Aasman ke Neeche...

Recovering from our trip to ShravanabeLagoLa. But no complaints, really. Just the happy feeling of having cramped calf muscles after a long time, that's all. I wasn't sure if everybody would make the 600-odd steps to the top and back in a good shape but we did well. Of course many senior citizens to inspire and shame us if the need arose but we were quite self-sufficient. The thing is the first few hundreds are very steep and uneven so most of us lose our breath in that stretch itself. But the population wasn't much so we could take a break occasionally and look back and feel good and then proceed. Steps beyond the Vadegal Basadi are better for foothold and we reached Bahubali fairly quickly after that. That's the only place which feels congested and crowded but it is still much more peaceful than a regular Hindu temple. But either I had overestimated the height or the construction happening around the statue for next month's festival hampered the effect, Bahubali still looked small to me.

I liked Chandragiri more. Not because the climb is smaller but may be because it's much more secluded, if that's possible. There are Basadis to many Tirthankaras and each one is different, with some beautiful carvings. It's a vast area with these ancient small constructions scattered here and there and it is a happy feeling. I guess spending evenings there would be a beautiful experience, only we didn't have the time. Anu was tired by now and even the sight of an artist drawing the monuments couldn't keep her enthused for long. I met a group of North-Indian Jain women who were mostly reverential, chanting something every time they entered a Basadi. I think one of them also muttered, "All gym-going Tirthankaras!" but I'm not so sure.

Akkana Basadi and Shantinatha Basadi still on the to-do list. Next time.

After all this, we come back and read the next day that some of these Jain monks are loath to use toilets so there is manual scavenging to help them. This is shameful and disappointing.