Day 7, Ellora [Monday 10th December 2007]
Previous day: Day 6, Aurangabad [Sunday 9th December 2007]
Next day: Day 8, Ajanta [Tuesday 11th December 2007]
"Mr. England! Mr. England! Please, one photo?"
This is a question I will get used to today. I will be asked many, many times to pose with a group of excitable young Indian men. I will stand in the middle of the group, everybody's arms down by their sides, instead of around each other, just a group of us standing there, individually. We don't even pose in front of a landmark or tourist attraction, anything recognisable that might make the photo memorable. We just pose wherever they found us, and came up to ask politely, "Please sir, just one photo?" Occasionally they will gesture towards Kate and say "Her?'
It's very funny to be so in demand like this. The first few times we were so surprised, and after that it became an amusing distraction on our way around. I stand there in the middle of them, and Kate dos too, sometimes, if she's in the mood and the boys aren't too leery. We wait while they wind on their enormous 35mm film cameras, then we smile and shake hands, and they ask us from which country? Then I ask, in Hindi, how they are, and usually they laugh and sometimes they reply tiike hai. Sometimes we ask each other's names.
Today we meet Sanjay and his friend, a group from within Maharashtra, a group of Muslim boys who call me Mr. England, and a precocious young schoolgirl called Geeta.
This all took place at Ellora, where we were visiting the World Heritage site of ancient, carved and painted caves dating back about 1400 years. It a 45 minute sweaty bus ride from Aurangabad. Some of the caves are truly astonishing. There are a mix of Hindu and Buddhist caves. The main Hindu site, Kailash Temple - number 16 on your map - is a huge 20 metre high temple carved out of the hillside. Everything in this temple is hewn from a single piece of rock. The level of detail and intricacy raises questions about how they managed to achieve such a feat. Did they work from some sort of plan? How did they get the angles and measurements so uniform. They moved 200,000 tons of rock to make it. It's 3 stories high, flanked by giant elephants and 17 metre high monoliths and surrounded by paneled corridors. It's a work of art, as well as the art of workmanship.
Stretching to the right are 15 Buddhist caves, whose austerity bestows a sense of calm on the hilltop setting. Many of the caves have a central room dominated by a massive statue of the Buddha, seated and meditating, or occasionally teaching. It's really nice to go into one of these dark rooms and find yourself alone in the presence of one of these figures. I try to imagine the sense of peace the guy who made it was trying to achieve.
The atmosphere here is very friendly, and although it's disconcerting being stared at all day everybody had a smile when we said hello.
Back in Aurangabad, after a cramped bus journey home during which Kate gave her seat up for a boy with a bandage around his face, we go back to Kailash for dinner, as it was so good last night. Kate liked that it was full of families and kids. The kids here have got cheeky air about them, and lots of them enjoy staring at us or creeping up to our table and laughing.
So, jeera rice, paneer palak, dal tadka, roti, lassi and fruit salad, which is really some fruit, covered in ice cream, jelly and nuts. The meal comes to Rs. 206. And it's the best pudding I've had so far. It felt like my birthday!
Next day: Day 8, Ajanta [Tuesday 11th December 2007]
Previous day: Day 6, Aurangabad [Sunday 9th December 2007]