My First Solo Trip

The fear of traveling alone, dealing with different types of people and the very thought of facing problems during the trip always prevented me to go out and explore new places. But this time I had decided to face my fear and overcome it and what could be the best time to do this than on your special day. 

Yes I wanted to spent my birthday by doing what I love the most and always wanted to do. Recently my love for photography and traveling has increased a lot. I packed my camera accessories along with painting stuff in the backpack and started what was going to change the way I think about traveling and photography. I booked myself a bus ticket to Haridwar and boarded the bus from Kashmere Gate ISBT at around 11:30 pm on Saturday, 7th of April. I was nervous and excited at the same time because I'd never gone on a trip all by myself.

Har Ki Pauri :

The bus dropped me at Haridwar Govt. bus stand near Haridwar Railway Station at around 4:30 A.M. in the morning. To be honest I had no idea what to do next or where to go as I didn't plan anything beforehand. The only plan was to explore places on the go. I sat near by the tea vendors, had a cup of tea and queried them about the ways to reach Har Ki Pauri as it was the nearest place to go this early. Har Ki Pauri is a famous ghat on the banks of the Ganges in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. I came to know about a couple of options to reach there like by taking sharing autos (Vikram or Nandi) or by taking battery rikshaws.

I took one of the battery rikshaw and reach the famous Har Ki Pauri in about 10 mins. Though it was early in the morning the place was quite crowded with devotees. 

This is how the Har Ki Pauri looks from near by walking bridge

I washed my hands and legs in the chilled water of the Ganges. I roamed around the place for sometime before an announcement was made that Ganga Aarti was about to begin. It takes place everyday at dawn and dusk where priests performs prayers with bowls of fire and ringing the temple bells. Devotees and tourists from all over the world float "Diyas" with flowers in the holy surface of the flowing river chanting the mantras along with the priests. The reflection of the fire in the water, the sound of chanting of mantras and the emotions of the devotees makes the environment simply pure and pious.

A devotee praying at the Ganges

Aarti Ki Thali

Lord Shiva Statue near Har Ki Pauri

Rishikesh :

After witnessing the Ganga Aarti I came back to Haridwar railway station and took Hemkunt express to Rishikesh. As I had limited options of places to visit in Haridwar including Har Ki Pauri, Maa Mansa Devi temple, Maa Chandi Devi Temple and Rajaji National park safari which I wanted to cover on Monday (my birthday) I decided to spent the rest of Sunday at Rishikesh. The auto driver informed me that trains are available at regular interval to Rishikesh. 

I bought a general ticket to Rishikesh and boarded the Hemkunt express train at around 7:30 A.M. which was suppose to reach the destination at 8:40 A.M. approx. but got delayed by half an hour (typical railway thing). Though Rishikesh is quite famous for its adventurous activities like Rafting, Cliff Jumping, Camping etc, I just wanted to enjoy the scenic beauty of the foothills of the Himalayas and capture everything beautiful.

Rishikesh Station View

Lakshman Jhula:

I took one of the shared autos and asked the driver to drop me at Lakshman Jhula which is a popular bridge joining two villages separated by the Ganges. I walked down the road adjacent to Lakshman Jhula all the way to the place where the River Rafting took place. The whole place was filled with tourists from all over the world. I loved the place near the river. It was filled with big rocks and river was filled with the rafting boats. I had my wide angles lens set up with me and all the way I took pictures of the beautiful scene of the river and the mountains. Here is some of the best ones. 

 View From Lakshman Jhula

View of River Side Area

People enjoying river rafting

Also I didn't want to miss the chance to capture myself with this beautiful scene, I set up my tripod which I carried with me and captured some shots in the timer mode. I experimented with different lenses and took many shots of the nature, rafting boats and people enjoying there.

Simply beautiful View

After a couple of hours of capturing pictures I realized that I was running short on time and I need to hurry as I had to cover other points of attraction like Ram Jhula and Triveni Ghat . I hurried and crossed the Lakshman Jhula to explore the street foods and shops near the temple. I had some refreshment and took some more random shots before heading to Ram Jhula (which turned out to be a disappointment). Here is the one I took while drinking sugar can juice.

