Kunjapuri Sunrise is a must if you are planning for Rishikesh. On the other hand, if you are a night owl, then morning sleep is a blessing for you. This is my story, which begins on an early evening when we planned for the visit to Kunjapuri Temple in Rishikesh. It was all like perfect planning and packing, but then there comes the plot twist. I wanted to go for an evening date so we ended up at the Beatles Cafe, famous for the band. Painted on the white walls was a collection of pictures and cameras, like murals. The sitting areas had old vintage benches, chairs, tables and other stuff. A perfect evening for a perfect date, where we ordered some pizzas with some hot chocolates.
The plan was to leave by 4 AM to catch the sunrise but we woke up late. Hurried, we left stopping at a chai tapri near Omkar Ananda Ghat for the necessary break. We also poured some into our Milton Thermosteel for later while gazing at the sunrise. Time poked our shoulders, and the drive continued. We went on a scooty again and it was the best thing. Crossing all the way straight towards the temple, it took almost 45 minutes to reach the location with lots of mountain twist roads. As we were going higher, the river Ganga looked mesmerizing from the hill. As it was dawning, the twinkling of the lights from the city vanished. There was a kachcha road, which made us a little scared, but after reaching the destination, we were relieved. The parking space was available but the shops were still closed.
After we reached the Kunjapuri temple, the sun had already marked its attendance, and then there was a series of 80 steps that we had to take to reach the top of the temple. On the gate there was a giant bell, which we rang before we entered. Running out of breath, I finally reached the top with the sun. It was all about the place we all reached, just like a heavenly bit of fog everywhere and mist. The first thing we did was take a lot of snaps of the sunrise and also of ourselves with the sunrise. Then I enjoyed the cup of tea, poured hot with the right sun on my face. The aura of the sun was mesmerizing, with monkeys all around and birds chirping. After spending an hour, we walked towards the temple surroundings and finally entered the temple.
The ambience was very silent no crowd, only a few people in the surrounding area praying and feeding the pigeons. We spend some time inside the temple in silence. The Kunjapuri temple is also one of the Maha Shaktipeeths, among the 52 Shakti Peethas. We sat there for some time and got too much into the vibe. And also encountered the monkeys but were finally saved by the priest. We wanted to spend some more time but it was time to leave. Finally we came down, already starting to miss the place. We saw the camping space near the temple; if anyone wanted, they could check beforehand. But returning, going back, we saw several doodle arts, which makes it a selfie point.
While driving back, our eyes were so sleepy because of the cold breeze. Every moment we were about to fall off the scooty. We finally managed to reach Rishikesh within half an hour. There was an option to trek back via tiny villages and cascading waterfalls but we were back on the scooty. Ah! One more interesting thing is that, while coming back, you don’t have to start your scooty; it will just drive without fuel. After we arrived, the first thing we did was take a nap for an hour. And we waited until our next adventure on the same day, which was river rafting.
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