The Holy Triangle (Part -1)

Winter is the time for comfort, good food, the warmth of family and friends, and vacations. My family has a ritual of traveling in winter and exploring new places, good food, and new culture. We plan to travel to a place that we have never visited before. I feel the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. And a mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. For me travel is therapy. It's an investment in yourself. So last winter we ( myself - hubby and our 9-year-old son) traveled to one of my dream destinations Gujarat. It was the most memorable, rejuvenating vacation of 10 days to 7 places. To the land of Krishna, White Rann, Jyotirling, Ocean, Mountains, Caves, Forest, and Temples. Dwarka, Somnath, and Junagadh are said to be holy triangles. If you visit Gujarat, make sure you complete this sacred journey. Without this one's trip is incomplete. We made sure we include this in our itinerary.

As per our itinerary, we reached Dwaraka on the 3rd day of our journey after reaching Mandavi from Rann of Kutch. it's a 10-hour journey by road. Which is the only nearest connecting route to Dwaraka from Mandavi. We hired a car for our 10-day trip to make our travel more pleasant, peaceful, and memorable. Witnessing the beauty of the land, fields, windmill, desert, broad huge, and clean highways. Akram bhai - our driver, who turned in to guide for those 10 days. Who never increased car speed above 80 km on those empty highways.When asked he said in Hindi - Sahab, jo 120 speed pe jayega woh bhi same time pe he pahunchega. Kyun fast chala ke risk lene ka. I was like, really how is that possible? But he was true - we saw a few of the cars that overtook our car reached along with us. He was a Muslim by religion but a Hindu at heart. Originally from Junagadh, but settled in Rajkot with his wife and 4 kids for the past 20 years. He looked youthful and not like a family man. He eats 2 meals a day. Drink a lot of fluids. We were quite impressed and happy to have a good sensible person, who will be part of our journey for the next 10 days. He made sure we visit all the temples on time and get darshan. He had great knowledge of windmill and how it works etc. We were happy to know the facts about it. One who visits Gujarat can witness these long huge fans rotating on the fields next to highways. We were surprised when Akram bhai said he had visited "Ashapura Mata" madd thrice. Which is 100 km from Rann of Kutch. We somehow couldn't make it this time. He was a real example of - There is only one religion that is mankind, though there are a hundred versions to it. 

After 10 hours of road journey, we reached Dwarka at 7 pm and got settled in our resort. It was a decent, calm, clean place that was half a km from Dwarkadish temple. I was super excited overwhelmed and eager to visit the temple. Being a spiritual person, I celebrate all the festivals with much ease and enthusiasm. Janmashtami is one such festival that is very near and dear to my heart. At my parents home we never celebrated this festival particularly, though my mother is one of the most religious lady. We worship Goddess Durga and Mahadev as our family deities. After my son was born I started celebrating Janmashtami. I feel this god is somewhere connected with my son. Over the past few years, Janmashtami has become one of my most celebrated festivals in our house. I celebrate on a grand scale. I somewhere feel a great connection with Lord Krishna. And Dwarka is one such place which was in my bucket list for quite some time now. When we reached Dwarka, I was living my dream. I felt - Yes, I am with the lord. 

Since it was vacation time getting a hassle-free darshan in such a holy place was out of the scene. I was much worried. But lord had his plans. Bhaiya ( my brother-in-law) had a few contacts from his friends who knew the head priest of Dwarakadish temple. When I got to know this, I was overjoyed and extremely grateful. Bhaiya said, the next day morning we will be escorted by the temple priest family to have a morning darshan. My mom was on calls asking about our whereabouts. I gave the news of our darshan. She was overjoyed as I was. On that cool misty winter night, outside our resort which was hardly 500 meters from the main temple, I could hear the sound of the bells. After a long expedition of 10 hours journey to Dwarka which was a pleasant one, I went to sleep with much excitement, as the night seemed to be long. 

To be continued...