Nasik, Maharashtra

I have my lovely hotel in a supposedly nice spot - just above the Godavari River and ritual bathing tank...

Hundreds of Hindu pilgrims arrive every day to bathe and pray... and immerse the ashes of their cremated close ones... 'cause the waters provide "moksha" liberation of the soul...
I don't have to tell you the state of the water... I admire the devotion of those brave Hindu... 

My peaceful place turned out to be an epicenter of all the noise India can make!!! It is Ganesh Chaturthi!!! Huge celebration that goes on for 10 days... Loads of music, dancing, loud explosions, stories of Ganesha told through loudspeakers...from morning till the evening...

 Hiking in Trimbak

3 days in and around Nasik - I'm the only white so far...and must admit, I'm fed up with it! Indians don't bother to make their excitement discreet - they stare, take a picture, elbow their pals not to miss the opportunity to look at "angleze"... Where is my tolerance for India? I guess I'm so used to being here, that I consider myself at home, like I was belonging... Their smiling looks prove the contrary - I'm a painted bird here....

 
 Even those guys are starring at me...







 
But being painted bird in India has a lot of advantages. In their endless hospitality, Indians take care of me and make sure I'm well: get on the right bus, have enough to eat, taste things "angleze" might not know and they instruct me what to do, where and how :-)

And meanwhile He is becoming my very close friend :-)