Last night was really mosquito alarm, didn’t sleep well, woke up many times. WiFi from Sathya’s is not working today and the road is already full with people walking around the Arunachala. 500.000, 1.000.000 people, nobody knows. An endless flood of people since this morning.
I had breakfast today in Tasty cafe. A nice colorful place around here. I wanted to try someting different, was worth it. They make a really good coffee. I met Govinda there, a guy from Germany, we had a nice chat. It rains from time to time, hopefully not in the evening when I want to walk. I better take my rain jacket with me. For lunch I tried today Da Mantra Cafe, that’s something different, a garden, quiet and delicious food. I had a beetroot Masala Dosa filled with pumpkins and three different salads with it as well as hummus.
In the afternoon I was shortly in the Ashram but also here it is so crowded today, Indians everywhere 😄
At around 17:00 I prepared for the walking. Driving with my scooter close to the main road where the people are walking.
I was expecting to be closer to the Arunachala hill, but we were only walking on roads. I couldn’t even see the Arunachala. As Parvati later explained to me they fenced the whole mountain because it is considered as a holy place, and the Indians just would spoil it, they are quite senseless in that. That’s what she said.
So I was walking 14 km with many others. Parvati said later that here are 25 lakh people. 1 lakh is in India 100.000, so two and a half million people here for this fullmoon event. I think it’s just a guess, but it looks like a million or more. There are people selling all kind of stuff and food and drinks, all along the way, left and right side. It reminded me a bit at the harbour festival in Hamburg, lots of people, lots of food. Instead life music here are temples, Tiruvannamalai is full of temples.
At on point an Indian woman next to me asked me where I come from. Many people were asking this before. So we had a good talk and walked the rest of the pilgrimage together. She reminded me that I am the only one with shoes here. I didn’t realized it yet, they are all barfoot, but I was happy with my hiking shoes. Her name is Parvati and she is a Shiva devotee. She told me many things about Hindu religious traditions, which I hardly can remember, but we shared our WhatsApp numbers.
Nearly at the end of the walk I realized where I am, I have been here before buying my laptop. She organized a stamp for my forehead. The symbol from Shiva with the trident, named Eshwara. It’s part of my name, Chandr-Esh, moon and trident.
Then she invited me for dinner, we had an amazing Masala Dosa. After dinner just 30 minutes more to walk, just follow the crowd, passing the Sri Ramanasramam and further to Perubakham road where I stay now.
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