Following God on One-Laned highways,A Pilgrimage to Salasar

I visited the holy temple of Hanumanji at Salasar over the weekend. It was a 300 KM drive from Delhi and what a drive it was! I've had my fair share of long drives and state highways but this was my first time into Rajasthan & western part of Haryana. Roads were remarkably good at some places where one couldn't stop marveling about the progress that we have made and they were pathetic at other places which made you wonder at the contradictions!!!

For no reason at all, there came a dream stretch, a well laid road with sparse traffic where you could easily hit 140-150 kmph but then there was a stretch of around 30 Kms which was single laned and had heavy traffic! One particular stretch was nightmarish, the road was about 3 mts above the ground, it was surrounded by sand dunes, not a living-thing in sight and suddenly there came a speeding bus from the opposite direction. As things stand on our roads, the bigger your vehicle, the bigger the drivers ego. Needless to say, my car was hanging precariously on more occassions than one...

Once I reached the approach road to Salasar, I came to know there was another route (although longer) from Jaipur and the moment I saw that road it just occured to me that whenever Lord Balaji would decide to grant a visit to this temple, he would surely be taking NH - 11, the other route is almost treacherous!

That apart I had a jolly good time with my family. For me, a day well spent with my family is the biggest joy on earth and sadly, these days would be few and far in between for the next two years. Also, I crossed the town of Lakshman Garh en-route. The imposing fort there will remain etched for some time. All in all, despite the fact that I drove for 14 hours and almost non-stop, it was a pleasurable journey.

BTW, Its Sangla next for me. Deep in the Himalayas and 700 KMs from Delhi...