Either give yourself up (Surrender) or find out who you are (Enquiry).
I met this morning at 06:30, Alex, Dani, and Teo. We planned to drive towards Parwatiamalai Mountain. There would be a temple on top, around 1000 meters above sea level. It’s a one-hour drive North from here. I was waiting at Sathya’s Cafe for them. Teo arrived first. He said he would pick up Jani at Sunshine Guesthouse. Jani is a young woman from New York, USA. In the meantime, Alex and Dani arrived, shortly after, Teo with Dani on his bike. We started driving. Teo would know the way, more or less. We stopped at a chai shop on Girivalam Road for a chai. We kept on driving until the first petrol station, Alex’s tank was nearly empty. Our next stop was in a small village where we had some breakfast. A local showed us a small place where we could eat.
We had Idli and Puri, Sambal, and other chutneys. After that, a chai. The bill was only 250 Rupees, which means 50 Rupees each. That’s India in the countryside, where everything is even cheaper. We continued driving until we reached the Mountain with the temple on top.
We parked our bikes, paid a little money for them, and walked over to the gate. The entry fee would be 100 Rupees for foreigners. At first, we had to walk for a while before we reached the first stairs.
There was a small temple where we got our blessings and a Tilak and Tripundra on our foreheads. Then the climb began. 1100 stairs for the beginning. It was quite arduous, and I needed several rests on the way up. When the stairs ended, it got even more difficult. There were just stones to walk on and sometimes a metal railing for support. We stopped and had some fruit when a monkey came close. I gave him the rest of a banana.
The last part was the most difficult and quite dangerous to climb up.
It wasn’t easy to walk up there and was quite dangerous. One wrong step… The monkey, to whom I gave the banana, came back. I am sure he wanted more. Bananas are not growing here. While I was on the ladder, he touched my backpack, which was on my back. I shouted at him, so he left. Not the right spot to deal with a monkey. At the end, we reached the top, and Teo and Jani were already there.
We spent some time in front of the temple and visited the temple from the inside. Monkeys were here as well; they will bother you for food. The way down wasn’t much easier, just less arduous. But it has an impact on your knees, constantly walking down. It felt endless walking back the same way, 1100 steps down in the end. But we did it. I bought some water, as I didn’t have any more. There was a lady selling coconuts to drink. The water was very warm when they were there the whole day in the sun.
Alex found another way back. There were smaller roads and a beautiful countryside with rice fields. I just felt like going home and resting. I still had some bread and cheese, didn’t have the energy for a Restaurant anymore.
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