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Man's search for God never ends. I had heard the appreciation
of this holy place Amarnath several times from my sister Saroj.
So I decided to visit this Godly Place along with her staff
members. But I finalized only on the last day and therefore
I had to make all my arrangements ( packaging and purchasing
in just three hours.) For me the packaging of suitcase was a
very difficult task so I left all this headache on Saroj.
On the 7th of August at about 7 'O' clock we received a
telephone call from Mrs. Swarn Lata Bhatia that she was
approaching us and would meet us at Mahavir Petrol Pump
within thirty minutes. We checked our packaging, luggage,
necessary items and reached at the Petrol Pump. We waited
thirty minutes over there. We were along with our sister
and brother -in-law so we were not bored. I saw a TATA
SUMO coming from the opposite direction and someone was
moving hands from within the windows. We finally recognized
her as Mrs. Bhatia.
My sister formally introduced me to Mrs. Bhatia and the
other staff member. I was surprised that we were only four
members for the journey. Mrs. Bhatia told us that Kiran had
got some fever that's why her brother and sister-in-law
could not accompany us.
We put our suitcases and bags in the Sumo. After sitting
in Sumo we set out for Amarnath. We prayed to our 'Pitras'
and Lord 'Ganesha" for a safe journey. ( I also positively
believe in the existence of God but my feeling is somewhat
different. I think every living being is having some trace
of that supreme power.) Our Sumo was running smoothly and we left the Delhi
border at around 10:30 P. We stopped at 'Nao-Gaja-Pir
' for five minutes. It is said that this God fulfills every
desire if you call her with heart.
Every vehicle coming from both the directions was stopping
at this place for a minute or two. What a strong belief
people had in God ! Our Sumo driver( Mr. Pinky ) went down
the Pir 'MAZAR' and also brought some 'Parshad' for us.
We moved further and our Sumo was running at high speed.
We were now in Haryana. At about 2 'O' clock, we stopped
at a road side Dhaba (MOTEL) to take some rest and have
our lunch. Mrs. Bhatia had brought parathas for us and we
enjoyed it. These parathas were very tasty as its preparation
was good. Every vehicle on the highway was passing with a
great zoom. After the lunch we took a cup of tea and
started our journey.
The only shocking event in this journey was that we could
not help an accidental injured family whose Maruti Van
had collided with a Truck. The driver of this Maruti Van
was requesting us to help them. We all wanted to help
them but due to the fear of Police-Case and unnecessary
harassment, we didn't show any sympathy and moved on.
By now my mood was also at low and I could not sleep
properly that night. The only thing that was coming to
my mind was "What would have happened if we had been
at their place ?"
By the morning we had crossed the Haryana and were now
running in the border area of Punjab. Fresh Air was entering
from all sides and we saw the first ray of Sun from the East.
There were greenaries everywhere and sceneries were very
pleasent.We were all enjoying this journey. Mrs. Bhatia had
brought the cassettes of 'Bhajans' and 'Gurbani (shabad).
We really became spiritual on listening to these bhajans.
We took our breakfast at a Bhandara which was organized
by a Amarnath Yatraa Association. The tea and kachories
of this Bhandara was very tasteful.
We smoothly passed Ambala City and were now
at the border
of Himachal Pradesh. The roads of this highway were very
rough. There were shallow holes in the road and the control
of the vehicle was very difficult.We passed through this state
at a very slow speed.
As Mrs. Bhatia is the wife of some major of Army Personnel
that's why the impactof commander ship was seen in her
behavior. By nature she is a jolly good and fun loving lady.
She is capable of full leadership. During this Journey from
Himachal Pradesh to Jammu there were some weak moments
and I had also become very emotional when she told us the
story of her mother that how much she had loved her mother.
Infact she was introducing us from the reality of life that
we should not keep too much expectations and attachment
from any human being.
By now it was 2:30 P.M. and we had reached Jammu. Our Sumo
driver had taken a wrong route by following another Sumo of
of some wicked youngsters. So we have to come back on the
right route. Thank God ! we inquired from a check post
otherwise we all could be in trouble.
