Traveling is good
On the three sides of Temple three forms of Sun god idols are placed. The southern side GOD called “Mitra” described as the rising Sun. It is 8’3” in height. The western side GOD is called “PUNSAN” and described as mid day Sun, it is 9’6” in height. The northern side GOD is called “ Haritasva” described as setting sun, it 3.58 meters in height which is approximately above 10’.
Read Moreदाँई ओर छटीकरा मुड़ते ही कुछ फासले पर ही, दाँई तरफ क्रुद्ध शेर पर सौम्य देवी माँ की विशाल मूर्ति का दर्शन होता है, पास ही हाथ जोड़े ध्यानमग्न हनुमानजी बैठे हैं। यह माँ वैष्णोदेवी का नवनिर्मित विशाल मन्दिर हैं। मन्दिर की तरफ कुछ हटकर हलकी सी छाँह में गाड़ी पार्क की। चार बजे गेट खुलने में दसेक मिनट की देर थी और भीड़ खड़ी थी। बोर्ड पर जूतों को जमा करने के विषय में पढ हमने जूतों को कार में खोल दिया। गेट खुलने पर संगीता व खुशी महिला द्वार से अन्दर चले गये। पुरुष लाईन चेकिंग में बेल्ट पर ऐतराज होने से मैने उसे खोल दिया परंतु पर्स पर भी ऐतराज पाने पर मैं बेल्ट बाँधते हुये लौट पड़ा कि दर्शन तो हो ही गये हैं, वृन्दावन भी जाना है, संगीता के लौटते ही रवाना हो जायेंगें, विचार करते हुये ऑफिस-काउण्टरों के सामने खड़ा हो गया जहां दर्शनार्थियों के लिये कम्प्युटराइज्ड स्लिपें जारी की जा रही थीं। इनके आधार पर ही सामने स्थित लॉकरों पर सामान जमा किया जाता है। खाली काउंण्टर देख मैने अपने नाम से स्लिप ले ली। लॉकर काउण्टर पर सुझाव मिला कि मैं पर्स सामग्री को जेब में रख पर्स व बेल्ट जमा करवा दूँ। अनदेखी आज्ञावश जमा करने का कार्य किया। अन्दर हरियाली में कुछ उपर जाने पर सामने नीचे चौक में उतरने के लिये सीढियाँ थीं जहां एक तरफ गंगाजी की मूर्ति जिसके दोनों तरफ मगरमच्छों के मुँह से पानी की धार तथा दूसरी तरफ यमुनाजी जिनके दोनों तरफ कछुओं के मुँह से पानी की धार बह रही थी, वहाँ खुशी मेरा इंतजार कर रही थी और मुझे देखते ही खुशी से चिल्लाई कि नानू देखो… उसकी खुशी व उत्साह का कोई पारावार न था। बच्चों के लिये यह मन्दिर प्रांगण वास्तव में बहुत ही खुशी देनेवाला व उत्साहवर्धक है।
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We were told that the Queen was coming to Edinburgh the next day, and the Palace was being spruced up. Since this was our last day in Edinburgh, we would be missing that (not that she was inviting us to tea or anything like that). We would, at best, have got to see her motorcade.
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We first reached at Udayagiri and Khandagiri caves. It is a typical tourist destination with numbers of tea and snacks shop and a big parking area for Buses and car parking. The monument remains open from sunrise to sunset. Entry fee for Citizens of India and visitors of SAARC (Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives and Afghanistan) and BIMSTEC Countries (Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar) – Rs. 5 per head and for each foreigner is Rs. 100.00 or US $2.00 and free entry for children below 15 years.
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To our surprises, our machines would not reach even 80 kmph ….
The First Goof-up
We stopped on the highway, and all of us looked at each other with pale faces … “My bike is not reaching 80 at full throttle … said Ayush. I seconded him and said…I am also not able to go above 80 with full throttle … we turned to the pulsars and they had the same problem …. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!
We realized that the workshops we had visited have shown all their Engineering on our bikes and probably changed the tuning of the bikes.
Now what to do at 8:30 am on the highway !!! Our savior was Ayush … the man and the machine aka Sabu !!! we parked the bikes on the highway and took out the toolkits … and we started to check the idling and the tuning … for the people who understand the bike basics … the tuning which normally should be 3-4 rounds in Royal Enfield and 5-7 rounds in Pulsar was way off the mark … and the idling was also changed. That’s why the Petrol oil ratio going into the engine was not good and hence the bikes not picking speed and acceleration was very poor.
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Snowline is the mark from where above, snow remains unmelted even during summers. Normally snowline starts from 4000 meters. I had seen Dhauladhar range in peak summer months of June and everytime I was baffled by its unparalleled beauty. But for the first time Dhauladhar disappointed us. There were barren peaks without any trace of snow. It seems the global warming has already killed Dhauladhar’s beauty.
