Its not even an hr since I have returned home from the fulfilling, just over 24 hrs trip to the sacred Sai Baba Temple and my beloved village Bandaardhara. Thanks to SSN, 8 of us had planned the sacred trip to Shirdi - some 300 kms from Mumbai on Saturday. I left office early and reached the new BoB office in BKC. It had been quite a while since i went there and memories, good and bad, came flashing back. I went to the new treasury office and realized that the luxury of space that gov employees enjoy is not comparable to prvt sector. Atleast very much true in my case. I had a good look at the lavish new office and went to the new cafeteria. It again reminded me of my days at BoB, queing up for the subsidized yet decent quality food, snacks time etc.
Post lunch at the cafeteria we all gathered and left for Shirdi at around 3 pm finally comfortably managing to reach around 9. I had heard about Shirdi since childhood in movies and knew it as a place where people come from far off places with great devotion. We quickly located a hotel and without much delay headed straight for the Sai Baba Temple. Must say we were lucky and smart with the timing as in no time we managed to get immensely satisfying darshan. The place was sparcely crowded at this hour. Must say that this was probably the first time i felt happy, peaceful, calm inside a religious place and really felt like praying. The temple compound was well managed, clean and no body would run behind you for dakshina. You could also locate people from all religions at the same place which was unique. We spent a good amount of time inside the compound and also participated in the night aarti. The entire experience was fulfilling and made me smile.
Post the visit, we headed for dinner and some shopping which was followed by Mafia and Dumb C in the hotel till late into the night. As planned, next morning we headed for Bandaardhara, which was almost on the way to Mumbai. 3 of us had already been dere just 5 months back but it din lessen the enthu we had, more so to show the wonderful place to rest of us. Although, the place is best visited in Monsoon season, people still liked it. Unlike last time, the spillway was not working, we couldnt resist to go inside the cold water of the dam. After some swimming, rounds of photography, dinner and boating we left the place at around 4:30 pm. We had hardly spent 3-4 hrs at the village but i guess it was worth it.
On my way back, as usual I was looking and admiring the beautiful Western Ghats and wondering what next is in store for me.
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