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.
