A Day of Rest (6.10.26)

Getting up (6.30 am)

Although rain was predicted today, morning dawned bright and sunny. We peeped out and pulled out cane chairs to our verandah and sipped our tea, wishing bon jour to the Palachan river. 

Today was a day of rest, and the rest of the day would be like rolling down a gentle mountain slope, sitting on an armchair with wheels. After the major event of breakfast, the next major event would be lunch. Then an evening walk, evening tea, dinner. Boring? Not on your life. 

Breakfast talk with Amarbhai (9.00 am)

We had a hot bowl of poha today, ably supported by boiled eggs, apple from his farm and ginger tea. 

Amarbhai is a good cook, a great handiman, and one with a green thumb. He is one of those people who are passionate about what he does. His food is always served with care, properly plated and served with the necessary sauces and chutneys. He hardly uses any masala. The woodwork and plumbing done on the homestay has been under his supervision, and I can vouch for his sense of quality. Even the door latches are heavy duty brass. His interest in plants found a kindred soul in Panna and they would discuss everything from fruit trees to vegetable cultivation. Hearing his explanations in the pahadi sing song Hindi would bring a smile to our lips. I will secretly record him sometime. 

We asked him why he doesn't grow vegetables within the the homestay premises. Apparently he used to earlier, but maintenance is an issue if they are not staying continuously at the homestay. Moreover, guests would often pluck stuff inconsiderately. He still has an operational cabbage patch. 

At their family house which is half an hour of uphill climb (their pace, not ours), at the village of Chipni, they have a full fledged farm, which grow thousands of apples and other fruits. Even the plum trees at the homestay yielded 1500 plums this year. Himachal is bountiful. 

Osho changes track (10.00 am)

Post breakfast, the time is ideal for me to sit in the sun in meditation for a while and then peruse Osho. Every day, a different saying of Ashtavakra catches his admiration and he expounds on it. The one which halted me in my tracks today was: "Your bondage is this: that you practice samadhi." That was a googley. I thought samadhi was THE thing. That's Astavakra for you. As per him, any action you take will take you away from the Source, the You, the Ultimate Observer. Almost immediately, a feed from Don Oakley popped up on FB (FB is uncanny, I tell you): "Suppose you are standing on the North Pole. Someone tells you to go to the North Pole. Any step you take will take you away from it, because you are already there." That's why Ashtavakra says repeatedly, realise you are already the One, and be happy. Easier said than done, eh?

Unexpected visitors (12.00 noon)

So here we were, I still at the breakfast table and Panna sitting on the steps to our room, when we saw an elderly couple, trekking sticks in hand, climb down the stairs from the road level. The first words the lady uttered were: "Are you Panna?"

Now we know that Panna posts a lot of pictures all over the place, but it is another matter to achieve this influencer level of fame, like Urfi Javed in her dress made of safety pins. Seeing Panna's jaw still hovering around her navel, the lady continued: "From FB, you know..."

And then the penny dropped for Panna. She and this lady Jayasree were both part of a homestay group on FB, and Panna had shared her intention of staying at the Walnut House. Jayasree and Dr Sunil Shah, her husband, later decided on a homestay in Bathad village to stay in for a month. They had just walked down here to check whether we had actually arrived. So sweet of them. 

Based in Ahmedabad, Sunilji used to practice as a GP but has now retired (very rare for a GP actually). They do this one-month stint every year, staying at a single place. Last year it was Manali, the year before Harsil. He also loves driving and had done 20-day stretches in South India. We felt like twin brothers separated at a village fair, meeting after, er...60 years. But they do regular trekking, which we don't, and they wear their years lightly. 

My evening walk (5.30 pm)

I went for a walk Bathad side again, for around a kilometer, uphill. I was pleased to note that my lungs and heart were performing much better. A month in the hills would do wonders for our cardiovascular health. 

The sky was overcast and the clouds greyish in colour, predicting a few drops at night. Although seeing a sunset was difficult, we being in a valley, the eastern sky continued orange for a while, till the light faded. I passed an old lady, a huge bundle of grass tied to her back, resting by the road side and talking on her phone. Maybe it was her daughter, worried that her mother was still on the road, with darkness falling and clouds gathering. May the lord protect these people. 

(I forgot to click her, but this is a close enough AI image)