17th Anniversary
By
Murali Murthy
It was time to create memories of our 17th Anniversary. We chose to celebrate along with Sameera and Chandrika, who also celebrate their anniversary just the next day!
Continuing our trend of creating new travel experiences for every anniversary, we first chose to cover Ajanta & Ellora caves. We booked our flight to Nanded, which is Preeti's hometown. As we always wanted to take Sameera & Chandrika to Nanded's Gurudwara, we chose to make Nanded as our hub, and cover other places by Road from Nanded.
We booked our flights to Nanded, but eventually decided to cover Pandarpur and Tuljapur instead. Though it sounded more of a spiritual trip, all were fine with it.
With Sameera and Chandrika's first visit to core Maharashtra, they were eager for this experience.
Excited for this new experience, we boarded the early morning flight to Nanded.
Nanded Airport reminded us of our old HAL Airport in Bengaluru - small, cute, chilled, relaxed Airport. One Gate, One Belt, One Flight! You just happily walk out of Aircraft and enter the Airport! It's like a mini Model Airport, you can see and wave at people waiting to receive you!
Things didn't start off well though. Sameera's Bag didn't come out. After few enquiries, because of a Power Bank that he has put in his bag, it was withheld at Bangalore Airport.
They should have announced and had the Power Bank removed, instead of choosing not to send the Bag at all!
The staff at Nanded Airport took his details, took his consent to open the Bag and to check, and promised to get the Bag the next day.
We finally reached home at Nanded and settled down. A lodge nearby was arranged for Sameera & family, but seeing the warmth & hospitality of the Maiyas, they couldn't say no to their insistence that they stay with us at home.
We started the day by visiting Kaleshwar Mandir on the banks of Godavari river. Maiya's Hyundai Exter became our transport for the next 3 days.
While driving back, we happened to see Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, which was a total surprise to me and Preeti.
Since we visit a Lakshmi Narasimha Temple every Saturday, and finding the Lord there at the most unexpected place was extremely a happy and blessed moment.
Sameera also did a quick cloth shopping at Nanded to sustain for the next one day.
After a sumptuous meal back home, we rested for a while, and visited Takhat Sachkhand Shri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib Gurudwara.
Despite being a place of worship from a different religion, the vibes, the vibration, energy that we could feel was a pleasing experience.
I believe the cleanliness, discipline, 0-commercial engagement by staff/priests and laser focus of every devotee towards spirituality is what makes Gurudwaras, a spritual power center irrespective of our beliefs.
We ended the beautiful day at "Amritsar Haveli" for sumptuous Punjabi food.
Though we did not have much hope on missing Bag sent the next day, we still visited the Airport in the morning and were pleasantly surprised to receive the Baggage intact!
We started our road trip towards Solapur, and checked into the Hotel.
It being Rayara aradhane, we found a Rayara Mutt at Solapur and did seva.
We then proceeded towards the famous Sri Sidheshwara temple at Solapur. A massive temple dedicated to lord Shiva, though crowded, we still had a good darshan.
We didn't want to miss shopping at the textile hub, and had a quick stop at Navi Peth.
We ended the day at "Sigdi" for a unique dining experience.
Day 3 was planned to be hectic, as we drove for 1.5 hours to Pandharpur. We were mentally prepared for a huge crowd and long waiting time, though we had booked online for darshan.
After going in circles, we finally found the entry for the Online Booking Darshan queue, and we reached on time for the 12:00 PM slot.
It was surprisingly organized and well managed, as the staff were strictly verifying every booking, Aadhar card was mandatory.
The chants of Vittala in the waiting halls and in the queue gave the right build up and focus to the devotees waiting to see the lord. Since Mobile phones were not allowed inside the temple, all of us were able to focus on the lord.
The sanctum santorum has been improved a lot since our last 2 visits, with Air Condition and a good view of the lord while in the Queue. We finally were at his feet, after 2 hours in the queue.
It was a goosebumps moment to see Vittala up close, literally at his feet. The energy, vibrations is to be experienced. We had a wonderful, fulfilling long Darshan of Vittala.
Darshan of Rukmini was equally rewarding, as it so happened that I was standing right in front of her, and the staff stopped the queue for some reason. For a moment, I was all alone in front of her!
We came out extremely happy, blessed and contended. The old temple town's charm, the colours could be felt in the series of ancient houses, shops.
Had a traditional meal at Hotel Sadguru, which had the apt ambience continuing to give us the Pandharpur vibes.
We drove back to Solapur, quickly got ready, checked out of the Hotel and drove to Tuljapur.
Things are not organized, planned at Tuljapur temple, as we arrived with no bookings but one contact of a priest.
I was anxious, unsure, as the last time we visited, we couldn't get darshan of Amba Bhavani. I was getting jittery, irritated, it was raining as well.
The priest tried his best, but we were sent back. I thought it's our fate and all set to return. After a brief wait, we were again called back, and this time the priest tried some other jugaad to put us in the Queue. After an hour of wait, Amba Bhavani finally gave us her Darshan, and that too at a time when abhisheka was happening.
Preeti literally had tears in her eyes, as we did our Seva to Bhavani, though the staff were rudely pushing us after a few seconds, we still managed to get a good up close darshan of Bhavani.
Built in 12th century, a Shakti Peetha, a family deity of none other than Shivaji Maharaj, yet is in a very sad state. The cleanliness, malpractices, with no proper management, safety is disheartening.
We quickly had dinner at Tuljapur and drove back to Nanded and reached home at 02:00 on the night
The last day at Nanded was relaxing. The ladies woke up late and started packing. Me and Sameera visited Rayara Mutt as it was Uttara Aradhane.
Had lunch at a relative's house and came to Airport to catch our 5:45 PM flight back to Bangalore.
We proved a point to ourselves that Anniversary celebrations need not always be about partying, visiting romantic places. Such great experiences, spiritual contentment, binds us stronger and makes the Anniversary memorable.
The Maiya's were brilliant and were perfect hosts and hosted my friend wholeheartedly.
The shy natured Sameera also jelled well with the Maiya's, as they made sure my friend and their family were well taken care with great hospitality, which Sameera, Chandrika would also cherish for a long time.
Nidhi was the sweetheart and added the required fun element to the trip.
