Road journeys – Daman to Mumbai-Shirdi-Nasik

Our next destination was Mumbai for attending the meeting, in guise of which I planned the long-long road journey. Daman to Colaba, Mumbai is 200 km which took us around 4 hours through the very beautiful and useful Bandra-Worli sea link. At 2 PM we shifted to the sponsored excellent accommodation for a change to a formal look. Lunch was served in half an hour thereafter, we reached at WTC Arcade for the meeting. My wife was happy roaming around the lavish lobbies of WTC arcade for almost 2 hours till I ended up with a very fruitful meeting with the CMD of a reputed company by 6 PM. One of my very good friends Ms. Kavita alongwith her 8 yrs old cute daughter Bhavna was supposed to join us on our trip to Shirdi-Nasik because the next day was Sunday, a holiday and would manage one leave on Monday. She lives in Bhyander and hosted our dinner at her home. On the way to her home, a quick stop at the famous Mahalaxmi Temple was a delight and few clicks of Haji Ali Dargah nearby were like boons in disguise.

After relishing the home made graceful dinner, after so long, we started our onward journey to Shirdi at 9 pm, a 250 km drive was supposed to take 5-6 hrs. Kavita on the front seat, immaculately navigated through the zig-zags and soon through the Ghodbander road we were on the Eastern expressway to Nasik. I was told that Mumbaikars often travel on this route on weekends for Shirdi and Nasik at this hour so no issues driving till late night there. On the contrary, I didn’t find much private vehicles and was little uncomfortable regarding the route to Shirdi from Igatpuri which is a single and bumpy 100 km drive. Engulfed with apprehensions of adversities, with three ladies on board, I was a bit skeptic to whether go Shirdi or halt at Nasik which is relatively safer because of the HW throughout. Kavita on the other hand was confident and relaxed about the safety issues. In a state of topsy-turvy, I stopped at a large food joint (not many on this route) at Igatpuri for a stretch, fags & refreshment to ladies. I was pleased to see a few private vehicles parked there, on enquiring most of them revealed of their return journey to Mumbai and suburbs. One Innova driver was however, going Shirdi with ladies on board and assured about a safe journey except that the road from Ghoti to Shirdi is single and mostly dusty and bumpy.

He was on first instance very impressed about knowing us from Delhi. He had once tried luck in Delhi and stayed in Laxmi Nagar for one year was fallen for the city as usual but luck pushed him back because of his mother’s ill health and since then staying in a slum in Khar near Bandra. While chatting, he was extremely happy recalling the names of the Delhi-NCR localities, praising proudly, every thing about his lavish life style way back in 2002-03 during his stay in Delhi. The best part was living in a two room flat in Laxmi Nagar sharing with his UP’ian partner, both of whom worked in an export house in Noida. Sadly, he submitted that it is a distant opportunity with his limited income to afford a rented apartment in Mumbai. Talking to the Marathi-Manush Mr. Swarup was so nice that I preferred to follow him upto Shirdi. As informed, the entire stretch upto Shirdi was dusty, bumpy, narrow and full of pot holes. I repeatedly, asked Kavita if we were on some alternate route because it was unbelievable to see the road in such bad shape to a so important destination, visited by so many devotees every day. The answer was more surprising, the road condition was the same even during her last visit in 2010. Kudos to the civic bodies of Maharashtra for their good job, the Eastern Expressway is no better either. Well, many thanks to the Innova driver, because the road from Ghoti onward was really lonely and the caring fellow, understanding my state of mind bothered to wait on every turns by slowing down his vehicle because indications for Shirdi was also missing. Later, I realized that following the Innova was a sensible and wise decision on my part. At 2 AM we reached Shirdi but without much wrestling, got a nice 4-bed accommodation at Rs. 800/- near the newly constructed Sai Dham Dharamshala, which was pack.

Early next morning, we set out for Darshan of Sai Baba, a long queue disheartened us because we were planning to visit Shani Singhnapur also and reach Nasik before its dark. I tried to get a VIP darshan ticket available for Rs. 200/- probably but to our hard luck even that was not available before 1 pm. With no options, we joined the long queue, soon followed by many more and in almost 4 hours, had the glimpse of divine darshan. With a kid, it was very pitiable to wait so long however, the blissful darshan of beatific Sai Baba compensated relaxing from all stress incorporating the soul with rejuvenated euphoric energy. The recently introduced free Prasad of Laddu made out of Desi Ghee was our first intake since the morning. After visiting the other places of importance inside the temple viz. some small temples near Gate No. 1 besides Guru Sthan, Lendi Baug and Dwarkamai we went to the huge Prasadam (a large eatery run by shrine board) situated a few meters opposite to the main shrine, for the meal.

Another long queue for tickets was again painful, but I couldn’t ignore the ladies’ wish and after almost one hour collected the tokens. The meal is charged @ Rs. 40/- per adult and Rs. 20/- per child above 5 years for serving on table and half the price for serving it on floors in its big dining halls. Another long wait at the dining hall was the height of limit and here I grudged in spontaneous exasperation. Kavita however, managed to make way a little earlier than usual and till we finished the mandatory job, it was 3 pm already. We therefore, curtailed our Shani Singhnapur visit and preferred to reach Nasik instead, which is close to 90 km from Shirdi via Sinnar on the same way on which we traveled last night upto Sinnar, from there on a straight single and better road upto Nasik.

Nasik is known for temples and is an important pilgrimage according to Hindu mythology, was my first visit. Staying options are available at Mukti Dham run by the trust with AC & Non AC rooms and dormitories ranging from Rs. 300/- to Rs. 1000/- but I preferred a hotel nearby with ample space for four of us ideally located at a bargain of Rs. 1,300/-. Next morning, we visited the Godavari Ghat fondly also referred as Ganga for its religious relevance by the locals. A large parking place beside the ghat solved the worries of placing the car.

