Unexpectedly Spiritual - The Aurangabad Trip

Our trip to Aurangabad started on a rather eventful note. We decided to have dinner at R-Mall in Mulund and some shopping for travel items before that. As we were leaving, we saw a commotion around Big Bazaar. Soon, the familiar white smoke (so significant of an electrical fire) wafted into view and pandemonium broke out. Arya and I calmly munched on a paneer frankie roll as some people ran about, ran down while security guards watched dumb founded. The fire engines arrived as we left the premises. More details on that here.

We caught the 2230 bus for Aurangabad from Thane. The seats were plush and comfortable. We also watched a cheap quality pirated version of the movie 'Tango Charlie'. If it weren't for the fact that the movie was about Indian soldiers, I would have happily missed it.

Aurangabad and Mr.Rajguru (man-friday for the trip) greeted us at 7 am on Saturday. We had reached as scheduled. After checking into the hotel and breakfasting on cold bread-omlette, we bit into the main course of the journey.

The pics are here.

Our schedule was roughly as follows:

Saturday, April 16 2005
0700: Arrival at Aurangabad
1000: Start on trip
1100: Arrival at Daulatabad
1300: Lunch at a dhaba
1400: Arrival at Ghrishneshwar
1430: Arrival at Ellora
1530: Arrival at Bhadramaruti Temple
1630: Back in the hotel
~~~~ Rest & Relaxation ~~~~
1900: Commenced tour of city
2200: Dinner
2345: Back in the hotel

Sunday, April 17 2005
1045: Check out fro hotel
1130: Meet friends, move to Ajanta
1300: Reach Ajanta 'base camp', Lunch
1430: Ajanta explorations begin
1730: Back to 'base camp'
1815: Shopping, Tea, Leave 'base camp'
2000: Reach Aurangabad, Dinner at Rajasthani resto
2130: Reach Aurangabad station
2310: Boarded train

Monday, April 18 2005
0700: Touchdown at home, Thane

Salient Points
1. The water in Aurangabad tastes and feels very different from any other water I have known
2. The food may be of the same name; but it tastes very different than usual (because of the water perhaps?)
3. It's DRY and HOT in Aurangabad, especially in summer. The place tends to suck you dry quite literally. Dehydration is a potential problem. Travel is not recommended for those who can't bear too much heat. Also, better keep at least 5-6 litres of cold water handy!
4. The best means of transport within and outside the city is the ubiquitous 'Kaali Peeli' (black n yellow) three wheelers. They are quite cheap but not very time efficient. Good to ride in (or squeeze in?), if you want a free tour of the whole city.
5. I didn't really expect the trip to be too high on the spiritual side. However, I was pleasantly surprised when both Ajanta and Ellora provided plentiful placebos in terms of spirituality. I got solid and excellent vibes in the Kailash temple at Ellora and some of the meditation rooms in Ajanta. Indeed, I spent some time meditating in the latter. Also had spiritual discussions with Arya and our companions (though I was largely quiet and even got labelled as an INTROVERT(!!!)) throughout the journey.

Tips: Visit Ajanta in the summer. That way you get to see the caves at your leisure. The tourist season sees long queues outside the caves and you are liable to lose a lot of time as well as not 'experience' the rich treasures therein.

Alrighty then, back to work :)