Pavagadh

None of it is unfamiliar – the crowds; the religious merchandise; the instant photo studios with their garish backdrops presided over by a vengeful Mataji; the tired donkeys standing with bowed heads and swishing their tails to whisk away the flies from their sores… Yet on the misty Pavagadh hilltop everything is new, simultaneously fresh and timeless. In the middle of this bustle, a man is fast asleep on a rock outside the entrance to a temple. A fading sign above him proclaims the powers of Jungle Baba.

A little girl with a golden Jai Mataji headband stops to stare at the sleeping man. A short while later her mother comes rushing back and scoops her up in her arms. The stream of devotees flows past uninterrupted, upwards towards the Mataji’s shrine.

half mist half drizzle –
a half-eaten garland hangs
from the cow’s mouth