Sharmila's Travels

In the year 2005, my mother and I made up our minds to go Spiritual backpacking to the famous Subramanya temple in the Mangalore Ghat Section. It was almost evening by the time we had reached the shrine. By the time we finished our Darshan at the shrine, it was late and we decided to go back to our hotel in Mangalore from Subramanya. We asked the bus driver to wait for us to finish our dinner, but he never waited. That was the last bus to return from the forest region to the city.

On the way in Mangalore

We were just thinking that we got stranded, when an auto rickshaw driver came to the rescue. He took us to an accommodation in the forest, but we got scared and we asked him to drop us somewhere else. He did so hesitantly. Finally, we reached a building that was under construction. A man was standing there and when we asked him as to whether the building under construction had place in it for us to stay, he said that it is a new hostel and he arranged to accommodate us. We were highly thankful to Lord Subramanya for showing us the way in the middle of the night.

I had begun to delve into Spirituality in the year 2012 and I had received some confirmations about a possible trip to Vaishnodevi like all the others who receive their "calling" to visit the shrine, making it spiritually special. I couldn't believe it, when the preparations for my trip began a week after I received a five rupee Vaishnodevi coin from a local retailer as change for a key-chain I had purchased from him back in December 2012. I started inquiring as to how to get to Vaishnodevi with a few friends of mine, who had already visited the shrine. We then noticed a package tour conducted from Mumbai by the Indian Railways, which also included hotel accommodation and I decided to go in for it immediately. Though the trip was in April 2013, we were already excited about it. We also heard that we could book a helicopter ride to the shrine well in advance and we did so.

On the day we reached Jammu in 2013, we stayed one entire day at the hotel and rested. The next day, we went by helicopter to the Sanjichhat helipad, which was a few kilometers away from the main shrine and we had to walk it up after the exciting helicopter ride. We had a fantastic Darshan and we enjoyed every minute of it. After the visit to the shrine, we decided to walk it uphill for an eight hour stretch to the Bhaironnath shrine. After the visit to Bhaironnath, we were surprised at what we saw. A dog started following us after the Darshan for at least an hour till the end of the road atop that hill. We realized that it was none other than the Wahana [vehicle] of Lord Shiva or Lord Kaal Bhairav Nath.

We also had a sumptuous meal of puri and chole on our way back from the Bhairavnath shrine to the Vaishnodevi shrine and we walked it for at least 10 hours downhill and yet, we never got exhausted, since we kept hearing chants of "Jai Mata Di" on our way back. We even saw a funny looking mountain goat native to the region on our way to our hotel.

A funny looking goat

Banganga

It was a special Spiritual experience for me that gave confirmations of what I wanted to know about myself.

It was my birthday and I woke up early at our hotel and got ready for the next day's trip. Our sub-group never thought it would be this lucky. We were to go up to the Lidder Valley at Pehelgam, which is a 9 km uphill climb after a 2-hour drive from our hotel. We were 3 families.

We climbed uphill, despite my just recovering from the bone dislocation I had on my left toe. After sometime, I could not bear it, because my shoe finally gave in (the sole came off from it en route due to continuous usage of the shoes for more than 11 years) and all of us took a horse-ride each for about 10 minutes. The horses would not listen and the horsemen were quarreling amongst themselves, resulting in the horses trying to jump downhill and all of us getting down from the horses forcefully. We walked it up the rest of the distance, taking breaks in between, whenever possible, but never quit. We even helped each other out to reach the destination. I felt God also gave power and strength to my recovering toe, so that I could walk on to reach my destination.

All of us wanted to see the so-called "Mini Switzerland" uphill. The best part was that we had never used any mountaineering equipment, but we still got there. It wasn't much of a sight uphill, but we did get to hold rabbits and sheep. My tour group members felt it is a little birthday gift for me, though I was not quite satisfied with the amount of time we spent there after spending hours climbing the mountain. It was quite muddy in some parts of Lidder Valley though and we were caught in knee-deep mud at times there. When we wanted to return downhill before it got dark, we realized that it was already late. We could not see anything from above and our heads started spinning. I luckily noticed a truck and a lorry. The truck driver refused to give us a ride back, but a good Samaritan (the lorry driver), who was carrying heavy logs of timber, took us in for a ride back downhill. We were all relieved. We thanked the Lord Almighty for big mercies shown to us when we were truly in need. I shouted out happily, "This is my second life and a Birthday present from God himself. He helped us get back home when we were wondering how we could get back downhill in the dark."

Holding a rabbit

The flock of sheep at Lidder Valley

While going downhill, the road was quite muddy. I even managed to photograph the same from the lorry itself. The lorry nearly went to the edge of a cliff, while making a turn en route. We all got scared, but the lorry driver reassured us that his life is also in danger every single moment. We were finally glad when we mounted down from the huge lorry downhill and we all heaved a sigh of relief. After some time, I went to a shoe-store at Kashmir and got myself a nice new pair of sandals and wrapped my worn off shoes in a plastic bag and dropped it in the trash can of my hotel, since it was not in a condition I could show to anyone. This was the life-changing experience I had at Kashmir. It made me realize the presence of God when I needed Him the most.