Surviving a pilgrimage

One fine day last month I got the urge to visit Shirdi and Shani Shingnapur. As luck would have it, one of my colleagues was planning a visit to Shirdi too, so we joined 'forces' and me, my wife, my colleague and his siblings set out together in an SUV.
Trust me, you dont want to do more than 700Kms in 2 days in an SUV! The driver was a close relative of some F1 racing hero, and we were all planning our wills and last prayers. Luckily we reached in one piece.
As far as the pilgrim cities go, I'm now convinced that God left these places long ago. You look at all the commercialisation around the temples - the persistent selling, the crazy crowds of people trying to sell you all kinds of merchandise only serves to slam one fact hard into you-you're here to talk to God, and there are hundreds trying to play on your fears/wishes/dreams/aspirations/beliefs/ and make a fast buck. "Want to get an up-close darshan? Pay 2000" . Want to skip the 2hour waiting in line? Pay 1500".
At Shingnapur, you can take a darshan for free up close, but there will be innumerable touts telling you that you cannot go inside in your usual clothes, you need to take a dip first, buy oil and other assorted stuff. I stubbornly refused to indulge, and realised at the temple, that you can infact go upclose inside. All the rigmarole is required if you want to touch the diety (personified by a stone).
An incident at the Chisti tomb in Fatehpur Sikhri comes to mind....we listened patiently to the guy telling us that if you want to make a wish at the tomb, you should give a 'cloth' offering.
We said ok, we'll take one peice of cloth. Guess what that cloth cost? 1500 bucks!!!
I completely lost my mind. Here is a guy at a holy place, ripping people off. Why do we allow this?
You really think God would hang around such places?
At Shirdi, though I was at the temple at 4:45am, it was only around 6:45am that I was shoved and pushed in a line that passed in front the statue- thats the kind of following the place has. You get just half a minute of 'darshan' before you're unceremoniously asked to move move out!!
Why do we tolerate all this?
I think somehow we've decided that without pain there is no gain in a pilgrimage. The harder it is, the better the 'returns'.
I'd rather go to a quiet place where I can really communicate with the One, than go through something like this again.
Vivekanand's temple and Ramkrishna Mission in Kolkatta, Shri Akkalkot temple in Konkan come to mind as places I really liked for just letting me be.
I'm not sure If i will ever go to a commercial pilgrim center again. Its traumatic for me....and at the end of it, I ask myself - did I have to suffer this to earn my wish?