Secunderabad airport as the sun sets
I arrived at this hotel in Ellora at 5am, and I woke up to this view!
one of the many enormous langoors around these parts
Ellora-- there are Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples/monasteries carved into these rocks-- this is one of the Jain meditation rooms--let out a note and it'll come back around tenfold in your ears.
up above the Jain caves
Ganesha.
ahhh the freedoms of being alone! i'd almost forgotten.
women offer their bangles
random indian family who wanted me to take a picture of them.
i think those are cakras behind the person
jade invasion
siva busting out some seriously crazy moves on the dance wall
nandi the cow
part of cave 16, actually a huge temple, Temple Sailash, the biggest most elaborate part of the Ellora caves--- it was actually carved out of the rock in one huge piece. the sun was setting--
siva lingam
carved moon
buddha brain sprouts
back to the caves the next day--
where the first buddhist monks probably ate din din
small, simple Buddhist meditation cells. many of these everywhere.
wowww Buddha-- this was reconstructed from the wooden frame but woowwww. don't know if this shot captured the crazy feeling of that ceiling.
the twelve Buddhist Goddesses
...and in came the exodus of indian school boys
jade+crystal+malakite= the indian flag but better
Vijay my new friend! (trying to look cool. really not like that.) He's the one who showed me around the caves out of kindness and helped me get a good cheap place to stay.
i love the river goddesses. Ganga and Yamuna.
my new friend Musa from the Congo. Quite the talker.
i got invited to dinner at Vijay's family's house. i got there and the power was out, his mother was cooking by candlelight, i helped her peel garlic,
she warned that my fingers would burn my eyes
Rani is 8 years old and looks 15. She giggles a lot, likes to wear makeup... she covered my arms in henna, painted my fingernails, toenails, ran a comb through my hair and laughed at all my knots (it had been 2 years....)
no words.
i wish i'd gotten her wrinkles-- -they are smiley and amaaaazing
Sunday already. Took the bus to Daulatabad Fort on the way back to Aurangabad.
This fort is a ground fort and a hill fort combined. There are so many layers of defense it is crazy.
Item 1. Many many cannons.
Item 2. Secret passageways to secret gardens.
(Really. I just wandered here and found myself a secret garden with a secret well.)
Item 3. Fortified walls.
Item 4. Colorfully clad women keeping watch.
Item 5. Tunnels (The real legit tunnels were pitch dark with different sized stairs and holes to fall to your death from-- but I couldn't get pictures of that)
Item 6. Water (gotta stay alive)
Item 7. A pool to practice swimming in case escape is needed. See Item 8.
Item 8. Moat
Item 9. Very steep climb up a hill.
Item 10. Pray to Parvati.
Item 11. Watchtower
See Item 1.
Made it to the top of the hill fort, huffing and puffing
and paying respects to the tomb of Swami something...
See Item 1.
Final and possibly most important line of defense: Langoors! I was zooming in to catch this one surveying for enemies and didn't even notice the one climbing through the barbed wire right in front of me. I guess distraction was this guy's tactic.
Back in Aurangabad with Musa, after a delicious cheap lunch (210 rupees altogether) we said our ta-tas
I sat across from a wonderful deaf man on the train and we exchanged gestures, smiles and drawings.
The sun was setting.
I wanted to catch a shot of my henna in the warm evening light.
goodbye for now.
