Encounter with Nature - 3. Review on Vaishnodevi

It was morning and the sun was mildly intense...I was asking the bus conductors which bus would be going to Domail, a small stop before Katra, the famous place from where people start the trek for Vaishnodevi temple,a 12 kms steep climb from Katra…it's a place to where people climb not with the help of their body stamina but with their trust and enthusiasm to have darshan of the great Mata Vaishnodevi. I have been there twice but this time I was not going…I had work at Mata Vaishnodevi University…which is constructed at the foothills of Mata Vaishnodevi temple. I found the bus which would take me up to Domail, no fancy bus…just a simple mini bus with very small seats, where one had to just squeeze in…Since it was early morning…the sunrays were not still very strong…I was listening to songs on my IPOD and trying to place myself within the surroundings. The bus climbing the twisting road towards the mountains…the long pine trees rising towards the sky…with the bark of their trunks peeled out…appearing like the soft complexion of a young girl…the slopes of the mountains looked so parched waiting patiently for the rains…Different mountains with different poses showing different expressions…some strong father like images, weathering all the roughness of the nature and some peaceful, delicate, silent yet strong like a mother… the tress too show different moods, some dancing, some meditating, some serious, some full of fun. Many of these beauties adorned nature gifted ornaments to enhance their beauty…some trees had small flat round hard leaves, brown and green in color, which shone in the sun like glittering jewelry. Amidst the dryness and scorching sun you could see bunch of eye soothing yellow flowers drooping from some trees like sparkling gold earrings. I enjoyed seeing the dry path of water falls on mountains and the small dry streams below it…the pebbles looked so beautiful, some dark, some white as marbles, some round, some oval, some huge, some tiny all waiting for a bath soon. Somewhere you still see water trickling between them and creating tiny ripples to end up in small shallow ponds of water becoming so calm that you mistake them for being a mirror. I got down at the junction of Domail, leaving the bus for its journey ahead for the holy abode. I asked for the direction to the university and I was told to catch the small bus waiting on the opposite side of the road. I sat there in the bus and now the sun had gathered its full momentum and was fiercely radiating its heat to make the people ready for enjoying the cold beautiful showers of the rains in a few days time. I felt my cheeks burning with the sun rays and was getting uneasy and restless for the bus to start towards the Vaishnodevi university…No one else was feeling like me, the locals with their laid back style were busy chatting with each other and were at ease and had all the time in the world. Small girls were giggling and chatting, their mothers talking endlessly and men enjoying their own talks with each other. Out of the blue a person came with a tray full of cold water glasses and started offering every one in the bus...he offered me too but I was skeptical about it being clean, I refused. But looking at others drinking smilingly, I could not resist myself more and pulled his arm and took a glass for myself. It was so refreshing…it was not only water but also sweetened water - sherbet. I felt so refreshed drinking it, all my agony vanished and made me once more look deep into the natural surroundings holding within itself the beautiful realities of life. The driver ultimately came and decided to start our journey down towards the valley,he took a very small twisted road, which took us towards the foothills of the mountains. The atmosphere was changing; we were now being covered from the fierce sun rays by the shadows of the mountains, descending a celestial coolness. The little rocky lanes, lined with beautiful bushes and small dwellings. The periphery of the lanes were lined with small bushes portraying small orange and red flowers amidst the rough green leaves, and some bushes with long stems having drooping long rough green leaves and beautiful blue bell flowers with soft delicate petals…they were so soft that you could feel the softness just looking at them…the small lanes opening the view sometimes to the deep valley below showing small dry belts of streams and somewhere small ponds of water invaded by buffaloes soaking their bodies in there coolness. The white cranes, meditating on one leg and waiting for a prey, also enjoyed these small streams. I envied the patience and calmness these species and nature reflected in them. At the next turn of this beautiful lane of nature, I saw the beauty of small children clad in uniforms and shoes, with their hair shining with oil tottering on the side of the roads towards their school. The smile on their face and the glee in their eyes can make everyone smile. I saw the man made beauty, Mata Vaishnodevi University just below at the bottom surrounded by the huge range of mountains with stark marks of waterfalls making you imagine the different beauty it would reflect in just a few days being soaked in rains.