Monday, December 07, 2015
Visit to Prati Shirdi near Pune
The original plan was to go to Shirdi and thank Baba for all the good he has done for us. However, due to paucity of time we decided to go to Prati Shirdi which is an exact replica of Shirdi.
The day decided was November 11th 2015 which was Diwali. Being from Tamilnadu we celebrated Diwali a day earlier i.e. 10th November. On my cousins request we also added Dagdu Sheth and Saras Baug Ganpati temples on our itinerary. All this was finalized on the 8th and rail was the mode of transport opted. Luckily tickets for Pune were available for the 11th.
On the D-day we took the Indrayani Express from Kalyan at around 6.30am reaching Lonavala at 8 am right in time to catch the 8.20 Lonavala - Pune local train. The plan was to get down at Talegaon and from there take a bus to Somatane Phata which is on old Mumbai - Pune road.
Reached Talegaon at 8.50 am and boarded the waiting state transport bus which dropped us at Somatane Phata. From there we boarded a Sumo which took us to the temple charging Rs.10 per person.
One look at the temple entrance made us feel as if we are in Shirdi. Once inside everything is same as Shirdi. There is also a Dwarkamai and Chavadi here. The interiors of the temple completely resemble Shirdi temple. We finished our darshan with 15 minutes.
This place also has a prasadalya where food is served at selective times.
Next halt was the Birla Ganpati temple which near Somatane Phata. The Lord Ganesh idol is 72 feet long and kept in the open. We felt quite blessed.
From here we were to go to Pune to visit the famous Dagdu Sheth Ganpati temple. But how to go was a question. One of the tam tam (big rickshaw) drivers suggested we get down at Begdewadi railway station and catch a train to Pune. We followed his advice and landed at Begdewadi to catch the 12.20 Pune local which had a sizable crowd mostly on the door. The ticket issuing clerk had advised to get down at Shivajinagar which is the nearest station.
The temple was not much crowded being Diwali and we finished our darshan in 15 mins. From there it was Saras Baug Ganpati temple. Once done we decide to some shopping (of the food kind) so our next halt was Kayani Bakery to buy the best shrewsberry cookies, cheese papdi and mawa cake. Once done we reached Pune station in time to catch the 6.30 pm Indrayani Express.
We had booked tickets in the AC chair and boarded the train on time. As the train started to move we noticed that barring 6 of us there were only 3 others in the compartment. We thought maybe people will board in the subsequent stations. The TC on duty said that there were no passengers boarding from other stations. So an entire coach almost without passengers surprised us.
Reached Kalyan time and back to our homes to carry on with our routine lives.
Till another journey....
The day decided was November 11th 2015 which was Diwali. Being from Tamilnadu we celebrated Diwali a day earlier i.e. 10th November. On my cousins request we also added Dagdu Sheth and Saras Baug Ganpati temples on our itinerary. All this was finalized on the 8th and rail was the mode of transport opted. Luckily tickets for Pune were available for the 11th.
 |
| Prasadalaya |
 |
| Empty Indrayani Express |
 |
| Dagdu |Sheth Ganpati |
On the D-day we took the Indrayani Express from Kalyan at around 6.30am reaching Lonavala at 8 am right in time to catch the 8.20 Lonavala - Pune local train. The plan was to get down at Talegaon and from there take a bus to Somatane Phata which is on old Mumbai - Pune road.
Reached Talegaon at 8.50 am and boarded the waiting state transport bus which dropped us at Somatane Phata. From there we boarded a Sumo which took us to the temple charging Rs.10 per person.
One look at the temple entrance made us feel as if we are in Shirdi. Once inside everything is same as Shirdi. There is also a Dwarkamai and Chavadi here. The interiors of the temple completely resemble Shirdi temple. We finished our darshan with 15 minutes.
This place also has a prasadalya where food is served at selective times.
Next halt was the Birla Ganpati temple which near Somatane Phata. The Lord Ganesh idol is 72 feet long and kept in the open. We felt quite blessed.
From here we were to go to Pune to visit the famous Dagdu Sheth Ganpati temple. But how to go was a question. One of the tam tam (big rickshaw) drivers suggested we get down at Begdewadi railway station and catch a train to Pune. We followed his advice and landed at Begdewadi to catch the 12.20 Pune local which had a sizable crowd mostly on the door. The ticket issuing clerk had advised to get down at Shivajinagar which is the nearest station.
The temple was not much crowded being Diwali and we finished our darshan in 15 mins. From there it was Saras Baug Ganpati temple. Once done we decide to some shopping (of the food kind) so our next halt was Kayani Bakery to buy the best shrewsberry cookies, cheese papdi and mawa cake. Once done we reached Pune station in time to catch the 6.30 pm Indrayani Express.
We had booked tickets in the AC chair and boarded the train on time. As the train started to move we noticed that barring 6 of us there were only 3 others in the compartment. We thought maybe people will board in the subsequent stations. The TC on duty said that there were no passengers boarding from other stations. So an entire coach almost without passengers surprised us.
Reached Kalyan time and back to our homes to carry on with our routine lives.
Till another journey....
