Final Chapter! Señor Ruback so graciously missed Jazzfest this year to make an appearance down south. We met in Bangalore, the IT capital of India. When you call Dell or ever get an Indian person on the phone (which we all love!), most likely, you’re talking to someone in Bangalore. With about 5 million people, it was quite a shock to see Levi’s, Nike, Adidas and plenty of bars, especially after being in holy Rishikesh! The first day we walked around and checked out the city on a tuk tuk (auto rickshaw). Honestly, after seeing 500 year old forts and palaces, seeing 100 year old churches was nothing special. We did manage to find a happy hour with beer which tasted so good after a month off! Course, I was the only woman in the whole place but I was so used to the stares that I thought it was almost funny to be swilling a brew.
The next morning we hopped on a quick train where we were met by our driver “Prince” who took us to Madikeri, about a 4 hour journey. I had been to this rainforest area on my last trip and thought it was so amazing I wanted to show Adam. We did get lucky in that we arrived during one of 3 days during the year when the coffee was blooming….talk about fragrant! But it wasn’t nearly as special as the last time because it wasn’t butterfly season. I guess when I was there last the bazillion butterflies I photographed were unique to that time. Darn! We did meet a fantastic young couple in law school…an Irish guy and an Indian girl from Bombay. We hung with them each meal and laughed our brains out since the was nonstop comedy. It was also super cool to meet a wealthy young girl and learn about Indian culture through her eyes. We actually got used to drinking hot beers each night (no fridges in sight). It was nice to be in nature and in a completely remote part of India, something I didn’t really know existed after the first part of my trip!
Course, Adam came for culture and I was stoked on the nature but was cool to start there and slowly work into South Indian culture. Our next stop took us to a wildlife park. I really wanted to go on a safari so Adam to see wild elephants. We ventured on our first public bus ride which was quite the adventure and gave us a good dose of local culture…the roads were insanely bad and we must have stopped at everyone and their mother’s house…Pick someone up, drop someone else off. This went on for hours! We were squished in the front so everyone got prime viewing of the Whiteys. Finally, we reached our destination only to find out were weren’t even close to the hotel and went to a totally wrong town! The place we ended up was a small village in the middle of nowhere…we were surely the only tourists they’d seen in ages. There were about 6 arrack (local moonshine) shops with dudes getting hammered and only one unhygienic restaurant so we ate packaged ice cream and lurked on the sidewalk for a couple of hours until it was time to go to the park. On our way, we got a flat tire which ate up some extra time and we made it to the park entrance to meet the hotel jeep for our first safari. Talk about up Adam’s alley…drive around a park in a jeep searching for animals with no exercise whatsoever! We saw a handful of huge lizards, deer, bison, giant squirrels, birds and the big treat at the end was the rare pack of wild dogs…Lucky! The next morning’s safari began with some excitement when we came upon a baby elephant with a small herd. We watched for some time and they sure didn’t want us anywhere near the baby. They all surrounded it to the point that you could hardly see it and the biggest one charged our jeep a couple of times! The driver and I thought it was cool. The English couple we were with freaked out so we drove off. Exciting!
We left the park and traveled out of Karnataka and into Kerala, a long, thin state on the western border of India. The beautiful drive took us up and then down through the Western Ghats. Lush banana and papaya plantations, tea estates, small villages and jungle dotted the mountains. We were heading to a private beach on the Arabian Sea in Kannur in the northwest part of Kerala. Costa Malabarai got a special write up in the Lonely Planet and boy was it ever. We finally found it after asking about 100 people. I never thought there would be one inch of beach without other people but somehow we managed to find a private beach with palm trees and bathtub warm water. Amazing! We stayed here for 3 nights and met a fantastic couple from New Zealand who became our heroes. Helen and John had so many adventure stories from their travels around the world and had just returned from a 5 month sailing trip around Fiji. They somehow managed to find ice, red bull and brought their own bottles of Absolut and Bombay Gin for happy hour cocktails. And we thought we were cool with our hot beers….NOT! We came to learn that Helen was 67 and John was 70. Unbelievable. When you live young, you stay young and this couple was so inspirational. Although wealthy, they still stayed in mid-range hotels because they liked meeting other travelers and Indians alike. The manager of Costa Malabarai, Junesh, told us SO much about Keralan life and we chatted with him for hours each night. On top, the cook made the most delicious, fresh food. Needless to say, we were quite sad to leave but alas, it was time to move again.
The owner of the guesthouse told us it was easy to get train tickets to Cochin, our next destination, so we didn’t bother to get them ahead of time. Bad call!We showed up 20 minutes before our departure time only to find about 100 people standing in line in the 100+ degree weather sweating and pushing and all around not having any fun. Agh! When we finally made it to the front, I asked for AC Chair Car seats. The guy yelled back “No A/C!” What? Okay, give us whatever you have…So there we were on a 7 hour train ride in the GENERAL compartment. This is the compartment I had seen times but never experienced. This was the compartment I was always so grateful I wasn’t a part of…. until now. Basically, there are 2 bunk beds per section. Normally, in 2nd class, you have one person/bed. In the General section, there were 6 people per bed and on top, we had 4 across + our bags! Normally, you get a cushy seat. Oh no, not in General. You get a lovely wood bench. It was so tight that we couldn’t even sit Indian style and had our knees in our chests….for over 6 hours! People would stare at us not only because we were the Whiteys but also because due to luggage, we only had 4 people and not 6. 2 good seats wasted! People were standing in the aisles for hours on end. It was almost comical it was so insane. But as always, we managed and it made for a good adventure!
Luckily, our hotel made up for the lack of comfort on the train. My friend Holbrook had recommended this hotel which wasn’t in our books. Since it was the low season and we were the only guests, the manager upgraded us to the suite complete with AC, a TV and a minibar. Wow. Moving UP in the world! While this may sound obvious since all American hotels have these amenities, these are serious luxuries and we were super stoked!
Cochin is this fantastic city located on the water. It reminded me of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The first morning I decided to go for a run after being all cramped on that train ride. It was my first run of the trip and a major highlight. It was too hot to wear something over my shoulders so I set out in a tank top wearing sunglasses, listening to my ipod and running….all completely unheard of so I got plenty of stares as might as well have been a martian! It was so cool to check out the quaint neighborhoods, the huge fishing nets on the water and just generally see what people do at 7am on a Sunday. I found a few meat markets with people lined up to buy beef…huh? The cow is supposedly holy in India and normally you see them cruising around eating garbage, stopping traffic, etc. Seeing a cow’s head and a bunch of dead meat hanging was totally bizarre. But the south is different and people eat beef and pork, things unheard of up north. I stumbled upon soccer and cricket games which was cool to watch. Since the guys were mostly barefoot, my quest for some shots of people wearing Nikes continued…
Adam and I rented bikes that day and cruised around to scope out the city. We went to “Jewtown” and shopped at some of the antique shops. We found an organic spice store that we loaded up on since we were in the spice capital of India. We even tried to ride 6 miles to a restaurant in another part of the city but got totally lost and ended up 4 miles past our turnoff. Oops! Since it was about 100 degrees and Adam was riding on a piece of toast, he completely bonked. Due to this dorkout, we had no choice but to ride back to the hotel. It was cool to see the local people on a Sunday doing their thing (i.e. mostly drinking) but the bonk out sort of sucked. Luckily, Adam was a total trooper and we managed to get back to the hotel and into the AC!
One of the neatest parts about Cochin is that along the water they have these huge Chinese fishing nets where 4 fishermen are needed to work them during high tide. We learned that after the tsumani fish were displaced and/or killed and that pre-tsumani they would catch 40kgs of fish in one catch. Now, they were catching only 3-4 kgs. OUCH!
Nonetheless, people had fish on the docks for sale and you could buy whatever and have it cooked right there. Adam was in heaven with huge prawns cooked in about 10 mins with lemon and garlic.
While Adam splurged on prawns, I splurged on an ayurvedic massage and treatment. This type of massage is famous in Kerala so when in Rome, right? Nothing like Prema’s massage but this one I involved meeting with a doctor who wanted me to get a blood test (um, no thanks!). After the consultation, I had a massage with 2 girls slathering oil over my naked body. At this point, I was over feeling weird about it anymore since it’s not like there’s even an option of a towel. After that, I sat in a box where my head was out but inside was a steam bath. At the 5 minute mark I suddenly started sweating and from there on, it was like a river runs through it. The sweat just poured out and made all the oil seep in. Wow. After that I did Siro Dhara which is where you have a warm stream of oil dripped over your forehead and third eye. I quickly went to another planet. The last part involved putting some liquid in my nose and then sucking in each nostril to clear out my sinuses. 2 hours later, I felt like a new person!
From Cochin we traveled to another Holbrook recommendation. Not only was this guesthouse not in the book, the town wasn’t either! We had no clue what we were getting ourselves into but so far, her suggestions had been right on the money so we were going for it (Always nice to get off the Lonely Planet track). One of the most popular things to do in Kerala is a backwater tour. Basically, there are all these channels that sometimes have fresh water and sometimes have salt water depending on the time of year. People rent houseboats to travel the channels. This guesthouse was right on the backwater which I thought was way better…From shore we could watch the wooden houseboats traveling as well as local villagers who used canoes and long poles to scoot along transporting all sorts of goods. The sunset, full moon rise and sunrise made for some amazing photos. One day we walked along the channels (talk about great running trails!) and we also took a 4 hour canoe trip with this dude who wore a rainbow umbrella hat to keep the sun off his neck and who didn’t speak a lick of English. I highly recommend Riverside Retreat in Amballapura….totally relaxing and spending 2 nights/1.5 days was perfect.
Our next adventure took us 5 hours away to Munnar, a hill station set amongst acres and acres of tea plantations. At 7000 feet, the cooler temperatures were more than welcomed! It even rained in the afternoons which we were so happy about after practically dying from heat stroke the week before. We stayed at Zina cottages for a mere $15/day and the place turned out to be way better than we thought. This lovely old couple owned it and knew everything about the area. The first day we hired a driver to take us to the various spice and tea plantations in the area. We thought Cochin was spice heaven but actually, Munnar was….bright green tea plants dotted virtually all of the hillsides. When there wasn’t tea, there was cardamon, coffee, black pepper, bananas, oranges, betel nut, papaya, mangoes, sugar cane. Just about everything a person would ever need was along this stretch of mountains. Our ending spot was a wildlife park that was more in the desert. Our plan was to hike for a couple of hours and come back. Quite suddenly the environment had changed dramatically and now it was 2:30pm and SUPER hot. We hired a guide and set off. When we turned off the trail and started bushwhacking we quickly realized that our guide was searching for animals. We were tracking bison and elephants on foot with a small bamboo stick as our protection? I kept thinking how cool it would be to see an elephant. This lasted about an hour when we came upon stinking fresh poop and the smell of bison. They were super close and it was not fun being there anymore! Our guide got all sneaky and waived us to come closer. Luckily, the herd ran off but I got a good shot just to prove how nuts we were. When he told us that bison are scared of people but elephants aren’t and will attack, I prayed that we wouldn’t see an elephant. Luckily, we didn’t!
We did however get super lucky and on the drive back, literally almost ran over a black monkey. Our driver had told us about these monkeys but said they were very rare. We watched it scale up a huge rock face and within a minute, disappear. Cool!
The only good restaurant in town was a local’s joint and packed at all times. No ambience whatsoever (fluorescent lighting, white walls, no music) but some kick ass South Indian food. Once again, we got all the stares especially when clumsily eating with our hands. But whatever, we were more than used to being outsiders by now.
The second day we hiked from our hotel through the tea plantations. Man, talk about marathon training ground….there were trails in every direction for miles and miles. I especially loved watching the women pick tea….they would chat as their nimble fingers plucked tea. They picked for 8 hours and got 80 rupees ($2) for every 15kgs of tea (i.e. nothing). They wore plastic outfits to protect themselves against the plants and also in the monsoon. I can’t even imagine the monsoon since only had a brief taster but it must be horrible being out there all day. That afternoon we shopped for the motherload of tea and spices. We randomly found a locals only tea shop and bought 12 lbs of tea for $10. Oh yeah!
After dinner that night, Adam had quite the adventure trying to buy beer. After about 20 minutes of trying to figure out where this liquor store that everyone said was “around the corner” we finally found a bunch of dudes going up and down a flight of stairs. Who would’ve known…a shack with a small sign out front that said “liquor is injurious to health.” Adam went down to buy beer since women don’t drink (it’s only a guy’s thing). After being pretty much violated by drunk guys hooting and hollering, pushing and sweating all over him, he finally came out barely alive but holding hot brews. I say barely alive because at one point in the chaos, a super wasted dude came running down with a machete and went in the wrong way to get more 10 cent moonshine. People freaked out all over because he totally cut, but what could they do, he had a machete?! Imagine if there was only one place to get alcohol in your town and combine it with super cheap moonshine. Things could get nutty fast.
We left Munnar to head for Madurai, home of the biggest temple in South India. We crossed state borders into Tamil Nadu which was so different from Kerala….super hot and dry and quite obviously poorer than Kerala. Back to mud huts and people walking down the street with no shoes on the pavement…whoa.
The temple was okay but not my favorite. Our major adventure there was dealing with our train tickets (again!). I had gotten our tickets weeks before but we were #1 and #2 on the waitlist. Everyone said we’d get on, no problem. But as of 3pm, we still weren’t confirmed and with flights back to the US, a confirmation was essential or we were screwed. So we went to the station and after talking to 3 people who all told us to go somewhere else, we finally found the station supervisor who told us we needed to be there that morning to get a seat. I begged the guy to get us on and his assistant took us to another room to talk to another person. We finally got 2 seats in “Sleeper Class.” They said it was like 2nd class only with no AC. At this point, we were so used to it being so hot that AC was the least of our worries. Just get us on the dang train! After filling out 3 different forms, the guy handed us 1200 much needed rupees and we had tickets. Phew! We got seats and made money? Nice!
That is, until we got to the compartment. Turns out, Sleeper Class is one step above General only you get to lie down. It has 3 bunks per wall and no AC. Of course, we were the only Whiteys and everyone got a kick out of us. Whatever. We were just happy to be going to Bangalore and actually got cold in the middle of the night. AC wasn’t necessary anyway!
The last day was spent back in Bangalore. We hit up some last minute shopping and had a really nice lunch. I left Adam to fly back to Delhi and he stayed in Bangalore. Wouldn’t be complete unless there was one last adventure so here goes…
My flight was of course, conveniently delayed. I had a 3.5 hr layover and by the time I landed and got my bags, it was 9:15pm. My flight was at 10:50 and the domestic and international terminals are basically 2 separate airports. Adam had given me an extra 100 rupees which I spent 10 on a water earlier. I originally intended on taking the free bus but now due to time, had to get a taxi. I ran out to a scene filled with utter chaos. I told the pre-paid taxi guy I needed to go to the international terminal. He said it would be 120 rupees. I BEGGED him to let me get a cab with my last 90 rupees. I seriously had no more dough! He had to have a conference with his buddy, blah blah. I almost had a heart attack but finally, he let me go. I ran to a guy and told him to get me there quick. He said he could for an extra charge. I’m like “dude, I don’t have 1 rupee left and I’m gonna miss my flight!” He liked the idea of going fast so after about 10 accidents, we made it to the airport. More chaos and now it was 9:30! Holy crap. By the time I got to the check in counter, I had jimmy leg and my heart was racing. The security lady told me that the cut off time was in 5 minutes. I JUST made it!
On the plane ride, I saw Greenland. That was super cool! We were flying really low and you could see it totally. Then we arrived in New York just in time for a killer sunrise over the skyline. Wow…
Last story and then it’s over. Upon arrival in Newark, I pretty much ran to the first deli sandwich place I could find. I got a HUGE veggie sandwich on whole grain bread with Dijon mustard. Who cared that it was 6am, I was in heaven! After leaving the sandwich place, I randomly found $15 on the ground. When you have no cash (lost my ATM months ago), this sure came in handy. I decided to get myself a magazine…so I went to the store and picked out Vanity Fair. I flipped through it and by accident dropped it on the ground. Whose photo did it land on but Swamiji – the swami from my ashram in Rishikesh! I was dumbfounded. Turns out, this month has a story on the 20 most influential people in yoga and he was one of them. So I used my new found $5 and got the magazine. That sure was one of the stranger things to happen to me…
So that’s it. I’m back in Portland and am so happy to be home. I loved almost every second of my Adventure in India and chalk it up to another amazing journey in the book of life. I also have to say that we are so lucky to live in the USA. We are truly free. Women have rights, we can usually say what we want, eat what we want and for the most part, do what we want. Living in Portland is especially dreamy….people care about their environment and being healthy. They love their gardens and their artistic freedom. The quality of life is high and that means a lot. Indian people on the surface live in the truest “democracy” on the planet….they can spit, shit, pee, drive, litter, smoke, and pretty much do whatever they want. But women are treated like second class citizens, marriages are still arranged, survival is a daily thing and while there are more western toilets than 2 years ago, they still live in dirty conditions and eat the same food day in, day out. They have no idea what it is to have choices. They live amongst horrible corruption. There is something to be said for living the simple life and sometimes I wish I did. Ignorance is bliss, right? But there is also something to be said for having the education and the options to move up in this world, to have a shot at a better life, to have more than our parents, etc. So even though people don’t think of America as highly as they used to (trust me on this one, I was in the field investigating), we are still able to live the American Dream and have the ability to travel the world, see new things and experience new adventures and for this, I am truly grateful.
