Photos from Rishikesh

The Parmarth Ashram from across the Ganga. Every evening at sunset they hold an aarti celebration. This is one of the many beautiful things I love about India.

Young boys at the nightly aarti celebration at the Parmarth Ashram along the Ganga river.

This is the Hindu god, Shiva, at the Parmarth Ashram. He's kinda cute (and by cute I mean 'pretty'.)

Shiva is also quite hunky.

And enlightened. The thumb and the first finger touching signify the union of the self and God. The fingers pointed downward indicate letting go of ego, karma, and illusion. (Or something like that.)

Fashion, Rishikesh style. Apparently stripes are in this year.

One of the pleasures on the streets of Rishikesh: fresh sqeezed sugarcane juice

Shopping for Tibetan singing bowls with a local vendor

Me and my new obsession: fresh papaya juice

Volker, Riener, and Arezo making the daily practice of pooja (prayer/offering) on the Ganga River just before sunset.

With the gang at the Maharisti Ashram, made famous by the Beatles in the 60's. Now closed and overgrown but accessible by a 50 rupee bribe to the guy at the gate. With representation by birth, residence, or heritage of the following countries: Australia, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Colombia, Iran, Canada, and the USA.

Again at the Beatle's Ashram

And, again at the Beatle's Ashram

Local dude at the Beatles Ashram.

The ATM guy, who guards the front door of the bank vestibule and also covers the nearby ice cream cart when the vendor takes a break.

With my favorite local Rishikesh jewelry salesman. A most beautiful man.

Micro enterprise in India. Seriously, hot butter cookies fresh from the oven. The best!

Yes, this sign is definitely needed.

That's What Friends Are For

Friends are essential in India. Traveling solo is challenging, and having a friend takes off a lot of pressure. Someone can watch the bags while you go to the toilet, look for a hotel room, or buy train tickets. Two people makes the good-cop/bad-cop routine possible, a must for bargaining and negotiating hotel room prices.

But the most important service a true friend in India provides is saying NO at the right time. "Hey, I'm thinking of shaving my head and tucking into an ashram." NO. "I think it's time to change my wardrobe up a bit. Do you think I would look good in orange?" NO. (Orange is the color worn by the sadhus, or holy men, in India, and many travelers submit to orange robes once they join an ashram.) That's what friends are for.

I am very fortunate to have met Arezo from Southern California on the train from Agra to Khajuraho. We practiced these questions a few times, and Arezo proved to know just when to say NO. But more than that, she turned out to be a very dear friend. We spent a month together, hardly apart for more than a few hours at a time, and that only a few times.

Aside from the obvious benefit of halving the price of the guesthouse room, this friendship proved to be a gift from heaven. We have laughed, cried, conspired, eaten, shopped, bargained together. In short we have done India justice and have grown in the process. Arezo left for Delhi today, and will fly home to California on Wednesday. I am very sad she is gone. But I am very grateful for my new friend, who I am sure I will meet again when I get home. xoxoxo Arezo!

Communicating in India

An important communication tool in India is the horn. Every vehicle has one, and every vehicle uses it. You even see "Horn Please" painted on the back of trucks and autorickshaws. This is a language all to its own.

Typically, the smaller the vehicle, the bigger the horn. So if you hear, "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!", you are probably being approached by a motorbike. This basically means, get the F--K out of the way. Small man, small bike, small...you know.

Sometimes you will hear a gentle, "beep-beep", which is quite civilized and means, excuse me, please, much appreciated if you would just scoot to the side so I don't accidentally clip you.

Once in a while you hear a playful horn, with a sort of a sing-song voice. This usually comes from something very large. As if to say, "Big thing coming, you know what to do. Isn't this fun???"

When I first got here, I hated the horns. And "hate" might be too soft of a word. I nearly jumped out of my skin each time I heard a horn. Now that I understand the language, what they are saying, I am okay with it.

