It was my first visit to Shirdi last week. I was excited to finally be there after some failed attempts in the last years. It was a long weekend so I was amongst the many devotees who had decided to seek blessings from Sai Baba during this time.
It wasn't a greatly planned trip but this is how I went about my journey
Bangalore to Shirdi
I booked my to and fro journey from Bangalore from the
Karnataka State Transport website. They offer Airavat Multi Axle volvo bus service which is reasonably priced and efficient. [For more on bus details click on the
link ]
Accommodation
Shirdi Sai Sansthan provides good accommodation options which can be explored at this
link
Darshan
[Link to location of temple :
Location of Temple]
I wanted to be part of the morning aarti and see baba in the morning itself. The queue for the darshan starts forming as early as 2 am or before. I joined the queue around 3:30am. The aarati starts at 4:30 am
(
Daily Program guide )
but the actual darshan only begins around 0540 am. So starting 3:30 am till 6:30 am (when I did the darshan), the queue moved slowly from Hall 3 to Hall 2 to Hall 1. There are live displays everywhere so I could see whats going on.
[There are official lockers to keep your mobile phone and placeholders to keep your footwear just outside the temple so don't get fleeced by people asking you to 'deposit' your footwear and mobile phones with them. The official ones charge a small amount of Rs. 2 per item.]
Also, there is a designated place within the temple where you can view Baba from a distance. This place is termed as 'Mukh Darshan' and has fixed timings for darshan. You can sit there and see Baba clearly albeit from a distance.
Post the darshan, I visited the Dwarka Mai and other near by places. An auto to go around local places is ideal (if you are lucky you will find a local person who knows his places otherwise most auto drivers are outsiders and won't know more than the usual tourist hotspots.) I met a local person who took me around. He was a nice and honest person and had a lot to talk about ! [ Pramod : +91 9860431100, he earns his living driving people to Shani Shignapur and also near by places in Shirdi]
Shani Shignapur
[
Location of Shani Shignapur]
This is some 70 km away from Shirdi, and shared mini taxis charge anywhere between 80-150 per person are the norm in peak season to take you to Shani Shignapur and back.
I didn't buy any offering as the customary oil which is offered to Shani Dev was not being allowed to be offered directly. Instead a pit had been created near the actual idol where all the oil was supposed to be 'dumped'. The idol was a huge black stone mounted on a big pedestal, oil was getting poured from a container which was refilled by a tap. The view was good but temple itself didn't leave me spell bound (the crowd clearly had a different opinion as everyone was engrossed praying, taking pictures or just simply jostling to have a good view).
Eating out
There are many eateries in Shirdi which serve strictly vegetarian food.
For more details see
Shirdi Sai Sansthan website