Until next time Mother India….namaste.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Chapter 3: Rishikesh, aka Yoga Heaven
I dedicated this 12 day section of the trip to furthering my studies of the science of yoga. This was my alone time with no work distractions, no friends or family, no drugs, alcohol or meat of any type including eggs! I immersed myself into the yoga lifestyle and tried new things, ate new food, met knew people and let life take me where it would….
Rishikesh is located about 5 hours north of Delhi in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is one of the holiest places in India (I know, I know there are so dang many holy places!). But it is considered the capital of the world for yoga and some of the greatest swamis and yogis have come out of this special town. There are two parts, Swarg Ashram, where all the major ashrams are and Lakshman Jula, where most of the Israeli and European tourists hang out. I stayed in Swarg Ashram at Parmarth Niketan, home of Swamiji and the same ashram I stayed with the group. It is the largest ashram in Rishikesh and also host to the nightly Aarti Ceremony on the banks of the Mother Ganga.
After leaving the group and arriving the Rishikesh, I completely crashed and burned for 2 solid days. It was as though someone possessed my body and I wasn’t sure which way was up or down. I almost felt like I was on the verge of getting really sick but I told myself I wasn’t going to be sick on this trip and all be damned if a bunch of teenagers would make me! So I took care of myself and slept and ate plain rice and banana lassis (curd/yogurt shakes that settle your stomach) until it passed. I also got an ayurvedic massage where they use all these crazy oils. This helped immensely and after 2 days, I was ready to rock come Monday morning. Phew! Apparently taking care of 20 people 24/7 for 18 days takes up a lot of energy…who knew?
Monday morning I started my new daily yoga program. One of the reasons I came to India was to study the essence of yoga. I wasn’t really interested in learning more “poses” or the physical aspect that our western culture has so graciously butchered or improved (depending on what you think yoga is). I get plenty of that at home. I really wanted to study the spiritual aspect that is so paramount to Indian culture but that is so lacking in Western society. Someone upstairs must have known this because I hit the jackpot at the ashram and the week I came was the week they bumped up the daily program to include all sorts of classes each day. Yes! I was officially in yogi heaven.
My day went something like this:
6-8:30am: Kriya Yoga with Mataji
silent breakfast
9:30am: Vedic Chanting w/ Mataji
10:30 – 12:30: Kundalini Yoga w/ Parmatma
silent lunch at the ashram
5pm: Meditation w/ Parmatma or else the best massage on the face of the planet
dinner
6:30pm: Aarti Ceremony
9pm: Bed
The Kriya yoga class was a completely new experience. People talk about finding their “gurus” which I have yet to do but I think I came darn close with this woman Mataji. As the “mother” of the ashram she had this incredible energy that I found mesmerizing. In her early 50s, she had the most beautiful voice and incredible aura about her that I couldn’t help but feel the love…and I hardly even knew her! The early morning class consisted of prayanama (breathing exercises) to clean out the body and nasal passages, sun salutations with singing in between each short set, sivasana followed by over an hour of these meditation exercises where we focused on our chakras. One meditation we did 59 times over. The first day I thought I was going to die but by the 6th day, I felt this incredible energy from it and I actually got a buzz off myself. No wonder those yogis can sit for so long meditating...they’re high! I also noticed on day 4 that I unblocked my throat chakra which in turn opened up the whole passage of energy. I know, this sounds crazy, but let’s just say it was such a deep awareness and I felt such elation when I felt it happen.
Another thingI tried was a Vedic (ie traditional) Chanting class where Mataji led us in singing mantras from a prayer book she passed out. She would sing a line and the class would repeat. We learned various mantras and it was so fun to be able to sing and not care about what anyone thought. It was a total free for all! Her voice was a true joy just to listen to and in between each mantra, she would explain its meaning…that was the coolest part (besides me thinking I could sing)…hearing her interpretation about life and how we find our inner light.
After chanting, we went straight down to a Kundalini Yoga class taught by the most amazing Brazilian girl, Parmatma. I have known about Kundalini for years but had never really done it. In this flavor you do a lot of vigorous repetitive movements, chants and meditations to awaken the energy at the base of your spine. It is an incredibly powerful feeling and I found myself hooked. Basically, by doing movements quickly enough and for a long enough time, your ego emerges and feelings such as “oh my god, I want to quit” or “holy crap my arms are killing” come up. It is only when you keep going that eventually your ego takes a hike and all of a sudden, you get these bursts of energy and can continue for another few minutes! It was incredible. Those arms that were so heavy a minute ago felt like air the next. So the “sats” (sequences) actually became meditative and some of the exercises we did were for 11 minutes which felt like eternity. The most amazing part of this class was the group dynamic. Surrounded by total strangers, these people became my support group and I was their support in return. We held each other up by the sound of our voices and the energy permeating from our core. On top of everyone being a stranger, the class consisted of so many different types of people including Japanese, Chinese, Swiss, Austrian, English, American, Brazilian and Indian. Actually, there was only 1 Indian guy who tried his hardest to keep up with the foreigners. I thought he might kill himself a few times but at least he was representing! (Most Indians only care about the spiritual aspect of yoga and are too lazy for the physical part.)
No matter where we all were from, we all spoke the same language of yoga. We all wanted to learn more and take our newly found knowledge back home with us to share with our friends and students. The union of mind, body and spirit cut through culture, geography and language to find a home in each of our hearts.
The first day I saw a girl who looked so familiar. After class we figured out that we had stayed at the same hotel in Varanasi, almost a month prior. Talk about a small India! We quickly became friends. She gave me tons of great info about south India and it was nice to have a fellow American to hang with. The most interesting thing we did was visit the Ashram where the Beatles wrote the White Album in 1968. Oddly enough, there was no sign or any indication of where the ashram was only a bunch of creepy fake sadhus (holy men) hanging out smoking hash. Luckily, they knew the word “Beatles” when asked if we were in the right area. For the past 20 years the ashram had been abandoned. I have no idea why or what happened except that the Maharishi got weird with the ladies and something about stealing money. I’d like to know who owns it and why it is abandoned because it was one of the most unusual/amazing places I’ve ever seen. Set amongst the hillside on a huge piece of property overlooking the Ganges, there were multiple buildings onsite. To get inside, we paid some guy 25 rupees. Who was that guy and why was he there? Once inside, there were all these stone “pods” squished next to one another. There must have been 100 of these small, dome-shaped buildings. Each one consisted of a tiny downstairs and an even smaller upstairs apparently used for meditation. There was another building resembling a hotel or apartment complex only it was totally trippy with an Arabic twist. We walked inside stepping over broken windows, doors and monkey poop. There must have been 300 rooms in this building. On the rooftop sat more dome like pods only these were made of tile and were larger than the other ones. You could walk through them but they also had a metal ladder going to the top. I couldn’t resist and climbed up one of the ladders. At the top you could look inside into a small room? Apparently, people in intense sadhana (meditation) must have used these small, virtually dark rooms to isolate themselves. If anyone wanted do something really cool, restoring this amazing piece of property and making it into a working ashram or hotel would be incredible. So sad that such a beautiful site was left to rot.
Holbrook kept getting these massages that she claimed were the “best she’d ever had.” I was skeptical since my experience with Indian massages was that they slathered oil all over you but didn’t really go deep. Either way, we all know I’m a sucker for bodywork so I decided to give it a shot. After the first 1.5 hour session, I felt as though all the massages I’ve ever had in my life combined didn’t compare to what this woman did. Probably in her 50s, she wasn’t tall but was definitely the strongest Indian woman I’d ever seen. Her toothless smile was all warmth. Upon entering her somewhat sketchy and somewhat dirty house, I laid my naked body down on a mattress on the floor atop blankets that I’m sure were used many times before me. Not exactly hygenice but hey, what is in India anyway? I always know within 2 minutes if I’m getting a good massage. I knew within 5 seconds that this woman was something else. She treated me like a pretzel grabbing my arms, legs and whatever else she could and then in a seated position, used her feet as her weapons. Yes, she used her hands AND her feet. Think of how much more powerful your legs are than your arms. Enough said. She not only had a gift as well as strength, she also used her own technique. I was tossed and turned in every which way and couldn’t even ask her one single question my breath was so taken away. She didn’t leave one nook or cranny unmassaged. The kicker was the end when she poured this special oil onto my head and gave this incredible head/face massage with this oil that tingled for a solid 3 hours. After I professed my love to her, I begged her to see me in 2 days…and 2 days after that….and 2 days after that….I went 4 times in 8 days! How could I not take advantage of a 1.5 hour massage for $12? Not only that but I bought a liter of the “special” head/body oil as well as a huge tub of “medicine” that she said if I rubbed on my muscles, the pain would disappear. Hook a sister up! She made all her own oils so I have no clue what’s in them, all I know is that they feel darn good. I was actually hoping to put her in my suitcase but she wasn’t too fond of the idea. Oh well, I guess reason #167 to come back to India ☺
Two other people that I became friends with were a couple going to school at UVA and volunteering at the ashram. One afternoon, we hiked 6 miles upriver to a secluded beach on the Ganges. It was a hot day and the cold river sure felt good. It was our first experience of not fully going in. We were all quite happy to be bathing in the holy water and it was nice to relax in the sun. I also spent one Sunday hiking with Suzanne and Jake up a large mountain to Neelkanth Temple. All the people I asked said it wasn’t possible to hike without a guide or that it was too far. It was sort of annoying since Indian people don’t hike or exercise and I knew we could do it without a guide. Sure enough, it was really straightforward and a great hike…2 hours straight up but all on a concrete path. We made friends with tons of langur monkeys (large, black faced monkeys who are about as chill as they come and you can walk right next to them and they won’t attack, unlike the yucky old reces monkeys that are super sketchy). It was nice to hike and be in nature. We did come across the Indian mountain biking team practicing with a coach. Did I ever feel bad for these poor Indian guys barreling down the hillside on crappy bikes with no toe clips or clipless pedals. They wore knee and elbow pads. I would too if I didn’t have any straps on my pedals! We kept thinking how it would change their life to see a real mountain bike. We’ll just keep that one a secret…The temple was interesting and we decided we like our knees and so we took a jeep back to town. That afternoon we treated ourselves to one of the best meals I’d had at Ramana’s, an orphanage where the kids grew their own vegetables and there were a handful of volunteers who cooked and helped take care of the kids. Not in the guidebooks, Suzanne and Jake took me to this secret oasis. Our meals consisted of an organic salad with live sprouts, tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers. Yes, salad!!! My first one in over a month! Anything that can’t be peeled, can’t be eaten. Unfortunately, this means salads so unless you know that they wash with filtered water, they’re out. We also had butternut squash soup, veggie lasagna and a waffle w/ maple syrup. Sort of strange for lunch but since it was the only other thing on the menu, we were in! We drank the most delicious rhodedendron juice. Yes, as in the flower. Made with lemon and sugar, it was similar to hibiscus…super refreshing on such a hot day. Note to self: make this at home with all the rhodies in the backyard! For dessert, we topped it off with a coconut bon bon that was a slice of heaven. Note to self #2: Grated coconut and a little sugar, cook in the oven until toasted. SO good!
One thing that stands out is this Krishna festival that took place on a random Wednesday evening. I was in this music shop raping and pillaging my yoga instructor’s music collection (All the music shops in town would download entire cd’s straight onto your ipod or burn a disk of mp3’s for super cheap). The shopowner told me to look outside. There was a long saree (Indian dress) that kept passing by. There were many women outside passing this saree through their hands to the next woman. I must have been in the shop for a solid 20 minutes and the saree kept going and going. When I was finished, I walked outside only to find the colorful material had gone over the bridge and was making its way to the other side of the river. All these women were dressed in orange and red, the colors of Lord Krishna, God of Love. It just kept going and going and going and going….I walked all the way to my ashram and sure enough…that’s where the material was also going. The permanent statue of Lord Shiva on the banks of the Ganges was all dressed up with a shawl and this green background with a waterfall of water streamed alongside him. There were colorful drapes of material streaming down around him. What the heck was going on? The saree kept coming and women kept coming. I found out later there were 500 women participating in this ceremony with one long saree that consisted of 500 pieces sown together. Slowly, they all gathered themselves and the material at the feet of Lord Shiva. Normally, Aarti Ceremony started at 6:30. Swamiji came out around 6 to help gather the saree alongside the women. They were all singing and dancing around. It was so beautiful. Needless to say, the Aarti that night was a little more special than normal. The crowd was filled to the brim with women clad in orange and red. Go ladies!
The next morning, I was on the rooftop doing my morning yoga and I found myself singing along to this chanting in the distance…”Hare, Hare, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna, Rama Rama…” Over and over. Finally, I peeked out over the roof only to find all the women dressed in the saree from the night before singing and dancing. Wow! It wasn’t even 7am and all the women had already cut the giant piece of cloth and made individual outfits. What a great way to end my stay in Rishikesh. All these women bonding, sharing their spirit, their clothing, their friendship and their love of God with this beautiful display of color.
My favorite thing about Rishikesh was its pulsing energy. By pulsing, I’m not talking about neon lights and dance beats. I mean the basic energy that permeates from within….the holiness of the Ganges river, the sadhus, Swamiji, Mataji, the singing, the dancing, the bookshops filled with books on spirituality and yoga, the ayurvedic restaurants, the massages, the yoga and meditation classes, the incredible people, the color and vibrancy of it all….Rishikesh had been calling my name for many years. It wasn’t until now that I was truly able to embrace. I would never have tried kriya or kundalini yoga or chanting a few years back. I found myself at a crossroads wanting to learn more about the spirituality of this ancient science and as usual, my path led me right to the heart of where I needed to be. I am grateful to all the strangers who didn’t care about my background, my nationality, my singing voice, how much money I made, what I looked like, etc. Half the time my hair was a total grease pit with all the oil in it! I experienced things with those people that I will cherish forever. The spiritual path never ceases to amaze me and just when I thought I knew something about yoga, I realize that I know very little. It is humbling to be in the space of a truly liberated soul. The more I read and the more I put myself at the feet of these people, the more I realize that it’s not about material wealth and impressing those around you. It’s about the selfless acts of helping those in need, of not becoming attached to anything, of eliminating the ego that loves to raise its ugly head. I am guilty of so many of these traps but traveling here is such a reminder that having fancy cars and nice houses is so not the point. Indian people have nothing and yet, for the most part, they are happy! The problems come when they try to imitate our society. TV has tainted their culture to want more and forget about their spiritual essence that makes India special. I don’t even know how to not fall into the vicious cycle but I can say that cultivating friendships and putting family first is paramount to having a successful life. The energy you put out is the energy you receive. So let your inner light shine and good things will follow!
Rishikesh is located about 5 hours north of Delhi in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is one of the holiest places in India (I know, I know there are so dang many holy places!). But it is considered the capital of the world for yoga and some of the greatest swamis and yogis have come out of this special town. There are two parts, Swarg Ashram, where all the major ashrams are and Lakshman Jula, where most of the Israeli and European tourists hang out. I stayed in Swarg Ashram at Parmarth Niketan, home of Swamiji and the same ashram I stayed with the group. It is the largest ashram in Rishikesh and also host to the nightly Aarti Ceremony on the banks of the Mother Ganga.
After leaving the group and arriving the Rishikesh, I completely crashed and burned for 2 solid days. It was as though someone possessed my body and I wasn’t sure which way was up or down. I almost felt like I was on the verge of getting really sick but I told myself I wasn’t going to be sick on this trip and all be damned if a bunch of teenagers would make me! So I took care of myself and slept and ate plain rice and banana lassis (curd/yogurt shakes that settle your stomach) until it passed. I also got an ayurvedic massage where they use all these crazy oils. This helped immensely and after 2 days, I was ready to rock come Monday morning. Phew! Apparently taking care of 20 people 24/7 for 18 days takes up a lot of energy…who knew?
Monday morning I started my new daily yoga program. One of the reasons I came to India was to study the essence of yoga. I wasn’t really interested in learning more “poses” or the physical aspect that our western culture has so graciously butchered or improved (depending on what you think yoga is). I get plenty of that at home. I really wanted to study the spiritual aspect that is so paramount to Indian culture but that is so lacking in Western society. Someone upstairs must have known this because I hit the jackpot at the ashram and the week I came was the week they bumped up the daily program to include all sorts of classes each day. Yes! I was officially in yogi heaven.
My day went something like this:
6-8:30am: Kriya Yoga with Mataji
silent breakfast
9:30am: Vedic Chanting w/ Mataji
10:30 – 12:30: Kundalini Yoga w/ Parmatma
silent lunch at the ashram
5pm: Meditation w/ Parmatma or else the best massage on the face of the planet
dinner
6:30pm: Aarti Ceremony
9pm: Bed
The Kriya yoga class was a completely new experience. People talk about finding their “gurus” which I have yet to do but I think I came darn close with this woman Mataji. As the “mother” of the ashram she had this incredible energy that I found mesmerizing. In her early 50s, she had the most beautiful voice and incredible aura about her that I couldn’t help but feel the love…and I hardly even knew her! The early morning class consisted of prayanama (breathing exercises) to clean out the body and nasal passages, sun salutations with singing in between each short set, sivasana followed by over an hour of these meditation exercises where we focused on our chakras. One meditation we did 59 times over. The first day I thought I was going to die but by the 6th day, I felt this incredible energy from it and I actually got a buzz off myself. No wonder those yogis can sit for so long meditating...they’re high! I also noticed on day 4 that I unblocked my throat chakra which in turn opened up the whole passage of energy. I know, this sounds crazy, but let’s just say it was such a deep awareness and I felt such elation when I felt it happen.
