetarian restaurant. The next event in the journey was the stop at Rishikesh for vehicle inspection and yatri passes. I am aware that it takes around an hour to get all the papers at Rishikesh. However, none of us was prepared for the couple of hours when our driver disappeared with the vehicle for inspection, leaving us sitting out in the hot sun. Then came just the vehicle but Viresh Bhai was still running around trying to get clearances. It was Hema’s lament that we might end up spending the whole day in the vehicle that motivated both Jayanti and Chitappa to jump into action. I was still relaxing and didn’t think anything was amiss though three hours had passed at the RTO in Rishikesh. After some time, I too jumped into action and we were quite upset and shocked to know that our driver was clueless on the permit process. Somehow, we went from desk to desk and managed to get all the papers. My mercury was soaring, much more than the high temperature at Rishikesh, but Chitti , true to her noble nature, wouldn’t let me vent out my frustration with Viresh Bhai.
In the meantime, a good Samaritan told us that we should have halted at Rudraprayag instead of Devaprayag since it is closer to Badri. Again, google to the rescue. I got into action, called ‘make my trip’, told them to cancel our bookings at Devaprayag, booked another hotel at Rudraprayag and in the meantime, late realisation dawned that it might not be such a good idea to drive after dusk to Rudraprayag as we had already lost so much time at Rishikesh. Chitappa used twitter to the hilt to tweet on cancellation request and also cancellation of the earlier cancellation request 😊😊 The hotel at Rudraprayag was good enough to refund the advance amount paid by us in a tearing hurry. Finally, we stuck to the original plan of halting at Devaprayag.
With this rocky background, we reached Devaprayag. The beautiful confluence (sangam) of Bhagirathi and Alakhananda rivers was awe inspiring. The cool water, the divinity of the place made us forget the challenges we had encountered in reaching there. From the prayag/confluence, one needs to climb 108 steep uneven steps which lead to the Raghunathji mandir (divyadesam). There was literally no one at the temple and we had the privilege of ‘ekantha seva’, just emperumaan and us. We recited the relevant pasurams (Thangaiyai mookum-Periazhwar tirumozhi -4.7) in chorus. Chitti and Hema recited another song in praise of Raghunathji. Overall, it was an elevating experience. There is a small thaayaar sannidhi in the prahaaram, Adi shankara sannidhi where there is a smaller idol of Bhagavad Ramanujar as well and a Narasimhar sannidhi. The priest was pleased with our upahaarams (items offered to the lord with devotion by HIS devotees). We had carried dry fruits, saffron, theertham powder made with cloves, cardamom, saffron and camphor. We felt very peaceful and happy with the superb darshan at the first stop in our yatra.
Fortunately, our Hotel at Devaprayag was excellent. The service was quick, personalized and cheerful. The rooms were neat and comfortable. We had the best dinner that day, which could beat any ‘Michelin star’ dinner. Chitti’s supersoft parathas with home made thokkus, alongwith jain subzi ordered from our hotel, Jayanthi’s heavenly idlis, sweets brought by Hema-it was indeed a satisfying meal.
With good food and excellent darshan at Devaprayag, we had put our misgivings about the driver behind and were raring to go to the next step of our yatra.
Day 2-09th Sept, 2022- Devaprayag to Joshimath to Badrinath. Overnight halt at Bhajan Ashram, Badrinath
The second day of our trip started pretty early. Our smiling host Sourabh ensured that we were supplied hot milk at 4 am, though their kitchen opens at 7 am. He had shared his personal number with us to enable us to wake him up with a phone call at 3.30 am. Even though we tipped him generously, we felt that no amount of money can match the service rendered whole-heartedly by him.
