Sorry it's been awhile since I've blogged - been keeping really busy! I'm going to break everything up into a few different posts to keep things organized - more for myself!
We went to Pavagadh (holy place near Varodara) to celebrate one of the Manav Sadhna's staff member's birthday. Saturday night we met at the ashram around 11pm and decorated the bus for him. Then we went to his house, surprised him, and headed on our way around 1am after doing prayer, cutting a cake...We reached Pavagadh at 5am, got into the hotel, and then had a half hour to get ready before we climbed. That was code for cat nap time! We started to climb around 6am. It took about 2 hours to climb to the top of the hill. This is supposedly the place where Maha Kali's eyes rest - at the top of the mountain! It was fairly dirty climbing and there was lots of fog so we couldn't take in the view on the way up. It was a good workout, but was tiring! I was very impressed by the parents who carried their kids up and the people who walked up barefoot, usually because people feel that walking barefoot shows extra dedication.
On the way back down we were stopped by hijdas, which apparently are eunuchs (castrated men), though I'm not totally sure that is correct. They were asking everyone that passed to give them money as they often do basically anywhere they go. Here they used a shawl and their bodies as a barrier to keep people from passing without paying. I managed to slip through by slipping in between, but then realized that maybe the guy with me would not have been able to do the same. As I started to search for him the crowd behind me I heard an argument between one of the hijdas and a guy - of course our volunteer coordinator. Apparently they told him to give some money, he said no, and they then started pestering him, not letting him pass, first telling him God will be grateful to him if he does, and then progressing to his mother will suffer if he doesn't etc. etc. His fight with them was that they should ask, but if someone says no they should let that person go - that they should accept what people give willingly, not force their views onto others. This ended up becoming a heated argument - he threatened to call the police, then he was cornered and forced to sit on the side, and then I think I missed something, because all of a sudden the hijda started taking his (?) sari off and unbuttoning the blouse...another hijda came and stopped him thankfully, because I'm not totally sure what/why that happened, and what the purpose was, let alone how it would have ended. Once we were allowed to continue on, many people came up to our coordinator and told him that they totally agreed with him, what they were doing was wrong, someone should stand up...It was refreshing to see someone take the time to stick up for what they believe in, when it truly was more work to do that than just fork over 2 rupees like everyone else. Following Gandhi's principle of be the change you wish to see in the world. We did tell the officer at the entrance about what was happening - at first they didn't believe him, but once I also vouched for what happened they said they are not breaking any laws and they can't do anything about that (convenient, since they can usually find a law for everything!).
After that we got some much needed rest, and then everyone worked together to make lunch and decorate one of the hotel rooms for the birthday prayer/gathering. It's always great to see the staff come together and dig in to whatever work was needed to be done, with no one complaining about the heat, how tired they are, or having to be told!
On our way back we stopped by the Santra Mandir in Nadiad, which is where my grandma went to school. They have kids from surrounding villages come stay there for school and they have a hostel as well. They also do lots of charity work - they feed around 5,000 people everyday. They also have a hospital where they offer free appointments and surgery (including travel fare!), focusing on eye care, but doing everything. Simply amazing what these small organizations are equipped to do!
It was lots of fun getting out for a day, though it was totally exhausting! But it was this weekend that it finally hit that I am really here, in India, and not going back anytime soon. Seeing as how much fun this weekend was, it wasn't as tough to accept as it otherwise might have been!
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