Another thingI tried was a Vedic (ie traditional) Chanting class where Mataji led us in singing mantras from a prayer book she passed out. She would sing a line and the class would repeat. We learned various mantras and it was so fun to be able to sing and not care about what anyone thought. It was a total free for all! Her voice was a true joy just to listen to and in between each mantra, she would explain its meaning…that was the coolest part (besides me thinking I could sing)…hearing her interpretation about life and how we find our inner light.
After chanting, we went straight down to a Kundalini Yoga class taught by the most amazing Brazilian girl, Parmatma. I have known about Kundalini for years but had never really done it. In this flavor you do a lot of vigorous repetitive movements, chants and meditations to awaken the energy at the base of your spine. It is an incredibly powerful feeling and I found myself hooked. Basically, by doing movements quickly enough and for a long enough time, your ego emerges and feelings such as “oh my god, I want to quit” or “holy crap my arms are killing” come up. It is only when you keep going that eventually your ego takes a hike and all of a sudden, you get these bursts of energy and can continue for another few minutes! It was incredible. Those arms that were so heavy a minute ago felt like air the next. So the “sats” (sequences) actually became meditative and some of the exercises we did were for 11 minutes which felt like eternity. The most amazing part of this class was the group dynamic. Surrounded by total strangers, these people became my support group and I was their support in return. We held each other up by the sound of our voices and the energy permeating from our core. On top of everyone being a stranger, the class consisted of so many different types of people including Japanese, Chinese, Swiss, Austrian, English, American, Brazilian and Indian. Actually, there was only 1 Indian guy who tried his hardest to keep up with the foreigners. I thought he might kill himself a few times but at least he was representing! (Most Indians only care about the spiritual aspect of yoga and are too lazy for the physical part.)
No matter where we all were from, we all spoke the same language of yoga. We all wanted to learn more and take our newly found knowledge back home with us to share with our friends and students. The union of mind, body and spirit cut through culture, geography and language to find a home in each of our hearts.
The first day I saw a girl who looked so familiar. After class we figured out that we had stayed at the same hotel in Varanasi, almost a month prior. Talk about a small India! We quickly became friends. She gave me tons of great info about south India and it was nice to have a fellow American to hang with. The most interesting thing we did was visit the Ashram where the Beatles wrote the White Album in 1968. Oddly enough, there was no sign or any indication of where the ashram was only a bunch of creepy fake sadhus (holy men) hanging out smoking hash. Luckily, they knew the word “Beatles” when asked if we were in the right area. For the past 20 years the ashram had been abandoned. I have no idea why or what happened except that the Maharishi got weird with the ladies and something about stealing money. I’d like to know who owns it and why it is abandoned because it was one of the most unusual/amazing places I’ve ever seen. Set amongst the hillside on a huge piece of property overlooking the Ganges, there were multiple buildings onsite. To get inside, we paid some guy 25 rupees. Who was that guy and why was he there? Once inside, there were all these stone “pods” squished next to one another. There must have been 100 of these small, dome-shaped buildings. Each one consisted of a tiny downstairs and an even smaller upstairs apparently used for meditation. There was another building resembling a hotel or apartment complex only it was totally trippy with an Arabic twist. We walked inside stepping over broken windows, doors and monkey poop. There must have been 300 rooms in this building. On the rooftop sat more dome like pods only these were made of tile and were larger than the other ones. You could walk through them but they also had a metal ladder going to the top. I couldn’t resist and climbed up one of the ladders. At the top you could look inside into a small room? Apparently, people in intense sadhana (meditation) must have used these small, virtually dark rooms to isolate themselves. If anyone wanted do something really cool, restoring this amazing piece of property and making it into a working ashram or hotel would be incredible. So sad that such a beautiful site was left to rot.
Holbrook kept getting these massages that she claimed were the “best she’d ever had.” I was skeptical since my experience with Indian massages was that they slathered oil all over you but didn’t really go deep. Either way, we all know I’m a sucker for bodywork so I decided to give it a shot. After the first 1.5 hour session, I felt as though all the massages I’ve ever had in my life combined didn’t compare to what this woman did. Probably in her 50s, she wasn’t tall but was definitely the strongest Indian woman I’d ever seen. Her toothless smile was all warmth. Upon entering her somewhat sketchy and somewhat dirty house, I laid my naked body down on a mattress on the floor atop blankets that I’m sure were used many times before me. Not exactly hygenice but hey, what is in India anyway? I always know within 2 minutes if I’m getting a good massage. I knew within 5 seconds that this woman was something else. She treated me like a pretzel grabbing my arms, legs and whatever else she could and then in a seated position, used her feet as her weapons. Yes, she used her hands AND her feet. Think of how much more powerful your legs are than your arms. Enough said. She not only had a gift as well as strength, she also used her own technique. I was tossed and turned in every which way and couldn’t even ask her one single question my breath was so taken away. She didn’t leave one nook or cranny unmassaged. The kicker was the end when she poured this special oil onto my head and gave this incredible head/face massage with this oil that tingled for a solid 3 hours. After I professed my love to her, I begged her to see me in 2 days…and 2 days after that….and 2 days after that….I went 4 times in 8 days! How could I not take advantage of a 1.5 hour massage for $12? Not only that but I bought a liter of the “special” head/body oil as well as a huge tub of “medicine” that she said if I rubbed on my muscles, the pain would disappear. Hook a sister up! She made all her own oils so I have no clue what’s in them, all I know is that they feel darn good. I was actually hoping to put her in my suitcase but she wasn’t too fond of the idea. Oh well, I guess reason #167 to come back to India ☺
Two other people that I became friends with were a couple going to school at UVA and volunteering at the ashram. One afternoon, we hiked 6 miles upriver to a secluded beach on the Ganges. It was a hot day and the cold river sure felt good. It was our first experience of not fully going in. We were all quite happy to be bathing in the holy water and it was nice to relax in the sun. I also spent one Sunday hiking with Suzanne and Jake up a large mountain to Neelkanth Temple. All the people I asked said it wasn’t possible to hike without a guide or that it was too far. It was sort of annoying since Indian people don’t hike or exercise and I knew we could do it without a guide. Sure enough, it was really straightforward and a great hike…2 hours straight up but all on a concrete path. We made friends with tons of langur monkeys (large, black faced monkeys who are about as chill as they come and you can walk right next to them and they won’t attack, unlike the yucky old reces monkeys that are super sketchy). It was nice to hike and be in nature. We did come across the Indian mountain biking team practicing with a coach. Did I ever feel bad for these poor Indian guys barreling down the hillside on crappy bikes with no toe clips or clipless pedals. They wore knee and elbow pads. I would too if I didn’t have any straps on my pedals! We kept thinking how it would change their life to see a real mountain bike. We’ll just keep that one a secret…The temple was interesting and we decided we like our knees and so we took a jeep back to town. That afternoon we treated ourselves to one of the best meals I’d had at Ramana’s, an orphanage where the kids grew their own vegetables and there were a handful of volunteers who cooked and helped take care of the kids. Not in the guidebooks, Suzanne and Jake took me to this secret oasis. Our meals consisted of an organic salad with live sprouts, tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers. Yes, salad!!! My first one in over a month! Anything that can’t be peeled, can’t be eaten. Unfortunately, this means salads so unless you know that they wash with filtered water, they’re out. We also had butternut squash soup, veggie lasagna and a waffle w/ maple syrup. Sort of strange for lunch but since it was the only other thing on the menu, we were in! We drank the most delicious rhodedendron juice. Yes, as in the flower. Made with lemon and sugar, it was similar to hibiscus…super refreshing on such a hot day. Note to self: make this at home with all the rhodies in the backyard! For dessert, we topped it off with a coconut bon bon that was a slice of heaven. Note to self #2: Grated coconut and a little sugar, cook in the oven until toasted. SO good!
One thing that stands out is this Krishna festival that took place on a random Wednesday evening. I was in this music shop raping and pillaging my yoga instructor’s music collection (All the music shops in town would download entire cd’s straight onto your ipod or burn a disk of mp3’s for super cheap). The shopowner told me to look outside. There was a long saree (Indian dress) that kept passing by. There were many women outside passing this saree through their hands to the next woman. I must have been in the shop for a solid 20 minutes and the saree kept going and going. When I was finished, I walked outside only to find the colorful material had gone over the bridge and was making its way to the other side of the river. All these women were dressed in orange and red, the colors of Lord Krishna, God of Love. It just kept going and going and going and going….I walked all the way to my ashram and sure enough…that’s where the material was also going. The permanent statue of Lord Shiva on the banks of the Ganges was all dressed up with a shawl and this green background with a waterfall of water streamed alongside him. There were colorful drapes of material streaming down around him. What the heck was going on? The saree kept coming and women kept coming. I found out later there were 500 women participating in this ceremony with one long saree that consisted of 500 pieces sown together. Slowly, they all gathered themselves and the material at the feet of Lord Shiva. Normally, Aarti Ceremony started at 6:30. Swamiji came out around 6 to help gather the saree alongside the women. They were all singing and dancing around. It was so beautiful. Needless to say, the Aarti that night was a little more special than normal. The crowd was filled to the brim with women clad in orange and red. Go ladies!
The next morning, I was on the rooftop doing my morning yoga and I found myself singing along to this chanting in the distance…”Hare, Hare, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna, Rama Rama…” Over and over. Finally, I peeked out over the roof only to find all the women dressed in the saree from the night before singing and dancing. Wow! It wasn’t even 7am and all the women had already cut the giant piece of cloth and made individual outfits. What a great way to end my stay in Rishikesh. All these women bonding, sharing their spirit, their clothing, their friendship and their love of God with this beautiful display of color.
My favorite thing about Rishikesh was its pulsing energy. By pulsing, I’m not talking about neon lights and dance beats. I mean the basic energy that permeates from within….the holiness of the Ganges river, the sadhus, Swamiji, Mataji, the singing, the dancing, the bookshops filled with books on spirituality and yoga, the ayurvedic restaurants, the massages, the yoga and meditation classes, the incredible people, the color and vibrancy of it all….Rishikesh had been calling my name for many years. It wasn’t until now that I was truly able to embrace. I would never have tried kriya or kundalini yoga or chanting a few years back. I found myself at a crossroads wanting to learn more about the spirituality of this ancient science and as usual, my path led me right to the heart of where I needed to be. I am grateful to all the strangers who didn’t care about my background, my nationality, my singing voice, how much money I made, what I looked like, etc. Half the time my hair was a total grease pit with all the oil in it! I experienced things with those people that I will cherish forever. The spiritual path never ceases to amaze me and just when I thought I knew something about yoga, I realize that I know very little. It is humbling to be in the space of a truly liberated soul. The more I read and the more I put myself at the feet of these people, the more I realize that it’s not about material wealth and impressing those around you. It’s about the selfless acts of helping those in need, of not becoming attached to anything, of eliminating the ego that loves to raise its ugly head. I am guilty of so many of these traps but traveling here is such a reminder that having fancy cars and nice houses is so not the point. Indian people have nothing and yet, for the most part, they are happy! The problems come when they try to imitate our society. TV has tainted their culture to want more and forget about their spiritual essence that makes India special. I don’t even know how to not fall into the vicious cycle but I can say that cultivating friendships and putting family first is paramount to having a successful life. The energy you put out is the energy you receive. So let your inner light shine and good things will follow!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Chapter 2: World School
Namaste! I have finally written about my amazing tour leading experience with the World School Group. I helped co-lead 16 teenagers ranging from sophomores to seniors from High Tech High International, a charter school in San Diego. Aside from myself, there were 2 other leaders, Andy Pickering, my oldest friend Jen’s husband and company owner and Brian Delgado, a dean of the school. Each year, the school offers an optional immersion trips which range from Baja to Italy to India. It was Brian’s idea to have this trip since he had been to India previously and World School was lucky enough to host it. I am so appreciative to Jen and Andy for giving me the opportunity to organize and help lead trip and while it had its moments, all in all, it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Most of the "moments" involved Indian men or Indian tour companies or Indian trains…basically, India made for some crazy travels with a large group of 20! It’s one of the hardest places to travel and with a large group, it made traveling alone or in a pair look like a walk in the park.
So where to start….how about where I left off….at the penthouse of the Taj Palace Hotel with my mom. I left the amazing hotel to meet the group at the YMCA tourist hostel in Delhi. Wow. Okay, that was a change. The rooms were way basic and I guess I had forgotten the whole budget traveling thing until this point. Luckily, we were only there for less than 12 hours since we had to board a 7am train. The kids barely slept and we hit the train running, arriving in Haridwar about 5 hrs later. In Haridwar, we got off the bus and not 5 mins later one of the students noticed a marijuana plant growing wild on the side of the road. That was quite the scene for some time and they were tripping on the fact that weed was growing in the dirt on the side of the road. Already, I knew we had some troublemakers. We stopped for lunch at what the guide called the "best restaurant" there. Any time a guide tells you where to go it’s because he gets a cut to bring you there. Even though I knew this, I didn’t feel like arguing so we ate a decent meal at his place. We then took a chairlift up to the top of a mountain where we went to our first temple devoted to Lord Shiva from the Hindu religion. Most temples involved statues, shrines, people praying, good luck rituals and other rites devoted solely to that particular temple. This one had a tree where you bought string to make a wish and tie it around the tree which we all did. When the wish comes true, you’re supposed to go back and get your string from the many thousands there. So much for the second half but it’s the thought that counts, right? Drums and singing were heard from a distance and upon further inquiry, we found a room with only women singing to a man playing drums. So the ladies from group went in and clapped and danced along. Quite a powerful experience and we all enjoyed participating.
After this brief stop in Haridwar, we set out for Rishikesh. Rishikesh is considered the yoga capital of the world. It is 7 hrs north of Delhi along the foothills of the Himalayas. It’s where the Beatles went and subsequently wrote the White Album. I had been dying to go forever now so hey, why not bring high school kids to experience the ancient way of life? We stayed at the Parmarth Niketan Ashram which is the biggest ashram in Rishikesh and home to Swamiji, a small holy man with poofy long hair and a huge beard. We had plenty of jokes about the new rapper Swami-Ji and his sidekick "Mata-Ji,” or the Mother of the ashram, but in all honesty, their presence was quite extraordinary. We were lucky enough to have a private talk with Swamiji one night as well as have an early morning chanting class with Mataji. Her beautiful voice was a joy to wake up to and we sang mantras with her guidance. Both were highlights of the trip. While difficult to explain, there is a phrase called "God Intoxication" that you hear about a lot in India. Since religion plays such a huge part of daily life here, without realizing it, it’s easy to get caught up in the spiritual essence that sets India apart from all other countries. The notion of god in India is quite different than our western views of Christianity, Judaism, etc. God in India can mean so many different things…in Hinduism, there are 330 million incarnations of Brahma, the creator. Everywhere you see photos, stickers, shrines, posters, whatever, devoted to these gods. But they are mearly symbols that represent feelings inside each of us…power, money, intelligence, strength, mother nature, creation, destruction, etc. Both in Hinduism and Buddhism, the notion of God is something that comes from within. Each and every person has this ultimate light inside. God can be something as simple as a shrine that people pray to. It can be the Ganges river which is the lifeline of Indian Culture and feeds life into 330 million people. It is light. It is the all knowing. It is the ultimate truth. It is the spiritual presence within us just waiting to be tapped into. Sitting next to Swamiji we felt his aura, his energy. He mesmerized us with a story of how he became enlightened, how he didn’t speak a word for 3 years from the small age of 8, how he lived in a forest meditating for 2 of those years and how he lives his life in the hands of God. I now know what it means to be God intoxicated. It was almost impossible to not feel anything in this special man’s presence.
Kudos to the ashram for taking such good care of us…the woman in charge, Shadvi Bagwhati, treated us with upmost respect. A Stanford graduate, she has lived at the ashram for the past 10 years. Her intelligence became apparent as she talked to us about Hinduism and what it means to be a Hindu in India. She explained all the programs the ashram is involved in for homeless girls, boys, women and its tsunami relief effort. She told us stories of the various Gods and other figures in Hindu mythology. She sat us in the front row for the nightly Aarti Ceremony where we sang along with the Rishikumars. Literally hundreds of these young orphan boys live in the ashram where Swamiji houses, feeds and educates them. They all wear these orange uniforms and have marks on their faces and nearly shaven heads w/ a small pony tail in the back. They sing each night along w/ Swamiji, Mataji and a tabla player during this nightly ritual which gives thanks to the Ganges River and for life in general.
The group also took a kundalini yoga class on the rooftop looking at the surrounding mountains which was fantastic. We river rafted on the Ganges River. The clean river and surrounding hillsides were amazing and it was nice to just have some fun in the sun.
