india...
accross the deccan to goa and madhya pradesh
lulled by the song of gita govinda
accompanied by shiva and parvathi, krishna and radha
enchanted by temples and beaches, sarees and bindhis
enticed by spices and chais
confronted by bureaucracy and poverty
potholes and tired souls
a short embrace of mother india
and a closer encounter with karma
mumbai, maharashtra
aurangabad, ellora caves & ajantha caves, nothern maharashtra
arambol beach & mapusa, north goa
indore & omkareshwar, western madhya pradesh
travel summary 18 december 2004 - 10 january 2005:
mumbai, maharashtra
i arrived in mumbai with great anticipation to all the stories of horror shoved onto my face ever since i told my friends i was going to india. i was lucky to be picked up at the airport by a friend's driver (wow.. a luxurious start to a backpacking trip!) and was taken straignt to the red shield house, salvation army mumbai where i had to literally fight for a room in the middle of the night. i managed to find a bed but without a pillow. that was the start of my many more nights in india.
mumbai to aurangabad, nothern maharashtra
after days of deliberation and before i got carried away just walking the streets of mumbai, i got a ticket to go to aurangabad to visit the ellora and ajantha caves. miraculously bumbed into lucia just on the day to depart and found out she was going in the same direction. we agreed to meet up which was the start to the most fun travelling in ellora and ajantha for the next 4 days. what would i have done without her!
aurangabad, ellora caves & ajantha caves
stayed at the yha youth hostel in aurangabad where the stern warden sharmar repeatedly reminded us that curfew was at 10 pm. oh well for Rps 40.00 a night who would complain although we could hardly shower properly considering the conditions of the bathroom.. oh goddess! we auspiciously visited the ellora caves, a series of 34 buddhist, hindu and jain rock-cut caves dated back millions of years ago.. something like 1000 a.d. i especially loved the ajantha caves, 30 buddhist rock-cut caves arranged around a horse-shoe shaped rock gorge along the waghore river! hhmm certainly made me felt i was sitting beside buddha or something.. they were dated from 200 b.c. mind you!
pune, southern maharashtra
after aurangabad, i visited pune, a town 3 hours south of mumbai, just for the sake of it, and also taking the opportunity to visit the world famous osho international ashram, where many people claimed that the energy of the maroon robed gatherings in the ashram will lead one to the self-righteous path of discovering oneself and ones purpose in life.. or somethinging to that crap!!
mapusa & arambol beach, north goa
i dragged myself 12 hours south of maharashtra to goa in the name of new year! spent 4 scorching days at the arambol beach living on a makeshift roof-top bamboo-partitioned rooms behind the security of a curtain for a door! looking back, i have no clue how i managed that.. stumbling to bed to the sound of snorting pigs every midnight in the name of goa rave party! oh the goddesses must have blessed me tremendously.. we celebrated the new year of 2005 amidst the consternation of any afterquakes following the boxing day tsunami in asia, and the guilt that we should not be partying at all ..
indore & omkareshwar, western madhya pradesh
after the mad partying in goa, i travelled up north again, 18 hours north of mumbai into western madhya pradesh, arriving first into indore then finally into omkareshwar, an island at the confluence of the holy narmada and kaveri river. if you somehow cannot arrive at varanasi, then omkareshwar is the perfect substitute, as the little island is famous for the endless hindu pilgrims arriving everyday to pay homage to the jyothirlingam at the shri omkar mandhata temple, getting blessings and doing their daily puja at the steps of the ghat to the holy river.
HOME
[email protected]
updated february 2005