The Ajanta Caves are remembered as both a place of striking physical presence and the setting for a formative night in Karla’s life. Her account links the caves’ Buddha sculptures and chattering bats with a change in how she understood her own sense of home and safety in India.

Setting and remembered visit

Karla recommends the Ajanta Caves, along with the Ellora Caves, as places to visit in the northern part of the state. She recalls spending a night at Ajanta in one large cave filled with stone sculptures of the Buddha. The cave was also inhabited by a thousand chattering bats, an unusual presence within an experience she describes as fantastic and incredible.

The arranged excursion

The visit took place after Karla met her future employer on a long-distance flight. They boarded at Zurich while she was travelling to Singapore; by the time the plane reached Bombay, he had persuaded her to leave it and work for him. He later arranged access to the caves through the authorities and accompanied her there. A bodyguard was posted outside the cave, making clear that the extraordinary overnight stay was also carefully guarded.

Meaning in Karla’s story

Karla recalls the night as a way of putting things in focus. She associates it with a heartbreak that taught her something or made her feel something entirely new, an experience she believed she could have nowhere but India. The caves therefore matter in her account not only as a destination, but as the setting for a recognition: she felt at home, warm, and safe, and remained in India. When she recounts the visit to Lin, her description is tinged with longing, suggesting that the memory carries more than the details of the excursion itself.