Visit To Dada Vaswani Mission In Pune

When I said I am going for Dada’s darshan, two more women followed me. They thought I was to meet Dada closely and have a personal meeting with Dada J P Vaswani.

In reality, I was on my route to see Dada’s darshan, a museum. I had heard great reviews about this museum but never had opportunity to visit it during my trip to Pune. On this trip, this was my priority. At the first opportunity that I got, I went there with my cousins.

We reached the campus of Dada Vaswani mission twenty minutes before the actual show time, that happens hourly. One devotee came up to us and volunteered to show us around.

We stood facing the impressive white building. A beautiful heritage building, originally a Jeejeebhoy Castle, was handed to the Mira School. For several years, it was lying vacant and then occupied by Deccan College and Research Institute. Gangaram Sajandas, a close disciple was successful in negotiating with the owner of the building, Lady Jeejeebjoy, to purchase it for Brotherhood Association. After the death of Sadhu Vaswani in 1966, the Association was renamed as the Sadhu Vaswani Mission.

At the far end, amidst the beautiful garden, is the sacred Samadhi that enshrines the holy ashes of Sadhu T L Vaswani. We walked up to the Samadhi taking in the peaceful vibrations in the air.

On the right side, is a huge tree planted by Sadhu T L Vaswani way back in 1958. This 58-years old tree has blossomed over the years and still stands strong.

We walked further to the back of the building. We came across Mathuribhao Karamchand Mahbubani Hostel for girls, inaugurated at the hands of first Vice-President of India in 1965. Behind the main building are two school, Primary and secondary Mira schools.

For a brief time, we browsed through some spiritual books at a book store in the front near the entrance of the mission.

The clock ticked on and we headed towards Darshan Museum.

The museum is one of its kind, three dimensional, interactive, 3d holographic and impressive.  The museum is built on a space of 9500 sq. feet and ranks as number one on trip advisor. It is biographical depiction of Sadhu Vaswani life narrated through series of multimedia light and sound shows combined with 3d projection system creating an impressive experience.

After the show, the word spread that J P Vaswani would give a brief sighting to a small group of his devotees. We rushed to his chamber and were happy to meet him.

When I said “Bless me Dada” he replied “I need your blessing too.” Such humility and love flows through this Divine soul. His words still rings in my ears. He said- “Help the weak, the needy and the poor. Do as much as you can without any expectation of fruit or rewards. But if you cannot help personally, at least pray that somebody else can help them….”

100 Happy Days: Day 84 family Time

Happiness is in the company of Family.

Cousins came home, such a pleasure when my family visits me. Surprises and surprises, there was room in their car, and I dumped my clothes into my bag and was in Pune within four hours.

The days are spend sharing the happy moments

So here I am, with the project of ‘100 Happy Days’I am posting pictures each day here on my blog then sharing the link on my page on FB too. You can enjoy my work either here or on my page at FB at Pushee’s World

100 Happy Days: Day 83 Long Drive

Happiness is going for a long drive.

Mumbai may be crowded and polluted city, with traffic jam at every narrow lane and too many traffic lights, but once you cross the toll station at Navi Mumbai, the scene changes drastically.

The air is clean, with greenery spread as far as you can see. Lately, the roads are broadened therefore it’s a pleasure to go for long drive beyond Panvel, pass through Khandala and Lonavala and reach Pune and then drive back home.

So here I am, with the project of ‘100 Happy Days’I am posting pictures each day here on my blog then sharing the link on my page on FB too. You can enjoy my work either here or on my page at FB at Pushee’s World

Chilling Times in Pune City

Pune is the city that is just 3 hours away from Mumbai by road, it’s the city where majority of my family lives, it’s the city where I have spend most of my free time doing nothing but sitting and lazing around, or going for movies, endless lunches and dinners and getting fatter with food, laughter, chit chat, teasing, ragging and love.

Pune used to be the city where nature smiled at all hours of the day, the weather was cool and birds cooed beautiful rhymes. We would wake up early hours to enjoy the cool breeze, in the evenings we would go for long walks on the main street, pick up sandwiches from ‘Mazzorin’ Sometimes we would go for long drives (long drives meant just two hours, driving through the lonely lanes, sometimes right up to the Pashan lake or to Khadakwasla dam, and sometimes a longer rides driving through the winding road up to Mahabhuleshwar, eating usal pav or egg omelets at way-side stalls, drink chai in an Irani restaurant.

