After a long tiring week, 3 people from Dental Provider Team (Metlife) decides to spend there time at some religious place. There are several religious places in Himachal and uttrakhand but there was a challenge as far as time was concerned. So Abhishek, Vikash and Anupam decided to have a short trip to Haridwar. After shift on Friday at 3 AM we left for home, packed our bags and reached New Delhi Railway station to board our Dehradun Shatabdi which was scheduled at 06:50. We reached our destination at 12 noon.
The hotels near the station are too costly, after moving further into the city we found a hotel where a A/c room costs Rs 750/-. We can see Mansa Devi Temple from out balcony. After resting for 2 Hrs we left for Har ki pauri at 3 pm where offered prayers and had our lunch. The moment you reach Har ki pauri you will find too many shops selling poori sabji, gulab jamun etc. but there is only one shop that attracts all the customers “Mohan Poori wala”.
At 6 pm we sat down for aarti which was scheduled to start at 7pm. Soon the palki of Ganga Ji (the real murti) arrived and after some time aarti started, what a beautiful scene it was.
This could have been more beautiful if all the mandir pujaris have started the aarti at the same time. They members of the trust were provoking people to donate money but you will not find any development done at the ghats. No water coolers, shady places or benches for the senior citizens, too many beggars.
Do not go to haridwar alone or get ready to pay Rs 100/- per hour for keeping your clothes and water canes while taking bath. After aarti we purchased aam-papar, churan, achar and murabba. At 10 we had our dinner at Chotiwala it was not so bad punjabi food and our Day 1 ended.
On day 2 we got up at 8 Am and left for Har ki pauri. It was an amazing experience to take bath in cold, fresh and running water of river Ganga. We filled our bottles so that we can carry the sacred water.
We spend like 2 hrs there and came back hotel, got ready and left for Mansa Devi. There are 2 ways to reach Mansa Devi (Pathway & Ropeway). we bought a package tour of Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi from a private ropeway dealer it costs Rs 180/- (Govt rate is Rs 165/- 3 hrs waiting). Ropeway to Mansa Devi takes 5 mins to reach hilltop and darshan takes 25-30 mins (off season), then which the same ticket you can board a cab to the ropeway of Chandi Devi.
Time takes by this ropeway is approx 8-10 mins as it is 388 feet high and is surrounded by rocks darshan time is same. We came back to our hotel at 6 pm picked our bags and came back to Delhi. Overall it was a fun filled holy trip best time spend at the ghat of river Ganga.
Very well written with great pics.
You should also visit Rishikesh next time.
Well, going Chandidevi by rope way is an experience in itself. Keep travelling & writing.
Cheers!
Thanks for commenting. My first write up was for rishikesh. Read : –
https://www.ghumakkar.com/2010/05/20/our-first-rafting-experience-at-rishikesh/
Now a days I am writing about my trip to south India.
U had great fun in Rishikesh. Personally, I feel Rishikesh is more peaceful than Haridwar.
Waiting for south Indian post.
The last pic is good. The rest borders on self promotion.
As I belongs to Uttranchal, I have been to Haridwar many times. The best place to stay in Haridwar is Garhwal Mandal Hotel , opposite to Railway Station & adjacent to Bus Stand.
Cheers
I could never muster enough courage to take a dip at Har ki Pauri because of the huge crowd :-) whereas in Rishikesh its much more quieter.
You are right about development. On my last trip, I saw this bunch of folks wearing some ‘Ghat Bachao’ kind of thing and asking for development fund. Haridwar attracts so many pilgrims and its sad to see unmanaged Ghats (at least build a cloak room to start with). Thanks for sharing Anupam.
I have two suggestions.
1. Please get yourself a gravatar.
2. Update your profile (add some bio, add your author page as website so that when someone clicks at your name, it goes to your page and then then can find out more about your past travels)
Look fwd to read about your travel to South India.