Yes, again, it’s been awhile. We had a snow day today and I decided maybe I should sit down and write a blog post. I left off talking about day 5 when we were traveling to my aai and baba’s house.

Day 5: Travel day pt.2

After eating a fulfilling breakfast I started getting restless. I was bored and I wanted to see what Satara had to offer. So my dad and I decided to go visit one of the forts in Satara. Satara translates to 7 hills, and according to my baba each hill has a fort. The most famous one is called Ajinkyatara, the one my father and I traveled to. I’m so glad I did explore Satara because it was worth seeing where my mom grew up.

We drove up this HUGE mountain to the top where the entrance to the fort laid. I was surprised by how huge the doors were. They were ginormous. According to my dad they had to be huge for elephants to be entered in, which made no sense because the other side of the door were stairs. I don’t know about you but I don’t think elephants can climb up small stairs. Once you climb up all the stairs on the other side of the fort you’ll be able to overlook all of Satara. There were multiple paths hidden in the tall looming grass. My grandparents driver however helped locate many hidden treasures that weren’t part of the path. Such as a temple. I didn’t go inside because I didn’t want to take off my shoes in the middle of wilderness, so I didn’t step on the temple due to respect. Another path led us to a secret door that had a beautiful design on the front. It also had spikes on the top, which concluded to stabbing elephants. Apparently, when there was an attack on the front, the spikes on the door were to prevent elephants getting close to the door as it would stab them in their eye area. On the way to the very top of the mountain where the famous sign Ajinkyatara resided I ran into a monkey. I feel we bonded a lot before I was forced to back up, monkeys are viscous but so cute. We found more ruins and inside the ruins I found two wells that was the forts source of water at the time. Looking through that well transported me back in time, like in Frozen 2 when Olaf said water has memory.

As we started the trek back to the house I just zoned out and looked out the window. Seeing where my mom grew up with my uncle, seeing where she went to school, etc. It was nice to see my parents go through the nostalgic tunnel. I also saw a wedding ceremony going back home. Traditionally, the groom is carried to the bride on horseback. Which is super cool to think about my dad on top of a horse because he’s scared of a lot of things that could possibly injure you.

Afterwards I chilled at home with my cousins and played badminton, table tennis (ping pong), football (soccer), and cricket. We were very active that day, and later at night a huge family reunion was in stored for my family. It was fun to see all my family again, we would all stay the night in my grandparents house (which it did become very full), and the next morning everyone would leave.

Day 6: Satara, how lovely you are

I bid goodbye to everyone as I saw them go back home. My aaji and ajoba (dad’s parents) and my kaki and kaka (dad’s brother and sister in law) as well as my little cousin where the only additional family left. They were going to stay the night before going back to Pune the next day with us (yes we went back to Pune for a day before heading to Mumbai). It was cut short however when my kaki was feeling a little sick. Before that we went to see two temples (which I couldn’t take pictures at), they were so majestic. I mean breathtaking. Bharatanatyam (traditional Indian dance originating from the state of Tamil Nadu) moves were written all over the base of the walls. While I was exploring temples, my momwas seeing family in Kolhapur because recently a family member passed away. I didn’t want to go because I know I would get to emotional and it would ruin my day so I stayed with my grandparents. I also saw more monkeys.

Anyway, before my dad’s family left to go back to Pune, we went to my great aunts house that lives right next to my grandparents. Which is so cool that my grandpa lives next to one of his sisters. (My grandpa has three sisters). We had fried fish, and it was so good. Mouth watering good. After lunch my dad’s family drove back to Pune, which again is like a 2 hour drive. Later for dinner though we went to my baba’s (mom’s dad) other sisters house for dinner. I met up with my uncle and his newly wed wife, who was so nice. We had a nice “barbecue” I say that in quotations because it’s not necessarily a barbecue.

Before I knew it, it was time for us to leave Satara and go to Mumbai to see my mom’s brother.