Creeping in the Caves

---

NEW ADVENTURES AWAITED! Soon after I returned from Pune it was off to the Ellora and Ajanta Caves. These are massive collections of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples carved right out of the sides of mountains! First we went to Ajanta which has only Buddhist monasteries and temples. These were all carved on the face of one of the cliffs surrounding a beautiful horse shoe ravine. Some dated before christ but often times they were in the AD. It was so incredible, many of the ruins still had the wall paintings thanks to a rule that prohibits flash photography. But also because of that rule all of my pictures inside the temples are very blurry and look like I was swinging the camera round as I took the picture. We hired a guide but all I could really understand was "Ma'am over here ma'am this way please ma'am" which he said when ever I tried to wander off and get a picture of something else, or if I wasn't following fast enough, or basically just constantly. Between caves there were off and on torrential downpours that didn't even make a dent in the empty rivers of Maharastra but I am talking ran so huge you could take pictures of it and temporary waterfalls cascaded down steps kind of rain. Once our guide was done he mysteriously alluded to a sleeping Buddha in the last cave which we promptly set off for soon as the rain gave one of its temporary recesses. After a few attempts we made it to the temple with the sleeping Buddha. He was in fact laying down and sleeping and that was about it, but it was a pretty incredibly carving. I am here to report that Buddha does not snore. On the way back out the rain was even worse but while taking cover at one point there were some Indians who wanted pictures of us and took a movie on their cell phone. I stuck out my tongue and then did the awkward moment dance which they got a kick out of. On the way into Ajanta caves there was a swarm of people selling items that surrounded the car soon as we got there (white people smell like money and vendors know we are coming from a mile away) . One guy was trying o give me a crystal so that I would remember his shop and I thought he was trying to get it into my hands so that I would have to buy it. He tried to set it on my hands and I jerked them away and down went the crystal so I actually wound up with 3 free smaller crystals. They do just actually give you little geodes and crystals like free samples. Of course they are a little less benign than the free sample chicken guys at the mall but it was still pretty cool because I had no problem barreling through them to leave and not buying any of their crummy tourist kitsch. That night we stayed in a cottage for about $50 a night split 5 ways that had an incredible view of Ellora caves as soon as you stepped out the door. The next day I had a pretty awesome ethnic breakfast of Batata Wada and Alu Patar which is basically a potato ball and a pancake stuffed with potatoes and unknowingly to me when I ordered them onions ><. This was not really a big change from my diet at the pilgrim center considering they basically stuff us with potatoes and rice. I basically eat salads and rice because I don't consider it worth stretching myself to eat deep fried veggies that are technically the Indian cuisine back at the pilgrim retreat. Any way like a dingle bat I forgot to charge my camera that night so I don't have many pictures of Ellora even though it was incredible. I rubbed the bellies of all seven of the reincarnations of Buddha and sat in several gigantic Buddha laps. Also a man illustrated how in cave number two the chambers were designed to reverberate the chanting for Buddha. The most incredible cave was cave 16 which was not attached to the mountain but was a Hindi temple full of chambers, carvings and statues. This building had two levels and balconies on all of the surrounding cliff face. I didn't climb one level of stairs because they were completely dark and smelled faintly of urine but I went and looked at every other level of this temple. Yesterday, which was the day after returning from Ellora, we got to go into Merazad which was where Meher Baba lived in the final years of his life and where the remaining Madali (disciples) live. I got to meet Mehru and Katy. Katy wanted to know if I was married then told me not to worry Baba would send me a man of good character and not to worry about the looks because character was important and he must love Baba. I think this is a kind way of saying she foresees an ugly man in my future 😉. I don't think she understood what I meant when I said I am only 19 considering that is well beyond the marriageable age in India. Anyway after that it was into town where I finally began my collecting of Indian clothing. I bought one ready made shirt and two punjabi cloth sets that I will take to a tailor today to make into punjabi outfits. One it black white and red covered in designs while the other is yellow orange and red and looks like fire. The second set was expensive but I saw it the first day and haven been thinking about it since then. This morning I went to the pumpkin house and we made butterflies and learned about colors. A lady who is an ESOL teacher came with me and did a great job. Well pictures later, now is lunch ^_^.

---

Comments

[Courtney]

Are these the caves you showed me online?? It sounds awesome!! Yay giant Buddahs! ^_^

[Nate]

I can never think of titles
I want to come!

[anonymous]

that cave sounds pretty much amazing

[Che]

haha, you get an ugly man!!!!