Monsoon , Rain And Haridwar

When I go solo, I generally adjust to the situation it demands. I had stayed in railway station, slept in airport to save some time and money, but the most memorable one was Haridwar. When I reached Haridwar I hadn't booked any rooms. I was looking for cheaper option. The boards outside the hotel rooms gave an impression that oyo, goibibo and makemytrip are competing neck to neck to grab the big market. I enquired few hotels but it was expensive. The hotels with oyo rooms were somewhat in good condition. Youth hostel dormitory is available but little far from railway station. Railway station and bus stand are very near. I decided to take a room in hotel nearby bus stand who decided to give me an underground room for 400 Rs. I will tell you what happened to room later. 

I kept all stuffs on bed and I was sure that if heavy rain comes , the ground will be covered with water. I went for a walk. I saw different varieties of street food. I had decided to trek to Manasa devi temple. Before that I had a thali for 40 Rs. In 30 Rs / 40 Rs you will get thali in dabas on the way to temple from railway station.

View from on the way to Manasa Devi trek

You can visit Manasa devi temple via ropeway (cable car) which will be paid service or by trek which requires us to climb steep hill.. I trekked to reach Manasa Devi temple. The temples with respect to architecture are not comparable to Hoysala or Dravidian architecture. What you can expect is an experience on top of hill. At exactly 4 PM I left to Har ki Pauri so that I could witness Ganga aarati.  

If you want to experience the vibrant atmosphere of Ganga arathi, Har Ki Pauri is the right place. The sacred Ganges river is worshipped here. I was little saddened with the commercial part of the place. Every priest will ask for money for a single arathi or prasad. Most of the religious places have become more commercial and money oriented . That is the negative part of all these religious places. But I still remember the Ganga arati which is a symbol of believe in river and nature. Though this part is little clean but they have to make sure more importance is given to safeguard the river.  

After doing meditation for an hour I entered the temple street which is best place to have street food.

Fresh from meditation, my mind was very much positive. I spent some time talking to the shopkeepers in the street. I had varieties of items like Gulab Jamun , Kulfi. Punjabi foods are everywhere on the street.Do not forget to have lassi and Punjabi meal here. After walking for more than 3 hours I decided to go back to hotel. 

With this kind of experience , you won't get a normal sleep and your mind will be full of dreams. With that dream I slept and when I woke up the whole room was full of water. It was midnight and I felt like I was in island. I went out again just to enjoy the rain.When rain stopped, even the water inside the room was not there. I still remember that night how I didn't even frustrated at the sight and instead I enjoyed every bit of it. The rain, Haridwar and the streets are such an awesome thing to remember.

Next day , I took a shared auto to Chandi temple entrance. We can get shared auto to visit major places for 10 - 20 Rs. Even you can get shared auto to Rishikesh. I came from Rishikesh to Haridwar for 75 Rs. Though it is only 20 Km away, because of the traffic it might take an hour to reach here. One thing I missed to tell you is if you have time visit these two temples on the way to Rishikesh : Jain temple and Prajapathi Daksh tempe. For a change in this place, the architecture looks amazing from outside.

Since I had very less time I decided to take the rope way instead of trek to Chandi temple. Both 

Chandi temple and Manasa Devi temple are in Shivalik hill range. I met a person from Andhra here with whom I discussed various topics on Uttarakhand experiences. From ropeway you can see the beautiful view of Haridwar. There might be many hidden treasures in Haridwar but I could visit only these three places. The slow and solo travel to Haridwar has given me such an awesome feeling. The highlight of the visit is still the rain. For me at that point of time rain and Haridwar seems closely related.

Still if  you have not visited Haridwar, August is the right time to plan for it.

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