Talking Jim and Robin to Arunachala’s Northside Promontory

The Northeast Monsoon has come to Tiruvannamalai. It has been here for more than one week, with one more week forecast. The Monsoon rains are sometimes very heavy for short times, sometimes light rain for one hour or more, sometimes just cloudy.

Saturday, 7 November, 2009, dawned cloudy with light rain. We had planned to walk the north side of the Inner Path, but not today in the rain.

The clouds shroud Arunachala. We can sometimes see the twin peaks of Parvati Hill, but the Arunachala peak is not visible  yet.

Earlier this week I was able to get out in the morning with Jim Clark and Robin Moore, to show them a possible place to shoot video for the documentary they are making, Within, which will try to show the inner experience of Arunachala.

I  took them to the Northside Promontory, shown on the map below. Getting up on the Northside Promontory area is shown in this post. 

As we pass the Frog Pond, it is filled with water.

We get up on the Promontory about 7 AM. Everything seems so green! This was the clearest morning of the last week.

We are on the shaded side of The Elephant. The sun has not yet reached this far.

Robin climbed up a tall rock.  He is a good rock climber, and had on shoes that are for climbing.

Naturally Jim got out his camera and started taking pictures of Robin on the rock.

This is the view I like the best of Robin on the rock, with Parvati Hill in the background.

The Arunachala Inner path dog, Tigger, went with us today. She likes it very much when we get off the main path and go exploring.

There  is such a good view from here of the surrounding area on the north side of Arunachala.

Looking towards Parvati Hill.

Adi Annamalai Village.

Looking down across what the locals call ‘the jungle’ towards Ramana’s Bridge.

Jim and Robin stopped to talk about possible angles for shooting this area.

Looking across the rocks towards a banyan tree I found. The clumps of grass are so brilliantly colored in the early morning light.

Instead of coming back down the trail, we scurried down the face of the promontory. On our way, we stopped and meditated for a bit. Here is Jim.

After we came down from the Promontory, we continued walking the Inner Path.

Here is one last photo from the day, of the Elephant, behind  the small peak near Pachaiamman Koil, on the East side of Arunachala (what some call ‘the Five Faces’ area.

This time of year is cool and green. When the monsoon is here, though, you cannot depend on getting outside to walk, unless you are willing to get wet.