A Juice Seller

Ram Jhula

By the time I reached Ram Jhula the weather which was pleasant till noon changed drastically and sun was all over me. The bank near river under Ram Jhula was not as beautiful as it was near Lakshman Jhula area. After walking up and down between the dropping point and the Tapowan Village near Lakshman Jhula I was exhausted, the thought of going back to Lakshman Jhula was not going to work for me. I sat down near by the benches on the side walk of Ram Jhula and took rest for some time observing the activities of fellow travelers.

Then this happened. A foreign tourist couple was sitting on one of the benches to the left of me. Suddenly the girl climbed on the branch of the tree close to the edge of side walk. She grabbed my attention immediately and the frame was looking quite good to me. I asked her If I could take a pic of her and I took one when she agreed. A little later she started playing some musical instrument (seems flute to me) and she was playing it really well. I took some more shots and thanked her for allowing me to capture the moment.

Beautiful Flute Player

I strolled in the service lane for another hour or so and took random pictures of passing by people before I headed on my way to Triveni Ghat the last place I wanted to visit in Rishikesh before heading back to Haridwar.

A Sadhu walking down the lane

A tourist sketching near river

Triveni Ghat:

By the time I reached Triveni Ghat, Sun was on its peak and the temperature was increasing hour by hour. I had to wait till evening to see the Aarti there and then heading back to Haridwar in the evening was not going to gain me anything. I decided to take a bath in the holy water of Ganges before heading to Haridwar. Soon I heard people shouting near by as someone was drowning in the river and the current was so vigorous that by the time the rescue diver reached the location the person was gone way too long. I didn't know If he survived that or not but it scared the hell out of me and I decided not to take the bath (Mom also said not to take bath in the river). Around 4:30 p.m. I took the same Hemkunt express and went back to Haridwar and this time the one hour journey passed in a blink of eye because I was fully exhausted.

Har Ki Pauri Revisited:

With nothing to do by the time I arrived Haridwar, I went back to Har Ki Pauri to experience the evening view of the Ghat. And to my surprise it was completely different compared to what I witnessed earlier that morning. The place was filled with tourists and devotees to the every inch of the area. My best guess is because of Sunday it was that much crowded. I was hardly able to see anything of the Priests Aarti activity. My wide angle lens came to my rescue as I took some shots by extending arms up in the air to get the view of the surrounding.

Crowd at Ganga Ghat

I must say it was amazing and scary at the same time seeing these many people crowded in a single place. Anyways after Aarti got over everybody made their way out of the place including me but not before taking some shot of Sadhus there. Here is some of them :

Sadhu at Ganga Ghat

Shadhvi Carrying Aarti

I went back to the railway station, booked a room in a hotel near by and had my dinner early around 8:00 pm. After having dinner I watched TV, charged the cellphone and camera battery for the next day. I had brought painting materials with me to try out some live painting stuff which didn't go according to the plan and I was tired enough to paint something at night. I continued watching TV till I fell asleep don't know when exactly (Yes I slept before 12:00, who does that). 

9th April :  

It was 3:00 a.m. in the morning when I woke up probably due the sound of TV which still was running then. I switched it off and checked my phone only to realize that I missed some calls and birthday messages at midnight from family members and friends. I decided to reply them later in the morning and went back to sleep. I woke up at 8:00 in the morning. I thanked everyone those who wished me at midnight and got ready in half an hour to explore some more places of Haridwar. I checked out from the hotel, had my breakfast and took a Vikram to Maa Mansa Devi Temple first.

Maa Mansa Devi Temple:

Mansa Devi Temple is situated on "Bilwa Parwat" in Haridwar dedicated to Goddess Mansa. It is said that Maa Mansa fulfills the wishes of the devotees. To reach the temple one can either follow the trekking route to the temple or ride the Mansa Devi Rope way (aka Udankhatola). I took the trekking path as the weather was very pleasant and lots of other devotees were also following the same. 

Maa Mansa Devi Temple

It took me around 5 to 6 turns to finally reach the temple's entrance. As I was about to enter the temple it started raining heavily. I sat by the shops near temple and queried the vendor about the ways to reach Maa Chandi Devi Temple later. After waiting for half an hour when the rain didn't stop I packed the camera, mobile and other stuff in the backpack and went to temple in the rain itself. 

