My Indian Tour by Sainath Raorane Our journey from Lonavala began with catching trains to Aurangabad. From the train I saw flat countryside with fields of sugarcane, grapes, guava trees, and later on fields of cotton.   Aurangabad is also called ‘the city of gates’ because it has 52 gates from the Moghul Era. Ajanta caves are 100km from Aurangabad in the Sahyadri Hills. They were discovered in 1819 by a group of British officers out tiger hunting. There are 30 caves, the earliest dating from the 2 nd century. They are decorated with beautiful paintings and sculptures made by Buddhist monks. The monks lived in the caves during the monsoon , on the side of a river, in isolated and peaceful surroundings. The walls and ceilings of the caves were covered with paintings, some of which have survived and tell of the Jataka stories about Buddha’s life and previous lives as a human and as an animal.   Pictures show palaces and ordinary homes, villages and towns...

We celebrated the festival of Sankranti. I was told it was famous for kite flying, especially in the state of Gujerat. I tried to make one but it only got 10 feet off the ground. Sainath was very patient and made his out of old broom ribs and newspaper. It was a champion flyer and survived being caught in a tree and on the roof of the outbuilding. At lunchtime we had ladoos - sweet sugar balls! The lotuses are back in the repaired pond and the solar electricity installation is nearing completion. There is blossom on the mango trees and the vegetables are growing happily between the orchard fruit trees. Walking the track I noticed  dew glistening on the coriander and the cabbage leaves changing from purple to green leaves as the sunlight struck them.

The Year End A Christmas treat for everybody was  lunch at the local Narayani Dham restaurant. A very good lunch was enjoyed by all, including me, as they made special non-chilly dishes for me! December 30th was the occasion for the filly races and the special one for the male staff. The courtyard plants were moved aside so that the lady staff and the men could entertain us. The younger staff ran the length of the angan and back again. The three fastest ran again and Manisha was the winner. The three fastest then ran with a bucket of water,  Phulabai and Boke Maucey held hands and, although asked to walk, they ran together and laughed all the way. The men had to run to the far wall and then back to put on a sari and carry a bucket of water to the finishing line. They provided much amusement for the onlookers.   The Prize giving began at 5pm We had  the "Twelve Days of Christmas song" with illustra...