JUNGLE WALK AND BHUDDIST CAVES
It is 4.10pm this Wednesday afternoon and it is hot! Around 30C. Every so often the gift of a breeze provides a fleeting respite from the heat of the sun. It whispers in and as suddenly as it came, it is gone. My face becomes warm again. I pinch myself – Is this really me, sitting here in these ancient Bhuddist caves, leaning against rocky walls, and marvelling at the ‘ancientness’ of this place. I think back to this time last year, this time two years ago, this time five years ago. Did I ever think I would be spending such an afternoon? Well, yes, I did think about it, but it was a dream along with a mind full of other dreams. A dream that ‘one day’ we would live in India. Spend more than two or three weeks holiday. And so yes, this IS me – living the dream! Wild and Simple.
The simple is that I am sitting with shoes off, cooling down with a fresh lime water bought from the last stall on the road which leads to the caves entrance. Being a true Brit, or perhaps the Indian in me, I also have a ‘thermos of tea’ which is very refreshing despite the heat. Simple pleasures.
The Wild is that me, myself, I, am sitting here, resting in the Kanheri Bhuddist caves, sitting on rocks where thousands of years ago the feet of the monks walked every day, as they went about their prayer, study and meditation. Within the Sanjay Ghandi National Park near Borivali suburb of Mumbai, these caves are superb.
Cut into the massive expanse of basalt rocks, Kanheri is a Sanskrit word for Black Mountain, and there are around 109 caves – some are empty, whereas other have the most wonderful carvings. The caves were part of an ancient Bhuddist monastery which dates back to the 1st Century. They were created for practical reasons, to enable the Monks to study and meditate.
Each cave has been built with its own water system, to collect and filter water, the filter still being visible today. Despite the age of the caves, inscriptions can still clearly be seen, with the text being either Birahmi, Devanagari or Phalavi. I can not understand any of this writing but come to know that it holds many elements of life back then. For example, they will tell of births or marriages pertaining to the customs and rules of that particular time.
The caves which are still remarkably in tact included wall paintings (actually these were hard to see), stupas and carvings of Bhudda, and some were part of the cave which houses the wonderful Prayer Hall. We had previously come on a weekend and it felt anything but a prayer hall what with the crowds of visitors practicing their echoes, and creating any number of posed selfies – but today, a weekday – oh the peace. The silence. The stillness. I challenge anyone not to be moved!
The carving which captured me most was the AVALOKITESVARA – four armed and with 11 faces – the only one of its kind in all of India. Of course we photograph, but to see these carvings in the flesh is pretty awesome and the photographs I will share with you will just give you a light indication of the treasures we saw. Truly an archaeological wonder!
But it is not only the caves which stir the senses. To reach the caves from the gate of the park you can take a jeep or a bus which is 7km each way. Like ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ we do decide to ‘go out in the mid day sun’ and walk! There are few other visitors walking. But it is doable, it is does not feel like that frazzling Mediterranean heat, but a deep deep warmth which we just love! Those in buses or jeeps constantly stop and ask us ‘please take a ride, take a seat, it is too far to walk. Only 50 rupees’. We decline and walk on, loving the sights and sounds of the Spring Jungle. Along the road amongst the trees are plenty small settlements, like mini villages. Small wooden or tarpaulin and corrugated iron ‘houses’ are inhabited by the locals, many who have been brought up in the park like their fore fathers, and many have jobs in the park.
Dogs and goats mouch about, and hens and chickens squak incessantly, pecking the dusty earth. Ladies in colourful saris carry babes on their hips, the other hip balancing a basin or a basket. Washed clothes are hung up anywhere there is a space, to dry off in the sun. The sounds and aroma of food being prepared mingled with the woodsmoke stoking the fires makes us feel hungry.
All along the road, colourful umbrellas shade the young girls which are selling a whole host of tasty bites – deep pink watermelon, pale green guava, steaming pots of roasting nuts ready to be served in paper cones, and small mounds of sunshine yellow sweet corn, topped with a masala salt. Large boxes of water or soda, chilling on blocks of ice. Such welcome refreshments on our Jungle Walk.
As I sit here with my cool lime water and tea, I look up and see a Languar with the longest tail bounce down from the vantage point rock to the bottom of the tree and as fast as lightening is soon sitting near the top branches, said tail hanging down like a rope.
If you will permit me, I will now put down my pen and sit in silence to take in the wonder of this place. A rest before our jungle walk back, then ‘home for tea’. It is Dhansak tonight!
But- we are going to be late for tea! As we take our walk back to the gate, charged from our rest and the energy of the caves, we pass a lady sitting meditating at the side of the road. Dressed in blue, with long black hair in a plat, we notice her ‘Rudrashka’ beads, and her arms tattooed with script.
We walk on past not wishing to disturb the meditation but I have already made up my mind that if she catches up with us post her meditation we must ask her about how she came to be sitting there and is this a regular pursuit. So many interesting people we come across.
We walk at a good pace but stop for cool water, stop to retie my shoe laces, stop to watch the monkeys and before too long our meditating lady is catching up with us. So we make a new friend, and have company for the last miles to the entrance gate.
Sathi is 67, and walks the 7km within the park every single day to do her meditation. I ask if any day she ‘can’t be bothered’ or does not feel like it – because that happens to me all the time – you know – full of intentions which get lost as energy or enthusiasm dips, or a better offer shows up! She says ‘no, never’ with a quizzical look, and I realise that she has just made it ‘what she does’, and I make a note to myself – whether it be walking, meditation, writing, jogging – just get on and do it and stop the excuses! She has a constant smile on her face, and her stride is prompt and definitive. She is a wife and a mother to two grown up children. Every day she will take a rickshaw from her home (on occasion she may walk, which means her km’s for the day will be about 18 – this means I can change that phrase I mentioned earlier to ‘mad dogs and Englishmen, AND SATHI, go out in the mid day sun.'
She is a follower of Ram Dhev Baba for the past twenty years, and has gone to many retreats or Vipassanas near Haridwar, a Hindu Holy City in North India - fasting for 5 days in a row, only sipping lime water. I make a mental note – 'ideas for my weight loss!’ She is a Gujarati from a village called Junagat. She laughs that neither her children nor husband follow her strict regime! In the morning she will have a cup of tea and for the rest of the day drinks water only. She enjoys cooking and will make her evening meal of dhal, rice, vegetables and roti. If she feels she needs to eat more she will have some fruit. I had noted her clear complexion and no wrinkles even at her age! I think I must cut down on the amount of tea and coffee I drink, but I know I will not! The only day she does not do her walk is on a Monday as the park is closed.
By the end of the walk, as we reach the gate, that typical Indian hospitality invites us for dinner. Anil says no thank you, and I nudge him, whispering ‘why not – even a cup of tea!’. But he is right – I do not know what her family would say if we two breeze in and she announces we met an hour before and we have come for dinner! But I hope another time!
By the end of that night, we have connected on Whats app and I have talked with her
daughter Reena. Sathi talked in Hindi to Anil and felt bad that she could not express herself to me so asked Reena to make contact! A new friend ship and then finally – home for Dhansak!
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