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2003-12-20 - Khujaraho - Ochha (Day 247)

This morning is the first day of the last part of the trip with the final countdown of 9 days looming over me. The whole day is a series of recollections of all the places I have been, people I have met and the incredible country I have seen. There were several points in the trip when I was saying, "this is the hardest thing I have ever done..." and at the time, they probably were, though now they just seem like some incredible adventures making up the highlights of an incredible trip.

The temples of Khujaraho were probably the most fitting ending to the trip possible. Sitting the park staring at the temples left me truly inspired in a way that is a little hard to express. I have always been moved by monuments like the Lincoln Memorial or the Chiang Kai Shek memorial to remember people, and of course, there are a number of churches like Notre dame or the National Cathedral in Washington but the Khujaraho temples were different and maybe a little more impressive to me. The temples are built on a simple inspiration that there is fulfillment in the little tasks of life itself and through these, man can find happiness. As the kings walked around the temples looking at scenes of daily life they were reminded of all that makes up a full life, and the pleasure, hope and love that one can experience in everyday things. On the second level of the temple, the kings viewed pictures of great passions and amazement in the pictures of love, and the transcendence of sex as well as the amazing powers of the gods. Only after contemplation of these things was the mind ready to leave them behind though using them as a base to look up into the heaves. The temples message to look at what is good in life and inspiring in humanity as a way to know god struck a cord with me that other churches and temples that try to embody the glory of god do not. These temples look at the glory of man as the door to the maker.

These temples depict scenes from life a thousand years ago, but little has changed from what I have seen on my travels in India. While I find it very sad that religious convictions of other conquering sects have destroyed much of the beauty India had in the past, with desecrated and defaced temples marking the majority of what I have seen, these temples relatively untouched left me convinced that there is a great deal of the godhead here in humanity and there is still hope for us yet. It is a good way to end the trip as while I've had good and bad experiences in India - the simple things of everyday life as well as the great passions, often inspired by woman is what brings me hope.

As I ride through the sunshine, with the chill winder breeze in my hair, I find the question of what if my luck on the roads finally runs out and I die today, how will I feel. It is a lovely days, the sun is bright and I feel like I am about to close another chapter in my life, another big thing, this trip, is complete. If my luck runs out today, today I feel that I have done enough to be happy about and while this life would have been short, it has been full and I feel very complete. Completion of a life goal like this trip leave me with a wonderful feeling of acceptance of death should it come. On the other hand, my list of things left to do has doubled since the start of the trip as with anything else that is new, it only allowed me to be able to see a little farther and thus more things that I wish to complete, and hopefully more days that I will feel this wonderful sense of both accomplishment and completion rolled into one.

I finish the day following a little voice which told me to turn around and return to Ochha which I had mistakenly passed and driven 20km on to Jhansi. It was fortunate that I did so as watching the sun set on the palaces was a wonderful experience. Fate was telling me something I guess.

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