Peace of mind is what most of us look for and peace of mind is what you get when you visit the Ajmer-e-Sharif Dargah – the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.
Resting place of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, also known as Gharib Nawaz (Benefactor of the Poor) is one place I had wanted to visit for a long time and visiting it eventually meant year 2012 could not have ended on a better note. And what’s better, I also visited Pushkar, the Land of Brahma and prayed at the Brahma temple, an opportunity not many get in their lifetime.
Reaching Ajmer-e-Sharif Dargah
We started off our last trip of 2012 at 6am from Gurgaon and after a 350 km and 7 hour road journey we reached Ajmer-e-Sharif 
Dargah at around 1pm. The road trip was enjoyable as usual and reaching out in time meant (it is open from 9 am to 5 pm only) we could spend as much time as we wanted at the Dargah itself.
After you enter Ajmer, you can find the Dargah through the road signs or by asking people. The roads closer to Dargah are narrow and there is lot of traffic, but that happens around such places, so don’t worry too much about that.
Things to keep in mind
If you are taking your car, there are few things that you need to know. Close to the Dargah, you’ll find parking space in private properties of shopkeepers and others. They charge you Rs 100 for 2 hours and they expect you to be back in 2 hours. You’ll have to leave your belongings including camera and car keys with them. If you come late, they’ll ask for more money.
From there you can walk up to the Ajmer-e-Sharif Dargah, though auto-rickshaw people will tell you it is very far off and charge you Rs 150/-(you can bargain and get them down to 100, at least we got one at this rate, though we walked eventually), you should walk as it’s a 10 min walk through the bazar and you can enjoy that too.
Ajmer-e-Sharif Dargah Committee members help out
We met this gentleman, well he walked up to us, and gave us a few guidelines and met us in the Dargah. We were told by our friends that he’ll ask for money later on, but when we offered him same in the end, he politely refused. Anyhow, he took us around the Ajmer-e-Sharif Dargah and well, that was very helpful. The high point of the praying was I could touch and kneel down at “the mazar” and felt elated to no end. And yes, if you want to donate, you can do so at the Ajmer-e-Sharif Dargah Committee office and also get a receipt of the same.
Qawwali recital should not be missed
I wanted to listen to qawwali and well as luck would have had it, the qawwali guy turned up in time and was going to play at the exact spot we were sitting at. So that meant we had to move and it also meant we were closest to him.
After praying there, we came out and had our lunch right outside in a restaurant. The food they served was really nice and reasonably priced too. In the end, it was a memorable visit and did bring a “lot” of peace of mind.
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