A Memorable journey

In 2008 me and my friend kishore went to Vedadri Narasimha swamy temple. Its a beautiful place and there is a small temple for jwaala narasimha on a small hill. When we reached there a woman told us that there is another narasimha temple on a small hill nearby and the jwaala narasimha temple on vedadri and the other temple are connected by a tunnel. I tried to enter the tunnel but it was very narrow and i got claustrophobic. So we went there by road only. The temple is called Veera Narasimha swamy temple and its at a place called garudadri. When we went there the road and steps to the temple are not yet constructed and we had to walk on a 30 degree slope to reach the temple. Before we started walking an old woman was coming down the slope with some buckets to carry water and we found that she lives at the top in the temple and takes care of the temple. We told her that we will bring water and although it proved a tougher task than imagined (its a slope with very less foothold) we did it. Then we had a chat with the old woman and it was amazing. To start with she was living there for the past 5 years alone taking care of the temple and she must be at least 70 years old. That in itself would not have been amazing except for the fact that she is not an Indian. She told us that she is from Azerbaijan (ever heard of it?) joined a Harekrishna movement there and from there she came to India and then somebody told her that there is a Narasimha temple here and she came to take care of Swamy and stayed there. We were amazed because that place was lonely and on top of a small hill and at her age its a risk to stay at a place like that in one's own country and more so in a foreign country. She told that food and other things are brought to her once in a week by the sarpanch of the nearby village and apart from that she has few needs and spends her time in the temple with Narasimha swamy. All this conversation happened through signs, a bit of broken Hindi, English and a generous mix of Russian and we tried our best in English and Hindi and Hand signs to tell her about ourselves. We stayed there for about an hour and after giving away all we got in our pockets (ok we kept something for cab fare) we still felt that its grossly inadequate for her service and devotion. Honestly i don't think i will go to Bethlehem and stay there alone even if Jesus Christ calls me so its amazing what she was doing and we got nothing but huge respect for that woman.

Unfortunately i don't know whether she is still there or not but i still remember her and meeting her is one of the memorable moments in my journeys. Hoping that the brave woman stays healthy and happy where ever she is.