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Published: January 29th 2014
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Dec 23 2013
"If I had wings, no-one would ask me should I fly The bird sings, no-one asks why I can see in myself wings as I feel them If you see something else, keep your thoughts to yourself, I'll fly free then" Peter Yarrow and Susan Yardley
Inspired by a fellow traveller, I had decided to head for Gujarat, a state of India bordering Pakistan and the Arabian Sea. I had never been before and it sounded full of adventures off the beaten track.
I was all packed up and ready to go when a French guy staying in my guest house in Pushkar asked if he could come. This was pretty spontaneous as he had previously said he was staying put for some days before taking off to get to Pune (way further south beyond Mumbai). He also had a bike (but not a Bullet – a Honda) and when he saw me packed and keen to leave he also got the Gujarat bug. It's always nice to ride with someone so......
Pushkar was in the deep throws of winter. That morning the sun did not show –
just fog and cold. It felt good therefore to be escaping south to warmer climes. We underestimated the cold bite in the air and quite soon we were freezing as we headed off through southern Rajasthan. At a
chai stop we inserted old newspaper under our jackets to try and keep the wind out. Partially effective.
We stopped for the night in Nathdwara and checked out the Vishnu temple early next morning before again heading off. It was just too cold and so after 20 kms I pulled over in a small place for some warmth in the sun. Little did I realise that this place was the site of a 1,400 year old Shiva temple. We started to explore while we waited for the 10.30 am opening time to see the temple. We wandered to the outskirts of the village over a rise and were completely gobsmacked. There we found a gorgeous bank of stone ghats going down to a clean lake. The sun bathed the place and we just dawdled around the edges observing the many aspects of 'quiet and slow': water buffalo, goats, people going about their morning washing, birds, and the generally
shanti vistas.
Back through the old village over the hill to the temple. By this time a tourist bus had arrived so we lined up to be awed at the intricate and ancient carved figures adorning the temple complex. When I revisited the place with absolutely no tourists in sight a months later and had again entered a smaller Krishna temple at the side of the main Shiva temple, an old Brahmin stopped me in the courtyard and asked "did you really look? The carvings are a book of life - everything is there - instructions on how to do all things: cooking, farming, making loving, .." and so on. I went back and really looked. The carvings were indeed so intricate and really were an instruction on life
Over an hour later and we felt refreshed and warm enough to continue the ride towards Gujarat. I was smiling.
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Michael
non-member comment
an observation
HELL YEAH!