A Trip to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Jai Mata Di

Day 1

I was sitting with my hostel friends and we were just discussing to have break from our monotonous life, so we got an idea to go out for an weekend. After a brief discussion we concluded to visit "Mata Shri Vaishno Devi Temple". We booked our tickets in train but unfortunately the tickets were not confirmed so we decided to go in general compartment. The "Josh" to visit the temple was high. We got the train kalka SVDK at 8 pm and in this way our journey begins......

Day 2

It took around 8 hours and finally we reached Shri Mata Vaishno Devi station at 4 am. We booked a hotel room approx. 700m away from station for 7 person. So we reached our hotel room at 4:30 am and after talking rest for a while we got fresh and started sorting some important stuff for trekking. We booked a cab from hotel and it took us to the location which was about 2.5 km away from trekking spot. There are two routes to reach the temple "BHAWAN". One is new way which goes outside the market and the other is the older one which goes through the market. We decided to follow the new one and the best thing was it has number of facilities like drinking water, toilets, cafe and delicious hygienic food counters. We took our breakfast with best natural scenic views over there, then we went through security check. The new route is about 1.5 km longer than the older one, due to which it took 5 hrs to cover a distance of about 13 kms. After reaching the shrine location we were asked to put all over gadgets, wallets and shoes into a locker for security purpose. Next was to purchase of some packets of prasad from "Bhaint Shop". For the convenience of the visitors the prasad is available in every price range (like INR 20, 55, 70, 130, 200). We moved through the gate no. 3 and started following the queue. After 40 min we reached the main Bhawan of "Mata Vaishno Devi".

After that we moved ahead to visit "Bhairo Baba Temple". Here also there were two options, either you can go using pedestrian path or by ropeway cabin. Due to shortage of time, we chose ropeway cabin with charge of INR 100 per person. It took us approx one hour in queue for tickets of ropeway and then visiting the temple. So, there were some scenic views from "Bhairo Baba Temple".

Finally, while returning we took the older route which goes through the market and we clicked some photographs of market too. It took about 2.5 hrs to get back to the main gate. Near to the main gate, we enjoyed the flavors of delicious food at one of the famous bhandaras "Gulshan Kumar". There we had poori, rice, dal and kadhi. Everything was prepared purely and hygienically for the devotees. Then we took an auto-rickshaw to get back to the hotel room. We reached our hotel by 9 pm and then we got the train Kalka SVDK at 9:20 pm for Chandigarh. It took us 8 hrs to reach Chandigarh Railway Station.

Overall, it was a mind blowing experience for all of us. I was mesmerized by the natural views over there. The serenity of temple took my heart. We were full of enthusiasm and bhakti for "Mata Vaishno Devi". Apart from fun and enjoyment, it felt pure and peaceful.