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A Family Pilgrimage to Vani Chi Devi: A Journey of Faith and Family

Last weekend, we embarked on a pilgrimage to Vani Chi Devi, our maternal family's kuldevi, located near Nashik. As this is a significant spiritual site for our family, all of us, including my parents, husband, sister, mother-in-law, and our two daughters, decided to make the journey together. The drive from our home in Kalyan took us approximately 5-5.5 hours.

We started our journey early in the morning, setting off in two cars. To keep our energy levels up, we stopped at Dogri Mall for a quick and delicious breakfast. The menu offered a delightful array of options, and we indulged in idlis, aloo parathas, medu vadas, dosas, misal, and batata vadas. After a refreshing restroom break, we continued our journey towards Vani.

Finally, we reached Vani around 11:30 AM. Knowing that the temple would be quite crowded, especially on a Saturday, my father, who has some local connections, managed to secure VIP tickets for us. This allowed us to bypass the long queues and have a relatively quick and smooth darshan. After a spiritually uplifting experience, we participated in the abhishek ceremony and then enjoyed a delicious Maharashtrian lunch at the temple premises. The menu included local favorites like jhunka bhakri, misal, puri bhaji, bingan masala, bhakri, sabudana vadas, and we also quenched our thirst with refreshing sugarcane juice.

After a leisurely hour at the temple, we started our return journey. My husband drove our car, while my sister's husband drove the other. As we were leaving, we witnessed the long queues for entry tickets and darshan, realizing how fortunate we were to have had a smooth experience.

No trip to the countryside is complete without some local produce. We stopped at a roadside farm where vendors were selling fresh grapes straight from the vine. The grapes were incredibly fresh and priced much lower than what we would find in the city. We couldn't resist and bought 3 kilos of black and green grapes, enjoying some right there in the car.

After driving for about two hours, we needed a break. We stopped at a place just after the Ghoti toll naka and enjoyed a cup of hot tea with homemade bread butter that we had packed along. My daughter, however, craved a burger, so we made a quick stop at McDonald's to satisfy her craving.

We continued our journey, crossing the ghats. We even witnessed a small forest fire on the mountains, which seemed to have been started deliberately, perhaps by locals collecting firewood. As we drove, we enjoyed the mesmerizing sunset and listened to some lively music on the radio, followed by some evening prayers.

Finally, we reached home around 8:30 PM. My father's car had arrived slightly earlier, and he had already prepared a delicious khichadi for us. After reaching home, I put everything in order, took a bath, did some light housework, and washed the clothes. I then spent some time relaxing and browsing on my phone before retiring for the night, as we were all quite tired from the long drive.

Overall, it was a truly memorable family trip. The darshan at Vani Chi Devi was a spiritually uplifting experience, and the journey itself was filled with beautiful scenery and delicious food. We captured many precious moments on camera throughout the trip.