Hotel Utsav Shirdi

... is so good at wearing her money belt though which had her passport in- we lost all our funny pictures though of Narinder Singh! Spent many an hour in the police station in Aurangabad where we posed great amusement and curiosity from all the officers.

When we checked our diaries and realised actually how much time we had left we decided to brave the cheap Indian airlines and fly south to the very tip of India .. and onto the last chapter of our trip!

... huts and small tent towns made up of sticks and blue tarps. Goats and dogs everywhere.

At the caves our driver drooped us off and told us not to talk to anybody. He was trying to protect us from the many vendors who mob the tourists as soon as they appear. From the parking lot it is a short ride on an electric bus that take you to the caves for a small fee. There weren't crowds of tourists - we were told that tourism is down here as ...

... get there. On the ride back to town we stopped to look at the crumbling walls and fortress towers that protected the side.

Back in town we got a feel for Auragabad. There isn't much to recommend it. It seems depressed and dirty compared to our travels in Kerala. There seems to be a very high ration of oxes and goats to people.

One thing Auragabad is known for is textiles. We asked our driver to take us to a ...

Daulatabad fort is located about 13 KM from Aurangabad on the way to Ellora. This fort has an elaborate defence system comprising of many gates, moat, canons and maze. The Menda (Ram) canon is among the largest canons in India. The dark maze is home to ...

... we showed everything.

He saw them and directed us to park the car beside the road and said in his very typical annoying accent “fine dena banta hai, bahut fine dena padenga, malum hai”.

We asked how much he replied “ 2-3000 lagenga, par chhodta nahi main, challan kaat ke deta hoon, court se chhudane ka”.

We didn’t have much cash with us. And the 1st thing we did was hide all the cash. Then we started to convince him to let us go ...

... will rise into plenty of joy and happiness, as soon as they climb the steps of my Mosque. I shall be ever active and vigorous even after leaving this earthly body. My tomb shall bless and speak to the needs of my devotees. I shall be active and vigorous even from my tomb. I am Ever living to help and guide all, who come to me, who surrender to me and who seek refuge in me. If you look at me I look at you. If you cast your burden on me, I shall surely bear it ...

... introduced to one of the Sadhus who was actually from England. He had given up his family and friends to follow this faith. He asked Dave about his work and about Lisa and where we had traveled so far. He explained that the leader of this faith was at the temple that day which was the reason for all the activity around the temple. He was 80-something years old and still traveled around the world to all the Akshardam temples. The Sadhu led Dave out into the courtyard, past the ...

... down and so no scaffolding was required. The best cave for me was cave number 10, called Viswakarma or Carpenters (Pic 19-26). It's called this because the ribs in the roof of the cave look like wooden beams. Each rib has a figurine at the end of it and there is a giant Buddha in there as well. Also impressive was the Kailasa Temple with its huge stone elephants and intricately carved central building (Pic 14-18). Some of the caves had bats in them, glad I had the rabies shot (Pic 1).

... the baby lion. It turned out she was there to promote "friendship day," a holiday where everyone around India expresses their gratitude to their friends. While Miss India was making her announcements, my cousin Tinu, being the great guy that he is, decided to embarrass me by telling the Dj that I happend to be a "good" dancer. Next thing I know my name is being announced on the loud speakers to come the center of dance floor and show them what I've got ...

... a problem in many parts of Mumbai with some areas without power for over three or four days. Candle light dinners soon lost their romantic nuances as was would often eat to a single flame set in the middle of the table. With nothing much to do and no where to go I found myself catching up on my sleep. We spent the next few days watching movies at the local cineplex. I struggled to make sense of the latest Hindi movies, but ...