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| Siddhivinayak at Prabhadevi |
We went to Siddhivinayak Temple last weekend. A Saturday. Left Pune around 11:30 am and reached Mumbai around 2:00 pm.
I had been wanting to go to this temple for about 6 years or so. I had always thought I would be able to tag along with someone who was planning to go there but it did not work out and finally I went with my hubby .. an atheist ! :)
The drive itself was uneventful - we used google maps and reached the temple. The police have blocked the road that leads to the temple for security reasons I guess. On asking, a policeman told us to park anywhere in the road perpendicular to the approach road and go to the temple. The irony - that road had more "No Parking" signs that parking places.
We were then approached by a tout who said that he would find us a parking space provided we got the pooja items from his stall. Well, we went with it.
He found a place close to the temple alright - the other approach road and with "No Parking" signs ! We asked him if it was okay to park there but he said it would be fine.
Then he was dismayed to find that we planned to eat before we went inside the temple. Hey we had driven from Pune and our child was hungry. He asked us to give him our car keys !!! Well ... ! We did not give them of course !
After coming back from lunch which took about 30 min he complained saying we took too long. In any case we took the pooja items from him - for 150/-. Then he asked us not to take too long in the temple. Really ! Isn't it dependent on how long the queue would be ?
When we went inside there were lot more shops asking us to buy pooja items. We already had them so did not bother to check how much that would cost.
The queue seemed long but after the first batch - we were let in. And we got the darshan pretty fast. Yet that tout said we were late. Finally we realized he was just as anxious as we were about the "No Parking" rule. No wonder he kept on saying we were late. He could have had about 4 people come and go by now it seems instead of just guarding our car !!! It so happened that when my hubby was putting on his shoes a policeman stopped next to our car !! Good we were ready to leave and he could see us putting on shoes.
So out we drove and we got caught by a policeman who warned us about the tint on our car. We had had that checked here in Pune and we had been told it was not a cause for concern since it was light colored and not too dark that one could not see inside. Anyway after we finished paying the fine I had this bright idea to go to that Worli link bridge !!!
Paid the toll ; I was not much impressed by the bridge ! I mean perhaps I expected it to be longer or more spectacular - the half girders after the full length girders did not look good I thought. The view is good and if we could stop on the bridge it would be better ! It would also be good to have a vantage point to view the complete bridge - there must be one. Since we did this last minute we could not go to it.
Came to the exit from the bridge and then .... again another policeman caught us for the same reason !! Phew !!! Anyway we showed him that we had already been penalized for the same item and he let us go !
After that, the route that we had to take to come back to Pune went around Siddhivinayak again ... LOL .. ha ha it was funny ... we did not get a chance to go around the idol inside the temple - it would have broken the incoming line ... so God ensured we were forced to do it ... albeit a bigger round.
We took the route suggested by google and again saw the same first policeman !!! Jeez !!! However we were not stopped and my hubby's phone lasted long enough for us to reach the express way and then it went dead due to no battery ! :)
Still a wish fulfilled and another too - had wanted to see the Worli link ! :)
Tips :
1. The touts near the mandir may say they will get a parking place but this is just a place on the other road to the temple and it has "No Parking" signs. It is your choice if you want to give you car keys but we did not !
2. The line at this temple is not as efficient as the line at Tirupati. Here once we enter the sanctum area it is like a free for all !!! In Tirupati due to the dividing line each person gets to go in front of the diety even if it is for just a glimpse. Here you can be in the sanctum and people push you out of the way and it is difficult to get back once you are pushed out.
Added to it - the line suddenly splits into two at a couple of places and one is suspicious if that will make us get the darshan faster or slower !!!