We reached the H.M. Stadium which was assigned as
destination point for all the pilgrims of Amarnath Yatra.
After strict security check we parked
our Sumo in the stadium
Parking. There a Sub-Inspector told us that we should have
to take care of our belongings and nobody would be responsible
for that. He also told that there is no arrangement of our
boarding in the Stadium Compound.
So we took our luggage and came out of the Stadium. We stayed
there in a an economical class Hotel. The
main specialty of this
Hotel was that by entering it you can't see the outside world.
By outside world I mean the weather of outside. As we were all
tired so we took a bath and get freshed. Than we
enjoyed some
tea, biscuits and bananas. We soon planned to visit the Laxmi-
Narayan Mandir of Jammu but we returned as it was very hot
outside the Hotel.The Sun was shining brightly.So we came back
and took the rest in the hotel till evening. In the evening we
visited the temple it was just like our Birla-Temple here in Delhi.
The main attraction of this temple the shiva-linga of Saphire of
three feet high totally transparent.As the photography was
prohibited we could not take any snaps over there.Now we were
getting hungry so we took our lunch cum dinner in Momedian-Hindu
restaurant. We ordered roti, shahi-paneer and rajma. All these
things were prepared so cruelly that they were not only hard to
digest but also very bad in taste.
After the dinner we returned back to H.M.Stadium to see our
Sumo driver.We instructed him to stay there and to take care of
luggage. Now there was more crowd in the stadium.Our Sir,
Mrs. Bhatia,
Saroj and I all were in fine mood. So we took some
photography there. We also exchanged some jokes. My sister
Saroj also met her other staff member who had come in a
different group. She had passed
us a cheerful smile. As it was
dark now so we returned back to our hotel.
This room, where we had stayed was full of humidity as there
was no proper arrangements for ventilation. So I switched off
the Air-cooler. When I touched it body it was giving electric
shock.But the effect of this electric shock was less than the effect I
had received from someone who had said that she didn't want
to waste her time in talking to me.
Mrs. Bhatia instructed the room service to wake up all of us at 3 a.m.
Than we slept calmly that night.We left the hotel at 3.30 a.m. and
reached the Stadium
Ground. In the stadium we again passed through
a strict security check. The atmosphere of the Stadium was very
joyful. People had come from almost every city of India and all had
a common thing and
that was the faith in Lord Shiva. I think this
Shiva is playing a very Vital role in keeping us unite. Time passed
so quickly that we could not imagine it.
Here in the Stadium Ground The
Bhandarawala had prepared tea
for all the pilgrims. The security personnel were getting ready
their Pilot Jeep. At 4 'O' clock we all moved to Pahalgaon. Our
Sumo jeep was issued a security Check
pass to be pasted on
the front glass.
One thing I must say that Mrs. Bhatia is a great lady of substance.
And she never forgets her Shabad ( a kind of pray to remember
her god) in every situation.
Now all the vehicles followed the Pilot jeep of J.K. Police force.
Instructions were given to all the drivers not to overtake the
Pilot due to security reasons.
I had found a chance to have a close look at the Pilot jeep. It
was equipped with a powerful wireless set and a heavy machine
gun along with some kind of explosive detection device.
Suddenly our heart beat increased due to a sudden heavy brakes
as Mr. Pinky was not allowing another vehicle to overtake ours.
Mrs.
bhatia warned our driver not to repeat this kind of mistake.
At around 2 'O' Clock we reached the Jawahar tunnel.There was a
long queue outside this tunnel. We waited there about an hour.
This
tunnel was 8 K.M. long and it took around 8 minutes to cross From this Jawahar tunnel to Pahal gaon the whole area was very
sensitive and was on the point of terrorist and Pakistani (ISI)
inter services intelligence. So the J.K. Police had hand over the
safety charge to the Military and C.R.P.F. The whole lot followed
the Military vehicles now. We found almost 2 soldiers every half
kilometers |
