The powerful earthquake that shook Nepal on Saturday morning did not deter a 49-member group from Vijayawada and other places in the district.
While their near and dear ones here are worried over the well-being of their kin, who are on pilgrimage, the group members, mostly comprising senior citizens, have resolved to continue their pilgrimage.
Notwithstanding the aftershocks that are continuing in Nepal and its surroundings, the group is firm on visiting Muktinath Temple in Nepal. “We have requested them to drop the tour, but they are in no mood to listen us. Almost all of them want to continue their trip,” said panic-stricken family member C. Malleswara Rao.His parents — S.V. Subba Rao and Koteswaramma — are among the group that started their trip on April 22. They boarded Gorakhpur Express around 5.55 a.m. and reached Gorakhpur from where they went to Sonali for a transit halt. After visiting Lumbini, the group reached Pokhara and halted for the night stay. A batch of seven first left for Muktinath Temple, according to Mr. Rao.
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“The batch members were stranded for two days after earthquake struck Kathmandu. With much difficulty, they managed to reach Pokhara by road after having darshan at the temple,” he said. As Pokhara falls under western region, the impact of earthquake was less. With a majority of them evincing interest in visiting Muktinath, another batch of 15 members left for the temple on Monday morning.Out of 49, 30 members were from One Town and nearby areas and seven were from Tamil Nadu. The group would be returning to the city on May 8 in Ganga Kaveri Express after visiting Ayodhya, Naimisâranya, Lucknow and Kasi. Currently, the pilgrims are halted at Hotel Laljisi in Pokhara, another family member D.S. Ranganath said. '“Luckily, our parents Krishnamurthy and Balaparameswaramma managed to get SIM cards locally through which we are able to maintain contact with them regularly,” he added.
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