During my preliminary research on the internet, I had found pictures of piled up large rocks and a fort. That looked like something I wanted to see. This structure is located in Idar, a ‘zero point’ on the tourist map. All the more exciting to go there once. The driver had driven past it several times, but had never actually been there – so we had to ask the navigation system and people where the starting point for the ascent was.
It actually looked very exciting and so I set off on the ascent. I wasn’t alone, there were quite a few locals and 2 busloads of school classes on the way. But we managed to keep out of each other’s way. Mainly because I immediately took a turn-off that took me to a ‘Shiva cave’.
A small dwelling was built between the rocks, where a Baba lived and performed the daily rituals. A few steps led further into the boulders and there was another special altar:
He was an odd, friendly man who also told me an awful lot in a language I didn’t understand. And I got better and better at communicating with people whose language I didn’t understand. He then performed lots of water rituals on bushes and trees and climbed a tree to pick leaves, but I only have all this on video.
The 2 busloads of schoolchildren were then on their way back and I was able to climb the old palace. It was locked, but with a bit of ingenuity you could find where there was an entrance. I wasn’t the only one who had used it. Here I learnt more about the popularity of pre-wedding photo and video sessions. One couple had their wedding in a month. I took a few pictures. Walking around the ruins was a great exploration. There are these ‘Urbex’ photo fans (see also in the Blogpost from Georgia) and that’s how I felt. There weren’t so many details and such, but it was exciting to look up and down every stairs and round every corner.
In the last picture you can perhaps see that there is a lot of rubbish lying around. I wondered why they don’t take at least one broom with them or whether it’s all photoshopped away or disappears in the blur or whether they just don’t care.
I then went on to Jain temples on the mountain, but was somehow too tired for the top of the mountain. I was really excited by this discovery, but after that I realised that I had run out of steam. However, I still had time until 19:00, when my night train left for Delhi and we were only about 1.5 hours away from the station. After lunch we went to the Adalaj step well. It’s impressive, but it’s actually stupid to look at other step wells if you’ve already seen Rani ki Vav. There were no figures to discover here, as it dates back to the time of Islamic rule, when only ornaments were carved. But it was great that there was water at the bottom, which shimmers beautifully green in photos.
Then I thought I’d take another walk through a small town, but that wasn’t it either. Then the driver took me to a shopping mall, the ‘usual’ air-conditioned, clean area seemed like a good idea for a coffee etc.. There was also a café, but as soon as I sat down, there was a roar with a slight vibration. Later a famous singer was due to come and they were doing the sound check. It rumbled throughout the mall, which wasn’t that big anyway.
Somehow the time passed, I said goodbye to the driver Deep (he was very pleasant) and moved into my berth on the train. The man opposite me was in awe that I was travelling alone on an Indian train at my advanced age and unabashedly let out Indian-like air from various orifices. The man on the berth to the side didn’t find this so remarkable, he talked on the phone a lot and loudly and in between he sang very nicely and loudly.
Unfortunately, the shopping mall coffee didn’t let me sleep well, but the night passed and after 12.5 hours we arrived in Delhi on time, where I was picked up. My reluctance had also affected my photography – I didn’t take any more pictures. But I still had a whole day at my disposal and the pick-up driver and shopping orders. It was Sunday and all the shops were open. One shopping request was a thangka, so we headed for the Tibetan quarter. And I was amazed! The street was so congested! And Majnu ka Tilla was also so congested! It is obviously very ‘in’ for a certain class in Delhi to stroll around there on Sundays, sit in pubs and go shopping. There are thangkas there, but they look more like mass production from Nepal and so I was unsuccessful.
And then came the best part of the trip! We picked up Ashfaq, who had arranged an Indian dance lesson for me! It had been on my wish list for ages, but I didn’t know who to ask and where. And now the time had come! There was an entrance sign, you went into the windowless basement of a building and there were two small dance rooms with huge mirrors and a beaming Pradeep. He handed me two sticks and then taught me a choreography to a Gujarati song. Ashfaq stubbornly refused to dance along, but took nice photos and videos.
I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, but nowhere near as badly as I had feared – and I certainly enjoyed learning! It was also funny and there was a lot to laugh about. Then we did 2 more dances together just like that, i.e. we stood in front of the mirror, Pradeep danced and I tried to imitate him. Bhangra and Bollywood. As a teaser for the next few times, because unfortunately we were already out of time this time.
Instead, I had the pleasure of eating a delicious meal with Ashfaq in a vegan restaurant and having a wonderful chat. And I thought: I’m not tired of India, I’m just tired of travelling. I could have stayed longer. Or hiking up and down mountains. But that wasn’t possible, Christmas was just around the corner (in Gujarat there was almost none of it, Delhi, on the other hand, was almost competing with Christmas decorations – how could it happen that this festival spread so much here????) and at night my plane (also full of Christmas music) went home and so this time in India was already over. A bit of a shame.
But of course there are also some afterthoughts in the extra blog post.