I have visited it many times. It becomes impossible to visit the entire place in day. But if you scheduled it properly then you can cover it. I want to tell you how we did it.
I visited this place with my family. We reached shegaon, early in the morning( 6am) by train. You can start your journey with the famous "Kachori" of shegaon that you will get on railway station. So we did the same, we all had the garama garam Kachori's. Then after the breakfast, we moved to Gajanan Temple. You will find a free transport from trust for going to Maharaj Temple and Anand Sagar.
We reached the temple around 7am. Though we reached early morning, still there was a large queue. So we joined the queue. It took almost 2 and half hour to reach the exact place for Darashana. I have observed for the first time that when you we were standing in queue , you have been offered a refreshment from trust. We have enjoyed the time we spend in queue by following words about Lord Gajanan which other visitors were saying.
We visited the Temple and took Darshana. I felt very great after that. You have been offered a free Prashad in the form of Lunch at the temple. We had a little of that. That was really great( Bhakri , Mix bhaji and Laddu in sweet). While I was standing in queue , I met one Guy, Alok. He was studying in engineering college in shegaon. He offered me to visit his college. As per our scheduled we still had some time in spare, so we plan to visit it.
We reached the college in 10 Min's with Alok. The college name is S.S.G.M.C.E( Shree Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering), Shegaon. This college is also owned by Trust. The college's infrastructure was so good I tell you, you will not find such infrastructure in any of the college in Pune or Mumbai as far as I know. It has everything inside the campus. The most attractive part of the college was its Library so well organized. We were lucky to meet Alok. If you don't have any relative studying in college then you wont get a permission to visit the college. With a sweet good bye to Alok we moved we moved towards our Final Destination, "Anand Sagar". We again got our free transport from Trust.
When we reached the place, I saw very large entrance gate carven from stone. I could not stop myself and started to collect the memories. For your reference , I am attaching the first one I took. Then we bought a entrance ticket which was so cheap, can be compared to the parking charges you will pay in the metro cities. Once you enter the place, you will find so many statues situated. It was a Saint's Gallery.
We observed all the statues and then we found place to take rest. We took an half an hour rest, we all felt hungry so we moved for Lunch. Don’t forget to buy Lunch coupons at the entrance only. You will not get it inside. We have enjoyed a full Indian Thali, Only Veg. You are not allowed to take non veg with you at any place of Gajanan Trust. After Lunch we all became quite energetic. When we were moving forward we observed a play area with lots of rides and play stuff so I with my cousins enjoyed playing there. Then we move a few step ahead there was a Shiv Temple. A very nice Temple. Once you entered the Temple area , you cant stop yourself saying, wow, where I am! In the Anand Sagar, the Main Place is the Meditation Hall(Peace Center). We started for meditation hall. It was almost 2 km from the Shiv temple. There were shades placed in between to protect from sun, you can take rest and enjoy the view. I was doing the same and capture one more view. I cant believe I took this span. Hmm! I am not a bad photographer.
Slowly we again moved. We reached the Peace Center in almost 15-20 mins. Finally when we reach there we felt cool. There was water around. It was like we are in the middle of lake. We moved up and had some water and we stepped inside the meditation hall. There was a pin drop silent. You are not allowed to make any kind of noise. If you make , the volunteers will come and warn you. You can sit there for meditation 10-20 mins. Meditation has very much power, science has accepted it. You fill forget all your worries then n there. After that when we came out, we observed the place from all views . It was awesome place . From all views you will get something new. Out of them , the one liked the most was this….
It was evening, now we planned to return. Now everyone was feeling a bit tired n want to grab a cup of coffee. There was a pool situated in between the lake. We moved there and reached in 10 mins. In addition to coffee , we got snacks also. There we had delicious snacks that too also on a very cheap rate. We had Upma, Sabudana khichdi, Bread Pakoda and lots more.. After having snacks we again charged ourselves. Then slowly we moved , the sun had started to go down. One more sunset to capture, Nice view.
Finally when we reached near the gate, there was a aquarium. We found almost all sorts of fishes are kept there. Kids became delighted when they observed the fishes. It was 6.50 Pm and we heard a loud alarm. Then asked one of the person rushing in other direction. He told me that it was an alarm to notify that the musical fountains are about to begin in 10 mins. We all also rushed and reached the place. The place was like open stadium. It was amazing. You will really feel, the water drops are dancing , or some professional dancer is performing. You cannot blink your eye for a second. It last for almost 30 mins and them finally we moved towards the gate. When we came out and waiting for the transport to come , I thought how a day can be fill with so many colours. We reached the station in 20 mins. We took our train and finally take a position to relax. Everybody was so tired that nobody discuss anything and just plan to sleep for a while. But I couldn’t sleep that night. I was thinking how a day can be so memorable day. I can never forget the memories that I collected today. Life time memories. One of the “best pals” of my life…………
