Sai Baba – Sabka Malik Ek

Shri Sai Baba is the essence and incarnation of spiritual enlightenment and religious harmony. He awakened people to the eternal truth. "Sabka Malik Ek".(One God governs all). He wanted to provide each one with two powerful tools. That would make them stronger and wiser - `One` being `Shraddha` (Faith) and other being `Saburi` (Patience). He preached to the mankind:

• God is, and there is nothing higher than Him. He is perfect, infinite and eternal. He is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. He is the creator, sustainer and destroyer. Surrender voluntarily and totally to His will. Trust in Him and do the right. Let the inner light (enlightened conscience) guide all your actions.
• To know me constantly think "Who am I?" by sravana and manana. Who are we? What are we? Where are you? Where is all this world? Think and think. In reality you are not different from God.
• I carry on, as a wirepuller, all the actions of the man who trusts me and merges in me.
• Faith in God is the only anchor for the ship of Samsar, whether smooth or troubled waters.
• Look to me with undivided attention; so will I look to you. This is the only truth My Guru taught me. The four sadhanas and the six shastras are not necessary. With entire confidence trust your Guru. That is enough
• I will be with you, whenever you think of me. Do not fear.

Kakad Aarti Composed by: Sant Tukaram Maharaj

“Bhaktaachiya potee bodh kaakada jyoti
Pancha prana jeevehbave owaaloo Aarti
Owaaloo aaratee maajyza pandhareenaatha majyza sainathaa
Donhi kara jodonee charanee ttevilaa mathaa
Kaay mahima varnoo aataa sangane kitee
Kotee brahma hatyaa mukha pahataa jaatee
Rahee rakhmaabaayee ubhya doghee do baahee
Mayur pincha chaamara dhaaliti thaayee che thaayee
Tuka mhane deep ghewuni unmaneet shobhaa
Vittevaree ubha dise laawanya gaabhaa
Owaaloo aaratee”

Translation
With fire of devotion glowing in our hearts, we offer Kakad Aarti to thee! Igniting our five vitalforces (pranas) and the sense of ego as wicks in the Aarti lamp, we offer Aarti to thee.Oh! My Lord of Pandari, Sri Sainath, hail to thy glory! With folded hands, I humbly lay my head on thy holy feet. How can I describe thy ineffable glories? Even billions of deadly sins such as brahmahatya(killing a brahmin etc.) shall be purged just by the mere sight of thy hallowed face. Rayee and Rukhumabai, standing on either side, gently fan about thee with chowries (royal fans) made of peacock feathers. Tukaram
holds the lamp (of knowledge) aloft lauding thy divine splendour, absorbed in blissful rapture. It is verilya sight for the gods and a feast for the eyes to behold Lord Vittal standing gracefully on a brick (of bhakti).

Surat to Shirdi via shortcut: 4 tyre punctures, warm engine, a buffalo attack & Sai Kripa.

It was a usual visit to one of our conferences yet unusual as this time we were going to present papers in the conference. All others attended so far were more of paid holidays to go around the place. The moment we decided we were to go to Surat all three of us knew we were definitely going to Shirdi too. Our conference was for three days and so was our stay there. We had booked our tickets to and fro and stay in Surat before hand but journey to Shirdi could not be planned as we were not sure of our presentation days and timings but we were determined to make it happen by any means. On our day 1, as we reached Surat we dumped our bags in our hotel and rushed to the conference venue to find our presentations schedule. To our disappointment three of us had our presentations on three separate days; Esha’s was to follow in next 2 hours at 2 in the afternoon, mine was at 11am the next day and Pooji’s at 12 noon the 3rd day and we had our train back to Delhi same night. We did not seem to find any time spare for our Sai darshan at Shirdi. We did not think of that much then as Esha’s presentation was up in some time.

Shirdi is about 300 kms from Surat. We decided to hire a private taxi, as we wanted to save our time. In Shirdi the Darshan time is 6am to 9.30pm so the journey should be scheduled accordingly.

After my presentation was over at 11.30am on the 2nd day I was sadder for not being able to go to Shirdi rather than being happy for my wonderful presentation (as told by the attendees). For us unfortunately nothing seemed to work as earliest we could leave by 12 noon that day and latest we had to come back by 12 noon the next day for Pooji’s presentation. To reach back Surat in time we had to start latest by 5am, before the mandir was open so the morning darshan was out. It seemed that there was no way we could make it.



If we started immediately then we could have reached by 6.30 pm which seemed a decent time and margin left for the Sai darshan. We contacted a Taxi stand near by our hotel. We were immediately given the available esteem and the driver told that he would take us via a shortcut so that we could attend the evening arti at 5.30. We all were thrilled and after checking for car papers and driver’s license we started on our journey; Surat to Shirdi via shortcut.

