Accommodations

I left the pilgrimage on the 19th of January when the bus reached Nalanda. I did so because the itinerary was changing constantly and I was unsure if the bus would be returning to Nalanda the next day.

Unfortunately, the accommodations that I had tentatively made fell through and the university wasn't quite ready for me. Someone else was staying in the guest house. So, I spent some pleasant hours with Deepak in Dr. Panth's office as we waited for Dr. Panth to arrive. This was a busy day with many guests and happenings at Nalanda. Dr. Panth arrived and eventually found me a room at the Tatia Guest House on campus. For two nights I stayed there and then moved over to the guest house in the new hostel, where I had stayed before.

I was so thankful for a warm room.  I was given two keys; one for the padlock on the door and one for the padlock on the bathroom.  I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland each time because each key was a different size and I had to find the right one for the right lock!  Easy enough, but still reminiscent of Alice trying to open that small door.

room in the Tatia Guest House

When I moved into the Tatia Guest House, I left all of my bags and laptop in the main office building and only took some clothes and toiletries with me. One thing that I didn't have was toilet paper, so I got indoctrinated right away into toileting without toilet paper. This actually turned out to be a good thing because the next day, hiking down a mountain, I wasn't able to make it to the public toilets. Instead, in my haste, I handed my camera case (which had a few sheets of toilet paper in it) and my water bottle to a fellow pilgrim, Christina, and made my way up the side of the mountain to a partly screened area. After taking care of my business, I realized that everything that could have been of use to me was with Christina! So I did the only thing I could do. I pulled a leaf off of the nearest branch. Luckily, it was a velvety soft leaf!

My room in the new hostel Guest House with my newly purchased khatwa!

close-up of the khatwa (hand-stitched applique)