There was no TV nor BlackBerry nor Iphones to distract our conversations. We played board games or simply joked all day. Simple things amused us, there was so much to talk about. Chatting would continue late nights and sometimes we would sneak out of house in the middle of night, go the Pune station to eat egg burchi from the road-side hawkers. We never worried about hygiene, never washed hands, never used sanitizers but surprisingly never really felt ill or had any stomach upset.

I can’t recall the conversation we had during those days but at the end of my usual one-month-stay, I always cried when I had to return home to routine life in Mumbai.

Not much has changed on the home front but a lot has changed outside my family home, out on the streets of Pune.

The greenery is slowly eroding and is replaced by huge, shiny malls, selling branded goods.

Traffic is disorderly, a big wigwam of cycles, auto-rickshaw, buses, cars, scooters, pedestrians all sharing the same space. Temper tantrums flying high in all directions, the weather that once Punites boasted is now humid. Redevelopment and constructions is the order of the day.

That quaint little city is now a bigger cousin of Mumbai, resembling in noise, breath and weather. The essence of place is lost forever.

Now the only reason I go to Pune is to visit my family and friends

Choki Dhani of Poona

“Come to my birthday party” said Dolly, my friend’s daughter “I am celebrating my birthday at Choki Dhani.” That sounded interesting. Celebrating a birthday in a theme park called Choki Dhani. I had visited ‘Choki Dhani’ in Jaipur during my last trip but was not aware that there was one in Poona too. We set out at 6 O’clock, a big group of about 10 people, in two cars and by the time we reached (after nearly one hour drive from Pune city) it was already dark. The rest of the group had arrived earlier at 5 O’clock in the evening (which I think is the best time to go if you need to enjoy and experience the flavor of the place). The entrance had huge iron-gate with colorful lanterns burning into the slots, embedded into the walls, on either side of the gate. A large size mannequin of Indian native was installed in front of the entrance. We entered the gates and were greeted by man who said ‘Ram Ramji’ and he put tikka on our forehead. Inside the gate, we entered a new world, a Rajasthani village, with ethnic colors and drawings adorning the walls. A man performing a horsey dance (kacchi Ghodi) accompanied us as we entered inside this ethnic make-believe village resort. We headed straight to the stalls serving a Jal-Jira drink, Aloo-chat and chana-chat. We climbed a thatched wooden hut, to enjoy the freshly baked roti with butter and garlic chutney. Then there was Gola sherbet, Kulfi and popcorns. The resort took us back to Rajasthan with a traditional appeal, there were many features that include besides "Kacchi Ghodi", also "Ghumar", "Kalbelia", "Bhopa Bhopi" flute recital, and "Nat"(acrobatics). There were also a magician and astrologer with his future-teller parrot adding to the complete Rajasthani look. About 130 artisans, cooks and performers were posted there to provide the warmth and hospitality identical with the Rajasthani tradition of "Padharo Mare Des"(welcome to my world), transporting one to the era of Thakurs, the village lords in olden times. It is the ambience of the "Chokhi Dhani" that captivates everyone visiting it. It gives an impression of typical Rajasthani village replete with its rich tradition, with mud and thatch dwellings, with cottages, Havelis, restaurants, Rajasthani folk dances and performers. There were string cots and oil lanterns spread all over the resort giving it a village ambience. We specially enjoyed the traditional dance, in which our whole group participated. We wore their red bandhini turban on our heads and dance with them at the rhythm of flute-and-drums music. After the dance, we came to lie down peacefully on the string cot, enjoying the cool breeze under the open skies. Children were entertained, enjoying the camel and horse rides and playing games of luck in the row of games stalls. There were also many stall selling traditional hand-crafted goods like ceramic pots and clothes. The birthday was celebrated in the dining hall, where all people are seated on the floor and serves in leaf-plate. The dinner was very delicious and a traditional rajasthani thali and consisted of 18 different delicacies that included dhals, bhajis, achar, papad, sweet dish. I think I over-ate, because I could hardly walk comfortably up to the car park.