Travel || Shirdi Season 02

Does blogging about some place bring u a luck of visiting that place again? Well, this funny thing happened with me. I blogged about my first trip to Shirdi (May 2012) and one week later, I was in Shirdi again!

So, anyway, the way it all happened was quite funny. I believe and I'd like to quote Paulo Coelho from The Alchemist, "When you want something, the whole universe conspires in helping you achieve it." In this case, I'd say it was my mom's wish. So the set up was that my Mom was to visit Shirdi with my Maasi and a whole lot of her people from Chandigarh. Basically, the Sai Baba temple there had arranged this 'yatra'. Anyway, my mom was getting all senti and didn't wanna go without me. And I had no reservations so I could not go with her! So finally, we decided that I'll take the tickets for chair car and sit through the entire journey (while others sleep in the sleeper) or mom and I will share the sleeping berth (dunno how that would've happened, considering both of us have a plus size!).

So, on the day we were to leave my Maasi called up at 7 in the morning and said that one uncleji fell sick and got his tickets canceled, and my Maasi has quickly grabbed those tickets for me! So, I got confirmed train tickets, hotel bookings, etc. Miraculous, it was!

Coming back to the actual trip, Mom & I boarded the 12715 Sachkhand Express from New Delhi Railway Station (Platform # 4), while the rest of the lot came down from Ambala (in the train). Our lunches & dinners, throughout the trip were taken care of by the temple people, i.e. they had made all those arrangements and it was all superb.

Now that we were in the train and had a 20 hour journey, I decided to make good use of my dear Kindle that I had bought recently. After showing it off, something that a true punjabi does, I finished "The Alchemist" for the 2nd time, while absorbing it with maturity, and started reading my first Chetan Bhagat, "2 States". Commentary on the books will be given later coz I have a bad habit of digressing from the main topic.

On reaching Manmad, we were filled into taxis and taken to a nice hotel called Sai Sharan, near the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple Complex. The entire hotel had been booked for us and I must say that the arrangements were fab. If you ever get a chance in life, you must visit some religious place with the 'sangat', i.e. with a whole lot of other pilgrims. Just make sure there is no stampede though :P

Post lunch, Mom and I quickly went for darshan in a luckily, almost empty temple. "Darshan achhe hue", i.e. the pilgrimage was successful. It was actually surprising to see very few lines irrespective of the fact that it was a Thursday, i.e. Sai Baba day. The moment I thought this, crowds came in rushing. We later realized that we had entered in the afternoon which is usually a lean time. Hence, we were lucky to get through fast. Post darshan, we went to another place called Shani Shignapur.

A taxi outside the Sai Baba Temple Complex would take you to the famous "Shani Temple" and back while charging Rs 100 per person. They start with Rs 120 or 150, but come down to Rs 100 on bargaining (Sigh! I'm so bad at that!). Throughout the ride, we listened to bhajans (religious songs), while viewing the sunset over fields of grapes. It is famous that women are not allowed to enter the Shani Temple. However, the system has changed and the priests have learnt their lessons on gender equality for women now ARE allowed to enter the Shani Temple and even perform the pooja. This temple and city/village is famous for 3 reasons:

1. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shani (Saturn). According to Hindu mythology, Shani was the son of Sun and was disowned by him. He, thus, developed hatred for his father and toiled day & night to attain a position of his own. The day dedicated to Saturn is Saturday and it is believed that people should avoid buying iron or other metallic items on Saturday as this invites the wrath of Lord Shani. The punishment that Lord Shani gives you is that you become lonely, toil day & night (like him) while achieving minimal results. There are believed to be people who have faced extreme illnesses & abject poverty coz of Lord Shani. Hence, people are scared and wish to avoid any kind of astrological issues pertaining to the phase of Saturn. It is not that Saturn is always bad! For some people, Saturn is lucky, for it teaches you how to be meritorious on the basis of your hard work and not luck. It might keep you away from your homeland, but may give you a whole lot of progress on a foreign land. The Hindu mythology and astrological studies are full of such stories and beliefs.

Coming back, the temple at Shani Shignapur is one of the most famous temples dedicated to Lord Shani and people from different parts of India come here to get rid of their phase of Saturn. Hence, it is said that once one have performed the pooja, one must not turn around and look at Shani again coz if you do, you'll take it back with you in place of getting rid of it.

2. There are no locks in the city. People in the city do not lock their doors as no one in this steals anything, i.e. there are no robberies in the city. It is believed that anyone who performs a robbery in the city gets punished by Lord Shani and either dies of extreme illness soon or goes insane.