Another new adventure for us was eating in silence. Included in the donation price of the ashram ($10/day) were all our meals and so we took advantage on more than one occasion. For 20 teenagers to not make a peep while eating was quite an experience and really cool. Eating in silence, I felt I was able to appreciate each bite a little more. It was as if I had a relationship with my food for that brief moment and I actually slowed down and enjoyed it more!
Corina (one of the girl’s older sister who came at the last minute) and I attempted an ayurvedic massage. We almost got totally creeped out by the guy in charge who said it would be 10 mins but really turned into 30 before we were able to start. We almost bailed when we saw the setup and when her guy changed into "lounge attire" but 5 mins into them we decided they were awesome and got the whole hour. We ate dosas after (thin rice pancakes with curry potatoes inside) and this table kept staring at us. Finally, they came over to ask us if Corina was a famous Indian tennis player? We said no but when we told them our names were Corina and Aswaria, the 2 most famous actresses in India, they about died and desperately needed a photo with us!
After 3 nights of the Ashram, we woke up super early for the epic bus ride to Dharamsala. We knew we had a long ride and warned everyone that it would take 12-14 hrs. We never imagined how long it would really take. Most of you know that I’m almost always late. Adam calls is "Ashley Melin Time." Well, AMT makes IST look legit. IST stands for "Indian Stretchable Time." Pretty much, nothing is ever what anyone tells you it is nor is there ever any rhyme or reason as to why something’s late, why a road is closed, why the train keeps stopping, why 20 mins can also mean 3 hours or why your food takes an hour rather than the 10 minutes they claim. I tell everyone who comes here that India will test your patience. It makes you want to commit suicide sometimes. The beauty of the land of contrasts. Highs and lows, highs and lows. This particular bus ride was certainly a low. While the drive was beautiful 12 hours turned into 14 which turned into 16 which turned into 19. NINETEEN HOURS!! That was most certainly a record even for me, at least, on a bus. According to what we witnessed, the driver got lost 4 times. According to the driver and the tour company, there was an accident and a road was closed. The bummer deal is that when you don’t really understand Hindi, we still have no clue what actually happened. All we knew is that we were still driving at midnight after leaving at 6am! All we knew is that at the end, the road was literally 1" wider than the bus and that we needed 4 people to direct the bus driver since we almost tagged umpteen store signs. Finally, we got to our hotel and immediately went to bed...Exhausted.
I woke up for an early morning yoga session and then walked outside….amazing!! Clear and sunny skies enveloped the Himalayas that we could see around us. Clear skies? That was a first since most everywhere there is much pollution. Ahhh…mountain air. I was in my element and quite happy about it. Dharamsala sits in the Himalayas with houses, restaurants and shops dotting the mountainous area. It is home to the Dalai Lama and all the Tibetans who have fled Tibet to live in peace in India. India basically accepted them after the Chinese destroyed their country killing about a million people and an entire culture in the meantime. They have been living in Dharamsala ever since.The amazing thing is that the Indian and Tibetans live amongst each other in total peace and harmony. I haven’t traveled to Southeast Asia and I’m assuming Buddhists for the most part are similar but the Tibetan people are truly special. Even after the heartache and tragedy they lived and continue to live each day, they are all smiles. Their peaceful manner exudes a beauty that is unlike any other culture. The fact that the Indians accepted them into their city is amazing and the vibe here is unlike any other place in India. If only all people could be Buddhists, the world would be a completely different place…war wouldn't exist, we would coexist in peace, egos would be lost, communities would prosper and families would strengthen…
The first day we were introduced to our guide for this section, The Colonel. He had a real name but since he was a retired colonel from the army we just called him "Colonel." Talk about a character. A dapper man, his wore immaculate clothes and even in the hot weather hiked in a button down shirt and thin wool sweater. His upturned grey mustache contoured his smiley face. We immediately took a liking to him and his tour leading was fantastic. Course, he owned the company and insisted he wasn't a guide. In fact, he laughed when we tried to tip him and wouldn't take our money (that was a new one). Either way, he set the program for us for the 3.5 days we were there and did a wonderful job at that. The first morning took us to the residence and monastery of the Dalai Lama. Smaller than I imagined, it was still so cool to be there! We also visited a Tibetan museum portraying the plight of the Tibetans. In the afternoon, we went to a medicine museum that showed how they get their medicines from plants and how they make pills. I wrote down a bunch of names including those for arthritis which I know a few family friends have. The Western vs Eastern view on medicine couldn’t be more different. There’s just something about dealing with the health of a person through diet and natural remedies rather than the "dis- ease" of a person sure makes sense. It’s too bad our society relies on pills that mask the issue rather than dealing with the health of the body from within. It's no wonder they've been doing that successfully for thousands of years. Even the pharamacies are all based on the science of ayurveda which is an entire subject until itself and well worth reading about. I'm officially hooked and have plenty of materials to share when I get back. (Another cool thing here is that books are CHEAP and I've been buying tons of them).
Anyway, that afternoon we drove to a cultural center that the Dalai Lama set up to preserve the ancient Tibetan arts. We saw how they made a variety of handicrafts and then went to a fabulous Buddhist temple with all sorts of wall paintings depicting the story of Buddha/Siddhartha and which sat an enormous gold statue of Lord Buddha. Leaving the temple, we ran into a bunch of school children. Brian, our leader, busted out his juggling skills and next thing we knew, there was a large group of kids trying to juggle. These 2 little girls found my camera so amusing and kept making the nastiest faces possible. After they saw the photo, they'd start hysterically laughing and trying to make an even nastier face the next time. It was pretty funny and very cute.
That night (and the next night also) we ate at Nick’s Italian restaurant which was perched on a deck looking at the mountain peaks…great for sunset w/ the pink light hitting the snow capped peaks.
The next day a small group of us hiked to a nearby waterfall for sunrise. Not 5 steps out of our hotel a pack of 8 dogs started following us…and following us…and following us…all the way to the waterfall! 7 people + 8 dogs. Classic. They weren’t like regular scroungy Indian dogs. These guys looked like Cassidy…furry, fat shepherd types. One Cassidy dog sat with me for morning meditation at the river. I couldn't help but miss my pouch and felt like she was there with me.
From there we attended a Tibetan cooking class where we made momos and thenthuk soup. Momos are similar to pot stickers only veggie (buddhists don’t eat meat!). The trick is in the fold and you can make them circular, oval or for soup. This cute little Tibetan woman kept saying "pinch and maker corner, pinch and make corner." Needless to say, ours weren’t exactly pretty but they sure tasted good!
After some shopping (Dharamsala had really cool stuff), we drove about 40 mins through the Khandra Valley to a village up in the hills. The drive was spectacular. The valley is famous for tea and I was lucky enough to discover the factory tea shop which I bought a TON of amazing tea for a super cheap price. We hiked a short distance with The Colonel leading the way to this village. I was so happy the kids could see how 80% of the population lives. And this one was NICE! They had shelves for pots and pans, a small kitchen w/ the fire inside (not exactly good on the eyes), a couple of bedrooms and a common area. The beautifully stoic grandmother sat in the corner and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her...I tried to take some candid photos but it was tough with my big lens in her face. They served us chai and we tried to talk but with no english and hardly any hindi, sign language was about all we had going. My camera was definitely an ice breaker as were the baby goats that the kids held. Such a nice outing and we hope to have a homestay there in the future for the kids.
On our way back, we decided to check out a spring carnival. Random doesn’t even describe it…all I can say is that the ferris wheel was a manual one in which the operator looked like a hamster in a wheel. For real! We were dying it was so ridiculous…Indian style! Soon after, things turned weird with all these creepy Indian guys staring down the cute blond girls in the group so we hightailed it outta there. Yuck!
The mountains wouldn’t be complete without a hike so that’s what we did the last day. Originally, it was to be a 14km hike but in typical Indian fashion, their sense of distance is usually totally off. I think this is because Indian people are so lazy that they say things are farther than they are. Our guide Pasang was actually Tibetan and had a big heart and a huge smile. He took us to a school for Tibetan refugee children that the Dalai Lama’s sister started. It houses/schools 2500 kids whose parents are still in Tibet but have sent their kids to school in India. Set amongst the Himalayas with a beautiful, clean campus, I couldn’t help but be jealous of the view they studied to each day. We happened to get there during recess where they were all playing basketball. Perfect ice breaker. So the group played basketball w/ the Tibetan kids and I even scored photos of a dude wearing an Air Jordan jersey. From basketball we went to the babies' home where the little guys lived. Upon entering, this one little guy grabbed my hand and started dragging me inside. I had no idea where we were going until we reached a room with about 3 toilets. He started doing this one footed dance when I realized he had to pee! So I helped him get his pants off and man, was he ever happy about that. I couldn’t resist and got a photo of him on the pot. Too cute! We all played w/ the kids for a bit which was fantastic. The rest of the hike involved killer scenery and a nice lake to eat lunch.
Next time, I’m going to have to get some trekking up in the Himalayas. They’re too amazing to just look at from afar…I mean, really.
Finally, it was time to leave Dharamsala. Booooo…..Andy and I met the Colonel’s wife and had a brief chat at his lovely house. We grabbed his son who escorted us to the train station, a 3 hour drive away. This station was in the middle of nowhere and I attempted to make pb&j sandwiches but the bread kept falling apart so they were pathetic messes of goo. Eventually, it was time to board the train. With a 5 min stop, it was crucial we were ready when it came. I tried bracing everyone for what was to come. Nothing prepared us though and by the time the train came, it was every man for himself. People were pushing from every which way. Usually men push ahead of ladies which is just SO LAME! Moriah was like, "uh, ladies first?" I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s totally weird but the idea of ladies first is so foreign. Ladies get no special treatment and no help. Getting on the train makes getting on the subway in NYC look like cake. I was yelling to just push since that what everyone else does. Easier said than done w/ a huge pack on your back that gets stuck in the aisleway. Finally, we pushed and scratched our way on. Even I was freaking out that someone would get left. We barely made it but luckily, we did. The kids could hardly believe what just happened. It was so hard core!
This train was supposed to be 12 hrs. Course, we’re on IST so this became 14 hours and we arrived in Jaipur with no dinner, no breakfast and a bunch of tired/hungry puppies. We checked into our nice hotel w/ a pool (sorry kids, no time for swimming!) and then setout for lunch. Upon entering the restaurant, one of the girls felt faint. The color rushed from her head and she actually fainted. Great. Way to feed them Ashley! We gave her fresh lime soda with salt, sugar and whatever else we could find and ordered her an ice cream, asap!
After a quick lunch (i.e. 1.5 hrs), we finally were off to see the Amber Fort which my mom and I had visited a couple of weeks prior. Our guide aka, "Indiana Jones" promptly got us on a bunch of elephants which we rode to the top of the fort. We called him Indiana because he wore aviator shades, a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a button down which showed his chest hair. It was SO hot that to even have any of this outfit on was ridiculous, not to mention the whole ensemble! So we rode these poor elephants in the hot sun w/ our driver saying "tip, tip" the whole time. Indiana took us through the whole fort in 10 mins…huh? I was really disappointed since my mom and I were there for over an hour learning about how cool this palace was with the maharaja, his wives, concubines, a jazuzzi, a air conditioning system that went where water passed through the marble walls and all sorts of cool tidbits. Indiana told us 2 things and then we were off? We raced to the City Palace and see the gold and silver outfits the maharajas wore, the books they read, some actual photographs. The whole tour of Jaipur took under and hour. It must have been a record.
That night we ventured to this supposedly "cool" place to eat traditional rajastani food, see dancing, snake charming, ride camels, etc. Sounds great, huh? I guess seeing a dead body on the way should have tipped us off to the weird evening that was about to unfold. Just before arriving at our destination, the bus promptly stopped. There was a large crowd and a truck up ahead that was stopped in the middle of the road. Upon further inquiry, we saw a man in the road. Uh oh. The guy was dead. A bunch of dudes were hovering over him. By a bunch, I’m talking about 100. There was one policeman doing absolutely nothing. Just sitting there. We couldn’t stop staring. We asked the bus driver to move and he said "it’s not possible." It was easily possible but he wanted to create drama so he wouldn’t move. Within 10 minutes things started to turn ugly w/ our kids in the back sticking their heads out the window. Next thing we knew, the mob turned to our bus and it got even weirder. Corina and I demanded that the bus driver move which he FINALLY did. One he started, people moved. What a jerk…we almost had a riot on our hands! For those who have read, Shantaram, it was similar to the taxi accident scene. Bizarre doesn’t even begin to describe it. One of the strangest episodes I've ever witnessed and my first real up close and personal dead body (#2 is coming up). They don't count in the cremation areas of Varanasi and a dead horse doesn't count either.
The Choki Dani dinner experience was similar to the carnival…random to say the least! For example, there was a haunted house where you walked down into a tunnel and then came out the other side where nothing happened? Or they had women dancing on glass with all sorts of stuff on their heads? We ate rajastani thalis but it was like a bad disneyland and the quality of the food was mediocre at best. I was shocked nobody got sick. The kicker was this mush they put pure ghee (clarified butter) and a pile of sugar and then mixed it all together. Good when going down but SO bad about 10 mins later when it kicked in. Makes me sick just thinking about it.
So Jaipur was a total flop. Note to self: Don’t listen to tour companies when they try to take you 5 hrs out of the way on an Indian train for less than 24 hrs. in a city with tons of cool stuff. Bad mistake and next time, we're cutting that out altogether.
We woke up early the next day to drive to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. En route, we visited Fathepur Sikri which was a old palace/fort built before the Taj. It was pretty cool and a nice breakup in the drive. Our new guide, Sanjay, was the MAN. Best guide on the trip. He was super patient w/ the kids but also so interesting and made everything into a story. We were lucky to have him for Fathepur Sikri, the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.
That evening we hit the Agra Fort which you can see the Taj from. The emperor built it before his son imprisoned him and built the Taj. The emperor’s son jailed in his own palace for 8 years where he died. Poor guy! It was an amazing building and the sunset light made it magical. That evening we went to a marble factory to see how they make inlayed marble w/ semi-precious stones. It's quite an extraordinary process and the fact that the Taj has this work all over it makes it even more spectacular when you realize how much work goes into one small flower!
Next morning we woke up super early and were one of the first groups at the Taj for the amazing sunrise. This was officially my 3 rd time this trip seeing this building and I swear, it’s equally cool each time. For sure something that every person in their lifetime should see.
Man, I’m rambling. I know. I know. But I’m trying to document 2 weeks of crazy traveling so I don’t forget anything I did. If you’re still reading, I’m impressed!
From here, we had another disasterously long train ride to Varanasi. Thank god we met one of the most interesting people so far on the train…a Sikh guy we called the "General" because he was a general in the army. No idea what’s up w/ cool army people but we sure kept meeting them. He spoke perfect english including slang. His insite into indian culture had my compartment intently listening and asking all sorts of questions. He smile came through his....he would squint when he said something funny letting us know that it was funny. Those Indian eyes tell it all! Usually, they see your bra but his eyes were heartwarmingly fantastic. The one thing I took from our conversation is an analogy he said about a traditional thinking Indian family vs a forward thinking family…A healthy tree has leaves and deep roots in the ground. When a storm comes, it is able to bend in the wind. It is flexible. Conversely, a tree with no leaves that has shallow roots will break in a storm. Once it is broken, it will never grow back again. Similarly, people need to be flexible. They need to break tradition and allow their daughters to be educated and have power. It is these forward thinking families that will be able to progress in the future and withstand storms. The rigid thinking will only lead to a breakdown which cannot be repaired. Fantastic!
Our new friend decided to check the train schedule. He asked me if I was sure we were going to Varanasi. I was like, um, yes…why? He informed us that the train didn’t actually go to Varanasi but to another station. WHAT? This was news to us! Apparently, we were going to another station past Varanasi. I about died. That, combined with us being on IST, meant that our 8pm arrival time turned into something much longer. Each time I asked a train operator how much longer, they said 20 mins. This went on for literally, 3 hours. Longest 20 mins ever and our patience was wearing thin. Each time we stopped (for no reason) I would pop my head out and my new english speaking friend who smoked cigarettes in the doorway would shake his head "no. not there yet." Finally, on about the 10th stop, I looked out and he shook his head yes. We were there. We boarded the bus to go back to Varanasi where the guide said we had a 1.5 hr drive. I said he surely must be joking, right? Oh no. We really did have that long. AGH! I really wanted to kill our ever apparently lame tour company!
So we got into Varanasi at 1am. Can you say, tired?
After a late wakeup, we took the kids to my favorite breakfast spot, Bread of Life Bakery. Same guy was working who was wondering why I was back? I told him I wanted to bring all my new friends. He was stoked and they had maple syrup this time! For sure, they made the best porridge in India. That afternoon we visited all the temples…Durga, Hanuman and Mother India. We got lucky w/ it being Tues because along with Saturday, it’s a holy day and there were tons of people praying, singing, making offerings, etc. We walked out with sweets, bindis on our foreheads, good luck necklaces, flower necklaces and whatever else was given to us. Mother India temple was a new one for me and included this enormous relief map of India and surrounding countries made out of marble. Cool to see the topography and where we had traveled, etc. That night my new friend Raj, the guy in charge of the restaurant at our hotel, hooked us up and made a dinner party out on the terrace overlooking the Ganges. We had a birthday cake made that day and delivered for one of the kids and ate a real cake and watched a fantastic full moon rise.
