Above – the Agakhan Palace aka Gandhi National Memorial in Pune. This is where Gandhi, his wife, Kasturbaji and secretary, Shri Mahadevbhai Desai were imprisoned, and Desai and Kasturbaji died here.

Kathleen and I booked Amin this afternoon to go to the Gandhi Museum. The trip turned out to be a nice surprise. It rained lightly the entire time we were out which made the foliage rich in color for perfect photo opportunities.

I’ll let some of these photos speak for themselves.

  

  
Below, Gandhi’s wife, Kasturba.

Below, Gandhi’s secretary, Desai. The two photos below this one explain his death.

Kasturba’s and Desai’s ashes lie here.  

And here is where a portion of Gandhi’s ashes lie.

Looking down one of the driveways toward the main road.

From down the driveway looking back at the palace.

Closeup view of palace from ground level.

These beautiful flowers were growing around an archway.

Selfie – In the rickshaw – Kathleen, me & Amin

I still have photos to share from when Chris and Cristy were here and of Alandi. Let’s see if I can get them all posted before I leave Monday.

This morning I had a really nice 9am practice before heading out for lunch and museum tour. Tonight Geetaji will be teaching the Friday evening Pranayama class and then she’s giving a talk on Chapter 15 of the Bhagavad Gita. After I read up on the chapter on iBooks to get a little background, it appears this will be interwoven with the teachings of the month.

Did you know … I only have three more nights here?

Back at the Homefront

Precious baby Kando – 3 weeks old. There are plenty more photos where this came from and of the whole family (including Ernie in a couple of them) I will share in the coming days. I can’t wait to hold this little bundle!

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Above – A woman selling flowers outside one of the temples.

The next five photos were all taken at the same temple where there’s a courtyard surrounding it. Nana said people come to worship here and stay in the rooms of the hotel, like a hostel. The temple is beautiful, and the hotel structure around it is equally beautiful.

I think I mentioned in a earlier post about Kurma (“tortoise” in sanskrit) which represents “going inward.” Below is Kurma with its head pointing toward the temple door. You can also see it at the bottom of the stairs in the photo above. Traditionally, those who come to worship will touch Kurma’s head or back and then touch their chest and/or forehead. This is also done with other deities.

These next two photos are of the surrounding hotel from inside the courtyard showing the detailed work around each balcony and on the railings.

I took this photo of the interior from outside the temple.

Woman cleaning some dishes on one of the platforms.

I liked the rustic look of this next structure. There’s a courtyard of some sort through the entryway that we didn’t go in.

The shrine below was in another one of the temples. I didn’t notice this when I took the photo, but check out the clock hanging on the upper left side. I don’t know why I think that’s funny.

 This man was standing in the temple with his instrument although he wasn’t playing it.

Same temple –  side door and window calling for my photo-taking expertise. 

Outside the temple – Savasana (corpse pose)!

We had another fabulous Pranayama class this morning with Prashantji – “If you understood have you realized? And if you realized have you understood?” 

Thursday morning class time is 7am and practice time in the hall is directly after class until noon. Since I was in no condition to “practice” after Pranayama, I did some supported passive forward bends followed by Supta Virasana and Viparita Karani (everyone’s favorite).

I’ve begun organizing my “stuff” and have started packing for my return home in four days. The month is almost over.

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Above – Remember the old man in my blog yesterday? Well much to my surprise, Jill took a photo of me asking him to play me a tune.

Below, vendors in the Alandi marketplace.

Small statutes and other items for sale.

Look mom, no hands! I don’t know what this woman is carrying, but it looks like she’s got it under control. Women usually do …

Street vendors selling herbs and fruit. Those red things on the right are pomegranates. They’re in season now and I’ve been eating a lot of them. I know a really good way to get the seeds out, and I even know some good and easy recipes. They’re good to eat here because they’ve got a good solid skin on them so the fruit inside is safe. Fruits and vegetables with edible skin aren’t safe to eat unless they’re cooked.

Alandi boys.

The swastika on the building down this alleyway is not a Nazi symbol. For many centuries it’s been a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hindi, Buddism and Jainism. I see the symbol a lot in Pune, too.

Another alley/pathway.

Building down the alleyway.

Remember the women in the chai pub? Well these are the men who took the table after they left. Note the lady behind the counter. She made sure she was in all the photos.

This is a small St. Dnyeneshwar shrine alongside one of the dirt roads. Shrines are set up everywhere in India. I haven’t taken many photos this trip. When I was here in 2013 I think I took my limit.

