Pages From My Travel Book and a Summer Cooler

Hi all of you am back after a short break! We had been to Shirdi last week, it was a long pending visit that we had to do from our side. We had planned a 3 days trip in all plus 2 days to spent with my parents :)

About Shirdi:

Shirdi town is situated in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra State (India)

The temple premises of Shri Saibaba is situated in the heart of Shirdi village and is a major center of pilgrimage for people from all over the world. It is estimated that around 20,000 devotees visit Shirdi on a daily basis.

The temple premises is a small town in itself, it consists of residence (small home) of baba's devotees who had served him during his time,museum which showcases articles used by Saibaba, It also houses samadhis of close followers of baba. A few steps away is the mosque 'Dwaarkamaai' where Saibaba spent most of his time, the mosque also has a 'Akhandjyothi' (fire lit by Baba, which is kept burning till date) from which the udi (vibhooti) is distributed to the devotees.There are plenty of flower stalls and sweet stalls around this area.

Further there is Samadhi mandir and Gurusthan where Baba's mortal remains rest. There is a divine looking marble statue of Baba close to that. Different kinds of pooja's are performed at different times of the day. There is a queue system to reach the samadhi mandir, it took us 2 and 1/2 hours for darshan , but it was worth the wait :)

Cameras were prohibited in the temple premises, so couldn't click snaps of Shirdi.

Since we had time we went site seeing to many temples around Shirdi and also to the world heritage site Ellora which is in Aurangabaad, famous for it's single rock cut caves and gigantic sculptures, Replica of Taj Mahal which is called the Taj of Deccan, this is the tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb's wife, it was built by the prince in the memory of his mother . Here are some snaps.

Recipe for the day is Melon Smoothie :) I came across this superb tasting under 4 minutes recipe in the latest edition of Prevention Magazine. I've changed the recipe slightly.

The combination of milk with melon gives a different taste to the smoothie altogether, the cardamom powder has a major roll in enhancing the flavour of the drink. Am sure You'll love it here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups Watermelon

1/2 cup Fat-free milk

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder

1-2 tsp sugar/honey (optinal)

1 cup crushed ice

Method:

Combine Watermelon, milk, cardamom powder, sugar in a blender and blend until smooth.

Put the crushed ice into a tall glass and pour the blended melon smoothied over it. Enjoy the smoothie at any time of the day :) Cheers!