During one of the discussions over drink, Guri suggested that we should take one ride, which will have a total different angle or would say a diverse ride. Why not do some divine Ride Yatra? In Maharashtra, Ashtavinayak Yatra is considered to be the most holiest & effective in fulfilling the desires of its devotees after Pandharpur and then it was decided we take this ride.

The following are the eight places where the eight temples are located; Ozar, Theur, Pali, Mahad, Morgaon, Ranjangaon, Lenyadri, and Siddhatek. Out of these eight places, Ozar, Theur, Morgaon, Ranjangaon and Lenyadri are in Pune district. Pali and Mahad are in Raigad district whereas Siddhatek falls under the Ahmednagar district.

5:15 am – Yash, Yatin with wife Vaijayanti, and myself were waiting at Vashi toll Naka for others to join us. Guri his wife and Daughter Simran were equally prompt to be soon joined by Manoj with Sandeep, his pillion. As there was no sign of second team reaching till 6:00, we decided to move and the first batch of the devotees rolled. Break of Dawn and we were cruising through Palm Beach Road humming a Marathi song from the Film “Ashtavinayak” in the praise of the Lord. Even the pain takes the form of God's blessings and that’s exactly been our feelings when Bruce fixed the broken Clutch Cable of Manojs’ bike at CBD. Bruce, though little upset for not waiting for him, was smiling as we just could not fix the Clutch Cable and had to wait for him. Running 2 hrs. behind schedule, we decided to reach Pali [Ballaleshwar] first, instead of Mahad [Vardavinayak]. The 8 kms stretch to Pali after Nagothane is full of greenery with equally bad roads. Thanks to the torrential rains the entire Maharashtra received this year.

Pali is a spiritually awakened village. The image of Lord Ballaleshwar is sitting on a stone throne, facing east and its trunk is left turned. The only self emerged Ganapati who is dressed like a priest. After offering prayers and taking blessings we headed towards Mahad, which is near Khopli at a distance of 34 kms. There is a straight road to Khopoli from Pali through the industrial belt and then Mahad [5 Kms] NH-4. The second Ashtavinyak temple after Pali, which is in Raigad District, is Mahad [Vardavinayak]. Varadvinayak (the bestower of boons) was found by Shree Dhondu Paudkar in 1960 A.D. in a lake. Vardavinayak is in sitting position with the trunk turned left. Since the entire Maharashtra was in festive mood of Ganapati Festival, there were fewer crowds in this temple too. A quick “darshan” of “Lord Vardvinayak” and further march to our next destination. Our next destination was Ozar which is in Pune District, and this time we were to cover almost 100 + Kms. It was past noon we left Mahad, and through Khopoli-Lonavala-Talegaon we all reached Chakan at 4:00 pm already hungry, and it was time for lunch, a late lunch. Ride from Talegaon till Chakan was bliss. Riding through Bhor Ghat towards Lonovala, is a nightmare. One should really thank people who made Express Highway and totally ignored the NH-4. Craters and Pot Holes are the only visible things and one can keep searching for the roads. Testing time for Rider and the Machine as well.

Ozar is 60 Kms from Chakan. Chakan-Manchar-Rajgurunagar-Narayangaon [42 Kms] Narayangaon-Ozar [18 Kms]. There are two routes to reach Ozar one is through Junnar and the other one, bypass Junnar. We took the later route. Chakan-Narayangaon region is blessed with many rivers, which makes this entire area rich in crops like, Sugarcane, Onions, Grapes, Custard Apple and all kind of Vegetables. For information; the major Vegetable and Fruit Vendors and wholesalers in Mumbai, who actually rule Crawford Market and APMC market in Vashi, are from this region. Chakan-Manchar-Rajgurunagar was the stretch where we all just blasted our cylinders to clock 80-90 kph. I tried doing 105 kph at one point but controlled myself immediately after seeing one sign board “Gati Paar Niyantran Rakho”. Another hurdle to ride on this road after dark was butterflies, moths, and dragonflies. The entire square area was covered with these tiny insects that were on a suicide mission. [Though an Impish Monk; I killed 10 of them] head on collision!! It was 8:00 pm when we reached Ozar after a stony ride of 18 Kms from Narayangaon in the dark. After checking in at Dharmashala, [Tariff Rs. 300/- for a big room which can accommodate 15 persons] and quick fresh up, riders once again turned devotees.

Shri. Vigneshwar of Ozar is believed to be "Swayambhu” as was not found or sculpted by human hands. The temple was built somewhere during 1833. The temple is famous for its huge Deepmala's and its Golden-Dome. The most beautiful and cleaned places amongst the Ashtavinayak temples. The temple even has an automatic Coconut cutting machine and nobody is allowed to litter the place, infact nobody would!! The Devasthan Trust provides unlimited veg. Food at a minimum rate but our guys preferred to relish on a South-Indian Thali in a restaurant. 11:00 pm, 14 hrs of ride and now time to meditate zzzzZZZ. Three Places visited – Pali-Mahad-Ozar

Ozar - 5:30 am – Bags loaded and ready to saddle with a surprise in store. It just started down pouring with giant sparks in the sky followed by BOOMS of thunder. Clouds had changed their robe from white puffy linens to dark shades. Our flashes of inspiration was slowly turning into lull silence as we have yet to cover 5 more places with a total distance of 300 Kms and there was no sign of rains stopping. Lord Vigneshwar himself intervened and ordered “The Lord Of Rains” to stop this nonsense immediately and give way to his children. NO WAY ONE CAN DISOBEY. We rolled our Bikes in a take off position and kicked for start. STOP, somebody yelled. What Happened? - Sachin is in trouble. His bike is just not ready to spark. Almost everybody tried their skills to kick-start the bike but in vain. Time was just passing off with no sign of luck. I saw Rea [Sachin’s wife] quietly leaving the place and heading towards the temple once again. Might be this time praying for the bike. But here, the situation was under Bruces’ control and after a little struggle the smile was once again seen one everyone’s face. Beep Beep – Beep Beep Beep.

