Last Saturday, Greg, Ellie and I hired a car to take us out of the city and into the mountains. We were interested in seeing the 14th century Sinhagad Fort that once protected the region from Mughal invasions. The fort is only about 30 km from the city center, but with road conditions and the mass of traffic, it still took about 2 hours to wind our way up the steep mountainside. Pune is only the eighth largest city in India, but with a population of 2.5 million people, it is still a vast sprawling metropolis that has swallowed up many small villages around the mountains.
While the fort wasn’t anything to write home about (there appeared to be restoration work ongoing), the views from the top and the opportunity to do some people watching were worth the trip. Ellie particularly liked seeing the donkeys and small horses that carry supplies up the mountain run around unrestrained.
We are nearing the end of the “winter” season in Maharashtra, with very little rain and temperatures in the 80s and 90s. It’s about to get even hotter though, as Summer starts with Holi celebrations in mid-March. The parched terrain here shows the effects of little rainfall and lots of heat. It’s hard to believe, but the dry low brush and yellowish brown earth will turn into a lush verdant landscape with the monsoons in June. We aren’t sure we will be around to see the transformation, but it would be something to experience!
On our way back from the fort, we also made a stop at Petalashwar cave temple, an 8th century temple cut directly from the rocks and dedicated to Shiva. While the temple is now completely surrounded by roads, homes and shops in the city, it is still a surprisingly quiet space. It is also still a living, working temple with worshippers removing their shoes to enter the temple, ring the bell and anoint Shiva’s bull and lingam with fragrant flowers and ghee.
Elliotte was enamored with the bull statue. I missed the shot where she gave it a kiss. She’s been asking to kiss things a lot lately, cats and dogs, animal statues, bugs. She also waves and says “Hello! Hello! Hello!” in her little baby falsetto. We’ve had stray dogs follow us for blocks because they sense Ellie’s little bleeding heart. Sadly, she is not as liberal with her affections when it comes to mommy…
