My desire to visit Shibpur first sprouted when I read the wonderful blog written by Sai devotee Sowmya Hebbarji and then the upon seeing a picture of the life-like fiber glass statue of Shibpur Saibaba I was convinced that somehow Baba will fulfill my earnest desire to see him at Shibpur. After a lot of planning and coaxing, my father along with a dear friend, a Sai devotee and trustee of a Sai Temple in Hyderabad, agreed to join me. On October 27th, 2010 we all met up at the Shamshabad airport to board our Kingfisher flight to Kolkatta. Upon entering the plane and looking for dad and my seat I realized that we had been upgraded to business-class. I could not believe my eyes and checked again with the flight stewardess. The best guess seemed to be that the flight was oversold and hence dad and I were moved to business-class. My surprise knew no bounds. The first thought that hit mewas Baba decided to fly us in real style. Unfortunately, my friend did not get upgraded and since he was kind enough to accompany me all the way to Shibpur leaving his business, I gladly offered him the seat. Within two hours we landed at the Kolkatta airport and met up with the car Amitji had arranged for us.
After about four to five hours we arrived at Shibpur. We were welcomed by Amitji’s cousin and made to sit in a lovely circular room made of Bamboo and a thatched roof. Water was served and after a few minutes Amitji arrived and introduced himself. I was very excited to meet him. Having spoken to him for so many months over the phone, a face-to-face meeting was a welcome change. We trio were introduced to board members which included Samity secretary Probhat Jodhar, the president and other trustees. Then, a gentleman was called- he was considered about 80% handicapped- Amitji told us that the room we were sitting in was built by the efforts of this gentleman. Having sat there for just a few moments, I began to feel a wonderful tranquility of some sort. My mind was getting calmer by the minute. But all the while my eyes were focused on the little thatched room where the Shibpur Statue was kept. Then we were offered some lunch of Pooris, Potato Sabji, Date chutney, Daal Tarka, rice and not to forget a plate full of Bengali sweets. After a sumptuous meal we were talking about the temple finances, and the current state of affairs and next steps. All the while I was thinking “Let’s talk all this later now I want to see Baba.” Just then Amitji said that Baba will see us only at 5:00 pm. I tired real hard to convince him that I could not wait so long but none of that worked so, I said alright Saburi it is. I had carried with me four dresses for Baba – three for the small statue– red stain with a golden border, blue satin with a silver and blue border and turmeric yellow with a hunter green border and for the large marble statue a lovely rust bordered satin cloth. I handed those over to Amitji.
It was always my desire to feed Baba guvar-ki-Sabji. I have a particular dish that I make using a masala I pick from the Indian store in the USA. As funny as this seems, I actually carried a bottle of this masala with me to India so that I could make my guvar for Baba. I had made the guvar and some bagara rice packed and froze it a few hours before I left home. I handed these over to Amitji’s wife Piyali (a wonderful person and a noble soul) and asked her to offer it to Baba if it was still in mint condition else to get rid of it. She took the containers away and promised to offer it up at Baba’s dinner time. My travel companions swore it was really ridiculous to carry food but I heard Baba was in Shibpur and I had to take my offering.