"The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!!!"

 Yes, indeed... the group of Russians finally arrived from Goa and we were happy to meet them in a city park (back in Karad).  Besides Manakshi Giri, there were 4 "spiritual tourists": Alena, Sergei, Sanal and Saglara. 

Now began the whackiest tour I have ever been a particpant on! In fact, it was my first time EVER being part of a group tour in India....ditto for Swamiji, who, as a "wandering sadhu", was accustomed to traveling solo (except for the past few months, during which his new follower, Manakshi, joined him in his wanderings.) 

The idea of this tour was a "spiritual pilgrimage", to holy places-- temples, ashrams and the like-- where most western tourists would be unlikely to go.  This was partly owing to the obscurity of many such places, and partly because many such spots were out-of-the-way, not your standard variety of tourist destinations. 

I thus became a "tag-along" tourist in this group... the token American! It was frustrating at times to miss out on the jokes and explanations offered to the Russians which I was not privvy to. It was also VERY exasperating to not know the plan half the time (assuming there even WAS one!) I really had to learn to "let go and go with the flow" in order to not let the LACK of order drive me crazy! I got a bit better at this as time went on... I also took "breaks" away from the group to take care of myself and be free of the chaos and drama for a bit...

For there was MUCH chaos and drama with this group! Sometimes it made me laugh; more often, I wanted to scream... and you will soon see why, dear reader, when you see the play-by-play of what went on with this tour. 

For our first excursion, Swamiji took the whole lot of us back to the caves outside of Karad, where he and I went together when he first met me at the Alankar Hotel. This time, however, the driver had NO clue how to get there, and had to keep stopping to ask locals along the way. Then, there was a whole ordeal around the purchase of a watermelon, which the vendor cut (against our wishes)... and an argument ensued about it that must have lasted a good 20 minutes! By the time we arrived at the caves, it was MUCH later than anticipated... but no matter, other than the fact it was late afternoon, quite hot, and someone used my bottle of drinking water to wash their hands with... OY! 

But the GOOD aspects were the the fact that we performed a ritual inside of the main Buddhist cave (although it WAS met with hearty objections from the rather nasty cave caretaker, who found the ritual too "Hindu" for his liking... only because we had a couple pics of deities. How bizarre! But...such as it is, in India...many things that transpire here make little or no sense!)  Then,  there was music: Manakshi, on her guitar; Sunal, on his Ukelele... we chanted together and it was lovely. 

In different caves, we had some very nice meditation experiences, and I especially enjoyed Sunal's Buddhist chantiing (very gutteral, like they do in Tibet.)   

At the end of the day, they headed to the mountain ashram; I stayed back at the Alankar so I could spend the next couple of days teaching my online English lessons (no wifi at the ashram, and the hotspot on my phone was useless up there as well.)

It was, all in all, a very nice first day together, even with the bits of drama... 

It was also very nice getting to know this "cast of characters", of whom you will hear a lot more about in upcoming blogs.


Taken at the entrance of the park in Karad, where we all first met up.
From left to right: Saglara, yours truly, Manakshi (aka Maria), Swamiji, Sergei, Alena. (Sanal didn't make it into this photo-- most likely he was off getting a cup of chai from a street vendor.) 

At the Alankar Hotel, with staff... we had a lovely lunch there before heading off to the caves. 

Hiking along the mountainside as the gang explored numerous caves... 


Chanting and doing sacred rituals inside the main Buddhist cave. 



When we came back down from the caves, this very cute couple was involved in a photo shoot... I couldn't resist capturing a photo of my own! 

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