Palitana and off to Mumbai!

Wow, it has become difficult to keep up with everything that's going on!

Last weekend our class went on a trip to Palitana - a town that is filled with Jain temples - about four hours from Ahmedabad. One in particular is absolutely fantastic. It is at the top of a huge hill and there are 3600 steps to the top. The way up was hot and long but not all that difficult, but when we began to descend it began to rain. The steps became slippery and difficult to navigate, and together with goats and donkeys rushing past, sadus and sadhvis running down, men and women being carried and children also running, it was total chaos. This was the final weekend of the period during which Jains make the pilgrimage to this site, so it was particularly busy. We had a lovely time and it was wonderful for me to see another area of Gujarat (called Saurashtra), and this one is a huge cotton growing region, so it was of particular interest to me. The one difficulty with the area is that the Gujarati spoken in that area is quite a bit different, and very difficult for me to follow.

Tonight my classmates and I leave for Mumbai. I am absolutely delighted because this will be my first time, and I am ready for a five day vacation - it is summer afterall! We will take a train called the Gujarati Mail. In Mumbai we are staying at the YMCA, which everyone says is just a normal hotel, and it is 'centrally' located - though I haven't the slightest idea what that means in Mumbai. I am planning to use this trip as a chance to relax, see the sights a little, and to get into my research and proposal writing. I am delighted to report that after several weeks of not a single response to my attempts to make contacts I am suddenly flooded with interesting leads and I will need the time to write emails and make appointments. When I return to Amdabad next week the real craziness will begin, and I will have reached the halfway point of the course!

Classes are going quite well and I am even beginning to be able to communicate with people. Mumbai will likely not do me well in this, and don't ask about my Hindi, but when I return I plan to turn up the heat to get as much out of the final weeks as possible.

I miss you all dearly! I will post a bunch more pictures in the next few days!