Yes so I finally did it. My long awaited & once aborted wishes of going to vaishno devi was fulfilled on 28Sep-1Oct 2007 visit. The experience was awesome although with few glitches. To begin with my train got delayed by 5hrs & had to spend the night with kids in tow on the platform. We reached Jammu next afternoon by around 1pm. Anyhow after arranging the needful VIP coupons to visit vaishno devi....we headed to katra in qualis. The twisted drive up on the mountain made my daughter sick & she kept puking all the driveway. All this strengthen my resolution of visiting Ma Vaishno devi as I took it this ways- "Ma is testing my devotion towards her :)" Finally we landed in to the hotel we booked. After freshning up, we had our dinner. Soon we headed to a steep climb of the mountains. Initial walk with some luggage in tow & of course the kids made us decide to hire a pony as it will be impossible to manage everything. Sensibly we did the same & by 1:00Am in the night reached Ardh Kuwaari. Ardh Kuwaari, it is said is the journey of the devotees wherein his past karma is washed off & then the cleansed devotee shud head towards vaishno devi temple. It was challenging task to go thru ardh kuwaari cave as many devotees were returning back saying they don't have courage to pass through. As usual it strengthened my decision of passing thru it. All this was made simple by my kids shouting Jai Maata Di & devotees joining in the chanting together. I dit it :). From there on we headed to vaishno devi temple & again we joined the long winding que of devotees to have a glimpse of the pind.
Wow! the overall experience was overwhelming & I really appreciate the strength of frequent visitors to this place as its not a miniscule task to do the trek & not to mention the amount of patience that one has to have to get the glimpse of each milestones. JAI MAATA DI!!!
