I got a sleeper train from Bhuj to Mumbai on the 22nd. The sleeper class is just the limit of bearable train travel in India for me! Anyways, I arrived in Mumbai Bandra station, having no train ticket or hotel reservation afterwards. My plan and hope was to be able to buy a train ticket for the same day to Aurangabad using tourist quota. This could only be done in Mumbai, so I had to do it right away.

After some lengthy inquiry from the train station ticket office, I found out that I could only buy it in a ticket office close to Churchgate train station in downtown Mumbai. I took a taxi for 200 rupees for that long trip. When I arrived, the ticket office was still open (it was a Sunday), and thankfully, there were still some tickets to Aurangabad for the same night by tourist quota! So lucky I was! I also got my return ticket for three days later.

Then I started wandering around in downtown Mumbai. Didn’t do much. Had a McDonald’s (!), walked around a bit, tried to go to movies (more on that later), but didn’t find anything interesting, and ended up again in McDonald’s to have an ice cream and read for two hours. Not that I’m a fan of McDonald’s, but there was nowhere that I could sit and read for two hours. Here, the restaurants and cafes want to kick you out as soon as you’re done! Too many people I guess.

Anyways, I got the train to Aurangabad at 9 PM and arrived in Aurangabad at 4 AM. Then the disaster happened. In the rush to get off the train, I lost my glasses, and couldn’t find them anymore. This is the second pair of glasses I lose (the first one was in Nepal, and it was my corrected sunglasses). Fortunately, I had my previous glasses with me as backup. I was not very lucky with my glasses on this trip. The thing is that there is so much unpredictability in a long trip like mine, that all disastrous things happen all so often. On such a trip, one should be super-extra careful, especially about belongings.

Anyways, I got a rickshaw to the hotel (Shree Maya, 600 INR) and had some rest. I had spent two nights on the train, so having a bed and a shower was very necessary. Early in the afternoon I headed out to the mausoleum of the wife of Aurangzeb, the son of Shah Jahan (builder of Taj Mahal). It was a small copy, and rather a mediocre one, of Taj Mahal. Not so interesting after seeing the heart-breaking beauty of the Taj.

Then I went to the Aurangabad caves. The caves can be considered as an “aperitif” before seeing Ajanta and Ellora caves, though not necessary by any means. Over there I met a couple from Geneva and we saw the caves and chatted for a while. It was nice to hear Swiss French accent after so long! Though their accent was no match for the Vaudois’! After visiting the caves, I walked down a bit and then took a rickshaw to the bazaar. It was just before Diwali, and the bazaar was bustling with people. Incredible! Everyone was in a rush to buy and buy! And me, desperately looking for somewhere to eat!

Next day, I got up early in the morning and went to the bus station to go to Ajanta. It took 3 hours to reach there. So some story first: Ajanta caves are a series of caves made by Buddhist monks between the 2nd century BC and 6th AD. There are 26 caves/monasteries carved out of a single stone around the almost vertical walls of a canyon with the form of a horseshoe. Putting aside the astounding beauty of the caves and the frescoes, the scenery is alone worth a visit. You can walk up to the viewpoint in the middle of the horseshoe, and see the beautiful canyon from there. You can then walk upstream of the river and you see beautiful waterfalls and water basins just at the entrance of the horseshoe. Water alone has carved the upstream stones into beautiful curved and smooth stone basins over a course of hundreds of thousands of years.

The caves were forgotten for over 12 centuries in a dense forest, until a young Englishman found them while hunting tigers. He found the most beautiful frescoes immaculately preserved in the caves. As they say, this was the biggest discovery of art collection from any ancient civilization. I sat down in one of the less visited caves for half an hour or so (despite the frequent objections of the security guy!) and relaxed for a while and thought about what I just had seen. These monks spent their whole lives carving the black solid stones with nothing more than a hammer and chisel. Then they decorated the walls with some awe-inspiring paintings, that could survive the harsh climate of this region for more than 2000 years! Unbelievable! I wish I could see this place at its heyday.