The journey was quite adventurous since we had to stop at several places for clearance of heaps of rubble caused by landslides. The Border Road Organisation and the government are doing a fantastic job of making the hilly terrain motorable for piligrims. We reached Joshimath* and had wonderful darshan of Narasimha perumal. The priest was very forthcoming in explaining the sthalapuranam, in fact I chased him to his residence and recorded a video. He was thrilled at all the attention he was getting and I had to finally ask him to stop since the video seemed to be on its’ way to the record books as the longest video recorded in Joshimath 😊 In our enthusiasm, we asked the panditji for some prasad, we were expecting puliyogarai and doddiynam , however, we realised that north is north and south is south. Prasad/bhog was plain basmati rice. Though it was different, we felt grateful for the prasadam and distributed it amongst other piligrims also. Lunch at a small eatery opposite the temple was surprisingly good and fresh. One thing I loved in the trip was the ease with which we got yummy ‘no onion no garlic food’, which is so unlike the south where garlic seems to find its way into everything except coffee. After the second successful darshan, we were road bound for Badrinath.
In order to manage our time better, we headed straight for Mana village, the last village on the Indo-China Border. It has some interesting spots to see- Bhim Pul, Vyas guha, origin of river saraswati, etc. The village was a far cry from the serene, sparsely populated place it was a couple of years back. It was teeming with shops dotting the entire pathway, we could not walk without running into some vendor and were badgered by coolies who offered to carry us in a basket to the site seeing spots. One Tea shop near vyasa guha seemed to be doing brisk business with everyone wanting to have a sip of history (or geography?) at the last Tea stall on the Indian side. We finally reached our modest accommodation at Badrinath. Yellam irundhum onrum illai since there was no wi-fi, no connectivity at that place. This led to a rarest of rare ‘no pudhir day’, which in turn would have been upset many die-hard pudhir fans.
Badrinath is one of the most beautiful temples in India. It has a colourful façade and amazing vibrations. If you think that the difficult terrain to reach the shrine would result in lesser crowds, you can think again. The place was packed with devotees. We enjoyed the bhajans sung with fervour in the open area (prahaaram) of the temple, but Chitappa clearly preferred less noise. Though all of us were prepared for extreme cold and were dressed like astronauts, the weather gods were benign and we were blessed with pleasant weather, conducive to deep devotion and meditation 😊 where the mind is without heater and the head is held high without mufflers 😊. We retired for the day, tired, but eager for the next day’s program-the maha abhishek puja in the wee hours.
Day 3-10th Sept, 2022- Badrinath to Rishikesh. Overnight halt at Holy Waters by Ganga Kinare, Rishikesh
A bath in the hot water sulpher spring at Badrinath (Tapta kund) is said to cure all ailments. Myself and Jayanthi decided to have a bath in the tapta kund before taking darshan of Badrinath, Chitii Chitappa and Hema decided to skip the tapta kund due to tiredness of previous day’s long travel. Tapta Kund was crowded at 3.30 am but the hot bath was refreshing.
The highlight of our Yatra was the Maha Abhishek Puja in the wee hours at Badrinath. I had booked the tickets for this puja after a lot of struggle with the online site, which is not state of the art. Fortunately, my earlier trips have helped me build a few contacts, who helped with the booking. Though, it is relatively expensive (@Rs. 4,600/- per head), the maha Abhishek puja took us so close to the lord. The small hall was jam packed at 5 am, though it was a wet and rainy morning. People were jostling for a seat in the front and we managed to get a vantage view of the lord from our spot. Many were literally trying to sit on top of each other, some were content to watch the proceedings on the two TVs installed inside the Abhishek hall. Sitting cross legged for two hours is a tough task for anyone who is not used to it. There was physical discomfort but it was forgotten with the divine aura of the puja. The priest explained about each of the dieties in the sanctum sanctorum. We could see Badrinathji, the self manifested shaligram idol, in padmasan. The maha abhishek puja is the only time when we get to absorb all the aspects of the lord who is generally covered in ornaments and flowers. All the participants were made to do sankalpam with Tulasi which was distributed to devotees. We had Shabari in our midst in the form of Chitti and Jayanthi who thought the tulasi is meant to be eaten😊 When the assistant priest came back asking us to put the tulasi leaves on a plate for sankalpam, we had a hearty laugh that we now had shabari in Badari😊
