Last week, as we lamented the end of our freedom before our teaching positions begin, we made a group decision to hit the road. Even though we've been here a month, we have not left Delhi at all, and being in the city all the time was really getting to us. The smog, the horn honking, the dust, the crowd, the heat--we needed to get away. There's a really awesome French guy named Thibault in our Hindi class who is our age and has been in India for two years; he has been EVERYWHERE and knows a ton about this country and recommended going to Rishikesh. The train was all booked so we got bus tickets, reserving four "sleeper" tickets overnight for the way there, and regular seats on the way back. At 10PM on Friday we got off the metro at Kashmere Gate, a typical bus station area (read: sketchy and gross), asked for directions and found the random street corner where the bus was waiting. When we stepped on the bus and saw what "sleeper" meant, we asked to make sure it was real. While I had been expecting seats like on Argentine long distance buses that lean all the way back, these sleepers consisted of what would have been the overhead luggage storage, just enlarged to fit people. In addition, each compartment was for two people; that's two people lying down in the width of two bus seats. We got cozy, managed to sleep a little, and arose when the bus stopped at 5AM in the middle of a field in what we were told was Haridwar. While we had toyed with the idea of staying in Haridwar instead of continuing to Rishikesh, Hannah made an executive decision upon getting off the bus in a random field to keep going to Rishikesh. One hundred rupees and a 500 meter auto ride later, we got out at the "bus station" which consisted of a giant parking lot that smelled mostly of urinals full of buses that looked like they would have been antiques in 1983. Almost immediately I was approached by a boy of about 10 begging--he asked for money and when I said no, he pointed to the chai walla so I went over and bought him a chai and some bread, which he eagerly dipped in the chai and ate hungrily. When he reached to take the chai from me, I noticed that three of the fingers on his right hand were missing above the middle knuckle. I keep remembering the image of his maimed hand, thinking about him drinking his chai in the bus station and wondering what the rest of his day was like.
In any case, after standing around for about 15 minutes listening to guys yell out place names and destinations and not coming any closer to finding a bus to Rishikesh, Patricia found a jeep driver looking for passengers. For 100 rupees each, we got in the jeep for the hour ride to Rishikesh. After about 10 minutes, the car stopped for more passengers. The four of us were already squished in the seat, three men plus the driver were in front, and four guys got in the back, a space intended for two men at a push. When a fifth man still needed to get in, he tried to get in on my side and sit on my lap! I freaked out and Hannah started yelling at the driver "Bilkul nehin!" (Absolutely not!). He went around the back and rode the entire way with his feet in the vehicle and his head and torso sticking out the open back door. We arrived in Rishikesh and spent an hour searching in vain for an alleged guest house that Thibault had recommended we stay in, partly because we were somewhere completely different from where we thought we were. We walked past dozens of cows, tens of holy men, and more animal crap than you would need to fertilize the state of Kansas. Exhausted and cranky, we gave up the search, had breakfast and took an auto to one of the hostels listed in the guidebook, which, of course, was full. Not to be deterred, we checked in to another hotel right up the road (way cheaper than the first and super quiet!), where we promptly collapsed and slept for two hours.
At around 11:00 we left the hotel and wound our way through the bazaar and across the footbridge, trying to find the hiking trail ending in a waterfall. Again we took a jeep to the trail and soon found ourselves completely surrounded in lush greenery, breathing clean, humid air and feeling so grateful to be out of Delhi. When we got to the waterfall we took off our pants and immediately jumped in. I still think that water was magical or something because the euphoria and relief I felt under that waterfall was indescribable. It was such a release of stress, so nice to cool off and be in nature. With no hope of drying off in the humidity, we dressed and walked down the mountain, returning to the town by jeep.
After we had lunch, we ambled through the main streets from one footbridge to another, had some chai, and enjoyed being able to walk, take our time, and not have to be anywhere else. When we reached the second bridge, Tangi and Patricia wanted to sit and relax in a coffee shop and Hannah and I kept walking, going to the ghat, dipping our feet in the river, buying candles for pooja (prayer) and releasing them in bowls made of leaves and filled with marigolds and rose petals. We wandered through the ashrams, with their well-kept gardens and mantras written in sanskrit along the benches and walls. At one ashram we stumbled upon some kind of prayer service, a room full of people singing. As the sun started to sink, I remembered that the guide book had mentioned a sunset ceremony at one of the ashrams on the river. Hannah and I went and sat by the ghat, where Patricia and Tangi met us, and we listened for an hour to beautiful music sung by young men and boys of the ashram, dressed in loose saffron-colored robes and playing Indian hand drums. We watched the river rise and the sun set, and at the end of the service people placed their pooja candles in the river and we watched the float along the current.
Afterwards we were exhausted from such a long day and wanted to grab a small dinner before returning to the hotel and passing out. We went to a well-known restaurant that had a menu with a little bit of everything, and I had the following interaction with a waiter:
Me: I'll have a grilled cheese sandwich.
Waiter: We have no cheese. But you can order a grilled vegetable sandwich!
Me: What comes on that?
Waiter: It is bread and grilled vegetables.
Me: OK, but what kind of vegetables?
Waiter: Tomatoes, capsicum, carrot...
Me: OK I will have that, then.
