November 6th - I Swam In The Ganga ... A Great 'Day Out'

Today took me back to elementary school – we had a 'field trip' ... the day started at 6.15am, loaded up into two buses with our 'bus leaders' ... and we were off. First stop – a temple, up, at the very top (5,000 ft approx.) of a long twisty road on a hill above Rishikesh – with amazing views of the Himalayas – again, wow. The only slight hiccup ... no washrooms ... and I was desperate ... so with a kind look out service, I found a bush – very happy, until I pulled my clothes up ... and realized I had a bottom full of thorns ... literally ... in all layers of clothing, everywhere ... the lesson, look behind as well as in front ... :-)

Then to Rishikesh itself ... and swimming ... the town is right on the Ganga and above the town, the water is incredibly clear so off we went ... we found a spot on a beautiful bit of the river, clear blue green water with amazing sand – soft and white. A few of the guys were right in and another woman and I wanted to go in ... however, custom dictated we be fully clothed ... and neither of us had brought extra bottoms ... agh because for some reason, I really wanted to go in ... but with a little creative borrowing, we solved the problem and I had the most amazing 5 minutes in the river. For cold water, I am normally a dip your toe in kind of gal and go in, if at all, very slowly, an inch at a time – but here, I was in, in 10 seconds flat and happy as a clam! Unfortunately, we were short on time so it was a very quick dip, change and then we were off. But – again, wow – just an amazing experience! I could have happily spent the day just there – I will be back.

Late, we then rushed through Rishikesh to our second stop ... only to discover that we had an hour there. Rishikesh is the mecca for yoga with what seemed like every second building offering classes or teacher training. So there was lots of explore and I had absolutely no desire. The town is definitely smaller and more manageable than others but there are also more 'touts' – all wanting you to buy something and not taking a polite no for an answer – my least favorite energy. The streets were busy and there were a remarkable number of other westerners – so while I'm sure you can find the quieter parts of the town and hang out, I was glad I'd made my earlier decision not to come between courses. Instead a few of us found a cup of tea and a few minutes of peace before realizing we were late again and boogying off to meet the bus. We were on a definite schedule – but the next stop was key ... lunch - we'd been warned there would just one meal and by then, it was early afternoon and I (and I have to believe everyone) was starved. The lunch didn't disappoint – delicious – two helpings nicely satisfied my craving for palak paneer before I leave :-) and then a lovely musical interlude in a garden on the banks of the Ganga – hard to go wrong.

Our final destination was Haridwar – first up a gondola to some temples, one of which was for Hanuman, the god of breath – just a little relevant for yoga ... I had a blessing and it was special – I don't know why exactly but it was, I felt something. Then it was a repeat of the sunset puja I'd seen before ... though somehow after 7 weeks in India I could appreciate it much more. And at the same time, money came back into play ... I had a small basket of flowers to offer and so you're meant to go put your basket (with a candle and 2 sticks of incense burning) in the river – but then these guys take you down and ask questions as if to bless or pray with you and then say, just as you're about to put the flower in ... minimum 100 or 200 rupees ... huh??? I didn't have any small money e.g. 10 or 20 rupees so I said I had no money – needless to say, the guy wasn't particularly happy but at least he left me alone. And so I did get a chance to offer my private prayer and send the flowers off. It was cool.

It was an absolutely action packed ,whirlwind of a day – brilliant stops and so very different experiences all crammed in. A final bus ride home with more songs and the perfect end to a really lovely day. Thank you Rajiv and Swati.