V.T.R.Ravi Kumar

I was the lucky few who made it the Amarnath during 2005. As the year next was bogged by rumors of artificial Shiv ling created and so on. 2007 also saw a short span with a very small shiv ling that did not last for long. And this year it has been due to the controversial land allotted for the Amarnath Shrine board and then reverting it.

(23-07-2005 to 29-07-2005)

One of my collegue from my previous organization had a plan of going to Amarnath and as always I was ready to accompany him. He had started from Bangalore and I joined him in Haridwar. We took a train till Jammu and rested there before starting our journey till Pahalgham. We were able to buy some seat in a Sumo that was leaving for Pahalgham and our journey was halted before Ananthnag by the Army as it was getting late in night and they made us stay for the night in a makeshift camp they had arranged in a FCI godown. We continued our journey next day morning and on reaching pahalgham took a bus to the final spot from where our Trekking to amarnath would start . The ascend to the Amarnath starts with a very steep note. this is discourage the weak heart not to continue only the strong one may proceed. The path till Amarnath cave is very hard and adding to that is the climatic conditions. The only determination that makes you to proceed is the will to see the Ice Ling and believe me when I tell it is really enchanting to have a look at the Cave . The sight of thousands of devoted people marching towards the shrine ignoring physical and mental pain is worth seeing. . We took bath in the freezing river below Amarnath Caves. And had the dharshan of Bhole Baba (Ice Shivlingh) and on our way back took the Baltal route. The Trek till baltal has steep ascends and descends. (Should be avoided if not physically fit/old/ or joint ailments. From Baltal we took a sumo to Srinagar. All though all the news channels might post a good normal image of Srinagar the actuall is not so. You will find a tense enviroment with Army vehicles all over and with a mood that looks like anything might occur in the next few minutes. We took some time sight seeing in and around Srinagar and then made our way back to Jammu. Our train from Jammu took us back to our respective home.