Rahul Dhali's Shirdi Trip

Posted by Rahul Dhali.

I was wondering what to write in this blog for past few days. Suddenly today morning the idea popped out. I went for a trip to Shirdi today. I thought why not write about the travel experiences. This way, it will act as reference to others for better travel and it will help me remember the destinations I’ve covered.

It started off really well. I started from Mumbai yesterday night. Before that I went to meet few friends, spent a good time. They came to see me off and then I was all alone. I follow this policy inspired from the song of Shri Rabindra Nath Tagore ‘jodi tor daak shune keu na aashe tobey ekla cholo re‘ which means if no one comes along, go alone. So I am always mentally prepared to go alone. Anyways, While waiting for the bus at Teen hath naka (I wonder why that name of place, but we will find out soon) I saw a poor lady sitting at a corner, looking at people passing by, hoping to get some money. She saw me and smiled with hope. I couldn’t resist but took out a 10 rupee note and gave her. At the same time another poor lady showed up out of no where. I had to hand over another 10 rupee note to her as well. I saw the joy at their face. Getting 10 rupee was like everything to them. They showered me with all the blessings they could and went away seeking others for help. Although I was reluctant at first but after this incident I felt a sense of positivity. I don’t know what this feeling was, but certainly know that people can be happy under any circumstances. Keeping that in mind I boarded the bus. Now, I knew it was a long journey and a long day ahead. So sleep was very important. And a hard jumping seat of bus can bring you no pleasure. On top of that I was stuck on that seat. The person sitting next to me was an old man. He needed more space and less disturbance. The person behind me was a lady with sharp tongue. The moment I tried to adjust the seat according to my comfort, she shouted “Hey, don’t you have manners, put the seat back up“. I kept quite and did what she said. The whole night I kept trying to sleep. When finally I found peace, we reached our destination.

In places like this, you come out of your vehicle and you are a celebrity. You see a crowd in front of you, compelling you to take their services. These people stick to you like flies stick to Jaggery. They were asking to take their hotel for rent. I just needed to take a bath. Their was a option for that also. They take 30 Rupees and allow you to get fresh at their bathroom. I took bath, gave him the money and went strait to GATE No. 1 according to the plan that Jitel had told me. I tried to find the stall where they keep Shoes and all. But I was lost, as all the people in the world suddenly want to help you, show you the right path and lead you to the right direction, it hinders your mind to think. It’s a trap. No one wants to help you alright! They only want to help themselves. I just asked them a simple quesion, where to keep the shoes so that I can enter the temple. All the agents asked me to keep my belongings at their set up for free. I fell for it. Nothing is for free. They made me buy their prasad and all. I was totally against it. I never take anything into temple. But this time I was tricked. Being a humble person makes you fall for this kind of tricks very easily. I kept quite and joined the queue. Turns out, no one else was carrying the things that I bought from that shop. I was looking like a fool. I asked one person where he had kept his belongings? He showed me the direction and I was more irritated at my stupid decision. However, it was time for arti. It was around 5 at the morning. We had to stand in the queue for a long time. It started to move very slowly. I skipped few queues to reach soon, still it took almost two hours just to get a 2 second view of SAI baba’s Idol. They pushed and scolded and we were out of the temple in no time.

After that, my only aim was to find Jitel. I looked for him all around but couldn’t find him. We did not have cell phones to contact within temple. Judging intelligence of Jitel I infered that he should be trying to find me outside the temple. I came out got my phone and called him. He answered and we finally met. Thanks to the supreme device. Then he introduced me to his other friends who came along. We ate the committee provided breakfast at 5 rupees and started for Shani Shinghnapur. They took 120 rupees per person for taxi and dropped us right infront of the bonded shop from where the travelers were bound to buy pooja-archana stuff. If you refuse, they get furious. I was tricked once. I wasn’t gonna buy again. Found out Jitel had same thoughts. He refused to buy and ended up debating with the shop owner. We went inside the temple. The atmosphere was really nice. There was a hydraulic system to draw oil from one point and put it at head of Shani stone. It was real dark stone. I wish we could have stayed there longer. But we had to return because there’s work tomorrow. We went to Prasadalay. Due to lack of time we skipped the prasad, had lunch at hotel and boarded our return bus. The road trip from Bombay to Shirdi is also very nice. It has scenic beauty. One thing I can say is if you want to enjoy the travel you need to be physically fit. That leads to another level of experience.