Aurangabad Follow-up

As promised, the photos from my weekend in Aurangabad have all been uploaded to their respective albums including Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Kailasantha Temple and Daulatabad Fort. Here are excerpts from the album descriptions of two amusing encounters, should you (heaven forbid) otherwise miss them.

From Ellora Caves:

"While exploring the Buddhist caves, we noticed a group of Indians frantically waving their arms and motioning us inside. A few minutes later, we learned that someone had disrupted a large bee's nest in one of the nearby caves - a cave we'd need to past if we wanted to see the rest of the caves or, you know, leave. Learning of a second exit, we followed some fellow tourists to a large locked iron gate, which one could sort of climb around, if not over. Moments after scurrying up and around, the man with the keys to the gate arrived, and managed to pry it about six inches open. Weirdly liberated, we meandered down the road to the entrance of Ellora and approached the Kailasanatha Temple."

From Daulatabad Fort:

"On the way down, countless Indian children swarmed around me, also making the descent. One young girl, a few years older than her peers, boldly issued a "Hello!" with outstretched hand and set jaw before breaking into giggles when I returned the same. That previously set jaw swiftly dropped when I asked in Hindi how her day was, a reaction I quickly followed with a fake gasp and the exclamation "Vuh Hindi bolta hai!" or "He speaks Hindi!" She and her friends' eyes widened and giggles poured forth tenfold as I grinned and head-bobbed at her stunned expression. I love the kids here."

In other news, I've at last completed my Yoga certification course. Three months of 6am yoga culminated in eleven hours of final examination, spread over three days of testing. I should find out my exam results by late April but I think (knock on wood) I did just fine. It's really been an amazing opportunity, being able to study yoga during my time here, both in its actual practice and its theory, history and philosophical outlook and I definitely plan to keep it part of my daily life. That said, I'm excited to push it back to a more reasonable, 7 or 8am-ish timeslot and introduce regular, sufficient sleep to my daily life. While I discovered that I can be more of a morning person than I previously thought, I'm far from a pre-dawn person. But what good is enlightenment anyways if you get there groggy as all hell?