We were enthralled when a group of devotees of down south requested the Priest whether we can sing tamizh pasurams. Before he could say yes, we joined the chorus and sang ‘Thirupallandu’ for Badri emperumaan. It gave us so much joy. Language has the ability to make you swell with pride and singing in tamil at Badrinath was a wonderful experience. The process of Abhishek Puja is an elaborate one, we felt blessed that our small kaingaryams of theertham podi, saffron, dry fruits etc was accepted by the Lord. One of the devotees got into an argument with me when I told him (on being asked) that I don’t have much interest in going to Kedrnath since we are Vaishnavites, our goal is moksham and that department is managed by Vishnu😊 By the end of two hours, the majority of the people in the hall were unable to get up independently due to severe cramps and discomfort. But everything was quickly forgotten due to the divine aura of the entire puja, which stays in my mind for many months, till the next darshan. Prasadam was again saffron basmati rice, a complete change from our Pongal and puliyodharai. Everyone donates something at Badrinath, our three musketeers (Chitti, Chitappa and Hema) too donated their footwear😊 They lost their footwear due to the crowd and were happy that all the ‘peedai’ is now gone. Our host at Bhajan Ashram was quite hospitable and we got hot breakfast before we proceeded to Rishikesh. Lunch was at a picturesque eatery enroute to Rishikesh. Some of us skipped lunch/dinner etc in order to repair the gut which was crying due to overdose of parathas😊
We reached Rishikesh very late that night. I had booked a luxury accommodation hoping that we would reach Rishikesh early. The accommodation was disappointing, especially since we were comparing it with the low cost but high quality accommodation of Devaprayag. The hospitality was average and we were quite tired to look at the better aspects of the accommodation. Chitti and Jayanthi had become a pale shadow of their chirpy selves and Hema had tremendous leg pain. We just crashed to bed, tired after the day long drive, just waiting to get back home safe and healthy.
Day 4-11th Sept, 2022-Rishikesh to Delhi to Bangalore
The lingering after effects had taken their toll on Chitti and Hema, who continued to feel tired on the next day morning. But Chitappa, Jayanthi and myself decided that a dip in the holy Ganges would be the grand panacea for all illness. We had access to private bathing ghats in our group hotel. It was Jayanthi’s wedding anniversary too and we felt happy to be at Rishikesh on her special day, though we wished her better half too had joined us. The mighty Ganges invoked awe and admiration. We took three dips but I was filled with trepidation about Chitappa and Jayanthi trying to go into deeper waters. Both are ‘enthu cutlets’ and I had to rein them in to restrict themselves to just the perfunctory dip, nothing more than that😊
Breakfast at the hotel was ‘fully compliant ‘- no onion no garlic. The spread was really good and the service of Manisha and Mukesh was excellent. After starving the previous day, I was ready to do full justice to the spread. Chitti couldn’t eat much but me and Jayanthi made up for her portions also. The poha from the live counter was spicy but superb, haven’t tasted such good poha in many years.
After getting good value for money with breakfast, I set about the task of ‘paisa vasool’-packing all the toiletries at the hotel since we genuinely felt we had been ripped off by the hotel, I wanted to get as much value as possible for the money spent. It might seem a little cheap minded but I felt it was the right thing to do. In the process, I forgot to pack a few of my toiletries, which I realised after reaching home and unpacking. Anyways, I too was happy that all ‘Peedai’ is gone with the loss a few things at holy places😊
We dropped Jayanthi, wished her and Raghavan on their special day and rushed to the airport. We convinced Hema and Chitti to utilize the wheelchair facilities to avoid further strain. Because of this, we had quick access to check in, boarding, etc. It was a happy co-incidence that we met Radha and Srinidhi at Delhi Airport, they were on their way back to Chennai. We reached home at midnight, feeling tired but thrilled at the successful completion of our Badri Yatra.
Jai Badri Vishal!
Usha Murali
September 2022
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)