9:30 – We left Ozar and started riding towards Lenyadri, our next destination. Ozar-Junnar [12 Kms]Junnar-Lenyadri [13 kms]. The roads were not that bad and we could easily cruise at 50 kph and reached Lenyadri at 10:00. “Shree 'Girijatmaj” of Lenaydri is the only temple of the Ashtavinayak, which is on a mountain and is set in a Buddhist cave-temple. Legend says that, the place has become sacred due to God's presence as a child here and also, Lord’s thread ceremony was performed here. This temple is located on the Lenyadri hills and one has to climb steps to reach the temple. The entire temple is built out of stone. All the caves on Lenaydri mountain have been declared as “National Heritage Site”. I really felt sad for Yash and Yatin for not climbing this easy trail, and preferring to stay down. They were the only two who were deprived of Lord’s Darshan. I am sure Vaijayanti must have prayed for Yatin. One has to be a bit careful while climbing these steps, as our ancestors are just ready to snatch anything from you, if you are not alert. Manoj has clicked some cool pics of these mountain monkeys.

12:00 pm – Next destination – RanjanGaon. [Mahaganpati] Lenaydri-Junnar-Narayangaon-Manchar-Chakan [60 Kms] Chakan-Shikrapur [32 Kms] Shikrapur-Ranjangaon [15 Kms]. Off late I have realized that more stops you take while riding more is the delay and that is precisely the reason we took 4-½ hrs to reach Ranjangaon covering 110 Kms. We just stopped after Narayangaon at Reliance Petrol Pump for refueling and two more halts of 15 minutes each. We took a left turn from Chakan for Shikrapur and thereafter again a left turn for Ranjangaon. We were running short of time, and four more temples to visit, which further resulted in breaking the chain of group into three groups. Once again Yatin’s bike was overheated and had to stop for cooling it down. Rajangaon, though situated next to Pune-Aurangabad highway, one can easily miss the place, as there is neither Signboard nor any milestone before it. I had to stop to ask someone as to which place is this just opp. Ranjangaon.

The Maha Ganpati of Ranjangaon is the most powerful representation of Lord Ganesh. Maha Ganpati is depicted as having eight, ten or twelve arms. It is after invoking this form of Ganpati that Shiva vanquished the demon Tripurasura and so he is also known as Tripurarivade Mahaganpati. The temple of Mahagapati is built during the Madhavrao Peshwa regime. By the time we all finished our darshan it was 6:30 pm and already dark. We had yet to cover 3 more places and a distance of 150+ Kms. 25 Thevoor + 57 Morgaon + 65 Siddhatek. I was in utter confusion, and have lost all hopes of completing the Yatra as planned. I also asked the Temple Priest whether it is ok if we break this Yatra and do it some other time. The priest gave confidence and recited one Sholaka from Bhagwat Geeta to me “Do not yield to unmanliness, O my son. Have Faith - Shake off this faint heartedness and ride”. Once again Bruce and Sachin showed the confidence of completing this Yatra and decided to break the group in to two. One will ride through Thevoor and reach Morgaon in the night itself, whereas the second group consisting Guri, Yatin and myself will stay back at Thevoor and joing the first group early morning the next day. Thevoor is 25 Kms from Rajangaon via Shikrapur. One needs to be extra careful while riding on this road especially during nights, as due to construction work in progress, there are no signboards guiding the directions and the roads are equally bad. Thanks to one Tanker, which became my pilot vehicle, upto Shikrapur otherwise it would really have been difficult to ride.

An east-facing image of Chintamani-Ganesha of Thevoor, is enshrined in this temple which has interesting features such as gold inlays. This temple is closely associated with the Maratha ruler-Madhavrao Peshwa. Every evening bhajan and kirtan is recited in this temple.

Day 3: 5:30 am. Thevoor-Morgaon distance is 57 Kms. We took a right turn after Oorlee-Kanchan on Sholapur National Highway to reach Jejuri [one more devotional place which has a temple of Lord Khandoba]. One can also take a right turn from Chauphoola which is 22 Kms ahead of Oorlee-Kanchan to reach Morgaon. 7:00 am – We were at Morgaon just to see our first batch ready to gallop to the next destination. According to the legend; Lord Ganpati took birth as Mayureshwar riding a peacock and hence the name Moreshwar. As per shashtra it is believed that one should start the "Ashtavinayak" yatra from Morgaon and again finish it here. Too difficult to strictly follow. 10:00 am – Through Chaupula-Daund, once again the entire team assembled together at Siddhatek, which is 65 Kms from Morgaon. The Siddhivinayak shrine marks Lord Ganesh’s appearance on the battlefield. Idol's folded legs have Riddhi-Siddhi sitting on its lap while the face of the idol looks calm and peaceful. The boat ride to reach the other side of the river where the temple is located will remembered as a memorable one. Yash and Yatin struggling to get into the boat was a sight one just can’t miss. 11:00 am - Crisis, trial after tribulation, our firmness to hold our ground in righteousness, and to ride and emerge victorious was the flash that sparked once again on everyone’s face as Bruce announced the conclusion of “Ride of Faith - Ashthavinayak”