Other things in Varanasi included a trip to Sarnath to see where Buddha gave his first sermom. This time is was really interesting because we had a guide who spoke english! The ruins there are SO old and this huge stupa was spectacular. We also visited my cute indian friend's silk shop in his muslim neighborhood and took bicycle rickshaws back to the hotel. Our bike driver hit a tuk tuk. Nice! We went to a bunch of shops, saw the aarti ceremony and got harassed by a million people. Traveling in Varanasi w/ a group was tough….so many people wanting to show you their shop. These "shop guys" get a commission and were so annoying. Talk about something "being a jungle out there." Well, step outside the Alka Hotel with a group and you'll know what I mean. They wait outside the hotel ready to pounce. One guy I apparently said we’d meet at 5pm . When we arrived at 5:25 he started yelling at me wondering why I was late, etc. First of all, since when is 20 mins late in India? When I told him we didn’t want to go to his shop (we were shopped out) he started yelling at me calling me a "fucking girl" and "fucking american" this that an and the other thing. That's funny because the day before I had amazing aura and good karma. I didn’t want to go there with him so I simply said that it was a free country and I didn’t have to go there if I didn’t want to. My group had to basically run back to the hotel with him yelling at us right up until we got inside….phew! Safe!
One cool thing about Varanasi is the burning ghat where they cremate 300 bodies a day. We walked to it and from up top could watch the events down below. We must have seen 10 bodies being cremated with a few new ones that they dumped into the fire. Talk about a crazy site. This guy started explaining what was going on and then gave the same schpeel I’d heard a million times about how he helps people who are dying in the hospice. He even brought out an old lady to bless us. Then he said that for good karma, we should give each money. I gave rs100 for the group since he did explain a few things but he kept bugging the kids about having bad karma if they didn’t each give him money. I finally told him that bad karma comes to those who cheat tourists out of money on behalf of old people! I was so over the give money thing. He kept harrassing my kids and so we even had an Indian guy tell this dude to take a hike. When it finally got too weird, we left....
On, on to dead body #2. I'd always heard of people seeing dead bodies or body parts floating in the Ganges. This is due to the fact that some people can't afford wood to cremate their whole body so they do part and then toss the rest. Sounds gross but the reality is that the most auspicious thing a person can do is be cremated in the holy Mother Ganga in Varanasi. To them, it is the ultimate in this lifetime and upon entrance into the next. After watching the ceremony proceeding a cremation, it is quite beautiful. That is, except for the fact that women aren’t allowed because they get too emotional? Gimme a break. But seriously, women used to jump in the fire to kill themselves since being a widow is such a rough life. Women sure get the bum deal here! Anyway, we woke up early to do the sunrise boat ride and sure enough...a whole dead bloated body floated right up next to the boat...It's about time I saw one. Final thought on the early morning boat ride...the whole process is quite peaceful. Watching people bathe at sunrise is a new experience each and every time I have done it. The colorful women, the children splashing, the families of the dead performing their funeral rites, holy men praying, people meditating, etc. It was such a buzzkill to have souvenir boats come up to our boat asking if we wanted to purchase something. Like there aren't enough on the mainland! Then the worst one was a boat with a tv blasting a bad version of a dvd and slinging movies. Are you kidding me? I mean, if any of these guys were halfway smart, they'd be selling chai at 6am. DUH! We easily would have bought 20 and they could have charged double! How could anyone not think of that by now? Oh yeah, the Indians….
So Varanasi was over and we actually flew back to Delhi. So nice to be on a plane and another Note to Self: Fly more! Course, the plane was late and one of the kids was totally sick (Varanasi will get the best of people). By the time we made it to the hotel it was almost 9pm. I walked in and there were about 50 dudes dressed in colorful middle eastern outfits. I seriously thought it was a middle eastern convention of some sort until I heard noise blasting from inside. I guess the YMCA has a Christian affiliation and there was a play about Jesus and Easter going on? Being in Hindu territory, I didn’t even know it was Easter .Yet another random incident to chalk up to the masses.
Our last day involved a little sight seeing...it was cool to see the Red Fort which was HUGE and Mahatma Gandhi's memorial. We did a little shopping and then ate our "last supper." I stayed and sent the group off the airport. Finito!
My thoughts on the experience...all in all, amazing! It was so cool to see India through virgin eyes. It was so fun to hang with high school kids. Not sure I’ve done that since I was in high school myself. The progression I witnessed from the first day to the last was incredible.... By the end, the kids were deflecting people left and right, not phased by the rickshaws, camels, dogs, people and all the other weird things you see on the street. I know that India changed each of them in some way. I know they will take the experience home with them and will have it forever. It's so great that they were exposed to such rawness and a decently young age. India is the real deal. It's hard to watch, hard to travel and yet, amazingly beautiful and mind blowing all at the same time. One minute, it's the most inefficient country on earth, the next, you meet someone like the guy on the train who is mind blowing and who sums up so much in such a short time. I know the kids will be able to appreciate hot showers, a regular toilet, toilet paper, the variety of food they eat and so many other things on a daily basis. Until normal comforts are taken away, how can you appreciate them?
As far as teenagers. I really bonded with the dorky ones. Like Kim Speed says, "dorky is the new cool." I second that. They were interested in learning more and really immersed themselves in the culture. They participated in all the events. One guy was from the ghetto and had never even been on a plane before. He paid for his trip by selling copies of a rap CD he made. Brilliant! He was a real gem...totally hilarious, he was also so insiteful and totally ”got” the religious devotion. He also made friends with everyone. The first day he showed up wearing sneakers which were so hot. He said "black people don't wear flip flops!" By the 3rd day he was wearing a turban, a shawl, Indian sandals and played a flute. Classic.
Finally, out of 16 kids I think I saw about 3 reading. And we had some LONG travel days. No books? I still have no clue how this is possible but apparently people don't read anymore? Wow. They also drink an insane amount of soda. We tried to curb it since Andy and I don't believe in it but it didn't really work. Some walked around in shorts with their bra straps hanging out (cringe!) and sharing ipod headphones walking down the street. The best move happened at the last dinner when 2 girls showed up with NOSE PIERCES! Needless to say, that one is still a huge deal and will have reprocussions. I guess they must not know that India has the second biggest AIDS population in the world and hepatitis all over the place that's transmitted through needles. Nice work ladies! Teens will be teens but it's a tough world out there. I'm going to really try to make sure my kids are huge dorks and never drink soda. Good luck Ashley...
I guess that about wraps up my World School Adventure. I'm now in Rishikesh which I'll write about later. Pretty much, I've died and gone to heaven. I need some time to absorb. Let's just say, I'm staying at the same ashram for $10/day with all meals and all yoga classes included. Today they posted a new schedule and pretty much, there are classes from 6am - 5pm. Say it isn't so! Already in 3 days I’ve done more new exercises than I have my whole yoga career…and none of it is physical! I came here to learn about the science of yoga and its spirituality. I’ve struck gold and don’t even have to leave my ashram. The resources are all in front of me. Good things come to those who put out the good vibes….I worked hard for this first month and now it’s time for the good part…the inner growth only attained when traveling abroad.
Hope everyone is well. Please write me. I miss everyone!
Here’s my reading list thus far: 5 stars is highest rating
SHANTARAM: ***** one of those epic stories that is just too good for words. One of my top books of all time. Read it before the movie comes out!!! Beware though, if you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. It's 900+ pages and i think i read it in just over a week?
Mind, Body, Sport: ***** Another AMAZING book!! all about sports and what sports are good for your body type and why. pretty much westernizes ayurveda in a sports context. also tells you how "less is more" and that you should use ujjayi breathing for all sports. no mouth breathing, only nose breathing. how i didn't read this before i have no idea but it makes perfect sense and works. i have been trying it when hiking. i highly recommend this book!
Glass Castle: ***. Pretty good fiction. Interesting story, fast read.
What the Buddha Taught: **** Fascinating. Great in depth overview of Buddhism and actually gives exerpts from Buddha's teachings.
Meditation and It's Practices by Swami Rama: *** Good overview on meditation. Wow. So amazing what our minds/breath connection is capable of.
So where to start….how about where I left off….at the penthouse of the Taj Palace Hotel with my mom. I left the amazing hotel to meet the group at the YMCA tourist hostel in Delhi. Wow. Okay, that was a change. The rooms were way basic and I guess I had forgotten the whole budget traveling thing until this point. Luckily, we were only there for less than 12 hours since we had to board a 7am train. The kids barely slept and we hit the train running, arriving in Haridwar about 5 hrs later. In Haridwar, we got off the bus and not 5 mins later one of the students noticed a marijuana plant growing wild on the side of the road. That was quite the scene for some time and they were tripping on the fact that weed was growing in the dirt on the side of the road. Already, I knew we had some troublemakers. We stopped for lunch at what the guide called the "best restaurant" there. Any time a guide tells you where to go it’s because he gets a cut to bring you there. Even though I knew this, I didn’t feel like arguing so we ate a decent meal at his place. We then took a chairlift up to the top of a mountain where we went to our first temple devoted to Lord Shiva from the Hindu religion. Most temples involved statues, shrines, people praying, good luck rituals and other rites devoted solely to that particular temple. This one had a tree where you bought string to make a wish and tie it around the tree which we all did. When the wish comes true, you’re supposed to go back and get your string from the many thousands there. So much for the second half but it’s the thought that counts, right? Drums and singing were heard from a distance and upon further inquiry, we found a room with only women singing to a man playing drums. So the ladies from group went in and clapped and danced along. Quite a powerful experience and we all enjoyed participating.
After this brief stop in Haridwar, we set out for Rishikesh. Rishikesh is considered the yoga capital of the world. It is 7 hrs north of Delhi along the foothills of the Himalayas. It’s where the Beatles went and subsequently wrote the White Album. I had been dying to go forever now so hey, why not bring high school kids to experience the ancient way of life? We stayed at the Parmarth Niketan Ashram which is the biggest ashram in Rishikesh and home to Swamiji, a small holy man with poofy long hair and a huge beard. We had plenty of jokes about the new rapper Swami-Ji and his sidekick "Mata-Ji,” or the Mother of the ashram, but in all honesty, their presence was quite extraordinary. We were lucky enough to have a private talk with Swamiji one night as well as have an early morning chanting class with Mataji. Her beautiful voice was a joy to wake up to and we sang mantras with her guidance. Both were highlights of the trip. While difficult to explain, there is a phrase called "God Intoxication" that you hear about a lot in India. Since religion plays such a huge part of daily life here, without realizing it, it’s easy to get caught up in the spiritual essence that sets India apart from all other countries. The notion of god in India is quite different than our western views of Christianity, Judaism, etc. God in India can mean so many different things…in Hinduism, there are 330 million incarnations of Brahma, the creator. Everywhere you see photos, stickers, shrines, posters, whatever, devoted to these gods. But they are mearly symbols that represent feelings inside each of us…power, money, intelligence, strength, mother nature, creation, destruction, etc. Both in Hinduism and Buddhism, the notion of God is something that comes from within. Each and every person has this ultimate light inside. God can be something as simple as a shrine that people pray to. It can be the Ganges river which is the lifeline of Indian Culture and feeds life into 330 million people. It is light. It is the all knowing. It is the ultimate truth. It is the spiritual presence within us just waiting to be tapped into. Sitting next to Swamiji we felt his aura, his energy. He mesmerized us with a story of how he became enlightened, how he didn’t speak a word for 3 years from the small age of 8, how he lived in a forest meditating for 2 of those years and how he lives his life in the hands of God. I now know what it means to be God intoxicated. It was almost impossible to not feel anything in this special man’s presence.
Kudos to the ashram for taking such good care of us…the woman in charge, Shadvi Bagwhati, treated us with upmost respect. A Stanford graduate, she has lived at the ashram for the past 10 years. Her intelligence became apparent as she talked to us about Hinduism and what it means to be a Hindu in India. She explained all the programs the ashram is involved in for homeless girls, boys, women and its tsunami relief effort. She told us stories of the various Gods and other figures in Hindu mythology. She sat us in the front row for the nightly Aarti Ceremony where we sang along with the Rishikumars. Literally hundreds of these young orphan boys live in the ashram where Swamiji houses, feeds and educates them. They all wear these orange uniforms and have marks on their faces and nearly shaven heads w/ a small pony tail in the back. They sing each night along w/ Swamiji, Mataji and a tabla player during this nightly ritual which gives thanks to the Ganges River and for life in general.
The group also took a kundalini yoga class on the rooftop looking at the surrounding mountains which was fantastic. We river rafted on the Ganges River. The clean river and surrounding hillsides were amazing and it was nice to just have some fun in the sun.
Another new adventure for us was eating in silence. Included in the donation price of the ashram ($10/day) were all our meals and so we took advantage on more than one occasion. For 20 teenagers to not make a peep while eating was quite an experience and really cool. Eating in silence, I felt I was able to appreciate each bite a little more. It was as if I had a relationship with my food for that brief moment and I actually slowed down and enjoyed it more!
Corina (one of the girl’s older sister who came at the last minute) and I attempted an ayurvedic massage. We almost got totally creeped out by the guy in charge who said it would be 10 mins but really turned into 30 before we were able to start. We almost bailed when we saw the setup and when her guy changed into "lounge attire" but 5 mins into them we decided they were awesome and got the whole hour. We ate dosas after (thin rice pancakes with curry potatoes inside) and this table kept staring at us. Finally, they came over to ask us if Corina was a famous Indian tennis player? We said no but when we told them our names were Corina and Aswaria, the 2 most famous actresses in India, they about died and desperately needed a photo with us!
After 3 nights of the Ashram, we woke up super early for the epic bus ride to Dharamsala. We knew we had a long ride and warned everyone that it would take 12-14 hrs. We never imagined how long it would really take. Most of you know that I’m almost always late. Adam calls is "Ashley Melin Time." Well, AMT makes IST look legit. IST stands for "Indian Stretchable Time." Pretty much, nothing is ever what anyone tells you it is nor is there ever any rhyme or reason as to why something’s late, why a road is closed, why the train keeps stopping, why 20 mins can also mean 3 hours or why your food takes an hour rather than the 10 minutes they claim. I tell everyone who comes here that India will test your patience. It makes you want to commit suicide sometimes. The beauty of the land of contrasts. Highs and lows, highs and lows. This particular bus ride was certainly a low. While the drive was beautiful 12 hours turned into 14 which turned into 16 which turned into 19. NINETEEN HOURS!! That was most certainly a record even for me, at least, on a bus. According to what we witnessed, the driver got lost 4 times. According to the driver and the tour company, there was an accident and a road was closed. The bummer deal is that when you don’t really understand Hindi, we still have no clue what actually happened. All we knew is that we were still driving at midnight after leaving at 6am! All we knew is that at the end, the road was literally 1" wider than the bus and that we needed 4 people to direct the bus driver since we almost tagged umpteen store signs. Finally, we got to our hotel and immediately went to bed...Exhausted.
I woke up for an early morning yoga session and then walked outside….amazing!! Clear and sunny skies enveloped the Himalayas that we could see around us. Clear skies? That was a first since most everywhere there is much pollution. Ahhh…mountain air. I was in my element and quite happy about it. Dharamsala sits in the Himalayas with houses, restaurants and shops dotting the mountainous area. It is home to the Dalai Lama and all the Tibetans who have fled Tibet to live in peace in India. India basically accepted them after the Chinese destroyed their country killing about a million people and an entire culture in the meantime. They have been living in Dharamsala ever since.The amazing thing is that the Indian and Tibetans live amongst each other in total peace and harmony. I haven’t traveled to Southeast Asia and I’m assuming Buddhists for the most part are similar but the Tibetan people are truly special. Even after the heartache and tragedy they lived and continue to live each day, they are all smiles. Their peaceful manner exudes a beauty that is unlike any other culture. The fact that the Indians accepted them into their city is amazing and the vibe here is unlike any other place in India. If only all people could be Buddhists, the world would be a completely different place…war wouldn't exist, we would coexist in peace, egos would be lost, communities would prosper and families would strengthen…
The first day we were introduced to our guide for this section, The Colonel. He had a real name but since he was a retired colonel from the army we just called him "Colonel." Talk about a character. A dapper man, his wore immaculate clothes and even in the hot weather hiked in a button down shirt and thin wool sweater. His upturned grey mustache contoured his smiley face. We immediately took a liking to him and his tour leading was fantastic. Course, he owned the company and insisted he wasn't a guide. In fact, he laughed when we tried to tip him and wouldn't take our money (that was a new one). Either way, he set the program for us for the 3.5 days we were there and did a wonderful job at that. The first morning took us to the residence and monastery of the Dalai Lama. Smaller than I imagined, it was still so cool to be there! We also visited a Tibetan museum portraying the plight of the Tibetans. In the afternoon, we went to a medicine museum that showed how they get their medicines from plants and how they make pills. I wrote down a bunch of names including those for arthritis which I know a few family friends have. The Western vs Eastern view on medicine couldn’t be more different. There’s just something about dealing with the health of a person through diet and natural remedies rather than the "dis- ease" of a person sure makes sense. It’s too bad our society relies on pills that mask the issue rather than dealing with the health of the body from within. It's no wonder they've been doing that successfully for thousands of years. Even the pharamacies are all based on the science of ayurveda which is an entire subject until itself and well worth reading about. I'm officially hooked and have plenty of materials to share when I get back. (Another cool thing here is that books are CHEAP and I've been buying tons of them).
