A Day in Haridwar

My first trip to one of the holiest places in India. It was on my bucketlist of places I wanted to visit atleast once. My friend teases me and says since I turned 50, I have become spiritual! Don’t know whether it’s a factor of age or just a longingness to connect with your roots or maybe somewhere deep down in the subconscious is actually an urge to go on these pilgrimages while the body is still able and connect with god! I had been wanting to visit these to places for a long time, but it just never materialized. On my previous trips to India either my daughter was too young, or we would visit India to just attend a wedding or it was too hot to travel, either way it didn’t come to fruitition. What I do like about my trips to India is the time I get to spend with my family. This time I decided to combine quality time with family with sight seeing.

If you read my earlier post Shopping and Eating in Delhi over Two Days, then you know that after a couple of days in Delhi, we headed out Haridwar by train. We took Mussorrie Express, which left Delhi at night at 10 pm from Old Delhi station and reached Haridwar at 6.30 am. We left early from home, expecting a lot of traffic, but reached station an hour early.Not wanting to wait inside the station for an hour, we went to the famous and historic Shishganj Gurudwara which is close to the Old Delhi station and spent 45 minutes inside the Gurudwara listening to the kirtan and Ardas. What an amazing start to the journey! Read more about the famous Gurudwara and its history here.

Once you reach Haridwar, you take an auto rickshaw to your hotel. It was cold in the morning. The city is old and there are small lanes. The hotel is in one such bylane. The Rickshaw drops you and you go into the small lane. Since the hotel is right on the Ganges, you do have to walk a short distance to get to the hotel. As soon as you enter the hotel, there is a small, clean lobby and you cant help but see the Ganges in the background. What a sight. The hotel has made full use of the view. It’s the ONLY HOTEL WITH ITS OWN PRIVATE GHAT. Here is the link to hotel Ganga Sadan http://www.gangasadan.com/. Since we were four of us, we decided to take the Ganga Family Suite which is right on the Ganges, this is no exaggeration, you come out of the room and you can take a dip in the Ganges and head straight to the bathroom to shower after.

What most people don’t know about Haridwar is that besides being a holy place, it also offers plenty of activities for adventure seekers and for families. You could go River Rafting, kayaking, Bungy jumping,Flying Fox,trekking or just join one of the many yoga retreats that the hotel organizes for its clients. I found something interesting that the hotel organizes, Mock Remarriages for NRI’ s and foreigners on their own private ghat. The weddings are performed by learned pandits who explain the meaning of each ritual and shloka, in english.

What surprised me was the cleanliness of the Ganges, the efforts to clean the holy river are truly coming to fruition. Apart from the occassional flower, garland etc, I didn’t see debris floating. There is a mandir on the hotel private ghat and we were fortunate to be part of the morning arti. The hotel has a really nice restaurant and we had a hot breakfast buffet consisting of Fresh hot puris, rasa aloo, Aloo parathas, Idli chatni, sandwiches, lassi etc and different juices. Great service by a very attentive staff. We took our much awaited holy dip,in the hotels private ghat, right outside our room, showered and headed out to Chandi Devi and Mansa Devi temples.

Since both the temples are on a hill, you can either walk up the hill or take a cable car,called a Udan Khatola, in Hindi. We bought a combo ticket for both the temples. What I didn’t know about these two temples is that they are called Siddhi Peetha, which is a place of worship where your desires are fulfilled. The main deity/murti is said to have been installed during the 8th century by Adi Shankaracharya. You can read more about the Chandi Devi Temple, here. Inspite of the cable cars, seniors need to be aware that there are a lot of steps to walk. On your way up, you can take off your shoes in one of the many stores that sell flowers and offerings for Mata. Every deity is present and you walk to each deity, the pandit/priest gives their blessings, ties a thread on your arm and applies tilak on your forehead. On the way down, its like a mini bazaar, there are stores selling food, knick knacks,jewelry, Spatik(Rock Crystal Quartz), Rudraksha etc. You can read more about Spatik here and Rudraksha here. No photography is allowed , so unfortunately couldn’t take any pictures. Also beware of monkeys, they grab, phones, cameras, food,purses from pilgrims.

From Chandi Devi we headed to Hoshiarpuri for lunch. It’s a small dhaba style restaurant that serves veg punjabi food. I had read great reviews and it did not disappoint. The hotel staff also recommended the restaurant.Must have their Dal, Lassi and Kheer. The food is fresh and tasty, though very basic. After lunch, we left the car parked and took a rickshaw to Mansa Devi temple. We used the combo ticket for the cable car to go up. Here also there are a good bit of steps and walking involved, which can be a bit challenging for seniors. The word Manasa means desire and goddess Mansa is considered a form of Parvati/Shakti. There is a tree inside the temple where devotees tie a thread for their wishes to be fulfilled and promise to come back to untie the thread once their wish is fulfilled. Reminded me a bit of the lovelock bridge in switzerland. We again bought some coconuts, incense,flowers etc to offer to the deities. The temple has two deities that have formed naturally. You can read more about the temple here.

Feeling at peace after visiting the two temples, we spent some time shopping in the many stores. I bought a few things for my blog, my sisters bought some momentoes for their kids and mom bought some stuff for her mandir at home. By now it was time for the Ganga Arti at Har ki Pauri, which literally means Steps of God. The Ganga Arti is to be experienced at least once. Throngs of devotees gather on the steps of the Ganges and everyone chants ‘Ganga maiya ki jai’ as the Arti is going on and the pandits/priest have these large candle holders that hold a lot of Diyas/candles. The whole experience is surreal!

Went back to the hotel and since everyone just wanted a light meal, ordered soup, Tandoori vegetables, Tandoori Paneer and some veg Biryani. The hotel only serves veg food, it was some of the tastiest food I had eaten. Next morning, Ganga Maiya beckoned us for another dip and we made the most of our private ghat by sitting on the steps and taking a dip in the frigid water in the morning. After breakfast drove out to Rishikesh, a 45 minute drive, on the way stopping at the famous Daksha Prajapati temple, dedicated to Shiv and his wife Sati.

Coming Soon-Please read about the my Two Days in Rishikesh,things to see, places to eat, where to stay, Garhwali food to try out, famous Ganga Arti on Parmarth Ghat(while it is broadcast on TV), and the only spot when the Ganges actually flows backwards!

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