Woke up around 5:30 am. Maharaj in the Ashram had told us last night if we want morning tea he will have it ready at 7:00 am. He said some people want to leave at 5:00 or 6:00 am and he cannot get up so early to make tea. One Sadhu left at 3:00 am. I like my tea in the morning before I start my day. So far I have been lucky to get the tea every morning. This morning was no different. I was sitting in the garden overlooking Narmada Maiya. The Sunrise was over the River on the opposite bank. Really a fantastic site. The sky was fairly clear and the Sun rose slowly changing colors from deep red to orange to yellow. We had tea at 7:00 am and left shortly after that. Today I am planning to walk till lunch time and then rest. This evening we will go to Vadodara to pick up Baiju from the airport. He is returning from Bangaluru after his meetings.
Today’s walk was mostly on the road. As we passed a small road a gentleman in one house called me and said go to the house across the road for tea and food. I went there out of curiosity. This was in village called Deever. The house looked very clean and well kept. I went in with Sunilji. Just then the two people we met yesterday came as well. We all had tea. I had told them the two of us will stay for lunch without looking at the time. After sitting for few minutes I told them they we will move on. It is too early to stay for lunch. I walked some more and then around 11:30 am I sat in the car to go to Shinor town. There we went to Ramji Mandir. It was a wonderful place in the middle of the town. The temple is 250 years old. The temple has a room upstairs that they have converted to a hall for Parikramavasis to stay. We rested in the room till the lunch was ready. We had lunch (Ekadashi fasting meal – Mordhan, Potatoe Subjji and Peanut Aamti with two Banana). We waited in the hall till 6:00 pm before we drove to Vadodara airport. After we picked up Baiju we drove to Pavagarh town. There is a Mahankali temple on a big hill that is a Shakti Peeta. We reached around 10:00 pm and found Hotel Balaji. Got two rooms and went to sleep by 11:00 pm with the plan to leave by 8:00 am to take darshan of the Mahankali Mandir. Today I walked 19.2 kms.