Shirdi

Shirdi trip was an eventful one. Chittu, who had slept in an untime, at 8.30 PM, got up at around 9.30, played and went back to sleep at 11.30. Me & S had a short nap of 2 hrs and got up at around 1.45 AM while Chittu was still dozing. Both of us got ready, I prepared both boiled rice and ragi porridge for Chittu. I changed her & put on her kudumi while she was sleeping. Thankfully I had done all the packing the previous Sunday itself and that helped a great deal. Chittu woke up by 3, but was still in mabbu and was saanjufying in S’s shoulders. The cab came in at 3.15 and we reached the airport at 3.45. J paati, thatha and S mama had come to the airport directly and were already there. Chittu was wide awake by then and time was just right for baggage check in, boarding pass collection and security check. Chittu had her own boarding pass and her first bus journey was from the gate to the aircraft J We boarded the flight and took some pictures there. It was too difficult to make her sit in one place during the 1.5 hour journey. Within 30 minutes from take off, there was a sharp uncontrollable cry from Chittu. Poor baby, last she had was milk at 2 in the morning an by 5.30 or so she was hungry to the core. I gave her puzhungal arisi kanji and she ate it eagerly and fell asleep.

We were a group of 28 members including the guide and two cameramen who were shooting the entire trip on behalf of the travels. A bus was arranged for the whole trip. Our first stop was at Ranjangaon – Mahaganapati temples, one of the AshtaVinayaks. We had a good darshan, took some photos. We also so a number of Chittukuruvis – which are kind of becoming extinct due to radiation. I wanted to take a picture of my Chittu with Chittukuruvi, but both of them refused to pose properly J We halted in a restaurant for breakfast and proceeded to Shani Shinganapur. The guide who accompanied us told that the houses in the village did not have doors at all and Shani Bhagwan protects the house from theft and other risks, though we did not see any house around. Shani here is a swayambu stone in the form of the number 1. People pour gingely oil in a huge drum and there is a tubular connection between the drum and the non-stop dhaarai which hangs above the shani statue. From there we reached Shirdi at around 3 PM and checked in at Hotel Saish. Had a sumptuous lunch in the Bayaja Maa restaurant attached with the hotel. The rooms were clean and we took rest for an hour or so. Around 5, we reached the temple and it was a different experience for me as I was going there after 22 long years and did not remember a single thing!! We prostrated to Lord Ganesha, Shani & Mahadev and proceeded to the Samadhi mandir.Thatha’s acquaintance helped us out here too and we had a VIP darshan for the 6 PM Dhoop haarthi. There was a lot of crowd – given that it was a Thursday, it was more crowded and the push and pull was worse than Tirupathi temple. But we stood at around 50 feet from Baba and had a good darshan for close to 20 – 25 minutes. The priests performing haarathi and the temple incharge stood in the front and we couldn’t see the entire murthi, but the face was clearly seen and is etched in my memory. Later, we worshipped Gurusthan – the neem tree under which Baba’s guru resides. We also went to Dixit Wada, which is now the museum which has the treasured original pictures of Baba, the kafni he wore, the cot in which his last rites were done, the pots and padukas that he used, the phalki and chariot which were donated, etc. It being a Thursday, the Phalki procession was supposed to start at 8.45, but we were left with a very short time to go have dinner and come back. And there was a heavy rush outside Dwarakamayi and Chaavadi and we were not sure if we would be able to safeguard Chittu in such a heavy crowd. So decided to see Phalki some other time and went to have dinner.

Post dinner, we went for the Shej haarathi in the non-VIP darshan. I had goose bumps when I sang Ovaalum haarathi and related it with the regular Baba mandir we used to visit every Thursday and sing the same song. I even managed to find a gap through which I could see Baba clearly. Once haarathi was over, they closed the screen immediately and we couldn’t see the mosquito net being hung over the murthi and Samadhi. On our way back, we bought some souvenir and were back in the hotel room by 11.30. Chittu was highly co-operative and had kanji and Nestum at regular intervals. She cried a little bit during Dhoop haarathi as there was a lot of crowd and she was not in a very comfortable posture. But otherwise, she was an adorable kid and slept throughout the night in the new place too.

Next morning, all of us got up at 4.45 and were ready by 6.15 for our next darshan. First we went to Dwarakamayi, saw the Dhuni and Baba’s usual resting place. From there we went to Chavadi. There is a separate entrance for ladies and gents and we got to see a different portion of Chavadi. From Chavadi we went to Samadhi Mandir and had our good final darshan for the trip before we left. We stood in the queue and got a lot of udhi sachets to be given to friends and relatives. We came out through Lendi Bhagh – the garden which was maintained by Baba and also saw the well from which the Baba pulled water. We came back to the hotel, had breakfast, packed and set out at 9.30 AM to Bhimashankar – one of the 12 Jyothir lingams. It was a loooooong journey and it started raining half way through making it difficult to drive through the Ghat road. We got to see a lot of plush green scenic spots, for which Pune is famous, but couldn’t take pictures because of the heavy downpour. We halted in between for lunch and reached Bhimashankar at 5 PM. It was raining heavily and thatha carried Chittu with the umbrella which I had thoughtfully carried. Hawkers were selling plain plastic covers to be used as raincoats!!!!

Bhimashankar is a different place – here we walk down through a flight of around 200+ steps to reach the main diety. I am seeing it for the first time. Usually we climb up to see the Lord, but here we were climbing down. We had a good darshan, a family was performing puja to the shiva lingam, we got some vilvam leaves from them and did an archanai with mental prayers all by ourselves. We started from there around 6 and reach Pune at 10 in the night. Our flight was delayed by 3 hours. So our initial plan of skipping dinner was dropped and we had a sumptuous dinner. We spent a good 2 hours in the airport and finally reached Chennai at 4 AM. Chittu slept around 12 midnight in the Pune airport and continued her sleep throughout the flight and woke up the next day morning at 8. The trip was marvelous, but a little hectic because of the delayed bus journey due to rains and delayed flight. Chittu was liked by one and all in the group and we made many good pass-by-friends because of her J She was so very well behaved (Kaala tikka!!!) and looks like she has got the love-to-travel genes from me J