Exploring the Spiritual Side: A Journey to Kainchi Dham, Nainital, and Vrindavan

Mumbai >> Delhi flight followed by private cab hire for this journey with my crazy teammates from ZingHR. Adjusting to the long weekend on Holi, we started from Delhi to Nainital by car, a 7-hour long drive, and reached Nainital by 5 pm. It was 15 degrees by the time we reached, later went down to 10

degrees. Enjoying a boat ride in Nainital Lake to the magnificent Naina Devi Temple by the lakeside and then to Mall Road, enjoying paneer momos and hot coffee by the Lake. Late night checked in at The Hosteller Jeolikote and had a musical night at the hostel.

Early morning woke up to a scenic waterfall beside the hostel and started a 1-hour journey to the most awaited Kainchi Dham Temple. On the way explored Pilot Baba Ashram & 2 km before, faced major traffic, so we decided to walk to the temple. Admiring the beauty of this temple & remembering popular icons who spent their time at Kainchi Dham like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg. Did some souvenir shopping & bought a Divine Reality book by Neem Karoli Baba. On our way to Hanuman Tehri which is must visit before Kainchi Dham temple located on hill top with view to Nanital, again came across Nanital Lake stopped by to enjoy beautiful weather & player snooker match in Mall road. Left by evening for Ramnagar, which is a hub for wildlife and we found the best resort to stay overnight. Having a pool inside, guys jumped in at 12 in the freezing night and morning too.

After breakfast, we started for Girija Devi Temple Hindu temple dedicated to Goddess Girija, a form of Parvati, and is famous for its unique location on a rock in the middle of the Kosi River in Ramnagar and a major Shaktipeeth.

Since we had prebooked our game drive at Jim Corbett. The journey started at 1:30 pm and took us inside the jungle. Although we did not see any Big 5 animals, the journey inside densely populated trees was awesome & reminds me of a few locations from the Hindi movie Kaal (Year 2005). We finished by 5:30 pm & headed to our final destination Vrindavan through Sambal highway by avoiding the expressway, which was 60 km extra.

As we were tired last night, got up late, biggest mistake & we had to face a huge rush for Banke Bihari Temple. Later Nidhivan & after having famous kachori at Pehlewan Kachori, rested for some time & went straight to ISKCON Temple. Magnificent Aarti at ISKCON and we rushed to Prem Mandir, which is famous for white marble architecture, intricate carvings depicting scenes from Lord Krishna's life, and its spectacular evening light show. Since we had to catch a train from Mathura to Delhi, we rushed to the station & took the train without reservation and did almost 3 hours journey by traveling like a local near the toilet.

By reaching Delhi at 11 pm, during Ramadan, we decided to visit Jama Masjid Lane and tried Mughlai delicacies at Al Jawahar: Chicken Kofta, Nalli Nihari. Mohabbat ka Sharbat followed by chicken kebabs and Shahi Tukda. Took a stroll near Jama Masjid for some pictures and finished our journey at Delhi. Early next morning flight to Mumbai.

Flight Expenses: 9000 INR per person return Mumbai >> Delhi >> Mumbai

Private Car: 3500 INR per person

Food & stay for 4 nights: 5000 INR per person

Jim Corbett game drive: 1500 INR per person