part 2

I'm not sure if I said in the last post that Gangaram invited us to see his cows in the morning and get some fresh milk. And he told us that we were going to have a party the next evening on top of the mountain.
Well, the next morning Chris and I wandered around the outskirts of town looking for his cows. We ended up making it to his gate but since no one was there we thought we'd missed the place. No, it turns out he was just late, by 45 minutes. But if I've learned one thing here, it's that nothing seems to work out the way you imagine it will. When we saw him he was carrying a bag of grain for the cows on his head. I do not understand how the people are so good at carrying things on their hear. I can't do it at all. His mother came shortly after. They let the cows have some milk and then in a flash both were milked in a little over 10 minutes. We both got a cup of milk. It was much less creamy than I imagined. But being cows that have to forage on desert scrub. I guess it isn't too surprising. With a glass of milk for breakfast we headed towards the other mountain top temple. It was time to take on the bigger one. We saw many monkeys and had to battle our way through the throngs of pilgrims, but we made it! At the top we had an even better vista than at the other temple. There was a cafe at the top, that served only chai. So of course we got a steaming cup of burnt chai! At one point I looked up and noticed hundreds of butterflies. they were small and white, and cruising. I've never seen a butterfly migration before, but it was what I assume one looks like. Chris made comment as they were passing how butterflies always seem so light and fragile. But these were flitting their way along, hundreds of feet in the sky.
When we got back into town Chris and I split our ways for a little while. I went to one of the only temples to Brahma in the world. Got pushed and shoved by women in multicolored saris and did a ceremony with a brahmin at the lake in the middle of town.
Chris and I bought some fruit and went back to the mountain top. It was a party... Indian style. We took part in the pooja which was a riot. It was loud and proud! Gangaam played the drums while a friend did most of the chanting. I didn't understand it mcuh but my ears were sure singing from standing in the little room. Gangaram had told us music, and that was it. Shenkar had to walk back down the mountain to get things for dinner., He told me that tonight it would be even better than before, because he'd been preparing the food in his mind since the morning :D Dinner was the same as the night before, but with a couple of added touches. We ate happily and watched the fireworks display from down below. Since I've been in India there have been fireworks almost every night. and their not even bottle rocket status. But full on bombs.