A consultant in India – Part 7

6/6/2009

The overnight travel on the bus was really long but I managed to sleep for few hours and, also, I met Johnny, a funny Irish guy who share my same travel itinerary. Arrived in Haridwar we moved towards Rishikesh, the yoga world capital (also the Beatles stayed there), and finally seeing the Gange!

So we arrived in a nice hotel and got a cheap room (300Rs, less than 5€) but with view on the river. After leaving my stuff I went for a walk around the town.

Gange beaches - Rishikesh

Rishikesh it’s a small city, with few centers on both side of the Gange united by two pedestrian bridges. Beside the Gange, there are a lot of temples and Ashrams (places where people stays for days/ weeks/ months to learn yoga or meditation by a master), but the atmosphere is not so different from less “spiritual” cities; there are always a lot of people trying to sell you something, being it a yoga course, a temple tour or some handcraft.

Temple and pedestrian bridge - Rishikesh

I believe that the huge tourist passage here (really lots of westerns) completely changed the attitude of this place so while it’s still a place for religion and meditation, it has become also full of vendors, beggars and “enlightened” foreigners here for yoga and smoke (it reminded me of Baghsu village somehow).

7/6/2009

I began my day with a yoga lesson. It was Hatha Yoga (don’t ask me more about it) and the master was really committed, at the question “How long since you practice Yoga?” he replied “Since my previous life”!

The lesson was good in my opinion although I expected it to be less demanding from a physical viewpoint. We had to execute many exercises (very similar to stretching ones) and it was difficult to stay focused and to control your breathing at the same time.

After the lesson I had a bad surprise. Trying to book the train tickets to get to Varanasi (my last destination here in India), I’ve found that there were no seats available in any class or time for the next week! Every viable train had, at least, 30-40 people in waiting list (i.e. overbooked seats) and there was no chance for me to get in those trains. I was stuck in Rishikesh!

This was unexpected and, having still available 7 full days in India, there were few places alternative to Varanasi I could visit before my return. After studying the guide and the map I excluded getting back to the hill stations (too far) and going to Rajastan (not enough time and too hot in this season); my only 2 options were basically spending one week in Rishikesh, the touristy, western crowded, “cool” yoga capital or going to Delhi, the crazy, hot, assaulting India capital.

I then decided to move my flight back a couple of days earlier. Rishikesh is a nice place to stay, but I’m not really the kind of traveler who stays one week in the same place, without seeing anything new and dividing his time among reading, yoga and chats (strictly about yoga).

During the afternoon Johnny and I went for a little trek to a waterfall (3km + 2 of steep path) in a park near Rishikesh. My fellow traveler is really fun, I never get tired of hearing him say, in his typical Irish accent: “Ahh Francisco, it’s brilliant! You should see that!”

Johnny and me - Rishikesh

The place was beautiful, a forest, far from the streets filled by car horns where the waterfalls forming several pool where people could bath and refresh.

Waterfalls - Rishikesh

8/6/2009

I spent my last day in Rishikesh going around the temples and trying to get into the spirituality of the place. I wasn’t very successful. In the temples I wasn’t taken much seriously, I received rushed explanations about gods, customs and traditions and after one minute temple’s men tried to sell me sacred water, amulets, … and asked for a donation!

Hindu temple - Rishikesh

It’s not all commercial however, by the Gange you can find people really into religion, praying or bathing in the river holy water. The problem is that before getting there you have to pass through a wall of vendors, beggars, …

Religious man - Rishikesh

Gange - Rishikesh

9/6/2009

We (Johnny and I) left Rishikesh in the morning to take the bus for Delhi; actually, we should have taken the overnight bus the following evening but the man at the travel agency told us, a couple of days ago, that these buses are canceled 75% of the times (?!?!). In fact also ours was canceled and so we left during the day to avoid delays and issues in getting to Delhi.

In 7 hours of a semi-deluxe bus (Rishikesh-Delhi 220Km) we arrived in Delhi. I believed that after one month in India the chaos, the crowd and the traffic of this city wouldn’t impress me anymore; I was wrong! Delhi is always impressive when you get there.

The difference I could notice was my approach to bargaining, at the taxi stand I laughed when a driver asked us for 350Rs (about 5€) and then I bargained badly until 120Rs (less than 2€). I would have gone to 100Rs but the driver was then looking for another customer to come with us and so Johnny stopped me: “Man, when the driver looks for another customer to share the ride it means you’ve hit the rock bottom!”

We took then a room in Pharganj, the same area where my travel began. In main bazaar street I met an Indian guy I met for the earlier in Mcleod Ganj and who was there to buy some clothes for his shop there. Then it’s true that all Indian stuff starts from here!

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