Day 14 of 20

After the bath we went to the Gavvi, nothing fancy there, I couldnt help but imagine, how one could sit there in meditation, absolutely no comforts, but then again Saints dont look for comforts, their only comfort is in the remembrance of name of the God.It is for lowly beings like me, that comforts matter...no, its so hard rock, how can you sit on it, oh, there is no pillow and bed to sleep, where is the heater in this cold, people like me are stuck in this rut of being comfortable all their lives. I imagined 'Mama Jigni' sitting there in meditation. How must have been a delicate princess , used to the comforts of niceties and servants of the palace, away from the luxuries, live there by herself without even all basic necessities, she must have some character i thought and was humbled in sharing the same name.

And the next stop was at the palang talab..oh..before i forget there is another tradition that is followed here, you break the coconut on the stone that is at the entrance of the the gavvi and apparently the way the coconut breaks means something, i dont remember exactly what it means, but i remember my mother telling me, to make sure to break it in one shot.

The palang talab, was a short ride away, and we hired the jeeps that run there...and wow what an experience it was, the guy driving the jeep had some guts i must say, the condition of the jeep was so-so, there was no proper road and it was mountains path and sometimes how the jeep bent from one side to another, it was pure luck we reached palang talab alive and in one piece, God, i must these people either trust God a lot or purely dont care about life. At the talab you could do fateha if you wanted and the time we went, some people were cooking a meal, close by. If i had to describe the whole scene, it was in middle of nowhere with a few people strewn here and there.

We came back to Gavvi, the ride back was as adventurous and bone chilling, not knowing when the whole jeep will go down in the valley kept us all at the edge of our seats. There is an advantage to going out on trips like this, you realise how paraniod you are about being live, while some people test luck many times a day travelling like this. What is different, i wonder, the perception, the way you look at the situation, some people die when death comes and some die in anticipation of death.

I roamed around, my mother warned not to wander too far, i was looking hoping maybe i will get a glimpse of a saintly figure in the mist...and was talking to the lady i told earlier, who wore my mothers saree. She said, she saw Dada herself, well that is pretty questionable, for a few rupees, people say things that you want to listen. As i walked around looking at the small shops, not really shops, people selling their wares on the sides of the mud road. The practise of black magic still has its trails even to this day.Some of the wares available for sale, gave me chills. I will not describe them, they are better untold, the rest of world, went so further, leaving such practises behind,but in this part of the world, it still lives to some degree and I am no sure, if the herbs and medicinal value of the plants in the area is documented, but you will see some roots, barks, seeds, that the sellers claim will cure anything. I stopped at one of these sellers and was asking about his products and he showed me a small twig and said, it could cure all eye disorders, i couldnt control my laugh, he seemed upset, and said, he will demonstrate it, all you need to do was to dip the twig in water for 10 seconds and whatever water is stick to it,maybe a drop or 2, put in your eye, and there will be slight burning sensations and your eye is cleaned. He offered to show it to me, I said, i cant test it as i wore contact lens, he put the water in his own eye. but I did buy a couple of those twigs, wanted to verify what he said, but in the security of my home and where availability of medical help is closer. And by the way, i did check it out, when i came back home and guess what, works exactly as he explained, it cleans your eye, i used it for a few months and then lost that twig.

The medicinal value of the herbs in our country is a lost knowledge, dependant on the folk lore and left for extinction. We all run towards man made medicines and something that has approval of some board like FDA, we seem to have lost trust on nature. Imagine if water that was in contact with the twig for 10 seconds had power to clean the eyes, what can be done, if someone could extract it and use for treating eye disorders. In the days, when the herbal medicine is getting commercial, it is left to be seen, if the real true knowldege will stand the test of time.

It was getting close to night fall, and there was no decent place to stay. There were some rooms built for the devotees to stay overnight, but we opted against it, as it did not have attached bathroom, the bathrooms were separate and i was scared like hell, what if i had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. So, after making some enquiries, we found out there was a guest house, in the nearby mountain top, it was higher than the dada pahad. So we decided we will go and stay there, and quickly rushed before night fall. There was only one bus that would come to dada pahad bringing all the supplies, there was not even a decent place to eat, by decent i mean, a small restaurant like in the city...well, having used to the comforts of modern life, this was a glimpse of how people lived and still live without all the comforts.

The guest house was a great place to stay...a unique place. I remember we took pics, i am sure , they must be there somewhere in my parents house. must look for them when i go next time.will finish the guest experience in the next post.until then enjoy...