And here we are for the next installment. My second stop would take me from New Delhi, the capital of India, northbound towards the Himalaya to Rishikesh via Haridwar, for a four day sojourn at the source of the Ganges river. Four days in the most peaceful place I've been on Earth - four days of meditation, yoga and nature at it's most rugged. Four days of monkey madness!!!
Rishikesh, Uttarakhand : January 18, 2011 - January 22, 2011
NDLS, New Delhi Railway Station, was my exit point for leaving New Delhi. At 3:30pm, I boarded the Dehradun Shatabati Express headed for Haridwar, one of the holiest cities in Hinduism, site of last year's Kumbh Mela. The Kumbh Mela is a massive pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. There are four sites where the Mela is held, depending on the positions of the Sun and Jupiter. In 2010, the Mela held at Haridwar was host to over 40 million devotees, who came to bathe in the Ganges, hold religious discussions, devotional singing, mass feeding of holy men and women and the poor, and religious assemblies where doctrines were debated and standardized. And trust me, after having seen this in a documentary, I'm very glad I wasn't there when it was going on! Yeah, it would have been cool, but I think it would have been a little much to handle and navigate for a first timer!
As it was, Haridwar was virtually a ghost town when I arrived at around 7:30pm, aside from the local inhabitants. The most interesting thing that I learned on that train ride was that there are no announcements on the train when it stops at stations, so you really need to pay attention at each stop to be sure you don't miss yours. Luckily for me I was sitting with some very nice locals en route to Dehradun who advised me when I needed to get off. I would eventually learn how to manage my exits from the trains, but that would come during my tour of the state of Rajasthan. Exiting the train, I was immediately set upon by a multitude of rickshaw wallahs, hoping to earn a few easy rupees by ferrying me to the bus stand, where I needed to go to catch a ride to Rishikesh. They were asking for 50 rupees to take me there, but I was studying my Lonely Planet guidebook and knew the bus stand was only a 2 minute walk up the road from the train station. Suffice it to say, I declined their offers for a ride! I actually found it, at the time, kind of offensive that they would try to bilk me of money in such a way. Now, I understand these people better - I know how hard their lives are, how little money they actually make per day, and how their lack of education colours their views of Westerners, in terms of how they think we are all immeasurably rich.
I literally got to the bus stand as a bus was leaving for Rishikesh - I had to jump in front of it to get it to stop and let me on! Although, if I hadn't have gotten on it, there would've been another one in 30 minutes or so - but it was getting very dark and it was definately colder here than in Delhi. The bus cost 20 rupees ($0.45) for the ride, which was only 30 minutes or so. I met a really cool girl from Athens, Greece on the bus, Lena, who was heading to Rishikesh too. And what a ride that bus was! The roads were pockmarked with potholes, littered with speed bumps and not lit in any manner worth mentioning. It was like being on a roller coaster, blindfolded - a rickety wooden roller coaster at that! As we cleared the bridge from town, I got a good view of the holy ghats of Haridwar, as well as the giant statue of Shiva at the entrance to the city limits. Since we were on a bus though, and moving quite quickly I might add, I didn't get to take any photos of them, to my dismay. It was rather dark, as I mentioned, so I don't think the photos would have turned out well anyways. (Note to self: Next trip mate, next trip!)
I'd reserved a hotel in Rishikesh before I left for India (big mistake that ~ hotels should *never* be booked in advance), at a cost of 200 rupees a night, with all amenities included. Lena hadn't reserved anywhere yet, so she decided to accompany me to mine, and take a room for the night. Once in Rishikesh (village), we had to take a rickshaw to Rams Jhula, where we had to take a 2nd rickshaw up the hill to the hotel. Wasted effort there! The hotel had closed down, and we couldn't get a room - well, we could have, for 1200 rupees a night, according to the custodian. Unwilling to dish out such a crazy amount of money, we decided to head across the river and find different lodging for the night. Lena made a call and we found rooms at Ganga View Hotel (200 rupees / night), located at the base of the mountains in Lakshman Jhula. The rooms were great with terraces that faced the Ganges - although it was almost completely obscured by the buildings in front of us, there was still a sliver of it that I could see from my balcony. By the time we were settled in, it was almost 9:00pm. Near to exhausted, we still had the energy to go to a very nice restaurant and grab a late night meal before calling it a day.
I have to say, waking up the next morning was one of the most memorable experiences of my trip. It started at 6:00am on the button with the clangng of bells and gongs. Which was eventually joined by Buddhist chanted mantras, the sounds of birds and monkeys waking to the new day, layered over top of the sounds of the Ganges running its course and the wind blowing gently through the trees. I literally stayed in bed listening to this symphony until 7:30am when the mantras stopped. To be honest, that was so much better than an alarm clock! After the usual morning routine we all have, because being in India doesn't change that, I headed across Lakshman Jhula bridge to check out a German Bakery that came highly rated in the LP guide - called the Devraj Coffee House; which would incidentally be my main source of sustenance during my stay in Rishikesh, since it was so good. The main restaurant was a collection of four seater tables scattered along a railed terrace overlooking the bridge and the Ganges. The baked goods were unequaled anywhere in town and the cappuccino was very tasty too (and we all know how much I love my coffee). On that first morning, while having a conversation with a girl from Toronto I'd met (Andrea), a baby monkey came onto my table and stole my croissant! I actually got in shit from a local for that too, because she thought I'd fed the monkey. I understand her rationale though - what she said, paraphrased, was that the monkey would learn bad habits, grow big and aggressive and be a problem for them to manage. And while I would leave in a few days, they would be there to have to deal with the issue of naughty of monkeys, growing fat on the fruits of their thefts or the handouts from tourists. Totally understandable. You know, no-one minds if you feed them on the bridge or elsewhere - but in the restaurant, nope, this is definate no-no. I explained that it was in fact just carelessness and lack of understanding of the monkey's behaviour patterns that had earned him a free croissant and all was forgiven.