On the viewpoint, located in the middle of the horseshoe, I started talking to a policeman named Harishchandra, who had a rifle and a pistol, much like a soldier. I then found out that he is a commando of the Rapid Response Unit of Maharashtra Police. This unit was initiated after the infamous Mumbai Attacks in November 2008. For those who do not recall, ten Pakistani gunmen landed in Mumbai from Karachi by boat, and started a three-day orgy of murder and destruction which claimed the lives of 170 people. They targeted the train station, and a few other places like Taj Hotel, and opened fire at innocent people. So horrible that one cannot imagine.

Anyways, I chatted with the policeman and his colleague for a while, and then they offered me a ride back to Aurangabad in their van! I joked with them and said if they want to arrest me or something! I couldn’t resist not accepting the offer! How many tourists can claim that they hitched a ride with Indian Commandos, eh? We went down and headed for the van. They were both very friendly and we talked a lot about our experiences, the commonalities between Persian and Indian languages, and also the history of Iran and India. They were both from the Kshatriya caste, the warriors. That’s why they ended up both in the army I guess! Anyways, it was a nice ride back, as I had a great time. They dropped me somewhere in Aurangabad city, and Harishchandra kindly took a shared rickshaw for me and asked the price. Obviously the price that the poor guy told him was lower than what he would have told me! I then found out that Harishchandra told him to be careful and also he took his number, so he wouldn’t cheat on me! He said he would go to Ellora the day after and we would meet there too.

I checked out of the hotel next morning and headed for Ellora Caves which are just half an hour’s ride from Aurangabad. I took a shared rickshaw and the local bus to there. I like to travel as locals do, and not like some tourists do with hired cars, guide and etc. There are a total of 34 caves in Ellora, all carved as temples by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. I started the tour by cave number 16, or famously known as Kailash Temple. This was a mistake, because after seeing this temple, none of the others were interesting anymore! When I got to the entrance, I could not believe my eyes. The sheer scale of it was staggering. But what takes your breath away is when you understand that this huge temple has been carved out of ONE SINGLE ROCK from top to bottom!

I walked in, in a state of shock. I went around the temple in the middle, looking around and up, with my jaw dropped open. I kid you not when I say this was the MOST IMPRESSIVE MAN-MADE CONSTRUCTION I’ve ever seen in my life. I couldn’t take it, so I just went out for a few minutes and then came back in. The construction of Kailash Temple was started in the 8th century AD and took more than 200 years to finish! Four generations of workers are said to have worked there. During the day, I frequently returned to this temple, as others did not come close in grandeur and beauty.

I visited all caves before lunch and then headed out to find somewhere to eat. At the entrance, I saw my two commando friends again! After lunch, I went with Harishchandra to Kailash cave again, where he became my guide and explained some details to me. It was interesting to see how much attention he gets because of his clothes and his weapon. Many Indians asked to have a photo with him! We went around to the back of the temple, where we had a breath-taking view over the temple from the top. If you go to Ellora, you owe yourself to go up behind the Kailash temple for a view that is unmatched in the world!

I decided to stay for the sunset to take a photo from that spot. We went back to the police stand at the entrance and chatted for a while. My friends then said goodbye and left. You meet so many nice people during traveling, but shortly after meeting them, you have to say goodbye! I went back up behind the temple again to find a vantage point for the photo. There were no clouds in the sky, and the sunset was beautiful over Kailash Temple. I went back with the local bus to Aurangabad, and guess what? It was the night of Diwali.

So Diwali is the festival of light and as big as Christmas for Indians. They decorate the houses and shops with lights, and make beautiful shapes by colored powders in front of their doors. But it’s not all. There are fire-crackers too! So they make so much noise, that even in the hotel I was using earplugs! It’s like a war zone. Incredible! That evening, I took the overnight train to Mumbai, my last stop in India.

Side notes:

  • One thing about people in India is that they look much older than what they are. The two commandos I met looked like they were in their thirties, but they were both 27 years old. I guess it’s because of having too much sun.

  • You might think monkeys are cute, but the truth is that they are bastards! They attack you to steal food from you! So in Ajanta, I had some peanuts wrapped in paper with me. I saw this cute squirrel and wanted to give it one or two peanuts. The moment that I took that paper cone out of my bag, I saw these black-faced long-tailed monkeys running to me from a distance! I tried to scare them off, but they got aggressive instead! They knew that I was alone and they were many. There was no way, I had to throw the peanuts on the ground!