3. The only areas covered in the temple are the paths on which people walk. Usually, in any Hindu temple, an idol of the Lord to whom the temple is dedicated to is placed under the arch of the temple (gumbad). However, for the Shani temple at Shignapur, it is said that many people tried to build an arch above the idol of Lord Shani (which isn't even a proper idol) but have failed miserably every time. This is so coz the Lord wishes to stand under the Sun (his father) and face him eye-to-eye.

The vendors outside the temple who sell flowers & incenses for pooja inside the temple, typically scare everyone for money (ridiculous, I tell you!). Some people do believe in all that those guys say and buy a whole lot of stuff coz of their superstitions. Everyone who believes in all that, would call me stupid but I believe that superstitions have no end. Once you do one pooja, you'll end up doing a hundred of them. Anyway, after visiting the temple, we merrily came back to the hotel and slept like logs. Hence, went Thursday.

Friday was the day to go to Nasik (Nashik). 11 of us (along with 2 kids of someone) bundled up and hired a taxi (Typically Rs 200 per person return) to go to Nashik. Nasik is about 90 kms from Shirdi. Reaching there, we first visited Mukti Dham, the Birla Temple in Nasik. With a whole lot of idols, it gives the visitors a feeling that they've actually visited all the Dhams. Following this, we visited Trimbakeshwar Temple. While returning, we visited the Ram Ghat area, which I had described in full detail last time.

Saturday morning was the turn of another round of darshan at the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple, surprisingly in the VIP line this time. Post this, we ran back to Manmad from where we boarded our train back to Delhi/Ambala.

Few other details worth mentioning:

- Sai Complex is the name of a shopping mall right next to Shirdi Sri Sai Baba Temple. This mall houses restaurants like Rajdhani offering good food and some shops selling ethnic clothes. Typically, shops in the malls don't bargain. However, the shops there too. One of the ladies in our group actually bought a saree for half the price quoted!!

- Vendors sell a bunch of red roses for Rs 10 outside the temple. These roses are usually purchased by pilgrims and are offered to the idol of Sai Baba in the temple.

- Ram Ghar at Nasik is made at the banks of River Godavari. At this Ghat, there is a 'sangam' of 3 rivers namely, Aruna, Varuna and Godavari. Apparently, there are 12 different temples in this area, at the banks of the river. The pooja for 'kal sarpa yoga' in horoscopes is also done at Panchvati.

- Normally, we see a whole lot of people begging for food. Whenever you offer food to them, they instead ask for money coz they actually don't want food. However, during this trip, we had 2 instances where we offered actual food. First, I met a man and a lady who were visually challenged outside the Trimbakeshwar Temple. On asking them what they want to eat, the gentleman said that he wanted to have something sweet. So Ma and I bought some sweets (laddoos) and distributed to all the people there who happily ate the food. On the second instance, we met a lady begging for food. When we offered to take her to a restaurant and pay for her, she agreed and took us to a nearby cheap restaurant offering idlis and dosas. Here, we ordered idlis for her. Looking at her situation and age, I ordered tea for her and touched her feet for I felt that blessings of one needy and worth a lot.

- Kolhapuri chappals sold in this area are cheap (Rs 150 per pair on bargaining) and of good quality. For those who don't know, Kolhapur is a city in Maharashtra which is famous for the chappals made there (and now of that kind) and a special type of chicken dish (Chicken Kolhapuri).

- Shirdi and Manmad lie in Maharashtra. Hence, one gets to see ladies with green bangles wearing a Marathi style saree all around. The men in Maharashtra wear dhotis and wear the hawaldar type caps in white on their head (Recall the 'Main Anna Hoon' caps).

- This entire area houses fields of grapes. Hence, grapes and raisins are sold a lot in this area and of course, for a very low price. The 2nd shop on the left of Sri Kapaleshwar Temple in Nasik or the shop outside Mukti Dham in Nasik offers good quality dry-fruit for a sensible price (no bargaining I mean).

- Another famous item of Nasik is 'Kondaji Chivda'. This is a kind of salty snack (namkeen) which is quite famous in the area.

- Green coconuts, again, are quite famous in the area. I remember drinking the water myself and offering the 'malai' to Mom (she doesn't like coconut water). Eating the coconut malai reminded her of her childhood days. On one incident we bought the fruit 'shareefa' (custard apple), often misquoted as 'seetaphal'. This fruit is pretty expensive, but cheap in this area, and my Mom used to enjoy it during her childhood in Kolkatta.

