Son, Maa & Father!

Mandardevi – Shri Kalubai

Bhimashankar – Jyotirlinga

Ozar Ashtavinayak – MahaGanapati

On Thursday, December 7, 2023, my police friend called and said, "Hey Anish, can we plan a short trip to Mandardevi?" We had not seen her in over three years. She is our Kuldevi, and I pay her a visit every six months to secure her blessing. Hmm., yeah, can we change the plan for Bhimashankar, I stammered to say. I'll get back to you by the evening, was the reply? Also, will speak with our common friend, Nilesh, to join us. I said welcome if he could join us. However, for Dev darshan he is usually hesitant. "Okay, let me check," responded my police friend.

Lo, the hesitant Nilesh contacted me in the evening and said, we would visit both Bhimashankar and Kalubai. I insisted he take our police to a conference call. The first thing I asked after connecting the line was how you could tempt Nilesh. When they heard what I was saying, both chuckled heartily.

The next obstacle was the car. Nilesh and I had both sold our cars and were waiting for the year 24 to arrive before making a choice. The police said, "No worries, I'll have mine." Let's plan for tomorrow night at 10 p.m. The next day, after work, I quickly put my week's dresses in the washing machine so that they would be ready to iron when I returned the next day.

I had a swift light dinner and took Ola to our scheduled meeting place. (Mulund Toll Naka) I had a cup of hot tea with Nilesh and brought an assortment of toffees with me. These are effective sleep disruptors, especially when travelling late at night. After another 15 minutes, our police friend arrived and was chastised for being late. We hurled him abuses and added, "Being a cop, you took the liberty of arriving late. Do you value our time? As a penalty, you must drive all night.

We dumped our duffle bags at the dicky and offered the toffees to the police. He smiled and replied, "I am not going to drive all night."

We challenged why Thanekar had to pay the Mulund toll, which increases every year as we cruised steadily. There is no respite from the traffic bottleneck near Airoli toll. Because our friend worked in the police department, we did not pay the toll, and our friend asked why we were arguing about it. Had we paid, no na! then let us switch our topic. I became the spoiler, muttering, "Agreed, but can we prevent the toll on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway? On a serious note, the police said, "Let me try there as well with my ID."

Expressway driving was enjoyable, and we arrived at the Expressway toll booth in about 45 minutes. Our police had to do a bit of selling to avoid the charges, but he eventually succeeded. We had a fantastic sense of accomplishment after not paying tolls. Nilesh's attitude was boosted by the sheer thrill of avoiding the toll, so he took the steering. I served as their navigator from the beginning of our expedition. Our first stop for light refreshments was at Lonawala. My buddies had Vadapaav, whilst I had only tea. Our Expressway discussion about Pune's progress during the last 20 years came to an end within minutes. We made our first overnight stop at about 3 a.m. Our police reserved the hotel at a low cost. We stayed near the intersection within the Kalubai diversion.

By 4 a.m., all three had drifted off, only to be woken up by the 7 am alarm. We were ready to leave the motel in about an hour. A well-known joint was discovered in the adjacent square. All had Idli-Dosa and tea. Police drove the remaining leg towards Kalubai. Arrived on the temple grounds, which had a regular crowd. I would say I had a Manpurvak darshan of Maa Kalubai.

We opted to have lunch at Kailash Restaurant, which made us happy. Kailash Bhel is one-of-a-kind in terms of location, ambience, and cuisine. We were compelled to wait nearly an hour for a seat. But I have to say that the Kailash Thali was worth the wait. 

From here, we headed to Bhimashankar. Nilesh used a trick to avoid driving. He drove a little rough and tried to maintain an average speed of 80kmph, which resulted in some unsafe moves and bumps. This concerned our police. After around 100 kilometers of this hoax, police took over when we stopped for evening tea. Police used Jugaad for direct darshan at Bhimashakar. We need to be ready by 7 p.m. Our jugaad guide has told us to meet him at the temple entrance by 7.15 p.m. for the evening aarti.

We got trapped right before the authorized public parking area. Later, we discovered that locals and parking supervisors create artificial traffic bottlenecks to always keep their parking lot full. Anyway, getting to the mandir required a brisk walk.

We met our guide at the designated place, where he stationed us just outside the main gate's railings. Aarti began within five minutes. With complete dedication, we absorbed the Lord's blessings. Then we became the first ones to enter Garbhagaraha. Again, we experienced Manpurvak darshan of the Lord. As a token of appreciation, I offered our guide a generous sum for making our darshan intriguing.

I bought a dhoop fashioned from recycled offerings. Believe me, Dhoop smells wonderful, as do my memories of the darshan. While returning, paid Rs 200 for a one-kilometre journey in Trax to a parking location. We all were too tired to walk and hence had to pay from our noses. When we got to the main road, positive thoughts took over. I was steering the wheels whilst I abruptly said, "We had taken darshan of Mother, then Father, why not Son?" Let us conclude our journey by visiting Ozar Ganpati. My two companions responded, and we had to call for a night halt. I composedly stated that tomorrow is Sunday and that we can change our plans. Why miss out on the opportunity to be with Vighnaharta Lord? Both called their spouses and received a positive reprisal.

Our police colleague said, "Do you know why I came for darshan?" My wife underwent an intricate operation and recovered. I promised to visit Kalubai after the surgeries. Parallelly called a couple of folks and reserved a hotel. This was a lovely vacation hotel. I ate quite a bite and relaxed while sporadically checking office mail.

The next morning, we chose to enjoy the Lord's darshan first, followed by some amazing meals. Manpurvak darshan was also done here. I bought black resin and other supplies from a cart with stands. I got excited and purchased some herbal roots and seeds to relieve my migraine. This must be ingested each morning on an empty stomach. After a satisfying breakfast, we headed back to Thane. Again, I was controlling the driving wheel while I drove for about 100 kilometres. Then I moved back to the back seat. I gave bait to get them to drop me off at my house. I will honor them with a Fish fry delicacy and a Chicken Shuka with Bhakri. Both instantly consented, bringing our impromptu spiritual journey of divine Son, Maa, and Father to their end.

I had only taken the herbal ingredients briefly prior to writing down my experience because my colleague had told me, "Please avoid consuming any herbs or roots until advised by a licensed Ayurvedic practitioner.