Lost mobile phone and Rajasthan trip
First, let me start with Rajasthan trip. (Side note: I am feeling guilty that I could not post each day as I was travelling) This trip was planned three months back. Plan was to visit Posaliya, Rajasthan our native native place for the yearly meet (VarshGaanth). It also accompanied with Dhwaja function at Jain mandir on 26th Jan, 2023.
There are three highlights about this trip:
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- We had confirmed railways tickets while leaving, but waiting tickets for returning
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- It was a family trip after 4 years which included my uncles, aunts, parents, wife and daughter
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- We lost one expensive new branded gifted mobile phone at pune railway station
We left on Monday 23rd Jan, 2023 evening 8 pm train from Pune railway station. Had 8 luggages (it was just fine as each one had to carry two bags) [plus I had to carry Divi – my daughter…but as I said, I am strong. So it was just about fine.] The luggage has its own story…to be continued on this part.
To cut short, we reached Viramgaon, Gujrath in morning 8 am and then our booked taxiwala, Mr. Akram bhai picked us up in his Toofan vehicle. We immediately left for Shankheshwarji Tirth. On the way we took a break for tea + biscuits. Another side story on why one shopkeeper rejected us or rather me to offer snacks (maybe I offended him).
Reached Shankheshwarji, at Dharamshala we stopped. Freshened up, did Pooja and then we came out. There was a place outside which had lunch facility. Unlimited food for just INR 100 / person. Which was good.
Five day itinerary for Rajashthan + Gujrath (economical):
Our itinerary: Day 1: From Viramgaon leave for Shankheshwarji. On way have tea. Pooja at Shankheshwarji. Halt at Jain Dharamshala. Per room INR 400 for one day. Lunch as per convenience in nearby restaurant. Leave for Mahudi by 4pm for Ghanakarn Mahavir Mandir. Reach by 7 pm. Darshan, then leave for Aglod for mandir darshan. Have Dinner at Restaurant Bansari (Recommended, on road from Aglod to Mahudi). Stay at Mahudi dharamshala.
Day 2: Breakfast at Mahudi (per head INR 80 each, again recommended. Still remember the tasty vadas we had there), then leave for Ambaji. Reach there by lunch time. Attraction: Ambaji temple and market. Then go to Kumbhariyaji just 2 kms away from Ambaji. Have dinner (Chauvihaar) at Dharamshala. There are five temples here which are ancient and has its historical importance. Some artifact/ stone carvings here are very old, maybe 2000 years back. Then leave for Posaliya, Rajasthan. 10 kms from Sheoganj. Stay at Posaliya Dharamshala. (Parmar Dharamshala is newly constructed, we had prebooked here for INR 400/ day/ room.). On the way we stopped at one place (Bonwarji temple), where we did Prabhu bhakti, Aarti, Diva. We got the chadhawa for 95 Mann. “Mann” is a currency which is used for chadhawa of Puja and Aarti. Here 1 Mann = INR 5 Rupees.
Day 3: Breakfast at Posaliya, meet all people who came for the Varshgaanth and Dhwaja event. Roam around and explore this beautiful small town. In evening leave for Sheoganj market. Dinner at Chaudhary dhaba, Sundri – 17 kms from Sheoganj Quite famous for its food (Hygiene is a problem, taste was good). Even chaupatty at Sheoganj is famous. We did all of it: Shopping, Eating at Chaupatty and then dinner at Dhaba. Stay back at Posaliya.
Day 4: Breakfast at Posaliya, Leave for Mandoli. Visit following on the way for Bhev Jain Mandir. Reach Mandoli. Dinner at Mandoli Bhojanshala. INR 40/ person. Meditate in the Shri Shantisuri Maharajsaheb Guru Mandir. Amazing backstory of Maharaj Saheb. Then leave for Falna. Stay at Falna Suvarna Mandir Dharamshala.
Day 5: Catch train from Falna to Ahmedabad (Yoga Express). This we had confirmed tickets. Enjoy train journey with family, play cards and do some gappa. Reach Ahmedabad by 4 pm. Lunch + Dinner at nearest restaurant (Restaurant Sunrise recommended. Loved the food.) Catch Veraval express. Here comes the fun part. We had waiting tickets for all 8 people travelling (plus my two year old daughter). Learned five things about waiting tickets.
Five things I learned about waiting railway ticket:
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- If its online waiting ticket, then it gets cancelled automatically and one cannot board the train
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- Offline waiting works (but in case you had to cancel there is some relatively cumbersome process to do so. Also boarding station change is difficult in this case.)
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- In case of partial confirmation of ticket, everyone can board the ticket
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- Since we were 8 passenger with two tickets. One was cancelled as it was completely in waiting. Two tickets because railways only allow 6 passenger in one ticket.
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- Always help everyone with no expectation in return. As I had agreed to help get one parcel of my brother. He in turn helped us get one offline waiting ticket from Ahmedabad, which was not possible to get otherwise. Not possible because when we reached Ahmedabad, offline chart was prepared, post which we cannot get waiting ticket. So we had one person who booked two waiting tickets on our behalf and collected from it by hand.
What we didn’t consider is, 4 waiting tickets with 8 passenger + luggage 19 bags is going to one heck of a train journey…indeed it was a memorable train experience…
To cut things short (I think this post is already long enough…) we reached Pune in morning 8 am. Our uncle, aunts had to catch another train for Daund. They left. Then we moved out of the railway station to catch rickshaw. My parents left ahead. Just when my wife and I boarded into another rickshaw, she realised that her phone is missing…
I told her that you go ahead and went back to the platform. Checked everything, asked everyone. Asked the police station, and gave my mobile number. This phone was worth INR 25000. I have since then taken following action, lodged police complaint, replaced the sim, and placed a IMEI blocking request. Hoping that we would get our mobile phone back. Lot of people helped me in the course of what needs to be done to get the lost phone back. Thanking everyone for the same.
One more thing I missed:
Took a video of a woman who would be in her mid 60s or maybe 70s, who asked for work. She carried these 17 bags / luggage (video attached below) from Suvarna Dharamshala to Falna Railway station [around 1 kms]. It costed us INR 100 for her service (plus another INR 50 as tip. Tip because I was really impressed by her hard work). While I was paying this amount to the woman who worked and earned her money, (at that moment) there was a man who came to me and begged for some money. Instantly I replied: “Friend, look at this woman who just carried 17 bags on this wheel cart and earned her money. Don’t beg, work for your bread!” He looked down and left from there. Probably realising there was no answer to what I said…Momentarily, it struck me, [Realisation] that we all should make people earn their money. Else hard working people wont get their value and we wont have people who would want to work and earn their money…
To be continued…