Today I would like to share about my recent travel from Dehradun (Capital of Uttrakhand) to Haridwar, North India. Haridwar is where the river Ganga flows out from the foothills of the Himalayas.
We took a bus from the Dehradun bus terminal to Haridwar. There is a frequent bus from Dehradun to Haridwar. The total distance is around 51 km and the bus fare depends on bus to bus from 130 INR to 160 INR.
It took me to reach there in almost 2 hours due to the slow bus. some buses stoppage are more than another. So it really depends on what kind of bus we are using, traffic and what day we are using to travel there.
we reached there around 2 pm and had food from a famous shop. Once we were done with our meal.
We wanted to reach early to sit across the place where Arti (prayer) happened so that we could see it clearly. we have reached as per the plan and secured our place and waited for 2 hours 30 minutes. we were 4 to 5 people at that time and gradually this place was full of people.
Before the arti, there was preparation time, and Pandit was decorating the place. They brought goddess statues and started Arti at 5:30 pm (IST).
There were many Pandits holding diyas (we can call them lamps), because they had to hold them for a long time and gradually it got heat, Pandits were wearing cloth gloves to keep themselves safe.
It started with Mantra and then with the music everyone was singing arti together. I was hoping arti would be singing by Pandit and not a recorded song.
There was a designated place for the immersion of ashes, and there was a temple of Bhagirath Raja (King Bhagirath). As per the mythology, Raja Bhagirath asked Ganga to come to earth to enlighten his people who were cursed by Kapil Muni. That is why one of the names of the Ganga River is Bhagirathi.
It was a well spent day, after arti we traveled back to Dehradun.