Mumbai Shirdi Aurangabad

I left for Mumbai on Thursday, there are lots of travel options for Mumbai from Bangalore, so it was no issue to book a ticket, just few clicks on redbus.com and a printout of the ticket was in my hands. It was National Travels bus. Sharp 7 in the evening their pickup bus came to madiwala and the journey started. In an hour we were at the main office of the National travels there a black colored shining multi-xl bus was waiting for us. I got in, seat number 31, a packet of chips and a packed bottle of drinking water was already waiting for me and within twenty minutes all seats were occupied. With a small jerk the bus started, two small ac windows started blowing chilled air on me and both the screens started playing movie Housefull2, total fun. I was going to Mumbai to meet my parents, they were there for next week, and for me it was easy to travel to Mumbai rather than going to my hometown which adds extra 2000 kilometers to be traveled. Bus stopped at some dhaba cum restaurant for dinner and after that the next stop was only in the morning for breakfast. I reached my destination, Mumbai, around 1:15 in the afternoon.

Plan was to spend Friday in Mumbai, Saturday in Pune with friends and travel back to Bangalore on Sunday. But who says a plan is always a success. My mother, on Friday, wished to visit Shirdi and I was like, why not? And next moment I was busy booking tickets. It was Neeta travels bus which cost five hundred per head; I booked three for the same night. Sharp 10 it left Mumbai, another movie ‘full and final’, a time pass movie. Saturday morning 5 we were in Shirdi and we were in front of a gang of agents surrounding us asking for hotels and lodges. We booked one for two hours as we were not planning to stay back. In an hour we were ready to visit the holy temple of lord Sai. Paths are very confusing if one is first time visitor. But security guards are helpful. No camera, mobile phones are allowed, so better keep it at the hotel. While taking puja materials beware of the costs, they can rip your pockets off. If they say take a costly flower garland as you will put in the idol from your own hands, forget it, the priest in the temple will not even touch the flowers to the idol, he will just swing in the air and give you back. There is no separate queue for ladies, but of course there are different routes to the main temple, so better stick together if you are in a group. One wrong diversion and you will end up in a completely different queue, then without mobile phones, you might end up meeting back only in the hotel room. It took around two hours in the queue, though people said, it was off season. After a small glimpse of few minutes we were thrown out of the temple by those security guards.

After a heavy breakfast in a nearby restaurant we were ready to travel back to Mumbai, but then we thought of visiting some nearby places as there was full day left. 

Aurangabad came to my mind, I have visited once with my friends, ellora caves, bibi ka makbara also called mini Tajmahal and Daultabad fort will be nice places to visit. After inquiry we came to know that there are frequent busses from Shirdi to Aurangabad, but as I was with family so thought of booking a cab which might be more comfortable. 1700 was told by the agent, they will show the places and take us back to shirdi. For 115 kilometers, it was reasonable. Meanwhile a gentleman came to me after listening to my inquiry session. They were too three in number and were headed to Aurangabad. So we booked an innova, which costs 2200, but after bargain we settled for 2000, and dived 1000 between us. Now we were total six in number. It took around two and a half hours and we were in front of mini Tajmahal, it is almost a copy of Tajmahal, but smaller in size. The cab driver also took us to sleeping Hanuman Temple and Ghaneshwar, which is one of the twelve Jyotirlings of Lord Shiva. As a custom, all the gents should remove their shirts and materials made of leather, before entering in the main temple. The priest said it is because we believe that to meet the Lord; we should at least behave like his Ganas. After this we headed to Daulatabad fort, but when we saw the height of it, we decided to skip it as it might take few hours and also will be very tiring, same impression was with other three also, so we left it and after having lunch just outside the main gate of Ellora caves, we entered the caves. They charge ten rupees ticket per head. Private vehicles are allowed inside and also can take you up to the caves. In total there are 36 caves, separated in groups of five or six. It can be very tiring if you wish to visit all by walking. So if you have come in public transport, better hire an auto, they charge fifty rupees per head and will take you to all the parts of caves. If you are really interested in history of the caves, hiring a guide will be a good idea, otherwise a general description is written in caves itself. If you wish to see each and every cave, it might take around 3 to 4 hours, cameras and handy cams are allowed and you can capture all the beauty of the location. The caves get closed by 5:30 in the evening, so one has to plan accordingly, as we were not able to visit the end caves due to lack of time. 

An amazing, exiting, but bit tiring trip has come to an end and we all headed back to Shirdi. I had already booked bus tickets to Mumbai at ten, and it was still 8:30 So we went to a separate campus where we can get special Ladu which is called the main prasad and also visited the museum which has a collection of items related to Sai baba.      

After a heavy dinner and a tiring journey booking a sleeper bus ticket was worth. We just slept as soon as we got into the bus. Five in the morning we were in Mumbai, back to home.

It was already Sunday and my visit to Pune was canceled already and it was time for me travel back to Bangalore, I had booked National travels Bus at two in the afternoon. Like earlier a packet of chips and drinking water was waiting for me and again I was at seat number 31, coincidence. This time three continuous movies, ‘once upon time in Mumbai’, ‘dil to bachcha hai ji’ and at last ‘Rowdy Rathore’. Sleeping in a semi sleeper seat is a pain, but somehow we all managed, we mean me and my co passengers. Finally at eight in the morning I was back to Bangalore, back to the point where I started, well we all know earth is round.