An Escape

I am currently living with my mother in Bangalore, while my father works in New Delhi. Moving on, I & mom boarded Rajdhani express from Bangalore (KSR) to New Delhi (NZM) on the 5th of March and it took us roughly 33 hours to arrive at our destination. Dad was waiting eagerly for us to alight the train. He had arranged a comfortable stay for both of us. We got freshened and dressed up to explore the city. As Delhi is known for its trend setting fashion, we took a cab to Sarojni Market. On my way to the SN market, I loved how well navigated the roads were. We enjoyed the hustle & bustle and liveliness of the market. I picked up a few things for me and my mother and we headed to the Rashtrapati Bhawan Museum. After a quick security check, we were assigned with a locker where we kept all our belongings. This museum is one of its kind, displaying the memorabilia of freedom struggle, gifts offered by various countries to the presidents. VR rooms took me by surprise and lured visitors the most. We went back to our room and relaxed. I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face and excited knowing that we will be visiting India gate today. Being a military brat, the patriotic traits are inherited in me. We took a rickshaw which dropped us straight to the entry of the gate. I could see, the India gate, Amar Jawan Jyoti and the National War Memorial aligned perfectly.

We boarded Vande Bharat Express at 0600 hrs. The train has only 3 stops from the departure station to the final destination and stops for a very short duration of time, so I would not recommend anyone to leave their seats and loiter around the station or you might end up missing your train. The catering service was commendable and very systematic. I finished my breakfast and took an hour-long nap and I was constantly monitoring my location using google maps to make sure, I do not miss on the stunning views.

After a long wait of 6 hours and enjoying the train ride, we reached our destination and were spellbound by the view. It was a good start and I knew the rest of my journey would be memorable.

After a good rest of 4 hours, we woke up to a clear sky and a brilliant view and geared up for the rest of the walk. I had befriended a group of people of my age and in no time we could spot Vaishno Devi mandir and couldn't wait to finally complete our darshan. The walk through leads to a locker room where one can keep ones foot-wares, mobile phones/cameras and the luggage they are carrying. Although the journey to the temple took hours together, we could only spend a few seconds inside. I noticed 3 unique and beautiful stones with perfect lighting over them, giving a mesmerizing view of the goddess. I was filled with peace and satisfaction after my darshan. I took a few moments for myself and just gazed at the enormous mountain range stretched in front of me.

We woke up after a good sleep, freshened up and checked out of the hotel. One of the hotel helpers helped us with our bus ticket reservation to Amritsar since the internet or any general network is not serviceable in J and K. We were settled on our seats by 1100 hrs. I was happy and subdued at the same time as I knew after a few hours I'd be out to the ordinary. After 5 hours of bus journey, we reached Amritsar city bus station and took a cab to the golden temple. It was almost 1930 hrs and we were standing in a beautiful place like we had never seen before. We had to walk a kilometer to get to the temple and there were shops on either side of the road. What struck me the most was the uniformity and tidiness of the place. All the shops were alike and even had similar welcome boards. We reached the entrance, covered up our heads and were awestruck by the serenity of the Golden temple.