But I admit, I do fight back sometimes. Rishikesh is spread along two sides of the Ganga River, and the only way to cross is by way of the two pedestrian bridges. By some twist of Indian fate, motorbikes pass for pedestrians here. So they use the bridges, along with people with loads on their heads, vendors with their pushcarts, cows, children, monkies. The motorbikes on the bridges shout the loudest. I've nearly been clipped numerous times. Foot traffic is supposed to conform to the flow of vehicular traffic, meaning you walk and drive on the left side of the road, like in England. I have yelled at many young men who have violated this rule, while confusing themselves with the handsome, dashing Bollywood stars of the movie scene here.

But the best thing happened today. I was crossing the bridge with a friend, tiny petite Jara from Belgium. A motorbike approached on our side of the traffic flow, on the wrong side, horn blaring. Jara stopped in front of him, threw her arms in the air and yelled, "shanti, shanti, shanti" ('shanti' means peace). Stopped the driver dead in his tracks. He was smiling as we walked past him, horn quiet. I guess that's the power of peace, called upon by a very small but powerful woman.

The Guru Scene

At one point I thought I might like to find a guru. Not that I had any idea what that meant, or what a guru is. All I knew is that a guru is some kind of a spiritual teacher. Who wouldn't want one of those?

Rishikesh is the place to find a guru. Many westerns come here to see their gurus, or to find a guru. I decided to find out what all the fuss was about.

Hang out in any cafe in Rishikesh, and you are bound to hear about who is here, who follows which gurus, who is holding satsang (teaching session with the guru) and where it's being held, and my aren't we all blissed out. It's common to overhear conversations like this: "That was a really great silence today." "Ya, it was." Or, "Dude, your third eye is going crazy." Or, Ï will be here until my guru says I can leave."

The word on the street here now is that Prembaba is here. You don't know who Prembaba is? Followed by a pitying look. Prembaba is a Brazilian guru, and several hundred Brazilians have come to be with him. He looks like a guru - long hair, long beard, flowing white clothes. His devotees adore him. He radiates love and peace, he really does.

His satsang goes like this: He walks in, announced, and everyone stands, turns toward him, places their hands in prayer position at the heart, and bows slightly (some not so slightly). He sits and looks out over the 100 or so people gathered. Musicians play, people sing songs in sanskrit, and he radiates at the crowd. Then he does a teaching, which is translated by a devotee. (Personally I found it hard to follow - maybe it was the translation, maybe it was because he never actually finished a thought.) Then more singing, and then darshan.

Darshan is when the guru blesses the devotees. To the untrained eye, it looks like the devotees (also called disciples) are bowing before him. They put their hands to their hearts in the prayer position, kneel before him, and touch their foreheads to his bare feet. He radiates love and peace. I got an explanation after the satsang. Turns out, a guru streams golden energy through his feet. When a devotees bows before him, he or she receives a giant dose of that energy. Meanwhile, more singing, which is then accompanied by dancing. The dancing is the kind you might have seen in the sixties, the kind the hippies did while blissed out on drugs. Arms floating in the wind, big blissful smile on the face, chanting sanskrit mantras.

If my account sounds a bit irreverent, please forgive me. They say that if you don't "get" what the guru is offering you are simply not ready for the guru. When the student is ready, the guru appears. I guess I was just not ready. I prefer to say that this method of spiritual education or enlightenment just doesn't resonate with me. But who knows.

"Hello" in India

"Hello" is an important word in any language, I think. In India it's a frequently used word, and it is super important to understand what it means. Here are a few uses for the word:

Hello means I have something to sell you, something you want, or I urgently need your attention. As in: Hello. Hello. Hello madam. Hello. Hello madam. Hello money. Hello money. Hello school pen. Frequently used by rickshaw drivers, restauranteurs, shopkeepers, vendors, beggars, and children.

The second use is found in Delhi, in the backpacker ghetto of Paharganj. Here "hello" means: you might want to move aside or I will run you over with my cycle rickshaw. It's a courtesy, and there is a risk of actually getting hit. When you hear "hello" in Delhi, just move to the side of the road. If you can; Delhi's streets are a tiny bit busy.

The third and most annoying use of the word hello comes from the more affluent of India's men. You hear this one any time a man answers his cell phone. It goes like this: "HELLO!" Always shouted, regardless of hour or location. I guess some things are universal, eh?