Home..sweet home

We are back home today. safe and sound. Wiser by experience and lighter by pocket :). I had to finish last post in a hurry as I had to catch the train. Pune railway station was a delight. There were ATMs of 4-5 banks. 2 competing internet kiosk providers and some very modern food cafe. I wonder how long it would take for rest of the places to catch up. Our train was supposed to stop at 5AM in kopargaon (nearest RS to shirdi). People started making nosie/packing from 3:30AM. yuck..I was planning to catch some good sleep that night but there were too many culprits to blame someone.

The ordeal began the moment we landed in Kopargaon. Kopargaon bus station is 2km away from kopargaon RS. For some wise reasons, authorities decided not to run any busses to RS. Whats the alternative? you have to haggle with greedy autowallahs (they try to place 6 ppl in one auto for 20-30min journey) or greedier 7-seaters (who pack 10 ppl). I was so mad I just wanted to walk those 2km if not for grandpa. Anyways, by then, I was a battle veteren :) We picked the worst day to enter Shirdi. Last weekend was a four day weekend in India and there were people pouring from every nook and corner of India. After 2 hours of frantic searching I could not find a room. I was promised a room after 2 hours if I paid 1500 bucks. It was 8AM by then. No water, No shower, I knew I could nt wait that long. So, I hired a maruti van which supposed to take us to "Shani Singanapur" (a recent development in pilgrimage), provide a clean shower, darshan, followed by darshan at Shirdi, followed by dropping us in Aurangabad(to see ellora, grishneshwar). I thought this whole plan was a stroke of genius considering the rush over there. 2 hrs later, I knew it was the worst day of the trip and lowest of the lows. After standing for 3 hrs in a serpentine queues I was wondering whether I was religious or a sycophant. Yuck, I can vent all my frustation here but I will spare guys. After a big ordeal, we were back in Shirdi. Crowds have nt subsided yet. To get a mandir darshan, one had to stand in another queue for four hours. There was all kind of pushing happening in those cramped, barely able to breath rooms. Taking grandpa in was out of question. After pondering for a while, we called it off. I was extremely disappointed for that fiasco. Two places I was looking forward to in the trip were Benarus and Shirdi. After so much effort, I was leaving Shirdi with out having a darshan. There was a mukhadarshan (watching the idol from 100ftaway but my spects were broken :-( and from that far, I was as good as blind). Being the eternal optimist I am, I took that as a message from GOD saying "dont come here to see God. Find the God in yourself :)". We moved to Aurangabad overnight.

Aurangabad was a delight. It was my second time. I have nt explored Ellora caves well in my earlier trip. So, that was on my agenda apart from grishneshwar jyotirling. First we visited "daulatabad fort". Remember Tuglaq who shifted capital from Delhi to daulatabad. This was the place. This fort had amazing history. It was ruled by Yadavas -> Allauddin Khiljee -> Tuglaq -> bahmani sultans-> Aurangabad->British in that order. Aurangabad is a photographers heaven. So many shots to capture. Daulatabad fort, Ellora caves, Bibi ka maqbara (An imitation of Tajmahal, built by Azam Shah (s/o Aurangazeb, in memory of his mother). We were roaming there all thru the day. We also visited Aurangazeb's tomb. (There is a big story which I will write later). Khwaza Zainuddin's dargah. (My first brush with muslim place. Our driver who was a muslim explained that though non-muslims are not allowed in Masjids,they are allowed in dargah's. Do you know the difference between dargah and masjid? read my PPS). Ellora was too good. Needless to say that. I took some 2-300 hundred pictures. Bought some Aurangabadi special stuff and took the train back home. The trip was lot of fun. Grandpa maintained good health all thru out. Apart from minor hiccups and some firefighting it was an experience worth every minute/penny. Folks who visit Hyderabad, I tell you. Aurangabad is a great weekend get-away. Take a train to Aurangabad, arrive on Saturday morning. Visit Ajanta caves.
Next day, visit Ellora caves and daulatabad fort and some other historic places in city. And dont forget your cameras :).

Thanks for reading my blog along. I will continute to post stuff may be switch this to telugu blog at some point of time. Now, I need to take a good nap.

ciao,
v


PS: One of these days, I will write a tips list travel in India. I have learnt a good travel lesson. "When you go to a new place, look out for what it has to offer. Not what it does not offer." Guess this applies universally, not just in India.

PPS: A masjid is a praying place for mohammad. A dargah is a tomb of saint. If you heard the beautiful sufi song "Khwaza mere Khwaza" from Jodha akbar, that is about a dargah in Ajmer/Nellore. Apparently, few sufi saints spread themselves across the world. Dargahs were built for those who died in India.