Anyway, that afternoon we drove to a cultural center that the Dalai Lama set up to preserve the ancient Tibetan arts. We saw how they made a variety of handicrafts and then went to a fabulous Buddhist temple with all sorts of wall paintings depicting the story of Buddha/Siddhartha and which sat an enormous gold statue of Lord Buddha. Leaving the temple, we ran into a bunch of school children. Brian, our leader, busted out his juggling skills and next thing we knew, there was a large group of kids trying to juggle. These 2 little girls found my camera so amusing and kept making the nastiest faces possible. After they saw the photo, they'd start hysterically laughing and trying to make an even nastier face the next time. It was pretty funny and very cute.
That night (and the next night also) we ate at Nick’s Italian restaurant which was perched on a deck looking at the mountain peaks…great for sunset w/ the pink light hitting the snow capped peaks.
The next day a small group of us hiked to a nearby waterfall for sunrise. Not 5 steps out of our hotel a pack of 8 dogs started following us…and following us…and following us…all the way to the waterfall! 7 people + 8 dogs. Classic. They weren’t like regular scroungy Indian dogs. These guys looked like Cassidy…furry, fat shepherd types. One Cassidy dog sat with me for morning meditation at the river. I couldn't help but miss my pouch and felt like she was there with me.
From there we attended a Tibetan cooking class where we made momos and thenthuk soup. Momos are similar to pot stickers only veggie (buddhists don’t eat meat!). The trick is in the fold and you can make them circular, oval or for soup. This cute little Tibetan woman kept saying "pinch and maker corner, pinch and make corner." Needless to say, ours weren’t exactly pretty but they sure tasted good!
After some shopping (Dharamsala had really cool stuff), we drove about 40 mins through the Khandra Valley to a village up in the hills. The drive was spectacular. The valley is famous for tea and I was lucky enough to discover the factory tea shop which I bought a TON of amazing tea for a super cheap price. We hiked a short distance with The Colonel leading the way to this village. I was so happy the kids could see how 80% of the population lives. And this one was NICE! They had shelves for pots and pans, a small kitchen w/ the fire inside (not exactly good on the eyes), a couple of bedrooms and a common area. The beautifully stoic grandmother sat in the corner and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her...I tried to take some candid photos but it was tough with my big lens in her face. They served us chai and we tried to talk but with no english and hardly any hindi, sign language was about all we had going. My camera was definitely an ice breaker as were the baby goats that the kids held. Such a nice outing and we hope to have a homestay there in the future for the kids.
On our way back, we decided to check out a spring carnival. Random doesn’t even describe it…all I can say is that the ferris wheel was a manual one in which the operator looked like a hamster in a wheel. For real! We were dying it was so ridiculous…Indian style! Soon after, things turned weird with all these creepy Indian guys staring down the cute blond girls in the group so we hightailed it outta there. Yuck!
The mountains wouldn’t be complete without a hike so that’s what we did the last day. Originally, it was to be a 14km hike but in typical Indian fashion, their sense of distance is usually totally off. I think this is because Indian people are so lazy that they say things are farther than they are. Our guide Pasang was actually Tibetan and had a big heart and a huge smile. He took us to a school for Tibetan refugee children that the Dalai Lama’s sister started. It houses/schools 2500 kids whose parents are still in Tibet but have sent their kids to school in India. Set amongst the Himalayas with a beautiful, clean campus, I couldn’t help but be jealous of the view they studied to each day. We happened to get there during recess where they were all playing basketball. Perfect ice breaker. So the group played basketball w/ the Tibetan kids and I even scored photos of a dude wearing an Air Jordan jersey. From basketball we went to the babies' home where the little guys lived. Upon entering, this one little guy grabbed my hand and started dragging me inside. I had no idea where we were going until we reached a room with about 3 toilets. He started doing this one footed dance when I realized he had to pee! So I helped him get his pants off and man, was he ever happy about that. I couldn’t resist and got a photo of him on the pot. Too cute! We all played w/ the kids for a bit which was fantastic. The rest of the hike involved killer scenery and a nice lake to eat lunch.
Next time, I’m going to have to get some trekking up in the Himalayas. They’re too amazing to just look at from afar…I mean, really.
Finally, it was time to leave Dharamsala. Booooo…..Andy and I met the Colonel’s wife and had a brief chat at his lovely house. We grabbed his son who escorted us to the train station, a 3 hour drive away. This station was in the middle of nowhere and I attempted to make pb&j sandwiches but the bread kept falling apart so they were pathetic messes of goo. Eventually, it was time to board the train. With a 5 min stop, it was crucial we were ready when it came. I tried bracing everyone for what was to come. Nothing prepared us though and by the time the train came, it was every man for himself. People were pushing from every which way. Usually men push ahead of ladies which is just SO LAME! Moriah was like, "uh, ladies first?" I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s totally weird but the idea of ladies first is so foreign. Ladies get no special treatment and no help. Getting on the train makes getting on the subway in NYC look like cake. I was yelling to just push since that what everyone else does. Easier said than done w/ a huge pack on your back that gets stuck in the aisleway. Finally, we pushed and scratched our way on. Even I was freaking out that someone would get left. We barely made it but luckily, we did. The kids could hardly believe what just happened. It was so hard core!
This train was supposed to be 12 hrs. Course, we’re on IST so this became 14 hours and we arrived in Jaipur with no dinner, no breakfast and a bunch of tired/hungry puppies. We checked into our nice hotel w/ a pool (sorry kids, no time for swimming!) and then setout for lunch. Upon entering the restaurant, one of the girls felt faint. The color rushed from her head and she actually fainted. Great. Way to feed them Ashley! We gave her fresh lime soda with salt, sugar and whatever else we could find and ordered her an ice cream, asap!
After a quick lunch (i.e. 1.5 hrs), we finally were off to see the Amber Fort which my mom and I had visited a couple of weeks prior. Our guide aka, "Indiana Jones" promptly got us on a bunch of elephants which we rode to the top of the fort. We called him Indiana because he wore aviator shades, a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a button down which showed his chest hair. It was SO hot that to even have any of this outfit on was ridiculous, not to mention the whole ensemble! So we rode these poor elephants in the hot sun w/ our driver saying "tip, tip" the whole time. Indiana took us through the whole fort in 10 mins…huh? I was really disappointed since my mom and I were there for over an hour learning about how cool this palace was with the maharaja, his wives, concubines, a jazuzzi, a air conditioning system that went where water passed through the marble walls and all sorts of cool tidbits. Indiana told us 2 things and then we were off? We raced to the City Palace and see the gold and silver outfits the maharajas wore, the books they read, some actual photographs. The whole tour of Jaipur took under and hour. It must have been a record.
That night we ventured to this supposedly "cool" place to eat traditional rajastani food, see dancing, snake charming, ride camels, etc. Sounds great, huh? I guess seeing a dead body on the way should have tipped us off to the weird evening that was about to unfold. Just before arriving at our destination, the bus promptly stopped. There was a large crowd and a truck up ahead that was stopped in the middle of the road. Upon further inquiry, we saw a man in the road. Uh oh. The guy was dead. A bunch of dudes were hovering over him. By a bunch, I’m talking about 100. There was one policeman doing absolutely nothing. Just sitting there. We couldn’t stop staring. We asked the bus driver to move and he said "it’s not possible." It was easily possible but he wanted to create drama so he wouldn’t move. Within 10 minutes things started to turn ugly w/ our kids in the back sticking their heads out the window. Next thing we knew, the mob turned to our bus and it got even weirder. Corina and I demanded that the bus driver move which he FINALLY did. One he started, people moved. What a jerk…we almost had a riot on our hands! For those who have read, Shantaram, it was similar to the taxi accident scene. Bizarre doesn’t even begin to describe it. One of the strangest episodes I've ever witnessed and my first real up close and personal dead body (#2 is coming up). They don't count in the cremation areas of Varanasi and a dead horse doesn't count either.
The Choki Dani dinner experience was similar to the carnival…random to say the least! For example, there was a haunted house where you walked down into a tunnel and then came out the other side where nothing happened? Or they had women dancing on glass with all sorts of stuff on their heads? We ate rajastani thalis but it was like a bad disneyland and the quality of the food was mediocre at best. I was shocked nobody got sick. The kicker was this mush they put pure ghee (clarified butter) and a pile of sugar and then mixed it all together. Good when going down but SO bad about 10 mins later when it kicked in. Makes me sick just thinking about it.
So Jaipur was a total flop. Note to self: Don’t listen to tour companies when they try to take you 5 hrs out of the way on an Indian train for less than 24 hrs. in a city with tons of cool stuff. Bad mistake and next time, we're cutting that out altogether.
We woke up early the next day to drive to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. En route, we visited Fathepur Sikri which was a old palace/fort built before the Taj. It was pretty cool and a nice breakup in the drive. Our new guide, Sanjay, was the MAN. Best guide on the trip. He was super patient w/ the kids but also so interesting and made everything into a story. We were lucky to have him for Fathepur Sikri, the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort.
That evening we hit the Agra Fort which you can see the Taj from. The emperor built it before his son imprisoned him and built the Taj. The emperor’s son jailed in his own palace for 8 years where he died. Poor guy! It was an amazing building and the sunset light made it magical. That evening we went to a marble factory to see how they make inlayed marble w/ semi-precious stones. It's quite an extraordinary process and the fact that the Taj has this work all over it makes it even more spectacular when you realize how much work goes into one small flower!
Next morning we woke up super early and were one of the first groups at the Taj for the amazing sunrise. This was officially my 3 rd time this trip seeing this building and I swear, it’s equally cool each time. For sure something that every person in their lifetime should see.
Man, I’m rambling. I know. I know. But I’m trying to document 2 weeks of crazy traveling so I don’t forget anything I did. If you’re still reading, I’m impressed!
From here, we had another disasterously long train ride to Varanasi. Thank god we met one of the most interesting people so far on the train…a Sikh guy we called the "General" because he was a general in the army. No idea what’s up w/ cool army people but we sure kept meeting them. He spoke perfect english including slang. His insite into indian culture had my compartment intently listening and asking all sorts of questions. He smile came through his....he would squint when he said something funny letting us know that it was funny. Those Indian eyes tell it all! Usually, they see your bra but his eyes were heartwarmingly fantastic. The one thing I took from our conversation is an analogy he said about a traditional thinking Indian family vs a forward thinking family…A healthy tree has leaves and deep roots in the ground. When a storm comes, it is able to bend in the wind. It is flexible. Conversely, a tree with no leaves that has shallow roots will break in a storm. Once it is broken, it will never grow back again. Similarly, people need to be flexible. They need to break tradition and allow their daughters to be educated and have power. It is these forward thinking families that will be able to progress in the future and withstand storms. The rigid thinking will only lead to a breakdown which cannot be repaired. Fantastic!
Our new friend decided to check the train schedule. He asked me if I was sure we were going to Varanasi. I was like, um, yes…why? He informed us that the train didn’t actually go to Varanasi but to another station. WHAT? This was news to us! Apparently, we were going to another station past Varanasi. I about died. That, combined with us being on IST, meant that our 8pm arrival time turned into something much longer. Each time I asked a train operator how much longer, they said 20 mins. This went on for literally, 3 hours. Longest 20 mins ever and our patience was wearing thin. Each time we stopped (for no reason) I would pop my head out and my new english speaking friend who smoked cigarettes in the doorway would shake his head "no. not there yet." Finally, on about the 10th stop, I looked out and he shook his head yes. We were there. We boarded the bus to go back to Varanasi where the guide said we had a 1.5 hr drive. I said he surely must be joking, right? Oh no. We really did have that long. AGH! I really wanted to kill our ever apparently lame tour company!
So we got into Varanasi at 1am. Can you say, tired?
After a late wakeup, we took the kids to my favorite breakfast spot, Bread of Life Bakery. Same guy was working who was wondering why I was back? I told him I wanted to bring all my new friends. He was stoked and they had maple syrup this time! For sure, they made the best porridge in India. That afternoon we visited all the temples…Durga, Hanuman and Mother India. We got lucky w/ it being Tues because along with Saturday, it’s a holy day and there were tons of people praying, singing, making offerings, etc. We walked out with sweets, bindis on our foreheads, good luck necklaces, flower necklaces and whatever else was given to us. Mother India temple was a new one for me and included this enormous relief map of India and surrounding countries made out of marble. Cool to see the topography and where we had traveled, etc. That night my new friend Raj, the guy in charge of the restaurant at our hotel, hooked us up and made a dinner party out on the terrace overlooking the Ganges. We had a birthday cake made that day and delivered for one of the kids and ate a real cake and watched a fantastic full moon rise.
Other things in Varanasi included a trip to Sarnath to see where Buddha gave his first sermom. This time is was really interesting because we had a guide who spoke english! The ruins there are SO old and this huge stupa was spectacular. We also visited my cute indian friend's silk shop in his muslim neighborhood and took bicycle rickshaws back to the hotel. Our bike driver hit a tuk tuk. Nice! We went to a bunch of shops, saw the aarti ceremony and got harassed by a million people. Traveling in Varanasi w/ a group was tough….so many people wanting to show you their shop. These "shop guys" get a commission and were so annoying. Talk about something "being a jungle out there." Well, step outside the Alka Hotel with a group and you'll know what I mean. They wait outside the hotel ready to pounce. One guy I apparently said we’d meet at 5pm . When we arrived at 5:25 he started yelling at me wondering why I was late, etc. First of all, since when is 20 mins late in India? When I told him we didn’t want to go to his shop (we were shopped out) he started yelling at me calling me a "fucking girl" and "fucking american" this that an and the other thing. That's funny because the day before I had amazing aura and good karma. I didn’t want to go there with him so I simply said that it was a free country and I didn’t have to go there if I didn’t want to. My group had to basically run back to the hotel with him yelling at us right up until we got inside….phew! Safe!
One cool thing about Varanasi is the burning ghat where they cremate 300 bodies a day. We walked to it and from up top could watch the events down below. We must have seen 10 bodies being cremated with a few new ones that they dumped into the fire. Talk about a crazy site. This guy started explaining what was going on and then gave the same schpeel I’d heard a million times about how he helps people who are dying in the hospice. He even brought out an old lady to bless us. Then he said that for good karma, we should give each money. I gave rs100 for the group since he did explain a few things but he kept bugging the kids about having bad karma if they didn’t each give him money. I finally told him that bad karma comes to those who cheat tourists out of money on behalf of old people! I was so over the give money thing. He kept harrassing my kids and so we even had an Indian guy tell this dude to take a hike. When it finally got too weird, we left....
On, on to dead body #2. I'd always heard of people seeing dead bodies or body parts floating in the Ganges. This is due to the fact that some people can't afford wood to cremate their whole body so they do part and then toss the rest. Sounds gross but the reality is that the most auspicious thing a person can do is be cremated in the holy Mother Ganga in Varanasi. To them, it is the ultimate in this lifetime and upon entrance into the next. After watching the ceremony proceeding a cremation, it is quite beautiful. That is, except for the fact that women aren’t allowed because they get too emotional? Gimme a break. But seriously, women used to jump in the fire to kill themselves since being a widow is such a rough life. Women sure get the bum deal here! Anyway, we woke up early to do the sunrise boat ride and sure enough...a whole dead bloated body floated right up next to the boat...It's about time I saw one. Final thought on the early morning boat ride...the whole process is quite peaceful. Watching people bathe at sunrise is a new experience each and every time I have done it. The colorful women, the children splashing, the families of the dead performing their funeral rites, holy men praying, people meditating, etc. It was such a buzzkill to have souvenir boats come up to our boat asking if we wanted to purchase something. Like there aren't enough on the mainland! Then the worst one was a boat with a tv blasting a bad version of a dvd and slinging movies. Are you kidding me? I mean, if any of these guys were halfway smart, they'd be selling chai at 6am. DUH! We easily would have bought 20 and they could have charged double! How could anyone not think of that by now? Oh yeah, the Indians….
So Varanasi was over and we actually flew back to Delhi. So nice to be on a plane and another Note to Self: Fly more! Course, the plane was late and one of the kids was totally sick (Varanasi will get the best of people). By the time we made it to the hotel it was almost 9pm. I walked in and there were about 50 dudes dressed in colorful middle eastern outfits. I seriously thought it was a middle eastern convention of some sort until I heard noise blasting from inside. I guess the YMCA has a Christian affiliation and there was a play about Jesus and Easter going on? Being in Hindu territory, I didn’t even know it was Easter .Yet another random incident to chalk up to the masses.
Our last day involved a little sight seeing...it was cool to see the Red Fort which was HUGE and Mahatma Gandhi's memorial. We did a little shopping and then ate our "last supper." I stayed and sent the group off the airport. Finito!
My thoughts on the experience...all in all, amazing! It was so cool to see India through virgin eyes. It was so fun to hang with high school kids. Not sure I’ve done that since I was in high school myself. The progression I witnessed from the first day to the last was incredible.... By the end, the kids were deflecting people left and right, not phased by the rickshaws, camels, dogs, people and all the other weird things you see on the street. I know that India changed each of them in some way. I know they will take the experience home with them and will have it forever. It's so great that they were exposed to such rawness and a decently young age. India is the real deal. It's hard to watch, hard to travel and yet, amazingly beautiful and mind blowing all at the same time. One minute, it's the most inefficient country on earth, the next, you meet someone like the guy on the train who is mind blowing and who sums up so much in such a short time. I know the kids will be able to appreciate hot showers, a regular toilet, toilet paper, the variety of food they eat and so many other things on a daily basis. Until normal comforts are taken away, how can you appreciate them?
