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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.

Off again, on another trip!


The biggest festival of the year – Diwali – approaches, and, more than anything, we look forward to the vacation that comes in its stead. We usually celebrate the festival at home, lighting lamps and bursting crackers, but this year, as you know already, we can’t celebrate the festival, and are free to travel.



We have chosen to travel into interior Maharashtra this year, combining spiritual destinations with something different. Our main destination will be Nanded, to which I have managed to get train tickets. From then on, it will be us depending on local buses to get around and see as much of the places around as we can. On my radar are Aundha Nagnath and Parli Vaijnath, two important Shaivite shrines in Maharashtra, which also figure on the list of 12 Jyotirlingas. If all goes well, I will be on the verge of completing my Jyotirling circuit soon.

Also on my list is the Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan at Shegaon, a place I have heard lots of, but haven’t yet visited, and that is where we plan to be for Diwali.

After all that spirituality, it is time for us to relax and enjoy a bit of nature before we head back to the concrete jungle, so my final destination will be the Lonar Crater Lake. This is yet another place which I have planned to visit for a long, long time, and am keeping my fingers crossed, hoping it all works out.

This is slated to be a budget trip, trying to keep costs under control, since we have already travelled much more than expected this year (and spent a lot more too, if I may add!). Besides, we are also trying to sneak in some more travel before the year is out! How far we succeed depends on whether we manage to keep to our resolution to avoid hiring vehicles and travel completely by local buses. While that really isn’t as daunting as it sounds, remember that we have Samhith in tow, so it is indeed a challenge. We tried it from Mumbai to Nashik, and were quite successful, but this trip is much longer, and thus more of a challenge. We have booked a few tickets online, so those parts of the journey are already fixed, but the rest has been left to chance, and the efficiency of MSRTC!

I will be away for just over a week, and meanwhile, have tried to schedule posts for most days. Enjoy reading them, keep coming back.... and wish you all a very Happy Diwali! 


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