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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

A quick trip to Shirdi and Shani Shingnapur

Mumbai to Shirdi is a pilgrimage I have been fortunate to make a number of times in the recent past. The first time I visited Shirdi was with my mother, travelling in an ST (Maharashtra State transport) bus, one of those rickety ones we see on the roads. The journey was nothing much to write about, except that we were sore, and every bone in our body was aching when we returned at last after a tedious journey which we had endured for the sole reason that we desperately wanted to have a darshan of Baba, a  pleasure which we had yearned for till then. Yes, the pleasure of the Darshan (twice- one after waiting in a queue which seemed designed to test our patience and insistence on having darshan, and the second which was so quick, and so wonderful, it was surely a gift, or a prize for having endured all that we had, and coming out with flying colours) obliterated all that from our hearts and our minds. After that, Baba seems to have summoned us often and that too in all comforts, for I have never again had to endure the back breaking ST ride. Instead, I have travelled in luxury, in cars, or with the whole family in a bus hired by us. One mode of transport I had never used while going to Shirdi was the train, and this weekend, we tried that too.
Beggars can’t be choosers, and when you plan a trip on a sudden whim, and that too on a holiday, you have to take what tickets are available. Thus, we ended up with tickets for Shirdi by the Devgiri express to Kopargaon, and by the Pune Poorna passenger for the return journey. These trains are very convenient, time-wise, but in comforts, they rank way way down.  The Devgiri express leaves VT station at 9:00PM, and arrives at Kopargaon at 5:30AM,halting at Manmad for about 2 ½ hours along the way for our coach (the only one going to Daund via Kopargaon) to be connected to the Nanded-Daund Express. We wondered what it would be like to be in a stationary train for 2 hours, but surprisingly, though the coach was an old one, we hardly realised when the train stopped at Manmad, and when it left. We woke up only when someone called out that Kopargaon was approaching. Everyone in the coach seemed bound for Shirdi, as it was completely emptied at Kopargaon. Plenty of autos and tempos converted into autos are available from Kopargaon to Shirdi. They operate on a sharing basis, but one can hire an auto/tempo for oneself, which is what we did.  The driver charged us Rs.200/- for the half an hour trip, and even volunteered to pick us up for our return journey.
There are a few hotels at Kopargaon itself, and the station itself has retiring rooms available for Rs.200/- , but we elected to stay at Shirdi at the Shanti Kamal hotel, where we have stayed before. Hotel Shanti Kamal has two buildings, the original hotel, and a newly-built Bhakta Niwas. The advantage with this hotel is the availability of rooms with 4, 5 and even 6 beds, which is convenient for large families like ours. The standard rate is Rs.1000/- for a 3-bedded room, but he charged us Rs.900/- as we were leaving the same evening.  After a quick wash, and a delicious breakfast of Poha at the hotel restaurant, we were ready for the queue at the temple.
We were expecting large crowds at the temple, it being a Saturday, and also the Ganesh Chaturthi weekend, and the arrangements made at the temple complex assured us that the authorities too were expecting a huge influx of devotees. We took our place in the queue, and were happy to note that it was moving, which surely boded well. The queue was long, and the time for the Abhishek was approaching, and we were herded along as fast as possible to clear the area, with the result that we were out within an hour. It was just 11:00 AM, and we had the whole day before us, so we decided to go to Shani Shingnapur.
We looked for an auto to take us to Shani Shingnapur, and found a young boy driving one of the tempo-autos who offered to take us there for Rs.150/- per head. I have always travelled to Shani Shingnapur by car from Shirdi, taking the main road, the highway. This time, our auto driver took us through the by-lanes, along villages, on roads which no large car would traverse. The mud roads were more suitable for the auto than the tarred highway, and, in fact we found ourselves bumping less along this route than when we were on the highway. The best part of this, however, was the sight of lush green fields of cotton, corn and sugarcane lining the village roads, and people picking cotton. Samhith was fascinated by the sight of cows, whose horns had been painted bright red or blue, and had been decorated as if for a festival. Though it wasn’t easy sitting in an auto and being thrown up every time we went over a speed breaker or a pothole, we enjoyed every minute of the 2 hour journey to Shani Shingnapur.
Saturday is a special day for Lord Shani, and the temple at Shani Shingnapur was packed with devotees. It is a custom there that only gents are allowed near the idol and that too only after taking a bath and approaching the idol with wet Dhotis provided there. There is a special queue for those who want to approach the idol, and this was quite long. We elected to have darshan from afar, and joined the shorter queue, which comprised mainly of women. We had darshan soon, and started on our return journey, stopping along the way for fresh sugarcane juice.
Our auto-wala was surprised that we had left Shani Shingnapur so soon, and, as we had time on our hands, he suggested that we visit the temple of Renuka Devi nearby. We had never heard of this temple, but visiting a temple is never a problem with us, and so we agreed. This temple is about 15 minutes away from Shani Shingnapur, and was built by a local saint. The main temple has an image of Renuka Mata, with walls and pillars inlaid with glass. Hence this temple is also locally known as the glass temple. Under this temple is the sanctum sanctorum approachable by steps, where the original image of the goddess worshipped by the saint is placed. The temple is currently being renovated, and we were unable to see some other idols in the temple. There is also a Samadhi of the saint, which is also under construction. This is an interesting temple, one I would like to visit again, after the construction is complete.
We returned to Shirdi around 5:30PM, drenched to the core after a sudden rainfall, as the auto had no means of protection from rain. Samhith, however enjoyed every minute of it, delighted at getting drenched, and when we finally alighted at our hotel, he stepped out, jumping and playing in the water. I wish I had my camera with me to capture the moment, but I had left my camera in my bag. These days, every temple we go to has so many security restrictions that we carry only money while visiting any temple, leaving everything else in the room. This time too, I had left my mobile, camera etc. in the room before going to the temple. Since we had left directly from the temple for Shani Shingnapur, I hadn’t been able to collect my things from the room. That is the reason this post has no photographs, for a change. 
We had dinner at the Sumeet restaurant attached to the hotel (their Gujrathi Thali, especially their Khichdi is excellent!). Our auto driver of the morning was waiting for us – he had turned up early so that we wouldn’t take another auto, and we started on our way back to Kopargaon.
Kopargaon was in darkness when we arrived. The electricity was erratic, we learnt, and the station was plunged in darkness except for a few stray lamps here and there running on the generator. Our train was supposedly on time (9:15PM), but an hour passed by and there was no sign of it. Samhith was tired enough to fall asleep on a bench, while we passed the time making comments on the state of Indian Railways. A couple of trains came and went, their announcements unintelligible. The electricity came suddenly as the Pune- Jammu Jhelum Express approached the platform. Suddenly, the platform was transformed; lights shining bright, the announcements loud and clear, indicators came on, displaying the train number, the coach number, etc. From a small wayside station plunged in darkness, Kopargaon was suddenly transformed to a station with all the amenities one could expect at the station nearest to Shirdi, which is visited by people from all over India.
This train, like the train we came by, halted at Manmad for 2 ½ hours, but we could hardly make it out. We slept comfortably, waking up only to alight at Dadar at 6:30AM. Thus ended a journey we had made a number of times, and which we shall hopefully make a number of times more, but each trip special in its own way.

Comments

  1. Hi ! This reminded me of my trip last year to Shirdi, the Shani temple and Ranjangaon. By Bus. I still cant get out of my head the loud religious songs ( in bollywood tunes)played in the bus all through!

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