I left the temple in about half an hour and the rain had stopped by that time. Instead of taking the rope way which I was thinking to take if it still was raining, I walked down the hill enjoying the scenic beauty of Haridwar. The view from each and every turn was amazing and breathtaking. At regular intervals I was receiving calls from family and friends wishing me happy birthday which really was going happy for me. 

View of Haridwar from Mansa Devi

I came all the way down to the entrance of the trekking path and had some refreshment there at the restaurant. I was having the perfect thing one can get while travelling. Tea, Maggie, Rain and the Mountain view. I absolutely loved it. I headed to Maa Chandi Devi temple after resting there for some time. 

Maa Chandi Devi Temple:

Maa Chandi Devi temple was similar to Maa Mansa Devi temple in many ways. It was on hill top as well with trekking route and rope way access to temple. This time I chose rope way to get to the temple not because I was tired but to enjoy the rope way ride (after all it was my day to have fun). The scene from the top of temple was mesmerizing compared to what I witnessed in Mansa Devi temple. The wide mountain range, the Chilla Dam Range and the Cityscape  was one hell of a view. 

Mountain View From Chandi Devi Temple

Loved these mountain views

On the other side of the temple, it was more greenery with wide jungles, tall trees and foggy sky. I set up my tripod there and captured myself with the amazing background. I enjoyed the view till 1:00  p.m. after which I had to reach Rajaji National park by 2:00 p.m. to do the Jungle Safari which was on top of my to do list. Instead of taking the trekking route to get down I used the rope way and exited the temple soon after getting down. I booked a Vikram and went straight to the park.

Rajaji National Park :

The only thing went wrong during the trip was the only thing I was longing to do. When I was about to reach the park entrance I saw many vehicles leaving the park one after another. My fear of not being able to do safari came true when I reached the park and the safari booking operator said that evening Jungle safari had been cancelled due to the heavy rain in the morning. In the morning itself they cancelled safari's in the midway as the safari route condition got bad due to the rain.

Only managed to get this board of Rajaji National Park (My bad luck)

My auto driver suggested me to visit the near by Chilla Dam by the time the officials were discussing whether to open the safari or not as some other tourist also came afterwards. I walked down the road towards the dam which was about 600 meters from the park. Took some clicks of monkeys playing near by along with the pic of the Chilla dam. I returned back to the park only to know that the safari was not gonna happen (at least not today).

The Final Plunge :

With the disappointment of not getting the chance to do the very first Jungle Safari I went back to the Har Ki Pauri. The only thing that was running on my mind ever since I arrived at Haridwar was taking bath in the holy water of the Ganges which purifies our soul and destroy all the sins. I decided to do that at one of the points where there were many people and the flow of water was slow :). I plunged into the water three times and it felt like I was reborn. I felt a positive energy inside me. 

I secured the front most seat at the opposite bank of main temple from where I could get the best possible view of the Aarti ceremony. I was spellbound to see the environment created by the identically dressed priests, the growing flames of fire, reflection in the water and the chanting of mantras. I captured some of the moments during the Aarti.

Priests Chanting Aarti Mantra

Bhavya Aarti

After the Aarti was over I spent another 2 hours at the Ghat only as my return train was at 11:30 p.m. At about 09:00 p.m. I returned to railway station, had dinner and waited for the train afterwards. I booked a ticket on red bus from Haridwar to Delhi after the train ticket didn't get confirmed. At midnight I boarded the bus and bid adieu to the holy city of Haridwar. I'm gonna remember each and every moment I spent there for a long time. It was special in many ways.

It was the first time I visited a city alone and that too on my birthday. It was a great experience for me from the photography point of view as well. I tried many things without any obstacles and learnt a lot. I talked to strange people which I rarely do. It gave me confidence and motivation to travel in future and inspire myself to experience new things and learn.

The moment when I reached Kashmere Gate ISBT a little smile on my face was the proof that I had overcome one of my fear and I was ready to take up new challenges. 

                                                                                                    Happy Travelling.

                                                                                                                          Deepak.