On sunny day we went to elephant caves by crossing sea by ferry. Elephanta caves are situated on small Gharapuri Island. It took half & hour from Gate way of India by ferry.
The island is cool because of trees, cool breeze running from the sea. The caves are bit crowded by tourists but it was peaceful place. The stories of god Shankar carved on walls had many theories & meaning. One such fascinating theory was sculpture of Shankar in yoga mudra & on opposite wall Shankar dancing .This resembled contradiction. In one, energy was taken in the body & in later energy was thrown out.
It is good to hire guide, once we reach the caves, they charge 100 Rs fees. We can even buy book about elephant caves from shops on island. Both are good source of information about sculptures. There are many stories regarding who made this sculptures? , When? & how?. Our guide told us it must have taken two generation to complete this work.
These caves are located at top of the hill. Once we are out of boat we need to cross elephant jetty & a hill to reach there. The elephant jetty is long way to walk when sun is over the head. It is good to carry scarf or hat for protection. When we visited cool breeze was running which made sun rays mild. There is also a toy train which takes us from jetty to island. We preferred to walk in cool breeze.
The hill to the caves has steps made from stone .This steps are surrounded by shops & trees which provide shadow. On hills in any direction we look we see trees & beyond that blue sea.
Not only caves but journey to caves was exciting. Within half and hour we are on pollution free, clean & green island away from city. The food & packaged drinking water is available on island but food is bit costly.
The ferry service is till evening 6 ‘o’ clock so after 4 ‘o’ clock we began to return back. By 5: 30 we were in Mumbai at gate way of India. The ferry service charges 130 Rs for return journey. The ferry service & caves are closed on Monday.