‘365 Haridwar’ is the International Artist Residency programme at AZIMVTH Ashram. It is situated inside a locality called Arya Nagar.
Arya Nagar is part of a cluster of adjoining and related yet independent entities promoted by the Arya Samaj movement. The first of these was Gurukul Kangri University founded in 1902.
It is a part of the Haridwar municipal corporation.
Haridwar is part of the Indian state called Uttarakhand. The state shares two international boundaries – China (Tibet) in North-East and Nepal in South-East.
Image (Above) Map Showing Haridwar With China (Tibet) in North East and Nepal in South East. Credits Google
Image (Page Top) Various Modes of Transport in India – Large Size Still in Use, Smaller Uncommon. Credits India Posts
BY AIR
The two Indian international airports nearest to Haridwar are in the cities of New Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport) and Lucknow. The latter has a few international flights.
For international visitors, it is better to arrive in New Delhi. While a making a flight booking for arriving in India at the New Delhi international airport, one should also buy another flight ticket for flying from New Delhi airport to Dehradun airport. The flight ticket will be more expensive if purchased at a short notice.
Jolly Grant airport, now known as Dehradun airport is shared by three towns – Haridwar, Dehradun, and Rishikesh – each of these are about 25 km away from the airport. Dehradun airport isn’t an international airport yet. The driving time from AZIMVTH Ashram to the airport is about 40 minutes. The airport sees about 20 flights a day. Some technical details of Dehradun airport are given below.
Latitude – 30.1896992
Longitude – 78.1802979
IATA Code – DED
ICAO Code – VIDN
Time Zone – Asia/Kolkata (GMT +5.5:00)
Image: Representative Image of Travelling By Air. Credit – Birla Education Trust, Pilani.
Image: Route Map of Reaching (by Road) Dehradun Airport from Delhi Airport. Credit – Google Maps.
BY RAIL
The first railway engine journey in India happened at Haridwar. Built in 1886, Haridwar Junction Railway Station is a rail-head that receives about a dozen daily direct trains from Delhi which is about 250 km away. There are direct trains from all major parts of India, e.g., Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Varanasi (Benaras/Kashi), Chennai (Madras), Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kochi (Cochin) etc.
It is important to note that unlike Europe and the States, in India one needs to buy a train ticket about a month in advance of the travel date. Only then a confirmed seat / birth can be obtained. Over 1.5 million train tickets are sold every day. If one doesn’t have a confirmed seat then one can’t board a train.
Haridwar railway station is about 4 km away from AZIMVTH Ashram.
Some technical details of Haridwar railway station are given below.
Station code – HW
Coordinates – 29°56′54.11″N 78°9′19.97″E
Image: Haridwar Railway Station in 1938. Credit – Times of India
BY ROAD – BUS
The Haridwar inter-state bus stand is located opposite the railway station. There are dozens of common and air conditioned (AC) buses from Delhi and many parts of India to Haridwar. The AC buses generally require prior booking.
BY ROAD – CAR / TAXI
National Highway 58 passes through Haridwar and it goes all the way to the Tibet region. Though the road is good, there might be longish traffic-jams at couple of places.
BY RIVER / FOOT – FUN / TRIVIA Travelling commercially to Haridwar by river is no more a possibility. In 18th century Haridwar had a port that was widely used by the ships of East India Company. There were port facilities during the Indus valley civilisation period as well. About 10+ million people also arrive in Haridwar walking on foot for hundreds of kilometres.
Image: Ganges Pilgrims Passing A Ghaut. From the Illustrated London News, 1864. Credit – eBay
AZIMVTH Ashram 