In the dark midnight of 28th September 2024, we left for Pune airport to catch a flight to Jammu (via Chandigarh). On the same day, we reached my grandparent’s home and we enjoyed there for three days! Then we took the grandparents car to Kashmir. In the mid-way we took a break and had some yummy snacks and trust me the water there was so cold, that I thought I was in Kashmir!
My wish to reach Kashmir finally happened, when I reached Vivekananda Kendra, Nagdandi, Achabal, Kashmir. During my one-day stay in such a beautiful place, I saw apple trees, for the very first time! There everything was interesting, like, the pond with beautiful ducks and fishes. After watching all of these things, we got tired and then we went to bed.
The next day, we moved to Zyestha Devi temple, Srinagar. It was around 60 kms. away from Nagdandi. We stayed here for five days. The moment I stepped out of the car, I saw a canteen and felt like eating something. Since, this was a dark cold night, we could not see much there. The next day, we saw beautiful gardens of Zyestha Devi temple. Then we went to Sureshwari Dal (lake) and took a ride on Shikara (boat) and enjoyed the ride. After this memorable ride, we went to Nishat Bagh, where I saw beautiful flowers and waterfalls. By then the temperature started falling, so we thought now we should go back to our rooms. Next few days, we visited Shankarachariya temple, Hari Parbat temple, Ganpatyar temple, Bhagwaan Gopinath Ji Ashram etc. I was very happy to see all of these old temples.
From Srinagar, we went to Tulmulla temple, Ganderbal, in the very cold morning and stayed there for the next few days. The moment I reached there, I saw many CRPF (security force) jawans and I saluted them. When I stepped -in my room there, I liked it because it was a very old structure! The first thing we did there was to worship Mata Ragyna, who is situated in the middle of the pond. The next day we went to our ancestral home, which was just 9 Kms. Away from Tulmulla temple. There I was surprised to see such a big house! This house is a triple storey with so many rooms. The ground floor is made up of stone and the rest of the floors are made up of bricks. The terrace is made up of woods and tins. In the evening, we went back to our base, Tulmulla temple campus. The next day, we went to Manasbal lake, which is India’s deepest lake. I saw an ancient temple there submerged in a deep pond containing the lake’s water. The best part of the lake was the strong chilly winds, which I enjoyed most there!
Now, my vacations were ending. So next, we moved back to Jammu. While moving back to Jammu, I was thinking, why we cannot live here? Especially, when this place (Kashmir- my motherland) belongs to us and with this thought, I came back to Pune!
December, 2024
