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”