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Ellora Caves

I'm tired, but here's a retelling of this weekend.

15 Sept. 2006:
We are in Aurangabad now. We took the train from Hyderabad last night. It was nice to sleep through the majority of the train ride. We went to our hotel, ate breakfast, then left for Ajanta Caves, a series of Buddhist caves carved into the side of a hill. When we arrived, we were immediately surrounded by about 50 guys trying to sell us stuff. We hiked up to the caves and were all quite sweaty when we got to the top. The caves were all Buddhist and basically designed with a large, seated stone Buddha at the back of the cave with small rooms along each side of the cave. After seeing several caves with the exact same design it got kind of old. But then there was a cave that has two levels! No one was inside the upper cave, so I just sat in front of the Buddha and meditated for a while. The area around the caves was beautiful. There was a river winding through a small gorge and it was very green. We saw monkeys jumping around in the trees. Eventually we had lunch in a small park next to the river, where again we were harrassed by guys selling things. After lunch I was feeling somewhat faint because I had a cold, so me and Amanda took the bus back to the shopping area to get water. The bus was filled with uniformed elementary school children. They started singing in the most piercing little imp voices I had ever heard and I could not believe that anyone on the bus was enjoying their singing. Eventually we met up with the rest of the group and we took a bus back to Aurangabad. It was an interesting ride to say the least. I felt sick the whole time and the bus kept breaking down because there were "dust particles" in the diesel fuel. When we finally got to Aurangabad, we went straight to a restaurant for dinner. Before entering the restaurant, me and Amanda had to wash off the 1-inch layer of mud on our shoes from when we had to go out into a cornfield to "relieve ourselves." It was really funny to watch people watch us wash our shoes in front of this fancy restaurant. I wasn't able to eat much more than roti (bread) at dinner because I felt nauseous. At one point, the waiter brought out something that looked disturbingly like vomit, which made me feel like I was going to vomit. I made it through dinner and went to sit outside where there was an adorable puppy. It was a stray and had tons of fleas.

16 Sept. 2006:
I didn't go to any of the sights today because I felt really sick. I basically slept all day, aside from a couple hours of watching TV. There is not much on TV here that is in English. Most of it is in Hindi. Even American shows are dubbed. I took a shower in the early evening. The shower strayed water all over the bathroom, so I ended up squatting under the lower faucet. That worked oretty well, aside from me feeling ridiculous. People started returning around 7pm and then the power started going off and on sporadically.

17 Sept. 2006:
We went to Dalutabad Fort, about 30 min. from Aurangabad. I didn't climb to the top of the fort because I was still not feeling great, but it was still fun. We saw tons of monkeys and baby monkeys with their moms. After we left the fort, we walked to the bus and I petted a donkey standing next to the bus. Blah blah blah. Not terribly exciting, but it's news.

This weekend

The whole group is going to see some cave temples in Ellora and Ajanta. I'm excited, but I'm kind of sick, so the train ride is going to be rough (well, as rough as Sleeper AC can be, which is not very). I'll post photos of Mysore, as well as Ellora and Ajanta when I return. And, who knows, maybe I'll buy you a silk sari there.

Here's a photo of Ellora:

Confusion, etc.

I've been thinking a lot about my friends in the US and how fast things are changing. I've felt like I'm going to miss important events in their lives. It's weird. After reading various people's blogs, comments, etc. online, I think that my fears are unfounded. Life does not change as quickly as I had thought. Small things change, but most stay the same. I'll only have a semester left when I get back to Minnesota, and who knows what I'll do after that. Maybe I'll move. Maybe not. I am reluctant to leave after having just made friends.

My first side trip!

Tomorrow, Liz and I are going to Mysore, which is about 14 hours away. I am really excited. There are lots of cool temples in the area, as well as two Tibetan Buddhist settlements that are among the largest in India. The landscape is supposed to be very lush, hilly and relaxed. It will be a nice change from crowded, polluted Hyderabad.

Recording

I figured out how to post digital recordings I have done! (EDIT: I didn't actually figure it out. It doesn't work. My apologies. I'm going to try to learn how to do it!) This is the first in a series of "Sounds of India." This first recording is entitled Peacock Orgy. It consists of several peacocks making sounds that are similar to meows at about 5 am.

University of Hyderabad

Here are some photos of the campus. The university is about 45 minutes from the city of Hyderabad, which is really nice because it is in a (relatively) quiet area, away from all the pollution and stress of the city. The campus is large and there are lots of trees and wildlife.

This is the shopping complex, where the campus bookstore, ATM, tailor and other little convenience stores are located. The sign strung across the complex is welcoming new students to the university and the "dalit student's union" is an organization of students from the dalit (untouchable) caste.

The other side of the shopping complex.

A snack bar in the shopping complex.

View of the main road next to the complex.

Dogs sleeping in the dirt next to the complex. There are stray/wild dogs everywhere on campus, but I've only seen one cat.

The main road that cuts through the campus.