SHAME

The Winters are gone,

& the weather is becoming warm.

Two Months down,

Still  we wish to wear the hatred gown.

Fight, abuse, degrade, kill and dream to acquire fame,

But all you prove is to bring our very own Country to SHAME…..

#delhiriots #2020 #wherewestand #70yearsback #justhatred #communaldisharmony #breakingindia

GAGANGIRI MUTT OF GAGANGIRI MAHARAJ IN KHOPOLI

Gagangiri mutt

in Khopoli is a spiritual and sacred place where faith, belief,worship and devotion are present. It is popularly known as Gagangiri Maharaj Ashram as well. The Ashram is at the base of Sahayadri mountains and is built on over 7 acres of land. This monument of pilgrimage is preserved and is still remembered as GAGANGIRI MAHARAJ ASHRAM.

 Shri Gagangiri Maharaj was born as Shripad Patankar in patan district of Maharashtra. He took up Sanyas at the early age of seven. After following the path of Sanyas he roamed and travelled various places. He travelled far and near to the places like nepal,bhutan,mansarovar,gaurishankar,pashupatinath and finally returned to Almora.He even travelled Himachal Pradesh through the valley of Ganga. He is still remembered as a man of dedication and meditation.

Gagangiri Maharaj was a bodacious, bold and head strong yogi as well. A man with small and shrunken body structure, with long grey and grizzly hair, with his fingers and feet being food for the fishes ages ago. But the most important element was the sharpness on his face denoting mythological power within him. He was a yogi with huge followers of him who even today visit his 25 ashrams all over in Maharashtra. His followers include the rich, the poor and people from every walk of life.

His devotees from metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Pune visit the Maharaj’s Ashram in Khopoli. A long queue used to wait for the yogi to meet him and share their happiness and sorrow and problems with the Maharaj. At the Ashram in Khopoli he used to be seated on a swing full of flowers. Also with sculptures of tigers, peacocks and other animals beside him. And the main speciality of his Ashram is it does not have any walls in it and the devotee has to just take two steps to get into the Patalganga River.

Gagangiri Maharaj was said to be one of the legendary nine yogis of Maharashtra. The spiritual souls breathe his last on 4^th February 2008.His Samadhi is made in the mountains of sahayadris where even today people visit to worship. He is still remembered even today in the minds of his true followers.

DISCUSSION WITH THE FIRST CITIZEN OF KHOPOLI

 Want to know what was the ancient name of Khopoli?Who started the Karjat-Khopoli railway line?What was the original name of Shankar ka taalaab and who built it? Reading further will reveal the answers with the exuberant and lively facts of the place Khopoli. 

One evening I was discussing with my grandfather regarding the topic for my blog that who is the first citizen of Khopoli? I still remember that moment when my grandfather replied ‘Born with a golden spoon he is none other than Mr: Babuseth Mulla”.

             Casually attired  in a simple white Kurta and Lungi, a man with an oval shaped face,with his eyes full of compassion, with long ears denoting his sharpness,with a white neatly trimmed beard and most importantly with an ebullient smile on his face is the man with a kind heart sitting in his office is the one and only Mr: Babuseth Mulla…The First citizen of Khopoli. Our conversation commenced with Mr: Mulla’s life spent in his hometown Khopoli and how was Khopoli at that time?

“Khopoli jo thaa woh ek valley ke andar ek tamtamaate diye jaisaa tha”, he replied. It means Khopoli was like a lamp which used to shine between the valleys. During the era of British rule this place was known as ‘Campolie’as britishers used to take a nap at Khopoli before moving towards Lonavala ghat.He even specified that the very famous ‘Shankar ka taalaab’was constructed by Anandibai Peshwe  a woman who sold her gold bangles at that time to resolve the problems faced due to the shortage of water. After that the taalaab was named as ‘Kangan ka taalaab’and today it’s popularly known as Shankar ka taalaab as Bhagwaan Shankar’s mandir is built beside it. As said by Mr: Mulla they have been living in Khopoli from the generation of their forefathers. His father had consistently won the Presidentship in Khopoli before the arrival of Municipality means when there was Grampanchayat. He was the protagonist of the people in Khopoli.

Mr: Babuseth Mulla is the son of late Mr: Daudseth Mulla(D.G Mulla).Earlier there was even a lane entitled by Mr:D.G Mulla’s name. Right from his father’s eternity great personalities used to visit their place like familians. Mr: Babuseth Mulla told that the First Finance Minister of Central Government Mr: C.D Deshmukh used to visit their home like a familian.Mr:Babuseth Mulla was a notorious student of his time who was even punished sometimes by his professor Mr: Agarkar who used to teach them in the primary school of that period. He studied in Khopoli in Marathi medium till standard 4^th and later moved Pune for further studies in Urdu.

Another remarkable fact he revealed was about the industries which began to setup in Khopoli. With the primary and basic necessities available at a cheaper rate in Khopoli was a major profitable point for the industries. Big industries focused on Khopoli for establishing and commencing their factories and industrial business. Pepco was the first company which started here, thereafter Alta, Zenith,Ioc  came in and the last was Musco. This was how people came and made this place their home to live in.

Proceeding further are the goals and achievements of the extremely talented, the skillful, the genius and versatile man Mr: Babuseth Mulla .Its worthy and satisfactory to know that during his time when he became the president of Municipality in 1978 Mr Mulla’s first and foremost aim was to provide primary education to the children of his town. He built buildings for schools to make his people literate, constructed buildings in each ward and encouraged education, started the filtered water scheme which was formed but was not started so he commenced that water scheme in Khopoli, developed the roads, made a proper drainage system for the town and contributed a lot for Khopoli during his Presidentship. He said that when Indira Gandhi's I Congress Party was formed he was the first member of the party as Indira Gandhiji  arrived in Khopoli for the first time when she came in Maharashtra on her way to Pune.Mr:Mulla even put his effort and contribution to make Indira Gandhi's I Congress party popular even in Khopoli at that time.

I’d like to mention that he has won 2 gold medals in planning one from the district level and one from the central government. Also he has some certificates too as shown in the pictures above.

So above are the historic facts revealed after interacting with Mr:Babuseth Mulla-A man who is so generous and kind,so loving and sweet and not to forget a down to earth person with a huge and warm heart.