Rajjo was at five thousand feet, sixty km north of Jammu, a sacred spot somewhere in Trikuta hills, in the cave, paying obeisance to the goddess at the Vaishno Devi shrine. She had walked for thirteen kilometres to reach the shrine of Goddess Kali, Saraswati and Lakshmi. She had heard every legend of the sacred place. She climbed the difficult terrain with hundreds of other devotees, bearing the harsh winter. She pondered over the legend of Vaishno Devi, a devotee of Lord Vishnu who ran into the cave where she was chased by the tantric Bhairon Nath, where she assumed the form of Goddess Kali and cut off his head. The head fell on the spot where the Bhairon temple is now located. Rajjo prayed that her faithlessness would fall at the same spot where Bhairon’s head fell. She prayed she was able to slay her empire, without killing the faith of millions. One way to finish the empire was to confess. Tell the truth about her business. But what about the devotees who lived by her name?

Her next stop was Sharda Mata temple also located somewhere in the hills.

She had heard they were seeing some recovery and the expert doctors were flying down from overseas to tend to Harsh.

As she climbed the 1063 steps to the top of the temple, she understood the hardships she went through in her life, made friends with the fate that made her suffer. With each step towards the shrine she understood the devotion and love she received from her followers, understood her own folly, understood her own ego, understood the faith behind her faithlessness. It was not in the surrounding deities – it was all within her soul.

She could see many old and handicapped being ferried on the ropeway system burning with a need to meet their maker and pay obeisance. The legend of the two brothers, Alha and Udal, stayed with her for a few days. She wanted to meet Alha who came to the temple every morning at 4 a.m., according to the local legend, to perform the pooja. She wanted to ask him why he wanted to stay in the hearts of these people and remind them of his faith. Alha penanced for twelve years and got the blessing of the goddess here. She also heard another lore, where forty years back, people residing near the temple had started getting blood stains on their clothes at night. As terror engulfed the area, the temple priest had a dream in which Maha Kali asked him to build a temple. The villagers pooled in and the Maa Maha Kali Murti was established on the right of the Shri Mata temple.