As far as teenagers. I really bonded with the dorky ones. Like Kim Speed says, "dorky is the new cool." I second that. They were interested in learning more and really immersed themselves in the culture. They participated in all the events. One guy was from the ghetto and had never even been on a plane before. He paid for his trip by selling copies of a rap CD he made. Brilliant! He was a real gem...totally hilarious, he was also so insiteful and totally ”got” the religious devotion. He also made friends with everyone. The first day he showed up wearing sneakers which were so hot. He said "black people don't wear flip flops!" By the 3rd day he was wearing a turban, a shawl, Indian sandals and played a flute. Classic.
Finally, out of 16 kids I think I saw about 3 reading. And we had some LONG travel days. No books? I still have no clue how this is possible but apparently people don't read anymore? Wow. They also drink an insane amount of soda. We tried to curb it since Andy and I don't believe in it but it didn't really work. Some walked around in shorts with their bra straps hanging out (cringe!) and sharing ipod headphones walking down the street. The best move happened at the last dinner when 2 girls showed up with NOSE PIERCES! Needless to say, that one is still a huge deal and will have reprocussions. I guess they must not know that India has the second biggest AIDS population in the world and hepatitis all over the place that's transmitted through needles. Nice work ladies! Teens will be teens but it's a tough world out there. I'm going to really try to make sure my kids are huge dorks and never drink soda. Good luck Ashley...
I guess that about wraps up my World School Adventure. I'm now in Rishikesh which I'll write about later. Pretty much, I've died and gone to heaven. I need some time to absorb. Let's just say, I'm staying at the same ashram for $10/day with all meals and all yoga classes included. Today they posted a new schedule and pretty much, there are classes from 6am - 5pm. Say it isn't so! Already in 3 days I’ve done more new exercises than I have my whole yoga career…and none of it is physical! I came here to learn about the science of yoga and its spirituality. I’ve struck gold and don’t even have to leave my ashram. The resources are all in front of me. Good things come to those who put out the good vibes….I worked hard for this first month and now it’s time for the good part…the inner growth only attained when traveling abroad.
Hope everyone is well. Please write me. I miss everyone!
Here’s my reading list thus far: 5 stars is highest rating
SHANTARAM: ***** one of those epic stories that is just too good for words. One of my top books of all time. Read it before the movie comes out!!! Beware though, if you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. It's 900+ pages and i think i read it in just over a week?
Mind, Body, Sport: ***** Another AMAZING book!! all about sports and what sports are good for your body type and why. pretty much westernizes ayurveda in a sports context. also tells you how "less is more" and that you should use ujjayi breathing for all sports. no mouth breathing, only nose breathing. how i didn't read this before i have no idea but it makes perfect sense and works. i have been trying it when hiking. i highly recommend this book!
Glass Castle: ***. Pretty good fiction. Interesting story, fast read.
What the Buddha Taught: **** Fascinating. Great in depth overview of Buddhism and actually gives exerpts from Buddha's teachings.
Meditation and It's Practices by Swami Rama: *** Good overview on meditation. Wow. So amazing what our minds/breath connection is capable of.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Adventures with My Mom
Namaste!
I am finally sitting down to write my first post to this blog. At this point, i'm not even sure where to begin. The 2 weeks have literally flown by and I am sad to see my mom leave tonight but also excited to have the world school group come in a few hours. I’m nervous about being a tour leader and am sure it will be quite a learning experience!
My mom and I arrived in Delhi where we were greeted by our driver, Sanjay. First of all, having a car/driver is like paradise. Course, the car was an old ambassador made popular by the British but we would have cared less. Our driver was amazing and took us wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. As most of you know, i'm always late but my mom makes me look legit so the joke was that whatever time we "said" we'd be back, well, after meeting some indian guy and going to some indian guy's shop, we were always late! Sometimes we forgot where the car was but usually, we just got carried away on some indian adventure and just couldn't help it. Even better, he took us to places that we never would have known about and told us so many stories of indian culture. he also bought us water and bananas for "indian" prices and not "tourist" prices. pretty much, i'm not sure i'll travel without one for anything involving mothers or husbands!
the first place we went was jaipur. we arrived at our hotel which was over the top amazing (first class when you ride w/ your mom!)...everyone was beyond nice and we got upgraded to a room w/ a front lawn. we had totally weird indian massages (i think mine the guy wanted a happy ending? no gracias senor!). the first morning we woke up to do early morning yoga at the outdoor yoga area. we started onrolling our mats when this indian guy showed up out of nowhere to teach us yoga. we're like, huh? well, okay. so we did this pretty basic hatha class. The next morning when he showed up, we said we wanted to do our own thing and offered to have me lead and him follow. So there he was, doing anusara yoga not having a clue about it. It was almost like we were doing 2 different sports! jaipur is a very colorful city and the streets are NUTS! total chaos...cars, tuk tuks (auto rickshaw), bike rickshaws, motorcycles, people, camels w/ carts, trucks, elephants, dogs, and cows are just some of the fine features of any one street. we shopped til we dropped meeting a couple of store owners who were quite nice.
after visiting the "amber fort" outside of town which is this amazing old fort/palace which rich history and beautiful surroundings, we headed off to an old majaraja's palace in a town called samode. driving out there we overshot the turn. so sanjay drives up to these 2 policeman who are in the road and they told him to turn around and go back. by turning around, that meant driving the wrong way on a one way street to go back. yeah, like that would ever happen in the states. my mom kept asking...."how did you find this place?" "is this right?" i was like, um, i hope it's cool? pretty much there were a few isolated villages, dusty, dry hills and that was about it. sanjay took us inside a couple of villages. by village, this meant about 4 mud huts and a handful of animals and people living in them. we learned how they cook, get water, where they sleep, etc. 75% of india lives in the village. so all that info in the papers about india becoming the next powerhouse is sort of true but when you get here you have to wonder. aside from delhi, bangalore and bombay, this fact is very misleading. we finally arrived at the samode palace...heaven! talk about an oasis in the middle of nowhere. for some reason, they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite on the top floor overlooking the pool. nice!
the next day was the first highlight. after yoga and breakfast, we set out to hike to the top of a hill where there was a hanuman temple. hanuman is the monkey god in the hindu religion. my mom had been getting a crash course in hindu and this was her first temple visit. we honestly thought it would be about 30 mins and then we'd read by the pool for a couple of hours. ha.
we got about 3 steps up when a new indian guy started walking with us. indian guys come up constantly wanting to drive you somewhere, show you a shop, show you a temple, etc. they claim to be "official" but that's never the case. either way, this guy's english was great so we walked with him learning about the temple, hinduism, the area, etc. this short hike turned into a 7km pilgrimage to the famous temple. he said hardly any tourists ever went cuz they were usually in a group and had no time. one of the great parts about not being in a group and having a driver is having a flexible schedule! we hiked to the temple, saw the guru, watched the people worshiping various statues and walked back. the whole trail was made of stones that an old man decided to build by hand. he is still busy at work and won't go to the temple until the road is complete. in return, people donate money to pay for his work. he just took it upon himself to service the community. fantastic!
after samode, it was off to jaipur. sanjay took us to a really fancy jewelry emporium where we learned how the famous jaipur stones are cut, made and designed. the workshop was right there in the store. then it was off to an amazing miniature painting store where a man was working also. he inscribed our names on a grain of rice. the workmanship of these small paintings was extraordinary and a magnifying glass helped to see all the detail. the shop owner loved us and gave us more than we bought including 2 ganesh statues. ganesh, the god of good luck, is everywhere in india so receiving ganesh rather than buying him for yourself is extra good luck. he read our minds and seemed to see everything inside my mom. it was quite amazing and she was practically crying by the end he was so touching. after this shop, sanjay took us to get kasmiri saffron which is some of the best in the world. course, the saffron was inside the best pashima place we had seen by a long shot. geez! my mom went to town on the shawls and they fed us their secret saffron tea. talk about suckers. we fell hook line and sinker for this shop.
finally, it was off to bundi....only 6 hrs late! our first night drive. day driving is one thing. night driving is a whole other beast. this 5 hr drive was nuttier than anything we'd ever seen for at night, the trucks come out, and i'm talking about 10 million of them. with no road rules whatsoever, it was a total free for all. the best part is the truck drives are all smuggling, drugs, guns, and overloaded grains and who knows what else. there are no checkpoints so anything goes. oh, and they drink whiskey and smoke hash on top. nice!
we made it to bundi barely....bundi is a small town in rajasthan a little off the tourist track. i had heard good things about it. the next day we walked around and went to the palace. very cool but the town was sort of uneventful. the next day my mom woke up feeling sort of sick...this turned bad quickly. she stayed in bed while i rented an indian one speed bike and road off into the country. it was so nice to get out of the chaos and into the country. the ride was really great but i felt bad being away so i went to a dried up lake and turned back. my mom was still super sick. yuck. so i went to the nearby fort which was virtually abandoned. i was a little lost when another solo woman asked if i knew where it was. she was lost also. so we hiked together in search of this fort. it was unbelievable. totally abandoned and huge which palatial carvings and paintings on the walls. the craziest part is that there wasn't a soul up there. almost eery but quite beautiful. eva was super cool and we sat for a bit to chat in a palace room overlooking the city. all of a sudden, i felt something on my shoulder. i look over and it was a reces monkey right next to me. AGH! we both screemed like little girls and next thing we knew, there were 3 of them cornering us in a room. i totally freaked and the more i freaked, the more it freaked. we managed to get out of the room dying laughing, our heartbeats racing. we walked a bit down the path and they came after us again. holy crap! we ran and made it to the entrance...barely alive, once again.
that night we had to get on a train to go to the next stop...kanha tiger park. my mom by now was super sick. it was a rough ride w/ a driver who wouldn't stop honking. we got on the 2nd class train car for our first night train. man, did i feel bad for my mom. Not exactly a nice train and even worse was the bathroom. ambien was essential. we passed out and finally made it to our stop...only 2 hrs delayed. upon arrival, mom was really sick. so the taxi driver took us to the hospital. we got some indian medicine which doesn't work at all and then drove 3 hrs to the park. I went on an afternoon safari which was pretty uneventful. The next morning, my mom somehow managed to go out with us but it wasn't pretty. But we did see 2 tigers who walked right in front of our car which was so incredible. Talk about beautiful animals. Wow. we got her back early to sleep off the sickness. luckily, the next day, she woke up feeling a bit better so we went back out again. at this park, you drive in jeeps to find tigers. we actually had some great sightings..aside from riding in a jeep, we also got to ride elephants to see tigers. once the trackers find one, you are allowed to ride the elephant to the tiger. we had one ride that was amazing...we surrounded this tiger who got sort of pissed and walked into the stream that was right there. so we rode into the water to cut it off. lots of action and we couldn't stop laughing. course, the card on my camera filled up right when it was in the water!
That night, we experience quite the indian adventure in getting from point A to point B. that's ALWAYS the worst part. we set out at 8pm to drive back to japalpur. normally, it's a 3 hr drive but we gave ourselves plenty of time to make the 1am train. about 2 hrs into the drive, the lights started getting dim. then they went out. how you can drive w/ no lights but the car still working i have no clue. but we did! now, since we were near tigers, we were also in the middle of nowhere so no trucks, no villages, nothing! total darkness. my mom happened to have her new petzl headlamp in her purse. i grabbed it and for real, used it as our only source of light to drive. for 2 hrs we drove this way. you know it's bad when indian cars/trucks are honking at you. finally, the taxi boss arrived to save the day only he instead drove behind our car to be our light source til we made it into town. eventually, the car died but we were clsoe to the station at this point. we hitched a ride to the station and made it w/ abou 30 mins to spare. are you kidding me?
another night train. in hindsight, our travel schedule for this was a little ridiculous. live and learn around here. the logistics are SO hard to figure out. this train was super slow and was brutally painful. it stopped at every rinky dink station for 20 mins. we read and read and ate potato chips and cookies. a girl finally told us that the train was running 5 hrs late. 5 hrs late? agh! i was freaking out. at one point, about 2 hrs after this news, i looked up to see what station we were at...varanasi. varanasi? that's us! "mom, hurry, we're here!" we quickly got all of our stuff and went to get off the train only to find a track but no platform? pretty much we had to jump off the train and get on the track to go back to the station. hilarious.
for those who don't know where varanasi is, it's one of the holiest places in India in the northeast. the "ghats" are old buildings from the majaraja days that run along the river where people bath and go to cleanse themselves of their sins, pray to their gods, ask for salvation and oh yeah, get cremated. about 200 bodies are cremated everyday. there are 2 "burning ghats" that perform the cremations so you see bodies burning all over the place. you see funeral processions bathing a cloaked body in the river. there is raw sewage, dead bodies, soap, garbage along w/ other bodies who aren't cremated in this water. it is the dirtiest water you could ever imagine and people drink it left and right. they brush their teeth. they swim like it's a regular swimming pool. it's something not to be missed and truly one of the strangest places on earth. we thought driving in jaipur, driving to bundi, driving in the woods with no headlights was nuts. Ha. Those were child’s play compared to what it’s like driving in varanasi. Unbelievable really. I think we almost got in about 100 accidents in 3 days. The first day we needed money so I went to get some from the atm machine. I got so excited by all the bills flying out that I left the atm card in the machine. I didn’t realize this until about 6 hrs later. That night, we ate dinner w/ some new friends one of whom was a Harvard grad working for Citibank in delhi. She told me that the guard probably took my card and would still have it. I couldn’t believe it. The next day we went to talk to him and sure enough, he turned it in to the main branch. Like that would ever happen in the states. But then again, what’s an Indian person gonna do w/ my bank card?
Later that morning, we met a man in the lobby of our hotel from san Francisco. Turns out, he’s a hugely famous photographer named Andy Katz (http://www.andykatzhphotography.com/). He’s done over 10 books and traveled extensively around the world. We ended up traveling with Andy for the next 3 days. He taught me so much about photography and it was so great to learn from a master. And he was super funny and it was nice to have some new blood to hang with.
After having a suite in a decent hotel on the river, my mom after being sick, traveling 2 miserable train rides and watching people bath in nasty water, wanted a nice hotel w/ a bath. We checked out of our hotel to drive way out of town to the only two 5 star hotels. Upon arrival, we found them to be in a yucky area with a handful of tourist groups. Nothing special and we decided to go back to our other room in a better location. they did have beer and we bought 2 to bring back to the water. So we went BACK to our original hotel only to find that not only was our room taken but the whole hotel was FULL. Agh! We ended up at this crappy place around the corner. Funny how things change. My mom went from the Palace hotels to the Hotel Divya for $15 in just a week. Down and out in varanasi…it was fantastic.
Luckily, we were able to go back to our original hotel the next day. Pack. Unpack. Pack. Unpack.
Each morning we woke up for a boat ride on the ganges. Each evening we boated it down to the various ceremonies that they perform. We went to one of the oldest ashrams only to find a bunch of sadhus (holy men) smoking weed and cigarettes? That was sort of a let down to say the least. We toured the temples, went out of town to where Buddha gave his first sermon, walked along the main ghat which was total chaos but very colorful and saw men silkweaving in a muslim neighborhood.
To get out of varansi, we had a flight to delhi. I have never been so happy to see a plane in my life. We were practically kissing it! My favorite part was this sign where you checked in that read, “no toothpaste, no deodorant, no lipsticks, no shampoo, no guns, no pickles.” No pickles? Um, okay.
An hour flight with all these nice stewardesses passing out cookies and we were back in delhi with our driver picking us up. I wasn’t sure were were getting sanjay but sure enough, there he was….SANJAY!!! we were so excited to see him! And this time, we brought our friend Andy. Sanjay worked out a trip for andy in rajastan in about 15 mins. So andy’s tour was all set and we were all happy as campers. That is, until we started driving. On this drive that everyone said took 2 hrs but really took almost 5, we only saw a dead horse who got hit by something and a tractor that got split in 2 with a smashed van that had obviously rolled. Nice.
Arrived in agra where we had a room at the Hilton. Normally, I’m not one for staying in chain hotels in foreign countries but this was nice, Really nice. It was clean and beautiful. The service was beyond excellent. Food was a buffet. I’m not sure any of us had been that dirty in quite some time so this felt like paradise. Best shower in a long time. So good we added a night, I think just to stay in paradise amongst the pollution.
Woke up super early for sunrise at the Taj. Talk about special. That building is one of the 7 wonders for a reason. Being there first was great also. After the Taj, we went to a shop where inlaid marble was produced similar to what’s on the taj. Talk about minute painstaking work. Unbelievable. And it’s ALL over the taj…semiprecious stones inlaid into white marble. That night we went back to the taj for sunset. It started raining. There was lightening. Andy was photographing everything in the rain. We shut the place down.
Yesterday morning we woke up only to battle the drive back to delhi. This drive was actually uneventful. Finally.
