First Step - Kathmandu

8^th June 2011

Jai Sri Guru Maharaj ji ki jai, Jai bhagawan Ramakrishna dev ki jai, Jai Mahamai ki jai, Jai Swamiji Maharaj ji ki jai, Jai sri sri Durga mai ki jai, Jai sri sri Durga mai ki jai, Jai sri sri Durga mai ki jai, Durga Durga Durga.

With these chants by my mother, my taxi started off to the airport. The actual start of the journey was to be from Delhi on 9^th at 7:30am. This meant I would have to check in at the airport by 5:30am and no means of transport would get me to Delhi by that hour. I had to be in Delhi the previous night.

I had a bit of a repacking at the airport to satisfy the luggage weight limits and was able to get through without paying anything extra.

9^th June – Delhi - Kathmandu

“Sat Sri Akaal, Bole So Nihaal” – chanted Gyan Singh ji as he drove off swiftly towards the IGI airport terminal 3 at 4:15 am in the morning. I was the first one of the group to get there; I called up Swami Madhavanandaji on reaching the airport at about 5 am. He was on his way and instructed me to wait at Gate # 1. Soon he arrived and was followed by the tour operator representative. The tour operator representative had our tickets and passports. Soon the other members of the group trooped in, we were 66 people going for the Yatra.  We waited for another 15 minutes for the vehicle carrying the duffle bags, the pithoo bag, down jacket and sun hat to arrive. This was distributed to the group and we proceeded to check in counter.

There was some commotion at the baggage counter with some people having luggage weight issues. Luckily, I had these things sorted out during the check in for my connecting flight the previous day, so my baggage went in without a hitch.

Our flight faced some turbulence and a strong tailwind which got us to Kathmandu about 50 minutes before time. There were some beautiful cloud formations to be seen from the aircraft window.  At Kathmandu airport we had to fill out a couple of forms. After a couple of rounds of checking and baggage collections we were out of the airport, only to find no arrangements waiting for us.

Our lodge at Kathmandu - Park Village Resort

Evidently, the tour operator never factored in the flight coming in this early. I found a lady wearing the tour operator’s uniform and enquired with her. She was actually there to receive another group. She had no information about our group and was expecting a group of 6 people. The poor lady was flabbergasted to find 66 people surrounding her! She made a few phone calls, and this resulted in a Tata winger type vehicle coming in for us. The driver shouted out "sabhi log gadi mein baithiye"  - all of you please sit in the car. Soon he realized that his car was too small to hold 66 people and decided to stuff it with our luggage instead! After more than an hour’s wait they managed to scamper in a bus and we were stuffed into it, many of us standing. The resort where we were to be put up was at the outskirts at the other end of the city – Hotel Park Village. The hotel was nice, clean, comfortable and inviting with beautiful green surroundings, a good buffet, but a little too far from the city.

A street in Kathmandu

 There was a tour briefing and introduction session in the evening. Upfront, people wanted to voice their grievances about the goof up at the airport. This soon turned into a shouting match, much resembling the pandemonium routinely seen in our parliament. The planned introduction session did not happen, much to the chagrin of Swamiji.

10^th June – Kathmandu - 4430 ft

The day began with a meditation session by Swamiji and an introduction to Sarvasara Upanishad. After a sumptuous breakfast, two A/c buses arrived to take us to the major temples in Kathmandu. Our first stop was BudhhaNeelkanth. By the name, we were expecting this to be a Shiva temple, but found it to be Lord Vishnu lying on Sheshanaga. The significance of the temple was explained by Baba Sachidananda in the bus on the way back. Baba Sachidananda was another swami part of our entourage – he is the head of a Math near Jagannnath Temple in Puri.

Lord Vishnu - Buddha Neelkanth

Buddha Neelkanth

Neelkanth was an old pandit living in that area. He got an order in a dream by the lord to dig up a certain area which had His presence. Initially he ignored it, but when the same dream was repeated over multiple days, he went to the indicated location and started digging. After digging for some time, in one stroke of the kulhadi there flowed blood. He became frightened and very carefully dug up the surrounding area. The statue of Vishnu lying on Sheshanaga emerged.  He then refused to fill up the surrounding area. That area got filled with water and became a pond. The temple was named BuddhaNeelkantheswar after the founder, which with time became known as Buddha Neelkanth.

 Our next stop was Guhyeshwari Temple, which is one of the 51 Shakti Peethams.

Guhyeswari Temple

Pashupatinath Temple

Next, our bus took us to Pashupatinath Temple of Lord Shiva, which is the main temple in Kathmandu. As soon as we went in, some Pandas came in and struck a deal to perform Abhishekam puja for the group charging Rs 250 per family. After a less than 10 min Puja, they took the money and disappeared.  We went to the main temple and had a good darshan after some amount of jostling.  I decided to spend some time at a corner there irrespective of the group, and was moved out when the temple was about to be closed. Going back, I found the group busy shopping.

Back at the Hotel, after a sumptuous lunch and some rest, we got busy packing our stuff into the duffle bags.  My roommate Srihari Rao ji had to buy some woolen socks and gloves. I accompanied him in the evening to Chakrapath, the nearest market area of Kathmandu.


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