- The sweet shop opposite Sri Kapaleshwar temple offers 'khurchan' which is awesome mawa. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, all I'd say is just go and please eat it for it is a milk sweet and is absolutely delicious.

- The laddoos prasad is sold at Gate #2 of the Sai Baba Complex and each packet contains 3 laddoos.

Phew! Quite an exhaustive list of things.

Travel || My first trip to Shirdi

May 2012

My first trip to Shirdi happened after a lot of anticipation, anxieties and a whole lot of planning.

Let me start with the reservations. My Maasi and mom wanted to go to Shirdi for quite some time. So on one fine evening of February, I sat in my razai (quilt) and checked out the tickets for Shirdi. Surprisingly, almost all the tickets were booked 3 months in advance. So I had no time to think or ponder over, and had to quickly book the tickets. We traveled New Delhi - Manmad and the plan was to go to Shirdi from there. Another station, Kopargaon, was closer to Shirdi than Manmad but unfortunately, tickets were full so Manmad was all that we were left with.

Finally the day came on which we had to leave for Shirdi. Delhi Metro took us from Gurgaon to Jor Bagh where an auto driver (while taking a hefty amount) dropped us to Nizamuddin station so that we could board our Goa Express to Manmad. In the morning on the next day, a gentleman came near our seats to charge his cellphone as the plug point near his berth was not working. During a usual chit-chat, he told us that the famous Shani temple (Shani Shingnapur) is another destination for all those tourists who visit Shirdi Sai Baba Temple. However, the entry of females in that temple is banned due to some age-old rituals. Thus, visiting that temple was pointless for us (as we were 3 females together). We thus decided to take a detour and visit Nasik (Nashik) instead.

Popping out of the train, I saw loads of grapes, raisins and vada-pav on the railway station at Manmad. From there, we took an auto and reached the Manmad bus station. From there we boarded a bus to Nasik and got down at Adganv Naka from where a road led to Panchvati. Panchvati is an area consisting of 5 old and auspicious banyan trees on the banks of River Godavari. This place is very famous from the religious point of view. Lots of people bathe in River Godavari, like River Ganges, and also perform the 'Kalsarpa yoga' pooja, if applicable. I must say that I have never in my life seen so many onions stacked in one place or seen so many grapevines together, as I saw that day during my road trip from Manmad to Nasik. In the scorching heat, this area was calm, peaceful and clean. The best part about the road trip were the gulmohur trees with their bright orange flowers.

Anyway, so on reaching Panchvati, we visited the temple of River Godavari and just washed our hands & feet (as we couldn't go through the elaborate process of taking a bath). Post this, we visited Sri Kapaleshwar temple, which is opposite the river bank. This temple is an old temple of Lord Shiva and was very quiet and peaceful. Personally, I'm not very fond of hindu religious places as they are not very clean. However, Nasik was a very different experience coz I got to see a different set of people - those who were calm & down-to-earth, unlike North Indians :P

After breakfast at a near-by tea stall, we took an auto to the Nasik bus station from where we boarded the bus to Trimbakeshwar temple. This temple is built at the origin of River Godavari and is an ancient temple in Maharashtra, dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas and visiting this temple is considered as a very big thing.

The temple, as expected was calm and peaceful. The crowd, as expected, was in a rush. The area, as expected, was full of stalls and had flowers strewn around. Nevertheless, the visit got over and we boarded a bus direct to Shirdi from there. Thus, we experienced another road trip through the peaceful countryside, through the mountains and in peace.

On reaching Shirdi, we got off at the Shirdi Sai Baba temple complex and searched for a lodge room. After freshening up, we went downstairs to eat. By the time we got free, the entry to the temple was already closed. However, we sat down for aarti at Dwarka Mayi.

What next? Sleep - Get up at 5 - Get in line for 'Kakad Aarti' and darshan. And I was shocked to see layers of lines!! Too many lines and too many people were there, just to catch a glimpse of the idol of Sai Baba. The place was full of people and red roses. After 'darshan', we came down and visited the complex. Ma and I thereafter, got in lines to get some vibhuti & prasad (laddoos! :D). After all the visit and some breakfast, we took a taxi and came back to Manmad from where we were to board our train back to Delhi.

After lunch at a nearby restaurant, we bought some grapes from the station and boarded our train. In the train, we slept like logs and reached Delhi the next morning. And then, on reaching, I ran to office for an 11 am meeting :)

My first trip to Shirdi was memorable not because it was my first time to Shirdi but because it was Mom's first time to Shirdi. And I'm glad I could be a part of the whole thing :)

Random || Disparity

Amazed at the disparity that I saw today, or rather, noticed today...