I had many funny things happen in Rishikesh with monkeys. At one point, a monkey I was filming wanted a bite of my chocolate bar (I found a Bounty in India!), so I gave him a small piece. The thing is, monkeys don't like chocolate! This little guy was doing everything he could to get the coconut out of the bar, chewing it out, rolling it on the group, etc. But the look on his face when he tasted the chocolate ~ priceless! You could clearly see the disgust register on his face, in every way you would see it on a person's face! On another occasion while hiking the trails up into the mountains to visit a local waterfall, I was attacked by a clan of langur monkeys, who threw rather large sticks from the treetops at me. Up there, they don't see many people, so they react defensively, in an attempt to scare off intruders to their territory. I wasn't hurt or even hit, although I think one of the dogs that came with me up the tree may have. Yeah, I had friends in Rishikesh (dogs), in fact on that hike a little dog followed me from Lakshman Jhula all the way to the top of the waterfall, which took about 2 hours or so to get to. And he came just as I was starting to really miss having people around, which is to say, he came right at the right moment. The universe was giving me what I needed most it seemed. ;)
I discovered a very secluded spot on a rock one day, that sat literally in the Ganges. I would end up spending many hours here every day, reading, listening to my ipod and meditating. I even did some yoga on that rock, since it was so flat. It was on that rock that I discovered peace of mind - not the most peace I found on my trip, but the first taste of it. I stopped feeling and I stopped thinking. I was in the moment, which is something I can't do normally. My mind works at near to 10,000 miles an hour usually, but here, no - it ceased all activity. To be honest, at that time, it was the most at peace I'd felt in so very long. I can attribute some of that stillness to the Sadhu from Delhi, as he was speaking to me of ways to quiet my mind, which I was willing to try, once. Suffice it say, it is a practice I still use today and have even shown a few other people.
I also experienced my first Ganga Aarti, a religious ceremony where the performer faces the deity of God (or divine element, e.g. Ganges river) and concentrates on the form of God by looking into the eyes of the deity (it is said that eyes are the windows to the soul) to get immersed. At these aartis, candles are offered to the river, in small flower ladden bowls, that will float down river until they burn out. Lena and I went to the one here (I would attend others in my travels later), which was kind of small, but very intense none-the-less. We purchased candles and sent them on their merry way down river. Me, I loaded mine up with all of the negative emotions I was having at the time. It was a way for me to start to let go of it all, as best I could (the real release would come in Varanasi, planned as such from the start). And I will say this, it did it's job, that release ~ the ensuing calmness was bliss!
I had an amazing moment one day when I was literally swarmed by 40 kids from the state of Gujarat, who wanted to speak to me and take photos with me. At first, my initial reaction was one of someone who's bubble had just been invaded. I was slightly uncomfortable being so enclosed by strangers, all speaking to me at the same time and reaching out to shake my hand. After a few moments, it got to be really fun taking photos and talking. But my old self kicked in and I felt the need for some personal space after about 10 minutes of this. I did leave them all there and walked onwards down the ghats - and then I realized I was India not to avoid these chance encounters, but to embrace them, so I went back, collected as many of the kids as I could and got a group photo with them all. And you know? It made me feel very good to do it! And it made for an amazing photo and story too!
I discovered that I could live a life lacking my usual sense of urgency in Rishikesh. Everything was just so chill and relaxed there. There was no hustle or bustle as there was in Delhi. Life went at it's own pace and time ticked away unmeasured. It was a different sensation for me not to be so engrossed in time, but a thing I learned to do well. It was here I first heard the immortal phrase, "No hurries, no worries", likely the most famous saying in India next to "Same same, but different" and "In India, anything is possible brother". I noticed that my pulse was starting to normalize again while here ~ my blood pressure had been entirely too high since October and my heart raced all the time because of stress, anxiety and everything I had been going though. Here though, the pace of life just slowed me right down.
Rishikesh was a godsend location, that lived up to my every expectation. It was one of my top places to visit prior to actually making the trip, and I am glad that I did it. I still feel her in my veins and I miss her tranquility fiercely. I've even gone to the trouble of recreating the morning "symphony" with sounds obtained from the internet, just so I can listen to it once in a while. Cheesy maybe, but for me, necessary, if for nothing else than to remind me of one of the most peaceful and beautiful moments in my life; a time when I really felt at peace with myself and with the world. I would gladly recommend it to anyone (and I did so often on my travels). I will definately come back here on my next trip...
And you know what? I was in the Himalayan Mountains - how many people can claim that? Not just in them, but actually hiked up into them. Which I must say that in hindsight may not have been a bright thing to do on my own. Mr 50/50 made one too many appearances on this trip - it may very well have been the first bonehead thing I would do in India, but it certainly would not be the last. And I just have to laugh at myself for that, and all the other "incidents" now. Such an idiot! LoL!
Leaving Rishikesh was tough, because I really did love it there! But my time line had been established and I needed to make my way south, in search of a sunrise in Agra, at the Taj Mahal - one of the seven wonders of the world.
I made a note in passing in my journal, while in Rishikesh, that I seemed to be learning some lessons on my trip. I noticed that I had learned acceptance for what is in Delhi and peace of mind in Rishikesh. Was I onto something here? Would each destination offer me a lesson to be learned? Time would tell...
Part four concerning Agra is coming soon...
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