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हम लोग करीब नो बजे कटरा से १७ किलोमीटर का सफर तय करके बाबा धनसर पहुँच जाते हैं. सड़क से करीब २०० मीटर पैदल उतराई करके हम लोग बाबा धनसर के धाम पहुँच जाते हैं. यह क्षेत्र बहुत ही सुरम्य स्थान पर पहाडियों के बीच जंगल से घिरा हुआ हैं. एक छोटी सी झील हैं जिसमे एक झरना लगातार गिरता रहता हैं. एक और एक गुफा बनी हुई हैं जिसमे शिव लिंगम के रूप में भगवान शिव विराजमान हैं. झील में कहा जाता हैं की साक्षात् शेषनाग वासुकी विराज मान हैं. यंही पर ही उनका एक मंदिर भी बना हुआ हैं.पौरौनिक विश्वास हैं की जब भगवान शिव, माता पार्वती के साथ, उन्हें अमर कथा सुनाने के लिए अमरनाथ जी की गुफा की और जा रहे थे, तब भगवान शिव ने अपने नागराज वासुकी को यंही पर छोड़ दिया था. नागराज वासुकी एक मनुष्य के रूप में यंही पर रहने लगे थे. उनका नाम वासुदेव था. बाबा धनसर इन्ही वासुदेव के पुत्र थे. कंही से एक राक्षस यंहा पर आ गया था. और इस क्षेत्र के लोगो को परेशान करने लगा था. तब बाबा धनसर ने भगवान शिव की तपस्या की थी. भगवान शिव ने उनकी तपस्या से प्रसन्न होकर यंहा पर उस राक्षस का संहार किया था. बाबा के आग्रह पर भगवान शिव यंही पर विराजमान हो गए थे. यंहा पर स्थित झील पवित्र मानी जाती हैं. एक झरना लगातार प्रवाहित होता रहता हैं. इस झील में नहाना शुभ नहीं माना जाता हैं. कभी कभी इस झील के स्वच्छ जल में नागों की आकृति भी दिखाई देती हैं. हर वर्ष यंहा पर, महाशिवरात्रि के अवसर पर भगवान शिव और धनसर बाबा की याद में एक वार्षिक महोत्सव व मेले का आयोजन होता हैं .
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Last night I and all of us had switched off all alarms and put our phones on silent, as we could not afford any disturbance…. 08:00 am … oh … we need to get ready to move ahead, we were still 260 kms from Udaipur … but on second thought, we had covered 700 kms on day 1 … so 250 kms …. Huh … EASY !!! BUT …. Yeah … the but’s of the second day start …
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Early morning at around 6 o’ clock, when rest of the family members were still asleep, I attended to daily routine and then decided (as usual) to wander and acquint myself a bit with the geography of Shimla. The first important thing I discovered was the fact that you didn’t need to go through the Victory tunnel to reach other side of the town. The tunnel is for automobiles only (but you won’t get fined if you do venture into it). Even if you walk towards the Bus Stand, you would find lanes at your left side with very stiff heights to scale, which promise to leave you at other side of the hill i.e. Mall Road side. However, without going to the Mall Road side, I walked roughly 1 km. in the opposite direction of the railway station and discovered that I had reached Bus Stand. Well, I was as happy at my discovery as Vasco-de-gama must have been after discovering Bharat Varsh aka India! Regarding it enough achievement for the time being, I made a U-turn and arrived at the hotel. Since I didn’t find any group of pahadi girls singing as I often see in Hindi movies, I had to hum a song myself and that too without any tabla or dholak (no it was not Abida Parveen this time but someone else which I don’t remember! ) First rays of the Sun peeped into the room and blessed us with very exhilerating and invigorating feeling. Technically, these were not first rays of the Sun because when the Sun ascended high enough in the sky to defeat the hills and throw its rays directly into our room, our watch was already showing 8 a.m.
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दोस्तों जैसा कि आपको ज्ञात है पिछली गढ़वाल यात्रा विपरीत परिस्थितियों के कारण अचानक ही समाप्त करनी पड़ी. केदार हमेशा से ही मुझे बद्रीनाथ…
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A team building activities is an ideal way to take a break from your daily routine and there is something for everyone as the combination of Team Building and Sports Activities. Recently, I had attended a Training Program at Pegasus Institute for Excellence at Dibli, a small hamlet in the upper Dehradun. It was a great learning experience as an Individual & professional.
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While clicking through the window of my compartment, I couldn’t help admiring the beautiful curves. (Again, don’t get me wrong please! I am talking of the curves our train was taking ! ) The sharpest curve our train took was of 48.12 meter radius. As regards fastest speed of the train, please don’t ever think that it can compete with Chinese Bullet Train. It can run at the maximum speed of 25 km. per hour. In case you are not happy with this speed, try the Rail Car which has an admirable speed of 30 km. / hour! From Kalka to Shimla, in all there are 20 railway stations. Although our train was labelled as Express train, it stopped at most of the stations especially in later half of the journey. It was as if it was a private bus wherein the cleaner had the moral obligation to halt the vehicle to enable an old lady to disembark. I think the guard of our train was going an extra mile by accompanying her up to the road and seeing her off before flagging the train to move on.
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