Once out of the Surat city the scenic beauty is amazing on the way. We have to drive uphill to cross through and reach the other side. The shortcut was a new road built through the forest with long in between distances without any habitation. For long we did not see any vehicle going in either direction on the road. This thrilled us more for being fortunate to explore the new not so ventured area and we would be able to attend the evening arti too. It was not long for our fun when the driver stopped the car saying the tyre has got punctured. Thankfully he had the extra tyre but not so thankfully as it turned out to be a tyre of a Santro which would have not very much supported the car for long. We needed to mend the original tyre as early as possible. After about half an hour of changing the tyre we reached some habitation with restaurants and all. We planned to take a hault for late lunch but our tyre had already planned a hault before us, the extra tyre also got punctured. But this time fortunately in front of a mechanic shop. In the time we had our lunch the driver got the punctures repaired for both the tyres. We started of again hoping that nothing would go wrong after this and despite of two punctures so far we were not worried. The journey went smooth thereafter for some 2-2 1/2 hours when the engine heated up and some steam started coming out. The technical people may understand what went wrong but for us we were told that the car would not speed up above 40 km/hr otherwise the engine would heat up and would not work. This irritated us to our core. Dammed, by 40 km/ hr. Only Baba knew what time we would reach. And we were at a point where returning back was equally distant from moving ahead. The way things were going wrong my friends questioned if at all Baba wants us to visit Shirdi. But we were determined what so ever may happen we were going to Shirdi and left it on Baba to give or not give us the pleasure of his darshan.

Anyways, as we were washing hands and drinking water at the hand pump on our way a buffalo appeared at the site. For fun I tried to capture Pooji, Esha and Buffalo all in one frame without telling them. I waited for the buffalo to come nearer for the picture perfect but as I clicked the buffalo went mad and ran after Esha. I shouted, Esha turned around and ran towards the car. God, why the hell I was waiting for the buffalo to come near and what the hell happened to it. Well the good part was the buffalo did not follow Esha. Had it been a bull and Esha was wearing Red?

‘Mam just 2 hours more’, a man helping us with the directions on the way said. It was already 7.30 then. And now we were worried. We were hoping to reach atleast by 9.30 and just have a glimpse of the Sai baba. Few minutes ahead… third puncture the same tyre. I felt that this cannot be a co-incidence to have faced all these adversities. There has to be a role of Baba in all this, what so ever he may want, our reaching to him or not. And if this is so then Baba was definitely around us. And if he is around then nothing is more than that. I felt that we were unnecessarily struggling to reach him without realizing that he was already around us. I was now very sure that how much ever late we may get Baba would let us have his Darshan as we were his chosen ones.
We were again lucky to have a puncture shop just in front who mended the tyre in 10 mins. Although we had the extra tyre but we chose to mend the puncture as we did not know what may come next. With our slow spead we reached the mandir at 10.10 pm. As we reached we were told to hurry up as the gates and entry was to be closed for the night time arti and it was already unusually late for the arti in the mandir that day. It was a bonus. We missed the evening arti but we were able to attend the night arti that to when we were about to even miss on the glimpse of Sai Pratima. We quickly bought the prashad and entered. We were the last ones to enter. There was not much of crowd inside.

The managers there asked the people to move in I don’t know what manner that we reached very ahead in the crowd right in front of the Sai pratima. The curtains were raised and the Arti started. I had not attended any arti with so much peace and pleasure in my lifetime. I knew I had Sai around me and we finally could make it for his Darshan. More than for just eyes we had Sai darshan for our souls. Why would have the trip went so and the arti got unusually delayed? Thank you Sai baba. With out all this mishap we would have had darshan of only the Sai pratima not Sai in our souls.

After Arti and long comfortable mighty darshan we came out to the driver. It was 12 midnight and we wanted to start back after having some snacks for the dinner. To our no more surprise the tyre was again punctured, the fourth time and the same tyre. The driver told the tyre got punctured as we reached the mandir premises. He had not told us earlier as we were rushing to the mandir and in the mean while he could not find any of the puncture shops near by. We decided that we shall not start then with the extra tyre as it may not run for long and in the night on the way we may have to see some more troubles. But we had to reach Surat by 12noon the following day. So we decided to leave at 4am and by the time we would be on the highway the puncture repair shops would open. We took a room and rested for a while in Hotel Shraddha Park.
We started at the scheduled time with the Santro tyre running in maruti esteem and surprising to our unexpectation the tyre ran well for 1 hour and before it got puncture we found a puncture repair shop. We got our original esteem tyre repaired and replaced the Santro tyre. We took the more conventional longer route to Surat this time and left our reaching to the conference in time on Sai baba. The scenic beauty of this longer route was much more fascinating then the short cut. There was lot of greenery and a spring and water filled natural reservoirs at places. It was an exhilarating experience while our drive down the hill. We drove slow with no more punctures on our way back and reached well in time at 11.30am at our hotel. Pooji freshened up and reached her session just on time. And she presented well.

Since then I have been once more to Shirdi with family from Delhi via Nasik; to Nasik through train and bus from there to Shirdi. It was comfortable, as Sai knew that we now know that he is always there with us.



I am going for the darshans again next week….

"JAI SAI RAM”

"Sports Tourism"

“The spirit of adventure, the challenge of elements and the thrill in conquering.”