What came out parading as my sandwich was white sandwich bread filled with warm shredded cabbage and carrots--like cole slaw sans mayo, or what would normally fill a vegetable spring roll. I reluctantly bit into it, and found, to my dismay, a layer of cheese! I was so sad/mad at being robbed of my grilled cheese, to be replaced by warm cole slaw between bread! When I asked the waiter about it, he bobbled his head and said "yes, but it is only a little bit of cheese. (!!!!)
We took an auto home, and, after I killed a few spiders for Hannah's peace of mind, went to sleep.
We returned to Haridwar the next morning, spent a frantic half hour trying desperately to find the random street corner where the bus was parked, and were fortuitously approached by a bus agent who took our tickets and pointed us in the right direction. I slept a little on the journey home, but mostly watched the countryside change from lush forest to fields of mango and sugar cane, and eventually to the concrete jungle that is the megacity of Delhi. It was the perfect way to spend our last weekend before starting our work here. To see photos, please click this album link.
In any case, after standing around for about 15 minutes listening to guys yell out place names and destinations and not coming any closer to finding a bus to Rishikesh, Patricia found a jeep driver looking for passengers. For 100 rupees each, we got in the jeep for the hour ride to Rishikesh. After about 10 minutes, the car stopped for more passengers. The four of us were already squished in the seat, three men plus the driver were in front, and four guys got in the back, a space intended for two men at a push. When a fifth man still needed to get in, he tried to get in on my side and sit on my lap! I freaked out and Hannah started yelling at the driver "Bilkul nehin!" (Absolutely not!). He went around the back and rode the entire way with his feet in the vehicle and his head and torso sticking out the open back door. We arrived in Rishikesh and spent an hour searching in vain for an alleged guest house that Thibault had recommended we stay in, partly because we were somewhere completely different from where we thought we were. We walked past dozens of cows, tens of holy men, and more animal crap than you would need to fertilize the state of Kansas. Exhausted and cranky, we gave up the search, had breakfast and took an auto to one of the hostels listed in the guidebook, which, of course, was full. Not to be deterred, we checked in to another hotel right up the road (way cheaper than the first and super quiet!), where we promptly collapsed and slept for two hours.
At around 11:00 we left the hotel and wound our way through the bazaar and across the footbridge, trying to find the hiking trail ending in a waterfall. Again we took a jeep to the trail and soon found ourselves completely surrounded in lush greenery, breathing clean, humid air and feeling so grateful to be out of Delhi. When we got to the waterfall we took off our pants and immediately jumped in. I still think that water was magical or something because the euphoria and relief I felt under that waterfall was indescribable. It was such a release of stress, so nice to cool off and be in nature. With no hope of drying off in the humidity, we dressed and walked down the mountain, returning to the town by jeep.
After we had lunch, we ambled through the main streets from one footbridge to another, had some chai, and enjoyed being able to walk, take our time, and not have to be anywhere else. When we reached the second bridge, Tangi and Patricia wanted to sit and relax in a coffee shop and Hannah and I kept walking, going to the ghat, dipping our feet in the river, buying candles for pooja (prayer) and releasing them in bowls made of leaves and filled with marigolds and rose petals. We wandered through the ashrams, with their well-kept gardens and mantras written in sanskrit along the benches and walls. At one ashram we stumbled upon some kind of prayer service, a room full of people singing. As the sun started to sink, I remembered that the guide book had mentioned a sunset ceremony at one of the ashrams on the river. Hannah and I went and sat by the ghat, where Patricia and Tangi met us, and we listened for an hour to beautiful music sung by young men and boys of the ashram, dressed in loose saffron-colored robes and playing Indian hand drums. We watched the river rise and the sun set, and at the end of the service people placed their pooja candles in the river and we watched the float along the current.
Afterwards we were exhausted from such a long day and wanted to grab a small dinner before returning to the hotel and passing out. We went to a well-known restaurant that had a menu with a little bit of everything, and I had the following interaction with a waiter:
Me: I'll have a grilled cheese sandwich.
Waiter: We have no cheese. But you can order a grilled vegetable sandwich!
Me: What comes on that?
Waiter: It is bread and grilled vegetables.
Me: OK, but what kind of vegetables?
Waiter: Tomatoes, capsicum, carrot...
Me: OK I will have that, then.
What came out parading as my sandwich was white sandwich bread filled with warm shredded cabbage and carrots--like cole slaw sans mayo, or what would normally fill a vegetable spring roll. I reluctantly bit into it, and found, to my dismay, a layer of cheese! I was so sad/mad at being robbed of my grilled cheese, to be replaced by warm cole slaw between bread! When I asked the waiter about it, he bobbled his head and said "yes, but it is only a little bit of cheese. (!!!!)
We took an auto home, and, after I killed a few spiders for Hannah's peace of mind, went to sleep.
We returned to Haridwar the next morning, spent a frantic half hour trying desperately to find the random street corner where the bus was parked, and were fortuitously approached by a bus agent who took our tickets and pointed us in the right direction. I slept a little on the journey home, but mostly watched the countryside change from lush forest to fields of mango and sugar cane, and eventually to the concrete jungle that is the megacity of Delhi. It was the perfect way to spend our last weekend before starting our work here. To see photos, please click this album link.
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