Call of Kedar Baba

2nd day of trip started at 4 AM. That time we reached bus stand and got into the bus. The bus started at 4:30 AM and next one and half hour went into darkness but there was cold breeze we were feeling from window and it was quite refreshing and someone in bus on BT speaker was playing songs and whole bus was singing altogether that was quite soothing moment and when sun getting started rising we were able to witness the beauty of Himalayas. There were many quite fantastic view but we captured in camera a few the first reason was that every scenery was there only for some seconds because bus was continuously moving. It stopped only 3 times in 1 time for breakfast and 2 times of general breaks. The most of the clicks are clicked during breaks and we reached sonprayag at 12:30 PM. 3-4 hours before expected time actually our plan was to have overnight stay in Sonprayag but as we had extra time in hand so we did not waste it. We submitted nonessential luggage in cloak room and headed towards gaurikund where I had bath in cold water of Mandakini river which shook up my mind and body for 5 minutes but after that I felt a good energy level and got refreshed from bus journey then we had lunch and started trekking for Kedarnath Temple at 3:30 PM. After having 4-5 big breaks till 7:30 PM we had crossed 12 km and we were at chhoti lincholi. We decided to have a stay there. There we got camp to stay. Inside of camp we got charging point and sleeping bags. It took little while to get adjusted in sleeping bag but once we adjusted the sleep was quite peaceful, relaxing and refreshing in dinner we had laddoos of peanut and jaggery and nothing less those laddoos were full of protein and energy that helped us to get recovered from tiredness.

Our 1st day of trip was started at 6:15 AM when we caught train from Gwalior (MP) to Haridwar (UK). 6.15 AM to 5.30 PM was spent in train then we booked a 4 bedded room for all 4 friends In a hotel nearby railway station, Haridwar. Then we went for Ganga Arti Darshan but we missed it because we were already late to reach there at time. The time was 6 PM to around 6.45 PM after looking at beauty of Maa Ganga in Haridwar we headed towards market and had a lil bit shopping very soon 2 of us realized the urgency of bus ticket booking one day prior to start journey. So 2 of us including me headed towards bus stand where we tried to get the information about govt roadways services for Sonprayag but there was no govt bus running from Haridwar to Sonprayag so we had to book a seat for us in a bus through private travel agent. He told us to reach Bus stand at 4 AM after that we had dinner headed towards room and slept early to wake up early.

Day 3 of the trip started at 6.15 AM when we woke up and then got ready to trek again from 7.00 AM. The overnight camping experience was good we got sleeping bags so night spent in comfortable and refreshing sleep. Before 10 AM we reached Kedarnath temple campus first had a look of temple with devotion then we started looking place for bath with warm water but we were getting no clue of that finally I decided to bath in freezing water of Mandakini river. I took a single dip in that water and it shook my body for 5 minutes but just after coming out of water I swept water on my body by towel and did push ups to get enough warmth and then I wore clothes (physical exercises are good survival technics in harsh winter) then we stood in queue for Darshan. While being in queue there was very little snowfall happening. I was just mesmerized by the feel of Bhole baba present there. Just after entering in temple I started shouting 'Har Har Mahadev' until I had Darshan. I tried to make an environment among the pilgrims standing in queue by 'Har Har Mahadev' sloganeering and i think i was quite successful in it after darshan we went to have Darshan of Kaal Bhairav at Kaal Bhairav temple situated right side of Kedar baba at 1 km distance just when we had darshan the snowfall was started getting heavier. It had started covering everything in white. Just thinking about the consequences of heavy snowfall we decided to move ahead from there to gaurikund but before that we had to have lunch so had lunch there in a nearby restaurant and after that had some relax and tea we moved forward the snowfall was still going on because of snow the track got quite slippery and time was 3 PM. Now we had 4 challenges to deal with. The track was slippery(because of snow), stoney, inclined and 4th challange was limited time. However we completed 19.5 km trek in next 6.5 hours reached gaurikund at 9:30 PM. Now we had only one task to do to reach Sonprayag get luggage out of cloak room and then to sleep we decided not to have dinner because we were so tired that hunger didn't even appear. That's how our 3rd day ended

There is nothing much to share about the day. Our day started at 7 AM and after having breakfast we caught a bus and reached Rishikesh till 4:30 PM. Till 6 PM we were in a hotel room and came out to visit Triveni ghat as our hotel was near from there. After having darshan of Ganga Arti  we had casual walk on ghat and sat at a place where people were very few and enjoyed the calmness and serenity of place. This place was of eternal peace then we had Ganga water filled to bring this at home for worship and then having walk in market and having dinner returned hotel. That day we clicked no photos

The 5th day started with the adventure of rafting at 11 AM. The fun we will always remember then having rest in hotel from 4 PM to 6 PM we went to witness Ganga arti from the very start. There I had some clicks then like the day before we sat on ghat enjoyed the serenity of place and then we returned to hotel after having dinner and left hotel at 8:30 PM to catch overnight roadways bus to reach delhi. The bus started at 10:00 PM and the day ended

This day was started at ISBT kashmiri gate at 4 AM. We reached NDLS by metro there we submitted our luggage in cloak room and then decided to visit India Gate but there was construction of central vista project was going on so we could not visit anything except looking at India gate from a distance then we came in Chandani chowk market. Early morning we were roaming to have poha as breakfast(a light breakfast) we didn't find what we wanted so had multiple street food: Daulat ki chaat, rabdi ki lassi, at haldiram(I don't remember the dish), chhole kulche and my friend did some shopping and I had been in Shishganj Gurudwara then we went inside Jama masjid for some clicks by my camera. Till then the time happened 1 PM then we decided to reach NDLS because we had train to catch at 4 PM to Gwalior and we clicked no selfie, no other clicks, there were just those camera clicks and  that's how the trip with the CALL OF KEDAR BABA ended.