Blogs from Maharashtra, India, Asia - page 12

I have been looking forward to Ellora and it didn't disappoint. We first visited the Jain temples which are the latest in date. These temples have many similarities with the earlier Hindu temples. In these temples the detail of the carving of the pillars stands out. There are urns and shields which look almost European in style. This is possibly due to some influence from Greece, though I might be wrong about that. The Hindu temples are the most impressive,particularly two caves. One has very large sculptures, cave 26. My particular favourite here was Ravenna lifting Mt Kailas. Unusually in this cave there is a Nataraja or dancing Shiva executed badly with wrong proportions. If it was the work of an apprentice, they would have failed that assignment. the biggest cave looks like a huge temple ... read more

We made it! We finally arrived in our last destination on this trip through India. To be honest, the 2 days following the night in hospital, all, Nina wanted to do is: leave India the fastest possible and fly back home. This has happened the first time ever. Normally, time is only flying by when we are travelling and we are always very sad when it is time to return. Nina had finally decided to continue the trip for 2 reasons: one was, not to spoil Markus his holidays and one was, that a trip back would have taken about 24 hours and is very stressful for the body. Taking things easier in India was a better option once she had put the emotions to the side. So arriving in Mumbai was kind of special for ... read more

It was a difficult route we had chosen. Going with public transport from Bijapur to Aurangabad is not common (needless to say that a Lonely Planet not even thinks about such an option). But we finally found a solution. Especially bad is such a long overnight trip, when exactly that day we both started with a light "colon clense". So all we hoped was that it did not turn worse. By train we left Bijapur around sunset. It was a 3 hour drive to Solapur. Solarpur seems to be a rich industrial city in Maharashtra. Suddenly houses looked much nicer and shops looked more expensive. We took a rickshaw to the private bus stand and first went to a nearby restaurant. We had 2 more hours to kill before our night bus left. Markus had a ... read more

After doing few short road trips around Pune, it was time to do one long road trip. Night riding on my Avenger was what I always wanted to do. Coincidentally one family event was coming up at my wife's native place Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh which is close to 900km from Pune. I thought this was a golden opportunity. So, I decided, let's plan for this road trip. There was no way my parents would have given me permission for this. I secretly started planning for this trip. I booked train tickets for my parents in such a way that they would leave at least 2 hrs before me. I had to lie about my availability for the family event due to workload at my office. Everything happened as per plan. As soon as my parents left, ... read more

Wow, it's been two months to the day since I've returned home from travels, and it almost feels like it was eons ago. I wish I had my field notebook next to me as I write this, but that's safely tucked away at home, alongside other souvenirs, field guides, travel guides, and undoubtedly at least one unpacked parcel. I'm almost finding it difficult to reflect on my time, especially after stumbling upon my old blogs from when I was in France (and hence the desire to link this entry to past travels). Re-reading those old thoughts gave me a glimpse back into a different person then, one who was clearly astounded by all the world had to offer, one who wasn't afraid to say any and all of whatever thoughts pop in my lil' ol' head. ... read more