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.
What a week it has been!! I was just recuperating from a bout of the flu, and looking forward to catching up with all my writing, and all that I had missed.... The festival season was just about to begin, and I was looking forward to writing about all the festivals we will be celebrating this month..... And then, while I was busy preparing for the most elaborate celebration of the month, my left hand middle finger suddenly showed a slight swelling. Assuming it to be nothing important, I went on with the work, and managed to perform the Varalakshmi puja without too many problems. But by Friday night, the swelling was too big and painful to ignore, and a visit to the doc told me that the finger was infected, and filled with pus! So, here I am, today, with the finger bandaged, and managing to type with one hand after a long time.... Obviously I cant write much, so I shall just leave you with photos of Varalakshmi puja at home.... Incidentally, this is the first time I performed the puj