This is what fires the young blood into adventure sports. The new corporate culture expects you to have the spirit of adventure, the love of a challenge and wind in your skills.

The new breed of young professionals, especially with the I.T. industry and BPO’s ensuring the young generation have lots of money to spend, have brought new hope to sports tourism. Many call centers are using adventure sports as team – building exercise.

Adventure is there in air, water, snow and land. One can select the ideal one: less dangerous means less adventuring, but one can start with. Sports tourism is fast catching on in India as it is somehow attached with adventure sports.

The directorate of mountaineering and allied sports, Manali, has been imparting training in various disciplines of adventure sports since 1961. Every year the institute trains over 500 persons in Mountaineering, skiing and water sports.

Mussoorie, Nainital, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Almora, Ranikhet etc are famous for adventure or sports tourism.

A less expensive but slightly more painful way of getting your nerves in action is rock climbing. Sport climbing is less dangerous. Trekking and even camping form part of sports tourism.

Delhi has some of the most developed rock climbing areas. The road from Delhi to Chandigarh is adjoined by places suitable for mountaineering. In Ladu Sarai, Wellington Crescent, Qutub etc, we can find rock climbing facilities.

With so many hills and mountains, India can go high as far as mountain biking is concerned. Flying is an addiction. Once tried, it never leaves the blood stream. Flying boosts confidence and relieves stress as well. Many corporates are approaching flying clubs as it is an excellent distress.

Paragliding is the aero sport freak’s dream come true. Security clearance for air space is the only problem. One needs to be at least 50 – 100 km away from major cities with airports. Para- gliding is a mix of parachuting and hang gliding and is considered to be one of the easier aero sports to learn.

Skiing started as a sport in India as early as in 1927. Holidaying in zero temperature itself is a thrill. Skiing adds adventure to the holiday. The winter delights of the icy surfaces are little exploited.


Over 6000 tourists, rather adventure sports lovers, come to Rishikesh every year. Rafting season starts in the second week of September. The white water Challenge in Rishikesh is popular in and outside India. Canoeing and Kayaking are also introduced in white water.

There is a lot more scope for sports tourism. Different states and even local bodies can come out with plans as per the facilities available in their villages. The hilly areas, the forest areas, the streams, the rocks, and canals and plateaus can be used to its advantage.

“YELAGIRI” – A Paragliding Hotspot

The recently developed paragliding destination in the Yelagiri hills, which lies midway between Chennai and Bangalore, conducted an international paragliding festival from 5 to 7 September. Fortunately I was in the region on a vacation with my friends. So I got a chance to witness the festival. It was a beautiful and a wonderful experience to see so many colors in the sky.

Yelagiri is a hill station where an adventure sports club was formed three years ago. Earlier the region was only famous for the hills, the scenes, boating in the stream and the lake etc. But today it is famous as the paragliding center. It’s the third paragliding center in India after Panchgani and Bir Billing (Himachal Pradesh).

We a gang of 5 friends, (Hum Panch) after finishing our work in Bangalore decided to visit Yelagiri for some adventures. We had a workshop in Bangalore for 3 weeks and we wanted to see all the near by places. A colleague told us about paragliding in Yelagiri. But as the place is still in the developing phase and we were new in the region, we were a bit worried about how to reach there and where to stay. The language was also a barrier as we speak only Hindi, English and Punjabi.


While searching the Internet for the information on Yelagiri, I came across the website of Indiahotelreview.com Deepti a member of hum panch contacted IHR. The counselor at IHR just asked our dates for the visit, number of people and our budget and I must say she made every thing so easy. They arranged for a cab and told us that it would come to pick up at 5.30 in the morning of 6.

Can you believe the cab was exactly on our hotel gate at 5.30 am. “How he was so punctual??” Gajju asked the driver. As Gajju was the one who got up late at 5.25. and we all had to wait for him. We moved at 5.45 from our hotel…


We reached Yelagiri at 10.30… we wasted a lot of time as another member of the gang Pooji is a big foodie and we had to halt in between to satisfy her hunger…Yelagiri is a beautiful place. We stayed at the Sterling Resort and I think it was the best hotel of the region. The staff was very hospitable. They gave as a warm welcome... Must say thanks to India hotel review…

We stayed there for two days had fun out there. The boating in the stream and the lake was so fun; the Mughal garden was so nice. In the evening we went to get our selves registered so that we can do paragliding. But we couldn’t do that as there was an international paragliding festival going on. But we were allowed to witness the festival. It was so thrilling yet scary to see people flying in the sky. But the management has taken care of all the safety measures. It was such a wonderful and a mind-blowing experience all together. Next time whenever we’ll be visiting Yelagiri Hills once again we will definitely try Para-gliding.

The sky was so colourful with so many Paragliders in the sky from so many countries…
Finally the festival was over and our weekend too. We had to leave for Bangalore. None of us wanted to return but we had to...
Yelagiri is a must to visit place for those, who want to try some real adventures. Thanks a lot to my colleague who told me about the place and thanks a lot to India hotel review for making our trip so memorable and comfortable.