The ashram had a bandara (open lunch) today. One hundred guests were invited; 175 turned up! But that was fine as there was plenty of food to go round. The diners were mostly sadhus from the other ashrams and akharas but a few local women came along too, with their children.

The food was delicious and included a vegetable curry, a cheese curry and a daal, plus puri (fried chapaati), a wonderful fruit chutney, a yogurt dessert and also an Indian sweet in the form of a gooey, sticky ball of syrupy sweetness! During the course of the meal dots were put on everyone’s foreheads and money was handed out as a gift.

I was asked to photograph the bandara by the person whose family was funding it – as usual it was a pleasure to photograph such a beautiful event in such a wonderful setting.  I will post more photos in the next few days to give you more of a flavour of the event.