Love Letter to Chitrakoot
Hi friend!
I’m writing this at the end of the day. Today is 21st
March 2025, and I am rightfully quite exhausted. We landed today from Mumbai, and since there was nothing to do on the plane, I read that book you
recommended. The plane was mostly empty, and so I had the luxury of lying down.
Look here for what was going on during that time.
We landed in Prayagraj airport and though it was a beauty, since the plane was empty, there weren’t a lot of people outside like Mumbai.
We did manage to catch a taxi and arrive at our hotel. It was
evening, so we decided to take a leisurely
autorickshaw ride and reach the ghats where all ancient rivers met. (See the
attached images and videos). It was quiet. It was calm. I suppose what the only
thing could be better is the condition of the ghats. A little less polluted river
and better bathroom hygiene would have elevated it to a newer level. Anyways,
we sat there for a while and came back due to an unfortunate mishap. Later, we
explored all the temples of the area, including the one Shaktipeeth you see in
the picture below.
We stood in line for an hour after dinner to see Hanuman ji
relaxing in a temple, and that was such joy. I met a baby in our line, and I had such fun pushing its buttons. The adorable baby boy seemed thrilled to meet me, too.
We got out, got some prasad for our relatives and well-wishers, saw Bradhwaj
muni’s ashram and headed to our hotel. This day was quite hectic but extremely
fun. I didn’t imagine the day to go any better than it did, and I wouldn’t swap
it for any other day.
I am on the bed, now, extremely tired as I jot all of this
down for you. May you have a blessed day as well, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Goodnight and goodbye.
This is day 2 of our trip. We decided to go to Chirtrakoot, and guess what our first stop was? Mandagiri hill. This was honestly so exciting because we took an entire round of the hill’s circumference as an ode and to receive the blessings of Shri Ram. I never contemplated that we would be exercising in this beautiful place, and the thought of exercise excited me. I did stop midway to go to a neighbouring hill called Laxman Pahadi, where everyone believed Shri Ram’s younger brother Laxman resided during their stay in Chitrakoot. It was assumed to be 5 km long but turned out to be 8 km in total. I had so much fun that at one point I thought I had lost my way and reached somewhere else, but just as I was about to cry, I realised I had reached the end, and I had completed my round. Pictures have been attached for your reference.
I think it must have been 4 when we were finally done. So we
stopped at the temple made right at the end, where they showed us how the
ancient Ramcharit Manas had been preserved. See the video below.
Once we were done, we headed to the UP-MP border, and we went on a boating spree to enjoy ourselves a bit. Quite a few temples were
situated on the banks, and we took turns stepping out and taking blessings at
all of them. At least, dad and I did. Mum stayed back. What I honestly dislike
about these places is how people basically end up looting you in the name of
god. It seems pretty obvious that they want the money for themselves because does the Almighty God ever need money to survive? My problem is that they
aren’t honest about it. Well, you never mind that. In the end, we reached
Bharat koop, where, according to the legend, Ram’s younger brother Bharat stopped
with all the king’s inauguration ceremony items. There happened to be a well, and I, a city kid, drew water from the well for the first time. I know it is silly to
get excited about little things, but I suppose I like being a silly little
gal. Anyways, nothing happened after that. Since I was hungry, I ended up
showing 2 lovely samosas in my mouth, and that was pretty much the end of our
day in Chitrakoot. We went back, and now I will be taking some deep REM sleep to
alleviate my exhaustion. Good night.
(The video with boating couldn't be uploaded due to the file size limit extension.)
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