Date: 4Feb,2011Time: 5.10PM
Place: Secunderabad Railway Station
17002(/17701 return) train number - Secunderabad to Manmad
Unlike our previous journey, me and my brother - we have planned much earlier. In general, we succeed only in unplanned trips and travels. But this time, its one month before we planned that we will go to Shirdi and booked tickets as well.
Journey started with no surprises (we both had a handful of surprising/shocking incidents during our earlier trips). Probably its the signals from BABA that the journey is going to be pleasant and calm. And very nice entertainment started for us when two small kids entered the train.
Since it was a journey that started as soon as i was back from office, I preferred to sleep early and could play with those kids only for three hours. We took ticket till Sai Nagar Shirdi (recently developed railway station for Shirdi) but we got down at Nagarsol(it takes 1hour by road from this place to Shirdi where as by train - its three hours). And got into an auto to Shirdi. We were in Shirdi by 8AM Feb 5, 2011. We took a room and got freshed up by 9 to have early darshan - since it was a weekend, it will be too crowded. Another reason being that the hot water will be available only till 9AM :) . We got into the darshan queue by 9.05Am and were done with the darshan by 9.45AM (if we come by train from Nagarsol, we would still have been in train).Normally, I think of asking for wishes to God but will drop out from asking sometimes and will forget sometimes. First time ever in my life, I didn't forget to ask my wish to God.
As soon as the darshan was over, we came out and offered prayers to the Neem tree which Baba used to say that it was his Guru.
From there, we started back to room and by this time -- the most important part in our daily routine - you guessed it right :) :) - the Food :). It was time to have breakfast and here I should say something about our dinner in train, the previous day. ***We have to struggle a lot to believe that "what was served in train can be called as food" :):). *** So, Mom kept Pulihora for dinner. But then, the mishap happend. The Pulihora - to our bad luck - was prepared of "broken rice" which is difficult to eat."amma... adakkunda pulihora pettav, kaani endukamma nookato chesi pettav -- aina nuvvu maaku nachaav.. " -- Famous telugu comedy dialogue. ani anukuni, nenu annayya navvukuni - edo koncham koncham tini, migilinadi - - memu food waste cheyaledu - paareyaledu, arey nijamgaane!!!
######## End of "For telugus only" ##########Pls excuse me - I'm habituated with these coding standards and rules :):)
After that mishap, we must have a nice breakfast and we had. I tried the local food (aloo parota - my fav too) and my brother had Puri. Here - I did a small role play - Swami GOODFOODananda maharaj with my brother being the only audience, critic and everything except Swamiji.
//ROLE PLAY BEGINS
Swamiji says (swamiji never uses I :P) when we go to a new place, we should take only their food and shouldn't ask for our native food items. Its equal to killing our appetite. Ask for their food - you can know their culture, quality can be expected and can sometimes be delicious to you. If you ask for your food, which they may not know to cook - may spoil it and may spoil your stomach also.
//ROLE PLAY IS OVER.
As soon as we are done with our breakfast, we went out for some shopping in the most busiest street in Shirdi :) - its quite adjacent to the temple premises.
During our few min shopping, a procession was observed. I asked one of those guys - with the limited hindi vocabulary I had, which MAY mean "what is this for?". And that boy replied very politely with a big smile: "(@#$%$#*@$ Baba*@$#($" (probably pure marathi, i cannot make out even a single word except baba)
Some flashy items in the market... TRUST me - 80% of the items in shops are for girls and women. Out of the 20%, 5% is sweets and the remaining is items to be bought by men for their ladies :)... Indian market depends a lot on women.
No women, No Shopping, No business, No Growth in Economy!!! A universal fact I re-invented.
I am single and free - and all I have in my hands was camera. But see here, my brother - married, only once - but :(:(
Very nice and beautiful flowers - I like them with plants only. Don't like to pluck them off, but like to click the camera....
And here -- one of the best things I observed - Birds of Same Feather :):) The Charity Group.
Girija Cancer Care Foundation volunteers - with so much of patience and dedication were seen there standing for about two hours.And this is most commonly seen picture in all our cities and towns - children on streets. He is Vicky, he sells Saibaba Idols (you can see in his hand). A chocolate and a snap brought big smile on his face.
As soon as completed our shopping, we wanted to roam and see the town. There we had "Oiltail (cousin to cocktail) sugarcane juice". (sugar cane juice mixed with Kerosene Oil)
Five drops of juice and one drop of Kerosene. :) We fortunately got Oil free (we assumed so..) juice. And from there to room and then to railway station.
$#$#$# THE LUNCH EPISODE $#$#$#
And we didn't forget to have our lunch. Before we started to railway station, at 3.30PM we had lunch at the same hotel where we had our breakfast. And initialization by server is done (food was served initially). Then, Swami GOODFOODananda Maharaj requested to update the instantiation with new values since previous value was consumed by process ( asked for extra onions). Waiter brought onion pieces in good quantity in a nice glass plate. After few minutes, Swamiji requested for another release to instantiate the same variable(some more onions). The server is exhausted but still managed to bring few onion pieces with a small steel cup. Few moments later, Swamiji asked for instantiating plateRice variable. (requested extra rice) Looked like he lost patience as brought a plateful of rice and poured into Swamiji's plate in a careless way. But SWAMIJI didn't react. Swamiji received it as affection and ate all that is served.
$#$#$# END OF LUNCH EPISODE $#$#$#
And one funny incident to be shared - During our return journey - a fellow passenger asked my elder brother whether I am older to him? and I have strong defending proof for the point she made - below pic says it all.
And normally, when we (me and my brother) go to a new place, we don't leave the place unless we make someone happy for cheating on us. :) :) we help people that way. And just before we get into train in Shirdi - we bought Onions at Rs.180 (they said that bag is of12KG, we doubt) (bought them at Hyderbad rate in Shirdi is what we believe it to be).
A journey - with no shocks or surprises but with loads of fun. Few of them are shared here...
- Onions, Grape, Sugar Cane Products are highly available there. Price not assured to be low though supply is more.
- Lonawala and Jelly chocolates are produced in nearby places.
- When you go by train, prefer to get down at Nagarsol and take share auto or bus to Shirdi. Auto charge Rs.50 per head and it takes exactly one hour(45KM). This will save at least two hours. (applicable for only hyd-shirdi route, not sure about other routes) However if time is not a constraint, going by train is not a problem.
- Shani Shingnapur is a nearby place to visit and it take one and half hours to reach. To and Fro plus one hour to be spent there which makes it a four hour schedule. Jeeps, Wingers are there and they charge Rs.100 per head for To and Fro.
- ATMs: SBI ATM inside mandir premises, Andhrabank ATM, Union Bank ATM were there market.
