A wonderful journey to Saibaba Temple of Shirdi

The second day in Nashik was more fascinating one as we had plan to visit the Shree Saibaba Temple of Shirdi. It was going to be almost two hours travel to Shirdi, similar distance we travelled to Saptashrungi Devi Temple on the previous day.

Our day started with a quick light breakfast and we went to Shalimar Chowk to check availability of a dedicated taxi for our travel to Shirdi. The private vehicles were not available in such a short notice and some cabs were charging double the actual travel fare.

In the Chowk, there was a queue of taxis for Kasara Station drop and none of Taxi were available for Shirdi when I enquired. As soon as I turned around, a Kaali-Peeli taxi (Tata Indica) stopped in front of me. The driver, an old man popped out his head from the window and asked me ‘Shirdi La Janar Ka’ (Do you want to go to Shirdi?).

He said, “I charge fix rates half of what private vehicle charges”. I agreed considering his age and honesty. My family members were happy as we got a dedicated taxi for us. Our journey started from Shalimar Chowk to Shirdi along with Patil Kaka, our driver whose age was 75 years.

While on the way, we saw various farms of jowar crop. My family members were sleeping, but I was very inquisitive to know more about Patil Kaka as he was driving taxi at such a old age. I simply asked him, why do you drive taxi at this age. He answered, “To support my family”. His one son was settled in Pune and second son is mentally retarded. And his wife is a home maker. He had no option than to continue taxi driving.

For me, he was not just looking after his family but also doing a social work/seva by charging nominal fares to devotees going to Shirdi. He was very experienced, soft spoken and simple in nature. I was very impressed with his personality and the work he was doing. He reminding me of my grandfather who was also actively working till age of 80. I salute such people who dedicate their entire life for family and society. And inspires the younger generation.

After a long drive, we reached Shirdi. Patil Kaka dropped us at Hotel Sai Shradha Saburi. We noted his number for our future travel in Nashik. He said ‘Chala Yeto’ (I’ll come back) and parted with a big smile which we will never forget. After refreshing and having our lunch, we headed towards the temple which was just 5 minutes walk from the hotel.

As we were walking towards the temple, we saw a changed Shirdi. There were so many new restaurants serving mutli-cuisine including South Indian, Punjabi and Chinese too. Also street stalls serving various chats and snacks. Daily thousands of devotees from across India come to Shirdi. This could have led to a high demand for regional food. However, on a sadder note, Maharashtrian thali and snacks including Misal Pav were missing from the display boards.

There was huge crowd in the temple premises. We had to take entry pass. The pass counter was far away from the main entrance of Saibaba’s darbar. Once we entered the darbar, people started moving in a queue. To reach near the gabhara, we had to be in the queue for almost 1 hour 30 minutes. We took darshan of Shree Saibaba and moved forward. The divine atmosphere within the temple was mesmerizing.

In front of the exit gate, we inquired for availability of Misal Pav and finally we found it. The taste was spicy one, typical Nashik special Misal. After some shopping from shops near the temple, we headed back to hotel for one hour rest. Around 9.00 pm, we visited Saibaba Prasadalay. There was a long queue at coupons counter and prasad serving area. It was a delicious prasad comprising of two subzhi, rotis, dal, rice, dahi and barfi.

There are other small temples in the temple premises. But due to time constraint we couldn’t visit those temples. While heading back to the hotel, we saw a masala doodh seller. He was serving hot masala doodh with topping of badam and kesar. We tried half glass each as we were already full with the prasad served. The first sip of this hot masala doodh in the cold weather, made our day.

We had a great day with nice memories of travelling with Patil Kaka, taking Saibaba’s darshan, enjoyed baba’s delicious prasad, tasted Nashik’s special Spicy Misal Pav, Sipping hot masala dhoodh and some shopping too. It was yet another wonderful journey to Shree Saibaba Temple of Shirdi.

Here are some photos captured by me during this journey.

How to reach:
Please check the link given below for ‘How to reach’ provided by Shree Sai Sansthan, Shirdi
https://www.sai.org.in/en/how-to-reach-shirdi

Accommodation:
Please check the link given below for accommodation provided by Shree Sai Sansthan, Shirdi
https://www.sai.org.in/en/accomodations

Travel Tips:

1. If you want to spend entire day in Shirdi then reach on previous night to Shirdi.
2. Plan to visit temple early in the morning.
3. Book accommodation through Sansthan link 1-2 months in advance.