Still on a 2-hour rickshaw ride, now begins the leg of the trip from Saswad to Jujuri. Keep in mind that what goes up, must come down. In other words, this 2-hour rickshaw drive to Jujuri will result in a 2-hour rickshaw drive back to our flat in Pune. This also means that we have to walk up a lot of stairs in Jujuri and then back down again.
The drive was beautiful – a lot of farmland, very few cars and little to no pollution (that we could detect anyways).
GoatsA small temple we passed along the way.
I found another opportunity for Nana to stop on the side of the road to take a video for the kids. All kids young and old, including this kid here. Hey, a pun!
The image above is a video. Click on it.I love this photo.
Now in Jujuri
The Jujuri Temple is on a small mountain that seems like a very big mountain when walking up all the stairs. But there’s plenty of entertainment along the way to keep one’s mind off the uphill climb.
Me and Jill – in the little village below the temple.Street food.The yellow stuff is turmeric. Turmeric doesn’t come out in the laundry. All this stuff is sold to place at the various altars along the way, and the powders are to throw on the deities, and to get all over your body, hair, clothes and anything else carried along. Stuff to buy.More offerings for the deities.Toys and miscellaneous items for sale.More turmeric and other items.A lot of people …This is the lady we bought our turmeric from (because she let us leave our shoes there).You can tell from the color of their clothes that these people have already been to the temple.Here’s our first look at what the turmeric is used for.A very yellow Nandi.Nana insisted we put turmeric across our foreheadsWe begin our ascent.CorianderThis lady got to be carried up and down the stairs.
I have about the same amount of photos and another video for Part 2 of Jejuri for my next post.
On our last Sunday with Nana, he took us on a two hour rickshaw drive out of Pune. This post takes us half way to our final Sunday destination to a small pilgrimage village called Saswad.
We begin with chai. We always begin with chai!
This is where Nana convinced us that spending 4 hours (2 hours each way) in a rickshaw and returning home at 9pm when we have to be at Prashant’s 7am class is a very good idea.Boys at the chai cart.Chai and deep fry street cart food master.Treasures.
We stopped at a gas station along the way so Nana could get oil for the rickshaw. He didn’t think he’d make it up the big hill without it. While Jill was taking a photo of me in the rickshaw, all the gas station attendants surrounded her to see what we were up to.
They weren’t very shy.Then this guy in the green shirt told us we couldn’t take pictures at the gas station. This didn’t make sense because we weren’t really “in” the gas station, but everyone dispersed nonetheless. Then, as we were driving away, we see this same guy driving a rickshaw. What?? Who made him the boss of us?Beautiful colors.We stopped along the way for a snack. This woman was cleaning her vegetables. This is normal – cleaning veggies on the floor. A very common sight. BIG bags of snacks!Nana putting oil in the rickshaw.
Heading up the mountain.
The drive up the mountain was green, lush and beautiful. We stopped a couple times on the way up the hill to take photos.
Panorama.Street vendor selling snacks at a turnout on the hill. We bought roasted peanuts and made a mess on the floor in the backseat of the rickshaw.Young girl at the turnout.Woman eating lunch out of her tiffin.Goats.
Saswad
Saswad is a small pilgrimage village about 30km from Pune (half way to our destination). There’s a temple in the village which is the resting place (or samadhi) of the 13th century Varkari (aka Warkari) Saint Sopandeo, one of Saint Dnyaneshwar’s three brothers.
Here are photos of the sights as we drove through the village to the temple.
A common sight of women carrying various items on their head.Beautiful and colorful fruit vendors.There’s something about these trucks that I like. Unusual and colorful maybe?Why did the chicken cross the road?Check out the fine detail around the plate on the bumper, complete with elephant heads.Here we are on the grounds of Sopankaka Temple looking out over the river.Warkari Nana.Nandi.We sat in this very small temple (after I bumped my head going in) and Om’d several times with Nana. There was a beautiful vibrational echo that made us not want to leave.One of a few quarters where people who come to visit can stay.Carved painting outside the temple.Sculpture of Dnyaneshwar, his two brothers, Nivruttinath (the oldest) and Sopandeo, and sister, Mukta.Side view of Nandi.Leaving the temple.View of outside the temple.Children of the village playing in the street.Karha River as we leave Saswad.