Last night was another really special night. We went to sanjay’s house for dinner and met his wife and neighbors. Finally a home cooked Indian meal. His cute wife dressed us both up in her saris which we wore while eating. We toured the neighborhood and had a 15 min conversation with a group of women who spoke no English. We improvised. We drank chai with about 4 households. Everyone was so nice and were so honored to have us in their homes. At one point, we counted 40 children in one small room. It was fantastic!!! I am so happy my mom got to experience the true Indian culture and eat real Indian food.
Now we’re back in smelly delhi. We’re staying at the Taj Palace which once again, we got upgraded to the penthouse? My mom apparently has “upgrade” written on her forehead because I think we got one everywhere we went and didn’t even do anything….nice! This city is beyond polluted. It’s so nasty. We did manage to find an artsy neighborhood w/ interesting shopping and the best south Indian food restaurant!
I know this is so long but I want to share my experiences along with keeping an online journal. This country is truly the land of contrasts. The highest highs, the lowest lows can happen all in one day. It is the most filthy and the most beautiful place on earth. I imagine you either love it or hate it but it has grabbed me like no other country in its uniqueness. The people are certainly what make it special. Just when you thought you couldn’t be bothered more by them, someone comes along who says something that just blows your mind. Money means nothing here. It’s what’s inside that counts. It’s about respect and family. It’s about love and kindness. There’s no way this place would function if people didn’t respect each other. there are just too many of them. I am so happy my mom could experience this country. I am so happy she was with me and not on a guided tour going to all the fancy places and not meeting anyone. It’s sad that people are so paranoid of the dirt that they don’t get to meet any of the fantastic people here. I am so surprised she was able to ride a yucky train, stay at a $15 hotel room and usually with a smile on her face. I am so lucky to have such a great mom!!!
I hope you all are doing great and miss each and every one of you. I hope to write more often so these aren’t so long. I will post photos when I can….
Much love,
a
I am finally sitting down to write my first post to this blog. At this point, i'm not even sure where to begin. The 2 weeks have literally flown by and I am sad to see my mom leave tonight but also excited to have the world school group come in a few hours. I’m nervous about being a tour leader and am sure it will be quite a learning experience!
My mom and I arrived in Delhi where we were greeted by our driver, Sanjay. First of all, having a car/driver is like paradise. Course, the car was an old ambassador made popular by the British but we would have cared less. Our driver was amazing and took us wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. As most of you know, i'm always late but my mom makes me look legit so the joke was that whatever time we "said" we'd be back, well, after meeting some indian guy and going to some indian guy's shop, we were always late! Sometimes we forgot where the car was but usually, we just got carried away on some indian adventure and just couldn't help it. Even better, he took us to places that we never would have known about and told us so many stories of indian culture. he also bought us water and bananas for "indian" prices and not "tourist" prices. pretty much, i'm not sure i'll travel without one for anything involving mothers or husbands!
the first place we went was jaipur. we arrived at our hotel which was over the top amazing (first class when you ride w/ your mom!)...everyone was beyond nice and we got upgraded to a room w/ a front lawn. we had totally weird indian massages (i think mine the guy wanted a happy ending? no gracias senor!). the first morning we woke up to do early morning yoga at the outdoor yoga area. we started onrolling our mats when this indian guy showed up out of nowhere to teach us yoga. we're like, huh? well, okay. so we did this pretty basic hatha class. The next morning when he showed up, we said we wanted to do our own thing and offered to have me lead and him follow. So there he was, doing anusara yoga not having a clue about it. It was almost like we were doing 2 different sports! jaipur is a very colorful city and the streets are NUTS! total chaos...cars, tuk tuks (auto rickshaw), bike rickshaws, motorcycles, people, camels w/ carts, trucks, elephants, dogs, and cows are just some of the fine features of any one street. we shopped til we dropped meeting a couple of store owners who were quite nice.
after visiting the "amber fort" outside of town which is this amazing old fort/palace which rich history and beautiful surroundings, we headed off to an old majaraja's palace in a town called samode. driving out there we overshot the turn. so sanjay drives up to these 2 policeman who are in the road and they told him to turn around and go back. by turning around, that meant driving the wrong way on a one way street to go back. yeah, like that would ever happen in the states. my mom kept asking...."how did you find this place?" "is this right?" i was like, um, i hope it's cool? pretty much there were a few isolated villages, dusty, dry hills and that was about it. sanjay took us inside a couple of villages. by village, this meant about 4 mud huts and a handful of animals and people living in them. we learned how they cook, get water, where they sleep, etc. 75% of india lives in the village. so all that info in the papers about india becoming the next powerhouse is sort of true but when you get here you have to wonder. aside from delhi, bangalore and bombay, this fact is very misleading. we finally arrived at the samode palace...heaven! talk about an oasis in the middle of nowhere. for some reason, they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite on the top floor overlooking the pool. nice!
the next day was the first highlight. after yoga and breakfast, we set out to hike to the top of a hill where there was a hanuman temple. hanuman is the monkey god in the hindu religion. my mom had been getting a crash course in hindu and this was her first temple visit. we honestly thought it would be about 30 mins and then we'd read by the pool for a couple of hours. ha.
we got about 3 steps up when a new indian guy started walking with us. indian guys come up constantly wanting to drive you somewhere, show you a shop, show you a temple, etc. they claim to be "official" but that's never the case. either way, this guy's english was great so we walked with him learning about the temple, hinduism, the area, etc. this short hike turned into a 7km pilgrimage to the famous temple. he said hardly any tourists ever went cuz they were usually in a group and had no time. one of the great parts about not being in a group and having a driver is having a flexible schedule! we hiked to the temple, saw the guru, watched the people worshiping various statues and walked back. the whole trail was made of stones that an old man decided to build by hand. he is still busy at work and won't go to the temple until the road is complete. in return, people donate money to pay for his work. he just took it upon himself to service the community. fantastic!
after samode, it was off to jaipur. sanjay took us to a really fancy jewelry emporium where we learned how the famous jaipur stones are cut, made and designed. the workshop was right there in the store. then it was off to an amazing miniature painting store where a man was working also. he inscribed our names on a grain of rice. the workmanship of these small paintings was extraordinary and a magnifying glass helped to see all the detail. the shop owner loved us and gave us more than we bought including 2 ganesh statues. ganesh, the god of good luck, is everywhere in india so receiving ganesh rather than buying him for yourself is extra good luck. he read our minds and seemed to see everything inside my mom. it was quite amazing and she was practically crying by the end he was so touching. after this shop, sanjay took us to get kasmiri saffron which is some of the best in the world. course, the saffron was inside the best pashima place we had seen by a long shot. geez! my mom went to town on the shawls and they fed us their secret saffron tea. talk about suckers. we fell hook line and sinker for this shop.
finally, it was off to bundi....only 6 hrs late! our first night drive. day driving is one thing. night driving is a whole other beast. this 5 hr drive was nuttier than anything we'd ever seen for at night, the trucks come out, and i'm talking about 10 million of them. with no road rules whatsoever, it was a total free for all. the best part is the truck drives are all smuggling, drugs, guns, and overloaded grains and who knows what else. there are no checkpoints so anything goes. oh, and they drink whiskey and smoke hash on top. nice!
we made it to bundi barely....bundi is a small town in rajasthan a little off the tourist track. i had heard good things about it. the next day we walked around and went to the palace. very cool but the town was sort of uneventful. the next day my mom woke up feeling sort of sick...this turned bad quickly. she stayed in bed while i rented an indian one speed bike and road off into the country. it was so nice to get out of the chaos and into the country. the ride was really great but i felt bad being away so i went to a dried up lake and turned back. my mom was still super sick. yuck. so i went to the nearby fort which was virtually abandoned. i was a little lost when another solo woman asked if i knew where it was. she was lost also. so we hiked together in search of this fort. it was unbelievable. totally abandoned and huge which palatial carvings and paintings on the walls. the craziest part is that there wasn't a soul up there. almost eery but quite beautiful. eva was super cool and we sat for a bit to chat in a palace room overlooking the city. all of a sudden, i felt something on my shoulder. i look over and it was a reces monkey right next to me. AGH! we both screemed like little girls and next thing we knew, there were 3 of them cornering us in a room. i totally freaked and the more i freaked, the more it freaked. we managed to get out of the room dying laughing, our heartbeats racing. we walked a bit down the path and they came after us again. holy crap! we ran and made it to the entrance...barely alive, once again.
that night we had to get on a train to go to the next stop...kanha tiger park. my mom by now was super sick. it was a rough ride w/ a driver who wouldn't stop honking. we got on the 2nd class train car for our first night train. man, did i feel bad for my mom. Not exactly a nice train and even worse was the bathroom. ambien was essential. we passed out and finally made it to our stop...only 2 hrs delayed. upon arrival, mom was really sick. so the taxi driver took us to the hospital. we got some indian medicine which doesn't work at all and then drove 3 hrs to the park. I went on an afternoon safari which was pretty uneventful. The next morning, my mom somehow managed to go out with us but it wasn't pretty. But we did see 2 tigers who walked right in front of our car which was so incredible. Talk about beautiful animals. Wow. we got her back early to sleep off the sickness. luckily, the next day, she woke up feeling a bit better so we went back out again. at this park, you drive in jeeps to find tigers. we actually had some great sightings..aside from riding in a jeep, we also got to ride elephants to see tigers. once the trackers find one, you are allowed to ride the elephant to the tiger. we had one ride that was amazing...we surrounded this tiger who got sort of pissed and walked into the stream that was right there. so we rode into the water to cut it off. lots of action and we couldn't stop laughing. course, the card on my camera filled up right when it was in the water!
That night, we experience quite the indian adventure in getting from point A to point B. that's ALWAYS the worst part. we set out at 8pm to drive back to japalpur. normally, it's a 3 hr drive but we gave ourselves plenty of time to make the 1am train. about 2 hrs into the drive, the lights started getting dim. then they went out. how you can drive w/ no lights but the car still working i have no clue. but we did! now, since we were near tigers, we were also in the middle of nowhere so no trucks, no villages, nothing! total darkness. my mom happened to have her new petzl headlamp in her purse. i grabbed it and for real, used it as our only source of light to drive. for 2 hrs we drove this way. you know it's bad when indian cars/trucks are honking at you. finally, the taxi boss arrived to save the day only he instead drove behind our car to be our light source til we made it into town. eventually, the car died but we were clsoe to the station at this point. we hitched a ride to the station and made it w/ abou 30 mins to spare. are you kidding me?
another night train. in hindsight, our travel schedule for this was a little ridiculous. live and learn around here. the logistics are SO hard to figure out. this train was super slow and was brutally painful. it stopped at every rinky dink station for 20 mins. we read and read and ate potato chips and cookies. a girl finally told us that the train was running 5 hrs late. 5 hrs late? agh! i was freaking out. at one point, about 2 hrs after this news, i looked up to see what station we were at...varanasi. varanasi? that's us! "mom, hurry, we're here!" we quickly got all of our stuff and went to get off the train only to find a track but no platform? pretty much we had to jump off the train and get on the track to go back to the station. hilarious.
for those who don't know where varanasi is, it's one of the holiest places in India in the northeast. the "ghats" are old buildings from the majaraja days that run along the river where people bath and go to cleanse themselves of their sins, pray to their gods, ask for salvation and oh yeah, get cremated. about 200 bodies are cremated everyday. there are 2 "burning ghats" that perform the cremations so you see bodies burning all over the place. you see funeral processions bathing a cloaked body in the river. there is raw sewage, dead bodies, soap, garbage along w/ other bodies who aren't cremated in this water. it is the dirtiest water you could ever imagine and people drink it left and right. they brush their teeth. they swim like it's a regular swimming pool. it's something not to be missed and truly one of the strangest places on earth. we thought driving in jaipur, driving to bundi, driving in the woods with no headlights was nuts. Ha. Those were child’s play compared to what it’s like driving in varanasi. Unbelievable really. I think we almost got in about 100 accidents in 3 days. The first day we needed money so I went to get some from the atm machine. I got so excited by all the bills flying out that I left the atm card in the machine. I didn’t realize this until about 6 hrs later. That night, we ate dinner w/ some new friends one of whom was a Harvard grad working for Citibank in delhi. She told me that the guard probably took my card and would still have it. I couldn’t believe it. The next day we went to talk to him and sure enough, he turned it in to the main branch. Like that would ever happen in the states. But then again, what’s an Indian person gonna do w/ my bank card?
Later that morning, we met a man in the lobby of our hotel from san Francisco. Turns out, he’s a hugely famous photographer named Andy Katz (http://www.andykatzhphotography.com/). He’s done over 10 books and traveled extensively around the world. We ended up traveling with Andy for the next 3 days. He taught me so much about photography and it was so great to learn from a master. And he was super funny and it was nice to have some new blood to hang with.
After having a suite in a decent hotel on the river, my mom after being sick, traveling 2 miserable train rides and watching people bath in nasty water, wanted a nice hotel w/ a bath. We checked out of our hotel to drive way out of town to the only two 5 star hotels. Upon arrival, we found them to be in a yucky area with a handful of tourist groups. Nothing special and we decided to go back to our other room in a better location. they did have beer and we bought 2 to bring back to the water. So we went BACK to our original hotel only to find that not only was our room taken but the whole hotel was FULL. Agh! We ended up at this crappy place around the corner. Funny how things change. My mom went from the Palace hotels to the Hotel Divya for $15 in just a week. Down and out in varanasi…it was fantastic.
Luckily, we were able to go back to our original hotel the next day. Pack. Unpack. Pack. Unpack.
Each morning we woke up for a boat ride on the ganges. Each evening we boated it down to the various ceremonies that they perform. We went to one of the oldest ashrams only to find a bunch of sadhus (holy men) smoking weed and cigarettes? That was sort of a let down to say the least. We toured the temples, went out of town to where Buddha gave his first sermon, walked along the main ghat which was total chaos but very colorful and saw men silkweaving in a muslim neighborhood.
To get out of varansi, we had a flight to delhi. I have never been so happy to see a plane in my life. We were practically kissing it! My favorite part was this sign where you checked in that read, “no toothpaste, no deodorant, no lipsticks, no shampoo, no guns, no pickles.” No pickles? Um, okay.
An hour flight with all these nice stewardesses passing out cookies and we were back in delhi with our driver picking us up. I wasn’t sure were were getting sanjay but sure enough, there he was….SANJAY!!! we were so excited to see him! And this time, we brought our friend Andy. Sanjay worked out a trip for andy in rajastan in about 15 mins. So andy’s tour was all set and we were all happy as campers. That is, until we started driving. On this drive that everyone said took 2 hrs but really took almost 5, we only saw a dead horse who got hit by something and a tractor that got split in 2 with a smashed van that had obviously rolled. Nice.
Arrived in agra where we had a room at the Hilton. Normally, I’m not one for staying in chain hotels in foreign countries but this was nice, Really nice. It was clean and beautiful. The service was beyond excellent. Food was a buffet. I’m not sure any of us had been that dirty in quite some time so this felt like paradise. Best shower in a long time. So good we added a night, I think just to stay in paradise amongst the pollution.
Woke up super early for sunrise at the Taj. Talk about special. That building is one of the 7 wonders for a reason. Being there first was great also. After the Taj, we went to a shop where inlaid marble was produced similar to what’s on the taj. Talk about minute painstaking work. Unbelievable. And it’s ALL over the taj…semiprecious stones inlaid into white marble. That night we went back to the taj for sunset. It started raining. There was lightening. Andy was photographing everything in the rain. We shut the place down.
Yesterday morning we woke up only to battle the drive back to delhi. This drive was actually uneventful. Finally.
Last night was another really special night. We went to sanjay’s house for dinner and met his wife and neighbors. Finally a home cooked Indian meal. His cute wife dressed us both up in her saris which we wore while eating. We toured the neighborhood and had a 15 min conversation with a group of women who spoke no English. We improvised. We drank chai with about 4 households. Everyone was so nice and were so honored to have us in their homes. At one point, we counted 40 children in one small room. It was fantastic!!! I am so happy my mom got to experience the true Indian culture and eat real Indian food.
Now we’re back in smelly delhi. We’re staying at the Taj Palace which once again, we got upgraded to the penthouse? My mom apparently has “upgrade” written on her forehead because I think we got one everywhere we went and didn’t even do anything….nice! This city is beyond polluted. It’s so nasty. We did manage to find an artsy neighborhood w/ interesting shopping and the best south Indian food restaurant!
I know this is so long but I want to share my experiences along with keeping an online journal. This country is truly the land of contrasts. The highest highs, the lowest lows can happen all in one day. It is the most filthy and the most beautiful place on earth. I imagine you either love it or hate it but it has grabbed me like no other country in its uniqueness. The people are certainly what make it special. Just when you thought you couldn’t be bothered more by them, someone comes along who says something that just blows your mind. Money means nothing here. It’s what’s inside that counts. It’s about respect and family. It’s about love and kindness. There’s no way this place would function if people didn’t respect each other. there are just too many of them. I am so happy my mom could experience this country. I am so happy she was with me and not on a guided tour going to all the fancy places and not meeting anyone. It’s sad that people are so paranoid of the dirt that they don’t get to meet any of the fantastic people here. I am so surprised she was able to ride a yucky train, stay at a $15 hotel room and usually with a smile on her face. I am so lucky to have such a great mom!!!
I hope you all are doing great and miss each and every one of you. I hope to write more often so these aren’t so long. I will post photos when I can….
Much love,
a
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