I have some sweet photos, but for some reason they're not showing up... I'll get them online in two weeks or so...
Before the official start of class, we had a half-day to go out and about. A group of us shared a taxi to the nearby village of Trimbakeshwar. Just a few kilometers away; its edges and lights are visible from the ashram. We were dropped off on a main road in the center of town and walked toward the temple that contains one of only 12 Shiva lingams (a special stone monument for Shiva, the God of destruction, the god of the Yogis).
Street merchants offer grass to feed the cows, flowers and sweets for the temple, and Om bindis (markings placed between the eyes that offer protection and bring awareness to the inner strength that lies in that Ajna chakra area). We decline the vendors, instead heading around the temple to a chai stand. As we wait at the street side counter, we watch the man make the sweet drink- boiling the milk, adding spices that include plenty of fresh grated ginger, and sweetening with sugar. Yum.
After a nearly glorious glass of gingery chai (because the only truly Glorious glass of anything comes from Marlboro ;) off we went towards the green, rolling hills. We circled around a large pond and heard a man ask, “Which country”? As we paused to answer, he informed us that we were in front of the President’s house, the President of Trimbakeshwar, Mrs. Sujita Sanjay Shikhare. I asked if we could take a photo, and he invited us in for a view from the balcony.
The house was nice, seemingly new, and he led us up to the second floor. Out on the balcony, there were a few men preparing for a puja (the blessed Hindu ceremony that involves a small fire and colorful flowers as offerings).
After photos, the man invited us inside and led us to a room. There were nearly 50 or 60 people inside who were finishing up what appeared to be the first part of the puja.
After a moment, they proceeded out to the balcony. We were then taken up to the roof where we walked around admiring the solar panels and the view, peeking down to watch the people out on the balcony.
As we headed out and thanked the man for graciously welcoming us into the house, we asked how to get to the ghats (steps along the bank where people tend to congregate for washing away sins from the soul and dirt from bodies & clothes) of the holy Godavari River. The man pointed, and we headed again towards the hills. The path took us to a gorgeous body of water that was probably part of the river, but seemed like a lake.
Across the way, we saw a group of boys jumping into the water. I had to check it out. We carefully walked across the cement-pillared wall that seemed to be a dam, meeting up with the boys. The water looked relatively clean, the platform wasn’t too high, and there was one taker in the group to join me. Rather than jumping from the highest point, where the boys were diving from, we opted to jump into the same area, but from the top of the railing. Panty & camisole clad, in we went. Best jump ever.
