Our last week in India has begun - and so has the scramble to see places we haven't been to yet, and looking for presents to take home. Not to be missed is a climb up the 1000 steps of Chamundi Hill. Here we go!

CHAMUNDI HILL

Chamundi Hill hosts the main temple in India for the goddess Chamundi.  Chamundi is a version of the warrior goddess Durga, and Chamundi received her name after she killed the two demons, Chanda and Munda.  Oh and she has three eyes, eight arms, and carries a trident, mace, arrow, disk, conch shell, shield and a rope.  And she rides a tiger.  Sometimes it’s a lion.  It can also be a buffalo.  I guess the animal she rides depends on the mood she is in at that present time.  All I am trying to say is, she is badass.  There is one thousand steps leading up to the top of Chamundi Hill, and at around seven hundred there is a Swami devoted to Shiva, the god of destruction.  Swamis are holy men, and mum knew this particular Swami.  He also has a giant bull statue outside the cave he lives in. 

Anyway, to our story.  After a hair raising scooter ride through town, we arrived at the bottom of the thousand steps.  There was a vast array of indian wildlife down there.  Monkeys, cows and turkeys all over the place.  The start of the steps had a big arch over it with statues of gods and all that holy Indian stuff.  It was really cool, and the crafting skill in the carving was exquisite.  We began our ascent, and then stopped again after about ten steps, because mum paid her respects to a Ganesh shrine.  We began our ascent once again.  On the corner of every step was a mixture of coloured powder, as some people, as they walk up, put a bit of powder on every step.  The view of the city just got better as we went up.  It was very different to Australian views, because there was a smog covering the entire of Mysore, making everything look a bit dull.  The view was spectacular nonetheless.  We arrived at the Bull statue and the Swami’s cave, took of our shoes, and did the ritual of walking around the bull three times thinking to yourself ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ which is a prayer to Shiva, as the statue was Shiva’s steed, a bull.  Also this being a giant bull, it had giant testicles.  Mum told Ariel and I that, according to legend, if you touch the bull’s balls, it increases your fertility.  So touch the balls we did.  Mum also got a photo of us touching the gargantuan testicles, happy day.  After the testicular experience we headed to the Swami’s cave.  We popped inside his cave, which was very tiny.  It had been pretty pimped out though.  Tiled floor, padded roof, painted, and he had a very packed shrine.  I found out later that this wasn’t the cave he lived in.  He had a bigger one around the back.  It had a lot of statues and incense.  And his offerings tray had quite a lot of money.  The Swami himself was a short little man, with the traditional orange clothes and long hair and beard.  He was very nice.  Him and mum had a short conversation, then we paid our respects by touching his feet then touching our hands to our heart.  We left a bit of money and he also gave us a handful of sugar each.  We walked out of the cave, ate our sugar, put on our shoes, and continued up the hill. 

We passed A LOT of chipmunks on the way up.  They are everywhere in Mysore, but there was double the usual amount up here.  Chipmunks are funny little creatures.  They constantly live in a sustained state of mild panic.  Like little birds.  They never look relaxed.  And when they run it’s a stiff legged half-hop, and their tails stick straight up in the air.  The amount of Chipmunk brown-eyes I’ve had is too many to count.  We arrived to the top of the hill, and it was bustling with life.  Cows, monkeys, goats, and more monkeys.  There is a whole village at the top of Chamundi hill, and of course, the temple.  The temple was a tall structure, covered with statues of gods and exquisite carvings.  There was a vast array of different shops surrounding the temple, mostly food.  We decided not to go into the temple, we just looked from the outside.  We walked around the temple, which was pretty much a lap of the whole village.  We got about one quarter around, and this young cow, not full grown, came galloping out and ran quite quickly down the street, where there was three small Indian children walking along.  They screamed and ran out of the way.  The cow however, was not heading for them.  It merely ran past them and into the buildings on the other side of the street.  Mum, Ariel and I watched this unfold with much amusement.  We continued to walk around the temple, and when we were about one third around the cow appeared again.  It let out a big, sad sounding MOO and ran across the street.  I don’t know what vexed this cow, but it was pissed off.  It continued up the street opposite our trio, at around the same pace as us, until it ran into a cat walking along the fence line.  It seemed very interested in this cat and it started to follow it.  This seemed to calm the cow down.  We finished our lap of the temple, climbed up on a wall, and enjoyed the view of Mysore for a good ten minutes.  After that, we got a drink each and walked back down.  We got to the bottom, worn out but pleased, paid the guy you watched our scooters, said goodbye to the turkeys who were getting a bit close for comfort, and left.