Ramkund is one of the holy tanks of much importance on the banks of River Godavari, built in 1696 by Chitrarao Khatarkar believed to be used by Sri Ram and Sita Ji for bathing during their stay of exile hence, considered very pious. Like any other holy places in India the sanctity here too has been least bothered with common sight of wastes scattered all around. In profound grief and spontaneity I uttered the RK movie song Ram teri ganga maili ho gayi……..! Why are we so insensitive towards preserving our heritage so ignorantly? Why stern actions not taken against those spoiling the sanctity of such heritages in guise of religious practices? Is it not the responsibility of every devotee to maintain cleanliness like they do to their own homes? Why can’t we learn lessons from other religious shrines, say the Gurudwara, Church, Mosques? Every time we visit to any such sites with so pitiable condition, it hurts like anything and anger fires upon the so called patrons available there who have no better jobs than to earn money by all means. At least they should treat such sites as their work place and do the needful to maintain the sanctity and cleanliness with as much devotion as they show while earning out of it.

Well! The journey continues and we entered to the much revered Shree Kapaleshwar Mahadev Temple on the upper side on the other bank of Godavari by alighting few steep steps. Looked like an age old temple uniquely, there was an absence of Nandi in the temple premise. Offering prayers we stepped down and visited another shrine of similar era situated in the narrow lane which was the famous temple of Goreram a form of Sri Ram carved out of white marble. A few steps further on the same road we found an auto rickshaw offering to take us to other sites and also act as a guide for Rs. 150/-. Without bargaining, we stepped in the almost new auto and reached Panchvati. Five very old banyan trees marked one-five are supposed to give the place its name. A temple beside one of such tree is called Sita Gufa with a low-narrow tunnel to enter inside and exit from the adjoining one for darshan. Our driver cum guide informed that here was where, Sita ji got lured by the golden deer and later abducted by the Ravana in guise of a saint. An age old Shivlinga inside the temple is supposed to be the same which was worshiped by Sita.

A few steps from there are the very famous and the largest and most architecturally designed temple of Kalaram. After visiting the relevant ones, I asked our guide, is there any sign of the Lakshman Rekha, was promptly replied, yes and took us to a place near the Sita Kutir where a stream of water through a canal flowing, was what he said, is the Lakshman Rekha. Not so convinced, we nodded and further reached at Tapovan, a confluence of River Godavari and River Kapila was the place where Lakshman cut the nose of Surpanakha and also considered important due to meditations done by many saints on the banks of the holy river here.

Our auto ride was over on getting down at the parking of Godavari ghat. Rs. 150/- was a true value for money for a guided tour. I wanted to pay Rs. 200/- which was humbly refused by the self esteemed gentle man. Our next site was a visit of Trimbakeshwar almost 40 km from Nasik on a well maintained road. At around 11 am we headed towards the Jyotirling. In less than one hour we reached there with ease, a 10 min walk from the parking lot was the main entry of the shrine but a two hour waiting was not affordable because Kavita needed to go back Mumbai by bus and we were supposed to drive a long distance upto Ahmedabad. It was decided to buy a Rs. 250/- ticket for special entry which took only 5 mins for the darshan of the divine Lingam. Happily this was my 3rd Jyotirling darshan the others being Kashi-Vishwanath at Varanasi and Baidyanath Dham at Jharkhand. Thriving for a darshan to all the rest and wish the wish to fulfill with God’s blessings sooner or later. The instinct grew stronger while reading the extraordinarily written post on Bhimashanker by Mr. Mukesh Bhalse on their 10th Jyotirling yatra which I suppose will end up with all the twelve by him soon. On your way Mukesh Bhai so gear up.

By 2 pm we were back to Mumbai-Naka from where, Kavita boarded a Neeta travel’s Volvo for Mumbai and we were on wheels to Ahmedabad which is almost 500 km from Nasik. Confusions created because of many exits from Nasik to join the preferred NH-8 brilliant HW, already once drove on the way to Mumbai. One can reach the NH-8 through various roads from Nasik via Vapi, Atul, Valsad, Navsari or Surat. I preferred a safer, better and scenic route preferably with some worth visiting place on way. A travel agent solved the problem by strictly advising to go Surat via Saputara, the only hill station in Gujrat on the borders of Maharashtra. The distance upto the bye-pass of Surat hitting NH-8 is around 250 km through a real good view landscape on a single and very good tar. Soon we were in the ghats of Saputara with many tourists available and lots of staying options.

A halt there, doing with a fag and capturing few clips of the lush green hills and valleys was a real worth coming on this route. There, we met Mr. Mahesh from Bharuch working in a fertilizer company, in a Beat Diesel with family, also enjoying the nature’s beauty on his way back from Nasik. We had a chat which revealed of a better route to Surat than the prescribed one which he had followed on his visit to Nasik and found it bumpy at some stretches. I too joined the trail and with his kind cooperation reached Surat bye-pass comfortably following him through all good tarred roads in no time. On a halt at a level crossing, 10 km prior to parting the generous gentleman, we offered them courteous thanks for all his favors.

It was 7 pm and we were still 250 km away from our destination, the only relief was the NH-8 upto Ahmedabad with a 100 km expressway from Vadodara. If all goes right, it would take not more than 4 hours and we would reach Ahmedabad by 11 pm, was my calculation. I asked my wife if she could handle the non-stop, else we may stay at Vadodara where her cousin lives, to avoid night driving as decided. She said lets see, we may decide it on reaching Vadodara.

The journey continues……