I am a regular to Shirdi - the small, holy town in Maharashtra famous for its association with Sai Baba. My wife is an ardent follower of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba and post marriage, I am a convert to her faith :).
On December 2, 2011, we started our travel by train - the Hazrat Nizamuddin - Shirdi Sai Nagar Express. Its a special train that ran between Sept 16 and Dec 11 this year, once a week to-and fro Delhi and Shirdi. We started our journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi Friday morning (12:20 AM!!!) and reached Shirdi, 3:00 AM next day morning, five hours later than its scheduled time. We booked our tickets in II AC coach but III AC and I AC coaches were much better - the quality of materials used for berths and seats are much better, they have plug-in points to charge the mobiles and laptops among other things. If you ever get to use the train, DON'T book in II AC coach.
We were travelling in a group of four - my mom, my wife and my daughter traveled with me. At around 5:30 AM, when the train stopped at Gwalior, a couple of elderly women joined us. A very uncooperative pair of women who wanted to know everything about us (deja vu!). We helped them book a room in the same hotel in Shirdi, where we were staying - Eshosans Palace, helped them get negotiated price, shared our three-wheeler auto-rickshaw with them for them to ungraciously turn away from the hotel at its gate and go looking for another place to stay in Shirdi. We decided to "do good and forget it!"
For my feedback on our stay at Eshosans Palace, please see my review on TripAdvisor (click here). All in all, I'd recommend this hotel for all budget travelers. We checked in at 3:30 AM. While my daughter and I decided to catch lost sleep, my mom and Sucheta (my wife) took a quick bath and rushed to Shirdi temple to attend the kakad aarti ( the daybreak prayers), which starts by around 4:30 AM. They were back in room by 6:00 and hit the bed. We all woke up again by 9 AM, freshened up and were out of room for our breakfast and darshan.
As we entered the temple premises, passed through security and turnstiles, it dawned on us that the wait for mid-day aarti and darshan is going to be long. And long it was! We walked through barricaded pathways from one hallway to another. Through all my travel to Shirdi, I have never experienced the crowd this huge (except on Thursdays, Dussehra, Ram Navami and other special days). It was a Saturday! As we walked through winding barricades, the mid-day aarti got over, the crowd of humanity elbowed, pushed and sometimes even stifled others to move ahead. There were times when I felt my 8-year old daughter nearly crushed in the crowd and I used brute force to create space for her and others in my family.
When we entered the main hall, we were "cattled" by guards and volunteers and in a jiffy, before we could even spend time to interact one on one with our idol and our guru's image, we were out of the temple's main hall. For the first time, I could not even touch the samadhi of our guru - Shri Sai Baba. It felt like an incomplete experience to wait in queue for over three hours to reach the main hall and not spend a few second of peace, connecting and communicating with our guru. Shirdi has changed over the last five years. It's become crowded, less spiritual and more commercial, devotees are huddled, queued and barricaded!! I hope things change in future and the Sai Sansthan explores ways to make the experience more spiritual. We quickly collected the prasad and vibhuti, made donations and moved to Dwarka Mai!
Dwarka Mai was crowded. Again, long queues! As we were short of time, we bowed our heads in reverence from outside, made a quick visit to Chavadi and rushed to our hotel. From Shirdi, we traveled by road to Thane (Mumbai) by road.
On December 2, 2011, we started our travel by train - the Hazrat Nizamuddin - Shirdi Sai Nagar Express. Its a special train that ran between Sept 16 and Dec 11 this year, once a week to-and fro Delhi and Shirdi. We started our journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin station in Delhi Friday morning (12:20 AM!!!) and reached Shirdi, 3:00 AM next day morning, five hours later than its scheduled time. We booked our tickets in II AC coach but III AC and I AC coaches were much better - the quality of materials used for berths and seats are much better, they have plug-in points to charge the mobiles and laptops among other things. If you ever get to use the train, DON'T book in II AC coach.
We were travelling in a group of four - my mom, my wife and my daughter traveled with me. At around 5:30 AM, when the train stopped at Gwalior, a couple of elderly women joined us. A very uncooperative pair of women who wanted to know everything about us (deja vu!). We helped them book a room in the same hotel in Shirdi, where we were staying - Eshosans Palace, helped them get negotiated price, shared our three-wheeler auto-rickshaw with them for them to ungraciously turn away from the hotel at its gate and go looking for another place to stay in Shirdi. We decided to "do good and forget it!"
For my feedback on our stay at Eshosans Palace, please see my review on TripAdvisor (click here). All in all, I'd recommend this hotel for all budget travelers. We checked in at 3:30 AM. While my daughter and I decided to catch lost sleep, my mom and Sucheta (my wife) took a quick bath and rushed to Shirdi temple to attend the kakad aarti ( the daybreak prayers), which starts by around 4:30 AM. They were back in room by 6:00 and hit the bed. We all woke up again by 9 AM, freshened up and were out of room for our breakfast and darshan.
As we entered the temple premises, passed through security and turnstiles, it dawned on us that the wait for mid-day aarti and darshan is going to be long. And long it was! We walked through barricaded pathways from one hallway to another. Through all my travel to Shirdi, I have never experienced the crowd this huge (except on Thursdays, Dussehra, Ram Navami and other special days). It was a Saturday! As we walked through winding barricades, the mid-day aarti got over, the crowd of humanity elbowed, pushed and sometimes even stifled others to move ahead. There were times when I felt my 8-year old daughter nearly crushed in the crowd and I used brute force to create space for her and others in my family.
When we entered the main hall, we were "cattled" by guards and volunteers and in a jiffy, before we could even spend time to interact one on one with our idol and our guru's image, we were out of the temple's main hall. For the first time, I could not even touch the samadhi of our guru - Shri Sai Baba. It felt like an incomplete experience to wait in queue for over three hours to reach the main hall and not spend a few second of peace, connecting and communicating with our guru. Shirdi has changed over the last five years. It's become crowded, less spiritual and more commercial, devotees are huddled, queued and barricaded!! I hope things change in future and the Sai Sansthan explores ways to make the experience more spiritual. We quickly collected the prasad and vibhuti, made donations and moved to Dwarka Mai!
Dwarka Mai was crowded. Again, long queues! As we were short of time, we bowed our heads in reverence from outside, made a quick visit to Chavadi and rushed to our hotel. From Shirdi, we traveled by road to Thane (Mumbai) by road.
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