Clean air of the countryside was a welcomed blessing. Posting from home gives me another opportunity to re-live the experience through photos. How beautiful it was.
A special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my very sweet, adorable and loving grandson, Alo, who turns a big SIX today!! I love you very much, Alo.
Here are the final photos from the Sunday Nana took us to Alandi and other temples. These are of the drive home through the country.
Vegetable vendors.Another small outdoor temple.More very fresh vegetables.This sign was on the athletic grounds of one of the military bases.Housing.Cows.The question is … How slow?Hiding in plain sight.More housing.The altar at Guruji’s Fifth Punyatithi.Prashant during his talk.The total disarray of shoes during the kids’ class.
Dehu is on the outskirts of Pune, very close to Alandi. It’s where Saint Tukaram lived and taught people how to pray to god. This temple on the banks of the Indriani River (Alandi is also on this river) was constructed by Saint Tukaram’s younger son Narayanbaba in 1723.
This next very short video shows how water buffalo and people can coexist without a care in the world.
This is a YouTube video. Click on it.Red powder or “Sindoor” is a common powder placed on and around deities in temples. The use of this powder has been a tradition in India for over 5,000 years and is considered to be very auspicious.Item being sold outside temples to be offered to the deities.Nana with our bounty. Jill and I are still wearing Warkari (also spelled Varkari) markings from our Alandi visit earlier that day.Sweet little cat under a cart of various candies also being sold to be offered to the deities.Nana getting his Warkari markings.Approaching the temple.This group was posing for someone else so I also took a shot.The line to the temple. Some people get really pushy in these lines.People everywhere are on their phones.Hanuman.Outside – the temple walls.Another small temple on the grounds.Jill and me with some more new friends.Small house very near the temple grounds.On the bank of the Indriani River.Retaining wall at the river.Stairs going down to the river.Door on one of the nearby structures.Another one of the temples on the grounds.These two wall sculptures on one of the buildings next to the temple appeared to be made in brass. There were several other sculptures which together told some sort of story.I liked this man’s decorative hat complete with peacock feathers. I think this kind of hat construction could be a fun project for the grandkids.
I’m currently sitting in the British Airways London Heathrow lounge taking advantage of its wifi, charging my devices, blogging and downloading a couple movies for the next (11 hour 15 minute) leg of my trip that doesn’t take off for another 4 ½ hours. I’ve contracted a cold, have gone through all my good tissues and am now working on the less than adequate tissues (very thin sandpaper) provided at the airport. I slept almost the entire 9 ½ hour flight from Delhi to London and it was nice!
I said a sad goodbye yesterday to my Pune Sister, Jill. She and Cyndy Cordle (also from San Diego) braved the drive to Mumbai after the early class with Prashant. Jill went off to Australia and Cyndy was returning back home (probably arriving in San Diego before I do). As you can tell from a lot of my photos Jill and I had many great experiences and a lot of laughs together.
Jill and Cyndy bonding in Mumbai.
I stayed for Sunita’s 9:30am class and Nana gave me a ride to the Pune airport later in the afternoon where we said our final goodbyes and I gave him a stash of left over rupees.
A last 2019 chai and selfie with Nana on the way to the airport.
The Pune airport is like the rest of India – chaos. Enough said about that.
I have many more photos to share. If you’re not subscribed, check back again in the next couple days to see photos of rickshaw rides in the countryside and up a mountain road, goats, pigs, probably more cows and water buffalo, more chai photos, more temple visits, and a couple more videos. It’s never ending.
See you soon!
Blogged on Amma’s MacBook from the London Heathrow Airport Lounge with LOVE!
