Day 12. Thurs, Feb 10: Mumbai, we're back again

Today's route: Aurangabad - Mumbai. We got invited by Dr. Girish to attend the annual conference of the support structure they put together for some of the best Indian NGO’s. Caring Friends is their name, caring for one another their program.

Weather: too hot for someone on the team :)

Cycled: Not cycling back to Mumbai, no worries! We might be crazy but we ain’t that mad.

Didn't cycle: A morning excursion to Saleem’s stretch of land just outside of Aurgangabad, which he really wanted to show us. It’s a beautiful terrain with lots of trees, a couple of waterholes where the deer and  other animals of the area quench their thirst and a vision that ses a horse stable on top of its peak. After Saleem headed back to his office, we shared the remaining hours with our new team member Vishakha who showed us the main sights of Aurangabad all the while stopping here and there to hand out more of our Marathi press release. By the time we reached our train and were seen off by Pinku, Ravi and Vishakha, two articles in local newspapers were printed and another few in the making. We had lunch bags in our hands and it was only when the train finally arrived with 45 min delay at 3.15pm that we realised we’d have to make the entire journey sitting. No sleeper class on this one, no wonder why the tickets where so cheap. After some unexpected pleasure of playing with the baby of the Muslim lady next to us we arrived tired but well at 10pm in Mumbai Daddar. Only a short cab ride and we were “back home” in Mahalakshmi quarters where our friend Sarvi waited for us.

Ate & drank:
Left for Saleem’s property without breakfast. Only had 3 cookies and some H2O before a late breakfast at
1pm: shared egg burghi, puri bahji and omelette with Vishakha
on the train: heaps of bananas, some Kashmiri type of sandwiches, some really yummy idli from a station on the way, topped by icecream (which K. gave a miss) and of course, plenty of H2O
11pm: dhal, mixed veg and rice from our parceled lunch plus a cool beer and some series on Star World TV before dozing off

Highlight of the day: seeing some of the 52 gates of Aurangabad town, old palaces and mosques with a way of bringing water from the hills to them that remains a secret until today. Also amongst the sights: something like a miniature of the Taj Mahal, which got designed as the resting place for some queen (sorry guys, don’t remember more details and as I’m writing this I’m without internet access to research more thoroughly).

Health Check: K. with fever on and off, W. fine.

Stayed at: our pal’s Sarvi in Mumbai Mahalakshmi - lots of laughter included...

Today's photos