So I work in an organization where I am a part of the training team of some kind. The procedure is that at the end of the training we perform a sort of a test of all the trainees. This test is ideally of a duration of 4 hours, but usually, it takes everyone roughly 8 hours to complete the test; Not because our evaluation of time is bad, but because those who are new to the skill usually take time to sort out all sorts of errors and come up with the final result.

Anyway, in the past 2 months, I've taken 4 such sessions. The first was a session of MBA grads - all managers and all, and no matter how diverse and smart the lot was, it took them around 8 hours (the usual) to finish the test. Then came 2 batches ... one was the IITians, and the second were the others. While testing the IITians, all of us were shocked to see that the person who finished first had wrapped up everything in 2.5 hours (:-o), while the other batch was facing a wagon full of troubles. One fellow had even walked up to the trainers and said that if he passes the test, it would not be because of his skill/hard work, and that would trouble his conscience. And today came the 4th batch. Today, on the last day, despite the fact that my session was supposed to last 2-3 hours, it went on for 5 hours as I ended up revising almost all the previous sessions. I'm amazed at the kind of difference that I saw.

Next, while coming back home, I glanced at the digital rate list put up at a petrol pump and saw that petrol was around Rs 70, while diesel was around Rs 40. And here we are, in this nation, where we keep talking about reducing the carbon footprint, reducing pollution, etc and this is the situation. For those who do not know why people prefer to drive petrol cars than diesel cars, it is so because the diesel fumes are more polluting than petrol fumes. That is the reason why companies prefer to manufacture more petrol cars than diesel cars. So if this is the reason, why is the diesel price lower than the petrol price? Shouldn't the diesel price be higher than that of petrol so as to discourage all those using diesel cars? Yes, ideally, that should be the case. However, I wish to ask our dear government what do they intend to do by behaving in such a manner. In a nation where a state's high court is passing an order to convert all petrol/diesel cars to CNG so as to reduce the pollution, the capital's region has this kind of disparity when it comes to fuels.

Random || Jab Kabhi

An all time favourite - The most romantic song according to me ...

Jab kabhi chand na ho
Andheri raat ho
Darr na tab hoga mujhko
Agar tum saath ho

Jab kabhi baadal chhaye
Ya ghani barsaat ho
Hogi khushi har ek boond mein
Agar tum saath ho

Is jahaan mein koi mera
Ho bhi ya na ho
Har ek lamha bhar jayega
Roshni se, bas agar tum saath ho

Jab kabhi aansoon aaye
Ya buri saugat ho
Muskura loonga main to phir bhi
Agar tum saath ho

Tum yahan ho to saari
Duniya hai idhar
Saare armaan, khwab saare
Ban gaye hain ab tumhaari ek nazar
Jab kabhi dil ghabraye
Saamne maat ho
Jeet ke main dikhlaaoonga
Agar tum saath ho

Jab kabhi has de aalam
Khushiyon ki baarat ho
Zindagi hogi jannat
Agar tum saath ho

Sprituality || Procrastination

Have been procrastinating since quite some time but I guess I couldn't go on further. Time to actually hit the keys and put it all down, and out of my system.

So the latest that has happened is that I'm in a very weird phase of my life. A phase in which one realizes who is close to my heart, who is not; who loves me, who pretends to love me; who misses me, who misses my energy, who misses the moments we spent together ... Complicated eh?
On a more materialistic note, I'm in such a phase of my life in which I have money, family, and a (supposedly successful) career. I'm in a phase in which I have nothing ... Absolutely nothing when it comes to spirituality, knowledge and zest for living. So how do I get these? No, not by enjoying the riches for sure. But by tweaking things a little in my daily life and learning from the reactions. Knowledge brings spirituality and zest for living gets taken care of automatically. How does this happen? Well, u need to try this one for sure coz this cannot be put down in an instruction manual.

So how do I do this? Well, for starters, I normally go in an AC cab to the office of my multi-national company. But the journey in the metro and the DTC bus is better. Why? That journey led me to meet my younger brother who was going to Mumbai to start a new job.
How was that journey better?
It was not comfy, I agree. It was full of anxiety and emotions. Yet, it left me full coz I knew that at the end of this day, I have this someone (my younger brother) who will miss me when I won't be around, who'll remember the moments we spent together, who'll tell stories about me/us to his kids, and most of all, who will shed a tear when I'll be dead. So today I feel spiritually fuller and better.
Voila! ;-)