Part 3

By Vish

13th June '09, 0530hrs (never mind!)

I didn't need the alarm or dad's intense stare to wake me up today. In fact I woke him up by giving him the same treatment! Payback is such a bitch! He he.

We hired a cab for the rest of our stay in Jammu state and as per the instructions, he reported to duty sharp at 0700hrs (go figure!). Today's itinerary was pretty exciting as we were visiting Vaishnav Devi and then heading straight to Patni Top, which is considered to be next best to Srinagar. FYI, our original plan was to visit Srinagar but cuz of some sex deprived, jobless and frustrated Pakistanis no one is allowed in the Summer capital of J&K. (Yes! Srinagar is summer capital and Jammu is the winter capital for the state. You would have known had you paid attention to the subject rather than the teacher! Perverts!)

It started drizzling when we left and for some reason it bothered mum. According to her the Helicopter wouldn’t work if its raining! Yes, my mum has a logic for everything. And Yes, we were gonna take the 'Chopper' to cut short the distance by 11.6kms. Sandeep, our cab driver, was the most polite and informative fellow. In fact I wonder whether he’s a fulltime guide who’s making some easy money by driving people around. He made sure the drive to the helipad was lovely, not that he had to try hard cuz the weather was way too beautiful to pay any attention to the sometimes bumpy ride. But you couldn’t ignore the potholes completely as the car's stereo used to konk off with each jerk! Lol.. No kidding! Twice the RJ tried to ask some question for her listeners but was muted automatically by the wonder car only to play 'Teri ore' and 'Tera  suroooooooor'!

Food for thought: what will happen to Himesh bhai if he sat in this car for few hours? *Devilish grin*

90minutes drive and one chai break later we were at the Sanjhi Chhat ie the helipad! I couldn’t wait to be in the 'copter and to the credit of Pawan Hans employees, they made sure we were ready to fly within 15 minutes! DUUUUDE! They made me sit next to the pilot! Are you kidding me? Excitement was as far as Bombay and fear was all over me just like Ghajini ruled over Rab ne bana diya chu.. I mean Rab ne bana di jodi! It was a very strange experience to be honest, I was smiling from ear to ear and yet I had stomach cramps! Even after being in an aeroplane a million times, this was completely new! I bet sardarji pilotji's caller tune is 'I believe I can fly'... That's all it was - flying!

3 minutes and 17 seconds was all that our sardarji pilot required to drop us to our destination. From here it was 2.5kms walk to the temple. I, being practical, suggested horseback ride. You guessed it right, the suggestion was shot down by mum by saying 'Maata himmat degi'. It was an amusing statement cuz she cant walk that well. Yea, couple of knee surgeries does that to you. I tried to convince her but gave up soon!

 

This was it! We were moments away from Maata and it actually cleared my mind of all the usual clutter. It has been a long time since I felt this way. It was a different feeling and I was enjoying it to the core. Took us an hour to reach the check point and for some reason I was only reflecting on my life in the past decade be it social, private or professional. This walk was no different from any of those. I knew my destination and I was taking steps, slow at times and rapid at others, to get there. Isn't that what we all do? Set a target and go for it? To get that desired job? For that one special person? Being in shape and looking attractive? Everything might seem simple now only to start looking impossible a minute later. Anyway, we eventually got to the VIP entrance. Mum was struggling and was feeling the immense pain in her legs, dad was tired too but not once did he lose the straight face or mums hand. I might find myself at war with him in day to day life but to be honest I will be smiling in my grave if I manage to be half the man he is.

We took the army gate to enter the queue for the darshan and soon we were part of those who were waiting in the line for hours. Strange how money holds more value than prayers and devotion. There were all kinds of people rubbing shoulders in the queue saying Jai mata di, louder every single time. It reminded me of the little rascal in the train. I would never know why I got pissed off at that poor guy when I was no different! In fact to think of it, he was crying cuz no one around his understood his language, I on the other hand scream when I am happy (cricket), sad(emotional setback), angry(traffic) or ecstatic(happiness). Its weird how my mind was in different zone when ideally I should have been thinking bout the list of things I wanted from God or bout everything that I had to thank her for. Mum was really struggling now but like dad she kept her pain in control and kept walking towards the tunnel.

 

Some facts bout Vaishnav devi temple. Its not like any other temple that you might have seen till now as there is no statue or photo of god kept inside. You have to walk inside a tunnel, where the police will rush you as if u were in jail and they were taking a count after a field day. Once u do reach THE place, you will have less than couple of seconds to, one, look at the right spot to pray, two, remember everything that you wanted to ask/thank, three, bend over and pay respect, four, ignore the push from others, five, get the most important tikka on your forehead, six, pray to other two gods present with her (Vaishnav Devi is accompanied with Kali Mata nd Sarasvati Mata) and last but not the least, lose yourself in her presence. Oh Yes! It really doesn’t get better than this.

 

So just like that it was over. Half hour in cab to the station, 30 hours in train to Jammu, hour and half to reach Katra, 3 minutes in the helicopter, hour walking to reach the VIP entrance, and then the final wait in the queue. All this for less than 3 seconds in her presence! Every second was worth it!

Now I am in the cab and we are heading to Patni top. Quite looking forward to visiting the second best place in Kashmir. I have found few answers during this trip. The most important one about success! I did everything needed to reach the top, enjoyed the few seconds of achieving my target and then glowed in the after effects. But the new thing that I experienced today was that you have to keep in mind that one day you will have to get back to square one and you will be judged by all from the way you do it! I loved every second of the way back. Will I replicate the same in my life? I hope I do :-)

PS: we stayed for half day in Jammu, more about it when I return to this city of temples on Monday!