MONDAY MARCH 8TH
Welcome to Mount Abu, the highest hillstation in Rajasthan. Considering that this state is one consisting mainly of the desert, this does not mean much, but then again, I am Dutch and our highest point nationally is only about 9m above sea level.
Height aside, this little place is rather cute. Much like Mahabaleshwar, minus the strawberries but plus a stunning Jain temple, it was a nice enough location for some walking around.
Having found a hotel of the same name as somebody on campus, we had to take a cheesy picture. He adored it and was tremendously pleased when we sent it to him upon getting back.
Generic cheesiness aside, we passed the time wandering around the lake, posing as though in Titanic along the way (inspired by the numerous couples having professional pictures taken of their 'romantic' weekend in Mount Abu) and then headed up to the Jain temple.
The Jain religion does not believe in killing anything or putting any being into unnecessary pain. Thus they eat a very limited diet, and live in a most peaceful way. It sounds like a lovely, albeit rather difficult, way of living.
The temples (there were five of them) were absolutely stunning. We arrived, were asked to remove our shoes, deposit our bags, and queue up. There was a tour guide who showed us the main sections, and after that we were free to wander around. It was midday and the sun was blazing down but it was cool, as the temples were constructed entirely out of white marble, intricately carved out into hundreds of different motifs.
It was one of the calmest, most soothing moments of project week, those minutes inside the temples. There was a peacefulness and feeling of completion about the place, with its stunning carvings all around. Everyone milled around slowly, padding around barefoot and paying respect to the various gods in the chambers. The lack of pretentiousness or tourists aside from us and the Indians (many of whom were on honeymoons) made it a welcoming spot, and we spent a while just sitting inside the area. Every ceiling, pillar and wall were decorated, and the subtlety of the white on white adornments was lovely.
There was no entrance fee - only donations, no photography allowed and the temples open at midday as the mornings are used for prayers. This seemed to me a nice way of showing the world the beauty they had constructed without making it into an exploited attraction.
After that lovely visit, we walked back and came across an injured horse along an empty road. Standing around and looking worried, we managed to catch the attention of a passerby who turned out to be a naval pilot and who began to make phone calls to help the animal out. We were told that our 'action' had 'inspired' him and hopefully others, to express concern about the horse, and that we had 'started something'. The horse had a neglecting owner who did not care for it properly, and had apparently been lying and limping around for three months prior to us spotting it. The problem was the cost and transport of the horse to a vet, but the pilot assured us that our concern had 'motivated' him to do something. It was a rather odd incident really, and was followed by Andres deciding to go on a hike and being scared off by two elderly women warning him (in Hindi) about 'baloo! baloo!' (bear! bear!) and growling at him as he tried to walk up the path.
We ended the day at Sunset Point, as did most of the tourist population, and then caught a train out to Jodpur, where we could connect to Jaisalmer (and the desert!).
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