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Published: December 30th 2007
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Mumbai
Victoria station in Mumbai (now renamed of course...)
Anybody who as ever tried to take a photo of an interesting building anywhere in India knows what I mean with that title... It's just impossible to take it without the usual tangle of electricity, phone and who knows what kind of wires in front of it... Even in the pristine mountain environments there seems to be wires dangling around... Most probably not even used and leading nowhere in particular... Maybe put up, just to thwart us of taking that perfect photo...
Well enough of that... Ever been to the Ellora caves near the holiday season? If you are planning on doing it; Don't! Not that it isn't fun... You will certainly get a lot of attention... It seems that every school class from the furthers regions up in Ladakh all the way down to the tip of India down south, also visit during this time... And for the kids, you are far more interesting than some faded sculptures, no matter how hard the teachers might try... So we found ourselves having to take photo's of us and the class, and than with every individual kid in that particular class and of course with the teachers... Than think of doing
Mumbai
Wise words on a traffic display sign!
this times 50 and you get the general idea! Ah, I will be on many a school photo through out India...
Still the caves themselves were interesting, and at times we managed to escape the classes by cunningly hiding out in some dark and forgotten corner... Ellora consists of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain caves, all elaborately carved out of the rock 2000 or so years ago... You got to admire those monks... The carvings are amazing and the sheer magnitude of it all boggles the mind.... Well, perhaps not my mind, but it will no doubt boggle most minds... I'm just not the boggling mind type... But I was impressed...
Next we decided we hadn't had enough of caves and crowds, so we also went to visit the Ajanta caves, which are Buddhist caves, also carved out a long, long time ago... They differ from the Ellora caves in the fact that some of them still have the original frescoes on the walls and pillars... The detailing is flabbergasting as always, with scenes out of Buddha's life and other Buddhist stories and myth's painted on the walls... Add to that a crowd of Indian tourists (but strangely enough
Mumbai
Victoriana in Mumbai
not many classes) and you have the perfect mix of picture and sound! According to the Lonely Planet, you should avoid the weekends, because every Indian and their second cousin visits the caves too... They forgot to mention the third, fourth and fifth cousin and their respective second cousins... It was a festive gathering of people!
I shouldn't forget to mention our personal Peeping Tom, who visited us in our hotel in Jalgaon... Yes the staff it seemed were very eager to try to get a glimpse of flesh, so found every excuse possible to disturb us while we were taking showers or just laying in bed at night... To claiming to check our taps in the bathroom, had to be done when we were taking a shower (yes, they can hear the water running, but go on knocking and shouting to let them in, until you get enough and open the door to ask what is so important... ) or change the sheets, but not having any clean new sheets with which to change them... A last desperate attempt was made our last night when a ladder was put outside our door and we suddenly saw a head
Mumbai
Oval Maidan with the High Court and University buildings behind the trees...
peeping over the window panes above our door, one pane was taken out and put on to the window ledge (it must have been filthy thus not offering a good view of us)... However they must have been sorely disappointed as we were fully clothed watching some movie... By the time I had recovered from my laughing fit and went out to question the staff, they had scurried away... We left it at that...
So Christmas was spend among the devout Hindus of Nasik, closely guarding Tori's nose lest somebody chop it off! You can't be to careful in a place which is named after the chopped of nose of an Evil Demon King's sister... We splurged on a bottle of Indian wine, as Nasik is also the center of India's new wine industry... It wasn't worth the splurge, except for the fact that I have now tasted Indian wine... I also managed to contract my first case of Delhi belly in 8 month India... Battered, batter balls just don't sit well with my stomach... And I got my first case of hemorrhoids ever... It seems, that sitting a lot is one of the main culprits of those little
Ellora Caves
Kailasanatha Temple at the Ellora Caves
bumps on your ass... And I have been sitting a lot on uncomfortable bus seats on bumpy roads... Yes, Santa Claus was generous this year!
All this, put me in bed for a full day in Baroda, thus not being able to visit Champaner a 2 hour bus ride outside the city and a World Heritage Site... It will have to be done later... Once slightly recovered from the food poisoning, we took a bus to Palitana (more sitting, great for the hemorrhoid), a important Jain pilgrimage sight! The Jains have built about 800 or so temples on top of a hill, the only way to reach them is to climb 3572 steps or you can have somebody carry you up in a chair, if you feel like being colonial...
Palitana is amazing, the temples are some of the most intricate and beautiful I have seen in India and best of all, there are no pesky priest trying to extort money from you... No, they leave you alone and go about there business of cleaning the idols and helping the devout... In fact you will be greeted with a friendly smile and a hello from them... And as
Ellora Caves
Lakshmi with Elephants at the entrance of Kailasanatha Temple
you wander down the steps back into the dusty plains, a group of youngsters my accost you, insisting to put a red spot on your forehead and pour some holy water on your left foot (or was it the right one... don't remember) after which they will give you some money too! Yes you heard it! They give you money!! Another first in India, mostly you have to pay somebody money to get a blessing that you don't even want, here they pay you after blessing you! It was almost enough to convert me to Jainism... Almost... But not quite...
So now I am in Diu, where the prices for accommodation have gone up astronomically with the upcoming New Year's festivities but the beer is cheap... Tomorrow my parents will arrive and we shall celebrate the dawning of a new year together in this small slice of lingering Portuguese influenced India...
I wish you all a Happy New Year!
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Eelko
non-member comment
Great story and photo's dude. You should linger around the jain temples a bit longer and make some money... Have a great new years eve with your parents and take 'er easy dude!