India - CAAAAAAAAAAAVES

At 7AM, we stepped off the train in surprisingly good spirits to find our chariot awaiting:

party bus!

After a brief stop at the hotel and for breakfast (where we tried every variety of dosa except "noodle" we were whisked off to Ajanta Caves, 29 Buddhist temples carved out of rock between the 2nd centrury BCE and 650 CE. (Are you impressed by my use of the updated common era versus year of our Lord convention?) A UNESCO World Heritage site (my 33rd), the caves were used as ancient monasteries and worship halls and feature paintings that depict the lives of Buddha and tales from Ayasura's Jatakamala and sculptures of a variety of deities.

In practice, it was a lot of climbing stairs in the hot sun. Because the caves are still considered active worship sites, we were asked to remove our shoes outside each one. As I was wearing sandals with no socks, at one point S offered me his socks. At first I thought that was supremely weird and sort of gross but I accepted them anyway and let me tell you -- lifesaving move. As the day progressed the outside of the caves got hotter and hotter and due to the increasing crowds (which were never terrible actually) we had to remove our shoes farther and farther from the entrance. Pro tip: wear socks with easily removable sandals.

I'm afraid that besides saying that the caves were terrifically impressive and the paintings and sculptures beautiful, I can't comment on their historical, artistic, or religious implications. My nephew-in-law echoed my feelings when he said at one particular cave, "I think we've seen this one before."

At one point, my sister - who never travels without snacks - broke out her collection of Kind Bars. Everyone got some - including one of the guards and a particularly aggressive monkey. As we sat there enjoying dark chocolate and sea salt or maple and glazed pecan or caramel almond bars, we spotted a white woman with pretty impressive dreadlocks. K chitti turned to me in amazement to ask how her hair got like that. I likened it to the hair of a sadhu - Hindu hermits who regularly sport dreads.

After hiking 24 flights of stairs to see 32 caves all I wanted was a blissfully cold sugar-filled Coca Cola. You may not be aware but in the USA Coca Cola is made with high fructose corn syrup which is gross. The real sugar cola of other nations is the real thing. Anyhoo Mina, like all good Indian mothers, was trying to get me try every single variety of Indian food and drink - even resorting to stealing food off other peoples' plates for me to try. Each time she would suggest a different type of juice, I would more emphatically insist on my preference. It went sort of like this:

M: They have pineapple juice here! You must try.
Me: I'll have a Coca-Cola please
M: sweet lime! delicious!
Me: Coca Cola please
M: juicy mangos! the best in the country!
Me: Coke
M: How about tamarind? You like that, right?
Me: CO-CA-CO-LA
M: And Mary, what juice would you like?
Mary: I'll have a Coke too.
Insufferable Americans.

The very next day we set out for Ellora Caves. Ellora Caves, my 34th UNESCO World Heritage site, sort of picks up where Ajanta leaves off. Built in 600 CE, the 100 caves represent the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain religions. Only 34 caves are open to the public and we decided to work our way from the outside in - 1 through 16.

By Cave 10 or so, in an effort to keep the kidlets engaged, I asked them to help me learn to count in Hindi. (My brother-in-law's family actually speak Tamil, but live in an area where Telugu and Urdu are spoken and learn Hindi in school.) Anyhoo at one point, my niece-in-law and I were walking up a set of stairs counting them as we went when behind us a guide joined in: ek - do- teen- chaar. As such, we bonded with the guide who let us into the inner sanctum of the cave.

In the Buddhist tradition you walk around the Buddha, or stupa, or temple itself three times clockwise. The kids and I (despite not being Buddhist) did so. I do think the guard may have actually negotiated a big tip from S. So thanks S, it was totally worth it, (I also think this situation might have occurred more than we realized. The perils of herding Americans through India.)

Cave 16, which is actually at the center of the complex, and also known as the Kailahsa temple, is considered one of the most remarkable cave temples in all of India because of its size and architecture. Most remarkably, it is carved entirely out of one rock. The interpretive signs explain that it was carved from the outside in and that the "sculpture carved here are not there by accident." Double duh. The Kailasha temple, dedicated to Shiva, is a freestanding multi-story complex larger than the Parthenon (per WIkipedia). I think most tourists just go to this one cave out of the 34.
This is conveniently where my phone died and my brother-in-law has yet to send me the photos I took on his phone.

After climbing 31 flights of stairs, and seeing half the caves, we decided to call it a day. This decision was not met with approval however; T's mother thought that since we were so far away from the US and may never get back to Aurangabad that we should finish seeing all the caves. M and I, without lunch, and already having walked all day were unwilling to continue. Our argument that we would no longer enjoy seeing caves was met with resistance but eventually accepted with the promise that we would one day return to see caves 17-34. I have a ten-year visa. It's doable.