Visit to Shirdi, Shani Shinganapur and Nashik.
It was first of sorts in several respects. I, Sridharan and Desi traveling for the first time together. We drove down to Shirdi starting at about 9.45 pm and arriving at Shirdi by about 4 am the next day (30th December 2007).
At Shirdi had a good darshan of Baba. I’ve fulfilled the vow of giving away Rs.2.00 that I made during my previous visit to Shirdi in 2005.
From there we proceeded to Shani Shinganapur by afternoon. Do not miss the sugar cane juice on the way – the best that you can get, the freshest – the sugarcane is cut from the fields in front of you and the ox crushes them to give you the fresh juice.
The last stop was Nashik. We hired an auto to go around. The Kala Ram, The Gora Ram, Sita Gufa, The Triveni sangam (Aruna, Varuna and Godavari meet here). This place is known as Panchavati.
From there, we drove back to Mumbai. I drove part of the way – I felt it was a bit risky in the sense that I hadn’t slept the entire last night. I drove for about three hours from midnight to 3 am. First time in a highway in night. First time in a highway at night in ghat sections. First time in a highway in ghat section in a diesel car. First time in a highway in ghat section in a diesel car with extreme heavy truck traffic. But then all of us arrived safely.
