UP Trip : Ayodhya-kaand !

We booked a cab through MakeMyTrip to Ayodhya. It was supposed to be an eight-hour journey from Brindavan, and we started around 10 am. However, by the time we reached our homestay, it was already 10 pm. On the way, we found a good restaurant called Curry Leaf—which later turned out to be a chain specialising in South Indian food—and had dinner there (or possibly packed it; I don’t remember exactly) before reaching the homestay.

This place was also a homestay, essentially a few houses rented out to guests, with the owner living on the ground floor. The approach road close to the property was in poor condition, with a lot of mud and water flowing, which made the family quite unhappy. However, the room itself was large and good, with a hotel-room feel and two big beds, though it did not have a TV. It also had a sit-out or balcony-like area—without a parapet wall—and this was on the second floor, which felt a bit risky.

We visited the Ram Mandir early the next morning. It was a good experience, and the crowd was managed reasonably well. There were many monkeys on the walls and even inside the temple. We had a good darshan of Ram Lalla (child Rama). After exiting the temple, there were several South Indian vegetarian restaurants nearby, and we took advantage of that for lunch.

Our next stop was Sarayu Ghat, which is not very far from the temple. On one of the tourism websites, Sarayu Ghat was described as “Peace of mind – guaranteed,” and that turned out to be quite accurate. The entire place had a very calm and peaceful vibe—the flowing Sarayu River, neat and clean riverbanks (ghats), fewer crowds, people relaxing, and a few youngsters swimming in the river. We spent a very relaxing time there.

In UP, evening aarti is performed at most rivers, and we decided to wait at the ghat until then. We had options like visiting Sita Rasoi, believed to be the kitchen of Maa Sita, but the family was not very interested, so we simply spent time at the ghat.

An interesting encounter happened there with a renunciant in Ayodhya. My wife and mother-in-law were sitting by the riverside, while my son and I were walking along the riverbank. Rishabh was praying outside a very small temple—with his shoes on. It was one of those temples where you cannot enter and can only pray from outside. A renunciant approached us and started a conversation. Interestingly, he was dressed normally and not in saffron. He first (very politely) pointed out that Rishabh was praying with his shoes on, after which Rishabh immediately removed them.

He told us that he had earlier worked as a banker in Hyderabad and had left everything to come to Ayodhya, dedicating himself to the cause of the Ram Mandir. He said he arrived around 1991, that within a year of his arrival the masjid was demolished, and that 33 years later the Ram Mandir was finally built. He also predicted that India would become a Hindu Rashtra in the future.

He made a few observations about us—commenting that I didn’t look like I was from South India due to my fair complexion, noticing that I wasn’t wearing spectacles while Rishabh was, and advising Rishabh to study Computer Science, AI, and ML. We told him that Rishabh had chosen Mechanical Engineering. After talking for about 30 minutes, we took leave. He then asked for Rishabh’s phone number and said that if he ever came to Pune, we should feed him. When we gave him the number, he strangely scribbled it onto the temple wall using a stone—in a completely undecipherable manner!

Around sunset, the evening aarti began. This is a beautiful practice I noticed in North India, where rivers are treated as goddesses and offered aarti. Watching the prayers with the chanting, the lamps, and the setting evening sky was a serene experience. After that, we had dinner again at Curry Leaf on the way back and returned to our homestay.

The next morning, I woke up early and, before the rest of the family got ready, managed to have one more darshan of Ram Lalla. I also tried to visit the Hanuman Garhi temple, but the queue was extremely long. (Hanuman Garhi is the temple where, once, a monkey reportedly defused a bomb placed there.) So I returned without attempting darshan, thanked our host, and we set off for our next destination—Prayagraj.

Around temples, I always have a fear of large crowds and the possibility of stampedes, given the sheer numbers and the way people move. This is one of the major drawbacks of visiting popular temples.

The low point of the entire trip was our hotel in Prayagraj. Since we had mostly been booking homestays, we booked this place as well without reading the reviews carefully. The place turned out to be very bad, with poorly maintained bathrooms and washbasins. The family was extremely upset. Somehow, we managed to get through the night and left early the next morning for the Sangam.