Bats, Muslim Clerics and Sweet Corn: Happy New Year!

For New Years I traveled to Aurangabad (The City of Gates) to visit the Ellora Caves, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as Bibi Ka Maqbara.  Bibi Ka Maqbara is a maqbara built by Prince Azam Shah, son of Emperor Aurangzeb,one of the Mughal Emperors, in the17th century as a tribute to his mother.  Both of these sites were some of the coolest places I have ever been in my life, asides from Walton, KY of course!  


As usual I was quite a hit with the locals and many insisted on having their photo taken with me.  Niti suggested that I begin charging a small fee to be photographed along side the "White Tiger!"

This tomb was originally planned to rival the Taj Mahal; however due to budget constraints that never happened and has since been called "The Poor Man's Taj."

A couple of my adoring fans...  Maybe it's the pink shorts?  Generally my only competition to these photo shoots are English women.

The lattice work is incredible!  It is hard to believe that this is stone, that was sculpted by hand in 1660!

Above is the actual tomb where Dilras Bano Begam was buried.  Now it serves as an area for people to throw rupees at.  There is actually a sign in the tomb that states "Silence Please;" however there is a guide there that repeatedly blows very loudly on a whistle for people to hurry up.  It was a really nice and somber experience.....

This fine lady sold me some of the best sweet corn, cooked over an open flame that I've ever had.  It was a bit of a gamble, but at this point in the day the threat of an explosion in my stomach was overcome by my desire to devour sweet, sweet delicious corn!

This is a view of the ceiling in the entry way through the gates leading to the Bibi Ka Maqbara.  The attention to detail here was amazing!

There were also some Buddhist caves near the Bibi Ka Maqbara that were cool to see.  The Aurangabad Caves are 12 Buddhist caves, dating back to 3 A.D., that depicted Avalokitesvara, in another - Bodhisatva.  The depiction of Avalokitesvara was really awesome.  It represents the Bodhisatva Padmapani as "Saviour of Eight Great Perils" - Fire, Theft, Demon, Elephant, Lions, Shipwreck, Snake, Monkey.

After viewing these caves we also visited the Ellora Caves which were amazing!  Not so much a cave, but better described as a huge group of temples cut out of a mountain!  These were built between the 5th and 10th century.  There are he 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu and 5 Jain caves all built in close proximity to one another, demonstrating the religious harmony prevalent during this period in Indian.

These caves were full of BATS!!!!!!!  The sound and smell from the bats was unmistakable, but when I looked up and saw the furry little guys looking down at me that's when I had seen enough of these caves!

Cave 16, also known as the Kailasa or the Kailasanatha, is the centerpiece of Ellora. This is designed to recall Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva– looks like a freestanding, multi-storeyed temple complex, but it was carved out of one single rock, and covers an area double the size of Parthenon in Athens. Initially the temple was covered with white plaster thus even more increasing the similarity to snow covered Mount Kailash - Thanks Wikipedia for helping me with this description:-)

This guy came out of nowhere and scared Zenia and I!  Niti told Zenia that the monkeys would steal her milk so she had to wait until we got into the car to have it.  Once in the car Zenia fell asleep, but as soon as she woke up she asked if the monkeys had stolen her milk while she slept!

This monkey and I shared a granola bar.  It was a very enriching experience.  We also exchanged Facebook contact info, but I have yet to hear from her.  I think she was only after my granola bar.


The visit to Aurangabad was topped off with a trip to the Panchakki.  This is a medieval watermill that was used to grind grain for the pilgrims in India.  Not much to see, but I did meet with a Muslim cleric while visiting a mosque with a Muslim friend.  The cleric blessed me and thanked me for coming to see God's work.  


This was a very humbling experience and certainly stuck with me that two different people, of two completely opposite cultures can come together and unite at a holy spot.  It also made me question myself because initially while meeting this gentleman I had my doubts whether or not he would acknowledge me at all as I am an American.  I was very wrong with this judgement and it showed me just how foolish our assumptions can be.


The last update is from today....  While leaving the Lonikand facility this afternoon my driver hit a large boulder that ruptured our gas tank!  Diesel spewed out all over the road and I seriously thought the car was going to blow up.  Fortunately, it did not blow up and after a 3 hour delay to patch the gas tank Shashikant, myself and the Ford Ikon were back on the road!