Sau choohe khaake…..

All my sins notwithstanding, over the last year or so, i may have have washed out all of them….. just check out the temples and holy / religious places and ceremonies i have been to !

Varanasi

Started with a visit to the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir and then to the river Ganga.

The Ganga Arti. As mentioned earlier, the closest i have felt to miraculous. All the din outside, so much peace inside.

  After offering prayers at the Kashi Vishvanath Temple at Varanasi. I think i got scammed a bit by the pandits there, but i did all the relevant pooja’s and offerings there. Mom’s happy

Agra

 

At the Dargah of Sheikh Salim Chishti. This was peaceful without the noise. They are from the same family as the Ajmer Dargah. The best thing was what the priest told me (when i asked if there is any specific manner to pray) – pray as you know to pray. Wo sab sunta hain

Ayyuthya, Thailand

Yes yes, there is a religion bit in Thailand as well……… especially the Rockstar Ganpati bit But that was just on day 1……

Uttaranchal

As my then boss described it – its a religious vacation farewell package!

Buddhist Temple close to Dehradun

By the river ganga at Rishikesh.

Haridwar – this Ganga Arti isnt as grand as the Varanaasi one, but good nonetheless. Met a Turkish lady here who was astonished people drink the water and loved the faith people had in the river. Concluded my faith wasn't strong enough because i wouldn't drink the water. ( I did not even collect the water in a bottle, like i did in Rishikesh). Couldn't bring myself to drink the water in which people were bathing and immerse ashes of the dead. (See those steps in the snaps? – immerse snaps, do pooja, big arti , all there)

Vaishnodevi Temple near Nainital

Hanuman Temple close to Bhimtal.

Amritsar

The best laid plans often don't work out. Sometimes because of circumstances, sometimes because some alternative plan comes up. My Amritsar Trip falls in the later plan.

I had intended to visit Mathura over the weekend, when i was in Delhi. Couple of hours away, a day trip to meet uncle who stays there. Mom suggested go to Jhansi instead, 6 hours by train, but you get to meet grandparents. I checked what's my plan for Saturday and said ok. Planned the trip to the T. Booked to and fro tickets. Most of Friday went into that. Keep it secret from grandparents. 6AM train. Reached guest house late in the night after catching up with a couple of friends. My colleagues are still up

Colleague – Bhai, chal kal Amritsar chalte hain.

Me – Chalo.

And thats how i landed at the Golden Temple recently.

Me and Vinay stood in this crowd for 3 hours.

By far the cleanest temples i have seen, crowd management could have been better though.

Best part about travel? Meeting people like these. Travellers, these girls have seen some 37 countries so far. Nice stories to tell…..

So that's that. I guess a church remaining and i would have covered them all……. wonder if sins commited parallel to all these religious trips are also taken care of