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The Vaishnodevi Experience 2023

My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.
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Mother's Love

The love of a mother for her child transcends all boundaries..... that of time, caste, creed or even species! While on one hand, we were busy admiring the beautiful sculptures at this World Heritage Site, where this special bond had been immortalized in stone almost 1500 years ago.............



The cow licks her calf even as she is being milked.....

and here, a cow suckles a baby elephant!

.........we also saw this bond in action right over the same sculptures....... a scene we couldn't resist capturing for eternity through the medium of this century - the camera!

a goat nurses her kid, oblivious of her audience...
Can you guess the location of the World Heritage Site I just returned from?
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Location: Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

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