Geetaji’s Pranayama class this morning was fabulous. We began with long holds in several forward bends, both standing and seated, followed by a long Sirsasana and Salamba Sarvangasana, both 10+ minutes with no variations. Geeta kept her instructions to a minimum so it was a very quiet and passive class. A lot of the students have already left for the month and many more will be leaving in the next couple days so the classes are much smaller, leaving plenty of space for those of us sticking around until the end of the month.

I still have more Alandi photos to share in the day(s) to come, so stay tuned.

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Above – Pune girls and me sitting on the stairs overlooking the river. One of the girls took the photo with her phone and emailed it to me. I also took a photo of them with my phone and emailed it to her.

Let me get caught up with my “Down by the River” photos I was unable to upload yesterday …

This was one of the first photos I took after walking into Alandi from the rickshaw. I thought it was a good photo, but then the men started laughing (see next photo). What I didn’t know was that Jill was making hand gestures behind me suggesting I may be crazy. That made them laugh. Well, I just may be.  

Women doing laundry in the forefront.  

These men were also doing laundry on the other side of the foot bridge. 
The structure in the center of the photo below is some sort of temple. We didn’t walk over to it, but could see that people were congregating around it, perhaps placing flowers and praying. 

Alandi entryways calling me to take photos. 
  

This is how Nana was much of the time, looking back to see where we were. He didn’t want us to get lost and we got sidetracked along the way with everything going on around us. Nana is so patient and caring, and he really looks after us.

This is the busiest marketplace near the big temple so many people pass through here. The woman sitting holding flowers on the left wanted us to buy flowers from her. There are a lot of flower vendors because worshippers buy flowers to offer at the temples. Nana has a particular place he had us buy our flowers where we also left our shoes before going to go into the temple.

I have some photos of temples, but photos aren’t allowed in the larger temple so I don’t have any to share from there. I’ll share the other temple photos another day.

Here’s something for the kids big and small. Be sure to come back to my blog to read the rest of this post when you’re done watching traffic dodge the herd of water buffalo.

This morning Prashantji “taught” Pranayama. It was the most transformative class I’ve attended this month. My Pranayama practice and my teaching of the subject will never be the same.

On the Home Front

I FT’d with Robb, Akuch, Alo and Kando Sunday evening. It was the first time I saw my new baby grandson for the first time outside of photos. It was kind of in person, only not exactly – like exactly the same only different. Kando slept the entire time and got many kisses from his big brother. In between kissing Kando and chatting with me, Alo was also busy organizing and playing with (& also showing me) his Matchbox cars. Akuch is doing well and looks good, and Robb has returned to work after the summer. I’m hopeful to visit them at the end of September or early October. I’ll need to get grounded in SD a couple weeks first.

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Above – This man was sitting near the Indryani River (runs through Alandi) listening to a music device and playing along on his instrument.

Today the wifi is slower than it’s ever been. I’ve lost my patience with it and the result is some of the photos I’ve been trying to upload to this post won’t get uploaded today. Maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow. I did get some good shots to upload …

I got this shot of a woman wading in the river.

Men bathing in the river.

From the foot bridge looking upstream. 

Looking downstream.

Woman sitting near the river with her children. I took this from a foot bridge just above them. 

I’ll try to upload the other photos tomorrow.

I didn’t get much sleep last night, probably because I drank two chais yesterday afternoon with Nana, and I’m really tired. I am feeling better though, and hope tomorrow’s an even better day.

This morning we had 7am class with Prashant and more of the same tomorrow so I’m heading off to bed.

My Monday is over and yours has just begun. Enjoy!

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Above – Today’s image of the day. At the end of our Alandi visit today, Nana nodded over to this man and said “Go. Take that man’s photo.” The man wasn’t smiling until I said the magic words Nana told me to say “Jay Hare” and pointed to my phone making a “can I take a photo gesture.” I immediately got a smile which I interpreted to mean yes. Nana said he’s a holy man.

Alandi is a small pilgrimage village about a 45 minute rickshaw ride out of the city of Pune. It’s the final resting place (Samadhi) of 13th century St. Dnyaneshwar. Indians come to Alandi to visit the many temples and pray.

Nana picked us up at 10:30 this morning. We were there several hours and never saw another westerner. In fact, some of the people there behaved as though they’d never seen a westerner at all. People were staring at us all over the place. I visited Alandi with Sharon when we were here in 2013 so I was prepared for this.

