Our Nashik Trip

Recently, we went on a trip to Maharashtra covering cities like Nashik, Shirdi and some nearby places. We left Indore at sharp 5:45 in the morning, and it took almost 14 hours to reach Nashik guest house after taking two halts.

Road was terrible until we touched the Maharashtra border which starts just after Burhanpur (famous for its Gurudwara). Typical shacks were suddenly visible all around.  The very first village of Maharashtra was the place where we ate our homemade lunch and rested for a while before moving ahead. My eyes were searching for a smooth patch of road so that I can enjoy driving. I really did not expect that my prayer was going to be answered so soon, the next moment we were on the main highway i.e. NH-6.

We stopped at a farmer’s house.  They were so interesting and innocent people who quickly mixed up and told about their routine life. Then we took our second halt just before reaching Malegaon for tea and refreshments. Oh shucks, this was the place where I broke my favourite goggles.  The same highway from Malegaon to Nashik  was so beautiful and eye-catching, I had never seen such a road earlier in my life.

Tired, and taking weary sighs, we finally reached Nashik’s guest house.  Next morning we woke-up at 6:00 in the morning and enquired about the places that can be seen at Nashik and some nearby places. So we all agreed to go to Trimbakeshwar temple which was exactly 30 k.m away from the city. Below are some of the pictures of the temple.

On the way to the temple, people, squatting on the sidewalk, were busy selling photos and religious books of the temple.

Nashik is also famous for Grapes, then how we could have missed that! On the way to the Trimbakeshwar temple, a lot of Grape farms could be seen. We stopped at one of such farms. The smelling beauty of fresh grapes could not have been missed.

While returning from the temple we visited the Coins Museum having memorabilia (coins and currencies) of Shivaji and some other dynasties of that time. Following are the actual coins of Shivaji’s time.

  Below are some other currencies…….

…….and coins as well

We took more time than anticipated but, I guess, it was necessary too in order to explore the Nashik closely. The people of Nashik, I felt, were very warm, calm, down to earth and always ready to help others. The grape farmer, we met on our return from the temple, got so frank that he opened-up entire history of his family in front of us. After spending some more time at his farm, we went for a stroll in the nearby temple which is claimed to be the birth place of Lord Hanuman. Taking all the memories within, we left the farm. The day had squeezed all the energy to dare us to go somewhere anymore, so, we decided to rest for the residual in the guest house watching news and mummy’s saas-bahu serial.

I think, I should share this strange or rather bad experience with you that Nashik traffic  police use to hunt for any out-state car and stops them for checking necessary documents (license, registration book, insurance and PUC) and try to trouble tourists to make some money.

The next day was filled with even more excitement as we had to leave for Shirdi at five in the morning. We had already enquired about the best route to Shirdi (as there are two routes). To be very frank, I wasn’t expecting such a huge change in Shirdi. I mean, everything seemed to have been commercialized now. The hotels, restaurants, small shops selling flowers and ‘prasad’ were all presenting Shirdi to be very congested. Every now and then small children could be seen all around  trying convincing people to buy the flowers and garlands from their shops and what shocked me was that same flowers and garlands were being recycled from the back door of the temple for resale.  Leaving that apart, the newly built arrangements to visit the main temple really impressed me. It took roughly ten minutes from start till the end even though it was Thursday (considered as Saibaba’s day). In the same temple compound, a small yet impressive museum of Saibaba’s collectives is made (displays actual worn clothes and used utensils). There is also one tree where Saibaba used  to take seat everyday to resolve the problems of others. We then left for Nashik as there were no other places at Shirdi to look around. It was a good 3 hours journey.

While returning from Shirdi, we had already planned for our next day and we had decided for going to Panchvati which is a place full of temples and soothing sounds of River Godavari. The exquisite beauty of that place was amazing. Below is a picture of the same (Sorry, the picture is a bit hazy):

In Panchvati, there are two important places that everyone should visit. First is Kapaleshwar temple and the other one is Seeta Gufa (caves where Seeta, wife of Lord Rama, is believed to be stayed for some time).

Panchvati, as the name suggests, is based on five –panch, banyan trees – vati, is very close to Seeta Gufa. One of them is pictured below:

The main attractions are Kapaleshwar temple and Seeta Gufa. Visiting Kapaleshwar temple once is believed to be equal to visiting all the twelve Jyotirling temples. Following picture was taken after taking special permission.

Seeta Gufa is a very narrow staircase (old people should not go downstairs) which ends up displaying statues of Lord Rama and Seeta and Lord Shiva (a Shivling, which Seeta worshiped) after moving a bit ahead. Below is an entrance to that.

     

My mesmerizing and eventful journey was about to end now. Next morning we left for Indore. I think I’ve shared the most of my small yet memorable visit to the Nashik and Shirdi.  

“The end of one journey is the beginning of the next.”