Gateway to heaven - Haridwar

The previous post in this series is here..

We had seen Kedarnath in the morning and Badrinath in the evening on day 5 of the Chardham trip (we had a washout fourth day).

The next morning we had to make it to Dehradun. It was our extra buffer day per the travel company but our plan was to go see Haridwar and Rishikesh also (we were not going to come to these parts in a long time, maybe never given our travel and vacation schedules and age!). We were at the Helipad bright and early. However the helicopter did not land.. they came into the valley and turned around. There was black smoke from some forest fire nearby which made flying dangerous.

Again we had to beg the flight co-ordinator along with a bunch of other folks stranded at the helipad. They took us back to Phata and then from Phata to Dehradun. We had to wait for refueling at Phata but all was well. We were to be in Dehradun by 9AM. We made it at 10:30 or so. We had the Thumby folks pick us up from the Sahasradhara helipad and take us to the hotel where our luggage was in cloak room. We were met by the coordinator who thanked us for putting up with the issues and gave us a parting gift (water from all four sites in bottles and a rudraksh necklace). We took it packed it and loaded all our stuff into the trunk of the van my FIl had arranged for the day.

The driver was nice. We told him we wanted to go to Haridwar, then Rishikesh. We were going to spend the night there and leave for the airport the following morning. He said he will do his best.

We were hungry on the way to Haridwar and stopped at a Punjabi Dhaba. The food was divine. My stomach enlarged a few sizes after that meal as it will be obvious from the photos..

Then we were off to Haridwar. There were three places to see. Two devi temples on either side of the freeway which both needed a ropeway ride to go to the top. He told us we might make it through one if lucky. The other must visit place was Hari ki Pauri or the gateway to heaven. the place where the river ganges comes from the mountains and gets to flat terrain. The water flow is very high but they have built nice steps for the thousands of pilgrims to take a dip here.

First we went to the Chandi devi temple. It was well organized. A ropeway to take us up 2000 feet in 7 minutes. A short hike from there to the temple. Then wait for the next ropeway to come down. Wait on either side was 40 minutes which was not bad. Once we made it down, it was extremely hot. This temple told us that the ropeway ticketing for the other temple was closed. There was no point in going there. So we saw the other temple from the freeway and said a prayer and drove on to Hari ki Pauri.

Our driver said “this is the second step to heaven”. My MIL innocently asked “where is the first step? can we go to that too?” and he said “maa ji. First step is heaven itself !!” . We all had a good laugh and made our way to the river. It was extremely crowded but we found a gap to take three dips (me and MIL).

There are two types of people in the world. When someone says “take a dip in this water. Mythology has it that if you take three dips here, heaven is guaranteed!” , some will say “let me get a towel”. Others will say “that damn thing looks too dirty compared to a common sewer. Maybe the germs there will get you to heaven sooner than you want?! I will pass”.. MIL and me are the first type. San and FIL are the second. The towel I got in Gangothri came in very handy!

San and FIL just set foot in the water and sprinkled some water on their forehead. Then we got back to the van and were off to Rishikesh. There was a chance to see Ganga aarthi in Haridwar or Rishikesh. Given our tiredness levels, we just told him to drive to Rishikesh… so we could catch a break and sit down for sometime.

Here are the photos from this leg starting with the morning in Badrinath. Our hotel in Badrinath was also very nice. Photos from this leg..

and a video highlight reel ..

Irony is a terrible thing. Before leaving Chennai for this trip my mom told me that there is going to be some planetary changes end of May early June that will take me to “vera level”. Then there was this Hari ki Pauri dip which was supposed to give me a lot of good as was that tharpanam for dad on Ganga Dusshera.

I landed back in US on June 2nd and my life has taken a nasty turn with multiple hospital visits first for the infection, then for a swollen knee and a lot of sleep deprivation in general and its associated side effects, an abysmal yoga attendance and other exercise by my standards.. if “vera level” is this, I shudder to think what the alternative was!!! At this point just happy to exist.

Will post about Rishikesh next..

My dad is lucky even a year after his passing - Ganga Dushera

The previous post in this series is here..

Day 3 started early as we got a helicopter to go to Gangothri from Yamunothri.

It was a short ride. Once we got there, there were separate cars for each family. The driver told us that we will go to the hotel and then go to Gangothri as there will be traffic and it was Ganga Dusshera, an auspicious festival. We told him that we would rather go straight to see Ganga Dusshera and finish, even at the risk of missing lunch. He was nice and agreed.

We went straight from the helipad to Gangothri temple. It was a long ride and we saw fantastic views, crossed Asia’s third highest bridge and eventually he went as far as he could before asking us to get down and walk. The guide met us at the entrance. He was also a kid. He took us straight to the river, got me a bucket, had me take a bath there (we bought a towel on the way!) and we got to participate in the Ganga aarathi. This day was considered river Ganga’s birthday and it is celebrated in select states where the Ganges flows. I was told that this tharpanam on Ganga Dusshera at the Bhageerathi river was something special!

The best part was the head priest suddenly calling Sangeetha and handing her the aarathi and asking her to do arrathi for Ganga! She was standing in the edge of the river and somehow the light made its way to her!

We did a tharpanam for my dad. My FIL also got to do a tharpanam for his dad. That was nice! Once we were done, we had to walk another mile back to the car. We stopped at one of the stalls and got some food as there was no guarantee of a lunch when we finally made it to the hotel (we didn’t know when).

We were happy that we finished what we came to do that day. We made it back to the hotel. Most of the lunch was done and we scraped what was in the bottom of the buffet bowls and ate something. We were happy with Chai! My MIL wanted to rest but we wanted to see the Harshil village, which also had a military outpost. FIL decided to join us and the three of us spent an hour going around the village. Right after we came into the hotel, it poured like no tomorrow for an hour straight. Good thing we were back in the hotel and not caught in traffic on the hillsides with this downpour!

Here are the photos from this leg..

My tummy is still big after eating those once a day meals during the Varushabdheegam ceremonies… it took another two weeks and back to hot yoga to reduce it .. “a bit” (added that in case Sangeetha contests the statement!)

and a longer video of the days events..

We did have a nice dinner at the hotel and got some much needed rest. We had to wait for when our pickup would be the following morning for our next stop..

Finally a live temple- Wat Preah Ang Thom Buddha

Previous post in this Thanksgiving 2025 trip is here..

We had driven more than 75km from our hotel to get to the Kulen mountain area. This area was an old settlement from which the kings came down to set up Angkor Wat.

Our first stop in this hill was the reclining buddha temple, the largest such buddha in Cambodia. The head of VIshnu may have been replaced with a head of Buddha. The temple on the rock on top of a hill is impressive and it was good that there are still prayers going on.

A note about this drive. Kulen mountain is where the buddha is and it is a long drive up a windy road and cars drive slowly to be safe. One good thing about Cambodia compared to India is that the temples may be in ruins, but the restrooms near the ticket counters are extremely well maintained. Clean and constantly cleaned. So use the restrooms in the Angkor wat complex before driving up!

They are continuing to piece together history at this site. The steps to go up are beautiful as are the stores. We got to pray, make wishes by ringing the bell and also eat some kuzhi paniyaaram. Here are the photos.. on the way to this area we did stop by to see the place where they quarried the stones to build temples. We also got to see how the villagers were drying the rice to store.. they had just started the harvest! The first photo is from the quarry! There were some interesting cats. GIven our little one loves cats, I am now taking “Catraits” wherever we go..

More photos..

and a video highlights reel..

Again we beat the buses. We walked out when two big buses showed up! It was time to drive to the next stop..