Below, after Nana parked the rickshaw (behind the tree) and we had a chai in the restaurant (building in back), this family was having a group photo taken. I decided to start early by asking if I could take their photo. No problem. 

Making more friends after walking into the village.
  

Jill & friends.

Same friends & me – selfie.

We weren’t there long before two boys came up to us and reached up to stamp our foreheads. Nana called this forehead paint “warchari” (pronounced war-chari) and said we were Warcharis (holy persons) for the day now. Ok, whatever …

An entire family excited to see, meet and talk with us.

Women in the chai pub happy to pose for me.

People working in the chai pub. I didn’t want to leave anyone out.

Chai selfie!

More chai store friends. 

This man was very interested in us, welcomed us to Alandi and gave us each a banana. He claimed to have owned at least a section of Alandi (a building and a couple of vendor carts), so he must be a very important man (note the mustache). We’ll call him The Mayor.

We went into a few temples and Nana gave us some history lessons. How nice is that? Nana is not only a safe driver who knows his way around, he can translate for us AND is a wealth of knowledge.

After lunch we came across a group of women and children waiting near a bus (I believe it was a chartered bus). They were so colorful I asked if I could take their photo. Oh, the joy. Yes. Yes. Giggles from everyone. It was a total giggle-fest. Even Jill and I were giggling. Even Nana was giggling!

Then women and children who were already on the bus came out of the bus to be in the photo. More giggles. Everyone was giggling. I’m still giggling!

After showing the photos to the women, I turn around and there’s Jill already being asked to be in another family’s photo (Nana looking on in back).

Another group of women happy to see me. Just look at the joy in their faces. In particular, the woman right next to me. This is the best thing ever.

When we were in “The Biggie” (the temple where St. Dnyaneshwar took Samadhi) Nana told us we should say to people staring at us (because everyone there was staring at us) “Jay Hare” or “Ram Krishna.” We followed his direction and immediately those who weren’t smiling instantly grew big smiles.

This baby, too, must be a Warchari.

Jill finds more friends.

Here’s the boy who christened my forehead earlier in the day. He actually came up to me three times today wanting to put more paint on my face. I made him happy by taking a selfie with him.

People standing nearby also wanted selfies.
  

As we were preparing to leave the village I saw these kids playing in a walkway. I tried to get them to pose for a photo but they didn’t speak English and I think they were either afraid of me or thought I was a crazy woman. Understandable. So Nana rounded them up and posed with them. Beautiful!

This is the guard outside the restaurant who kept an eye on Nana’s rickshaw all day.

On the way back to Pune, Nana told us he was really happy and that he had a really good time with us. We all had a good time. We laughed a lot and giggled some too. C’mon, admit it. You’re smiling, too. 🙂

Today’s post is dedicated to photos taken with the people of Alandi. I have many other very good photos I took today (more people, the river, temples, colors) I’ll be categorizing and will post throughout the week.

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Above – Having chai Friday morning: (L-R) Me, Pranav (very nice young Indian friend we just met at the chai cart), Chris, Cristy & Nana.

Lakshmi Road is a very busy district with a lot of shops and traffic of all kinds. It’s very colorful and hectic. Yesterday Nana took me, Chris and Cristy there so they could do a little (or a lot) more shopping. 

I loved this stairwell. I have no idea what was at the top of it, but I was compelled to take a photo.

Second floor balcony overlooking Lakshmi Road

Vendor cart locked up to a vendor’s door.

Woman sitting in the street selling vegetables.   

Flower vendors.   

Even though the roses in this large bowl were at the end of their life span, they were still beautiful and made a good photo op.

These are friendship bracelets. There’s a Ganesha holiday next month and these are sold in advance of that for some reason. In 2013 that holiday landed in August while I was here. As soon as the festivals were over, these friendship bracelets were nowhere to be found. I bought some purple, blue & pink ones for Maya and Sanaii. 

Here’s Chris taking a photo down Lakshmi Road.

Nana driving with the string of white smell-good flowers I bought him hanging on his side view mirror.

I slept in this morning and skipped Geetaji’s class due to this pesky cold. I’m bummed about missing the class but believe I did the right thing by staying home in the flat and resting. I did go for a short walk this afternoon to get some eggs and fruit jam. I feel a little better this evening. I’m ready for a good night’s sleep and hoping I’ll feel even better in the morning. Kid’s class at 9am and then an appointment with Nana at 10:30am if I’m feeling ok.

Feeling optimistic!

Blogged on Amma’s MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!