[pcpranav]

18th Dec’10 – being a Saturday, I have an off at office. As usual, the Sun rises on time, but I wake up bit late, lazily I should say. Around 10AM, suddenly I proposed to visit Shirdi for Sai Baba's darshan - unfortunately, we had never been there before. Wife and kid approved my proposal and we all were excited. I could spend hardly 15 min on Google Map (route info) and TBHP (route info, experience). Next I did online was to book a budget hotel for our night stay at Shirdi, this again was done within minutes. Luggage was being packed at the same time. We started from home at 12.30; full tank and PSI checked en route. Im sure, all this info would give my friends an idea of this hustle – bustle trip.





We had lunch somewhere around Vasind at 3.30PM and the journey across Kasara (Kasara ghats) was beautiful. I had prior knowledge about reaching Shirdi via Nashik; but on reaching Ghoti, I also saw a road going towards left having a big sign board with mention of Shirdi. Since the KMs seemed to be lesser, I was confused and tempted for a left. Ohh, this was not a good decision. The road is very bad, potholes, cracks, rubbles, low tarmac and take a longer time. On the way, I had a quick check with some villagers and they seem to be fairly OK with such roads and asked to continue ! I was just worried of my vehicle !

[pcpranav]

Both this one and the via Nashik road eventually meets at Sinnar and then it’s a common road for Shirdi. The only good part was the natural surrounding and the large number of Windmills hosted.








It's Sun set time (~6pm) and we had a big distance yet to be covered. On reaching Sinnar ~6.45PM, I took a ‘cutting’ (tea) break – since the last lap was too exhaustive. The moment we crossed this village, a narrow road starts: dug-up and a big traffic jam invited us. This jam stole away some precious 1+ hour and we were being impatient whether we could have darshan on the same evening – this is ofcourse in the hands of almighty God Sai Baba.

Darkness came over and once the jam was clear, I drove quite fast on that uneven track. The vehicles coming from the opposite side were also rushing and threw light on us. I believe, one needs to be careful on this stretch at such dark time. Herein, my 100/130 Philips Rally upgrade was doing its job right.

[San Phrangmung]

Hey where did you get hold of the 100/130 Philips, i could not find anything beyond 100 that also in yellow. Had to settle for Osram white eventually as local dealers said they don't get Philips beyond 50/60 in white.

[pcpranav]

@ San Phrangmung: I too have the normal yellow ones and not white. the high is very good than the stock 50/60.


Sorry, just a correction, we had this trip on 17th Dec’10 – Friday (Muharram holiday).

We entered Shirdi city at 9.00PM and could find the hotel easily on the main road itself. Check-in formality was done within minutes and we had a 5 min walk to the temple. As told by our hotel manager, we left back all our mobile phones / valuables.

Inside the compound, we were looking here-n-there to get a clue for the entrance. A guy came forward to ‘guide’ us for the darshan and asked us to purchase some customary items (Puja thali) at his shop and guided us to counter to deposit our footwear. Finally we joined a relatively smaller queue. I had heard of long queue and wait period, but that I believe is especially to join for the morning Puja.

We had a lovely view (darshan) of Sai Baba and the overall feeling was truly amazing. We came out in a while and headed for a restaurant. By 10.30PM we settled in our room and thanked God for making this all possible. Nothing much was planned to be covered within this trip and so we thought to return back and reach home-sweet-home by afternoon.

The next morning (18th), we got ready and checked-out from the hotel, took the return path and nearby found a desi joint for breakfast. Our tummy was now full and slowly cruised towards Sinnar. On the way, we took lot of pics, some shared herein:

[pcpranav]

As told earlier, the road till Sinnar was not very good, but we were enjoying the scenery. The scenic view continues after Sinnar once on the highway. Now we weren’t in any hurry to reach home!



We stopped near a hill and had a photo session:

chal mere ghode - tic tic tic:












top of the world:




Mumma's doll:




thats my machine:









surely there would be lot of peace there; a beautiful temple:

[pcpranav]

After a while, halted at a small bridge and another round of pics:



















somehow, I liked this:
















watching this bird was amazing than capturing it: (watch closely)

[pcpranav]

Somehow, we again found another bridge – this time with railway tracks below.








captured the train from different direction:

















snaps to capture the entire mountain range (joining would make a pano!):

[pcpranav]

We had spotted the ‘golden pagoda’ y’day and today wanted to see it closely, taking a detour from the main highway. This place is called Dhamma Giri @ Igatpuri where the Vipassana Research Institute (VRI) is situated; more info at http://www.vridhamma.org

Some pics from the front gate, then trailing alongside the compound wall at the backside,









































While coming back on the highway, also seen is the Mahindra’s Igatpuri factory.

[pcpranav]

Forgot to mention earlier: while crossing Nashik city, we stopped at a famous shop (cant recollect the name) to buy ‘sukha bhel’ – the taste was awesome.

Driving for some time and by now we were hungry. Near Shahpur, we saw Hotel Midway Park on the opposite side and decided to stop there. Basically, it is a garden restaurant and behind the premise were the railway track passing – excellent location. The place could have been maintained well – though it was quite green and a small playing area for kids. The food was really good but the service wasn’t.

my princess enjoying:










The mountain ranges make a beautiful scene at that time – natural effects of evening sunlight. As you can see, one of the hilltop has naturally given an Lord Shiva image.










Nearing Kalyan, saw a bit traffic build-up.





We crossed the Ghodbunder road and thought of dinner and settled at Vatika Restaurant (next to Fountain). Finally, we reached home-sweet-home at ~10.00PM and overall it was a nice trip.

[krdeshmukh]

Amazing snaps Pranav, hope we are on for this years Leh plan,
lets meet this week and close it off.