Revisiting India - Blog Post 12

From Rishikesh & Haridwar

Last time I talked about the ashram in Rishikesh and the people we met there. This time we continue that story. We partook in a few other activities in Rishikesh and Haridwar, which were not related to the yoga ashram.

The first weekend, on Sunday, we headed out in a jeep and upstream Ganges. To our surprise, we were going to raft down the famous and holy river. This was a secret surprise, Omer had held from us, he had only hinted at something special being planned for us.

This picture illustrates very well how massive the river Ganges truly is.

There were several groups of people filling several rafts. Before you ask, the water in Ganges this far up in the Himalayas, is clean and looks crystal blue. There was no reason to hesitate to take a bath in Ganges, North East of Rishikesh that is. I have done a bit of rafting before, specifically when I went to a guiding school in Voss, but the rafting I have done at home in Norway doesn’t really compare to rafting in the massive Ganges river. I remember the guy steering the raft being quite the character, and we had a good time.

The next weekend we partook in somewhat of an excursion again with several of the students from the yoga ashram. We travelled to Haridwar and visited a temple, which had a personal connection to the yoga guru (teacher) that had come along for the trip. He told us this was the temple he regularly visited in his youth, together with his parents. The most special thing about this temple was its many mirrors, but also its location. It was located inside a kind of shopping mall or area, and there were lots of stores next to the temple.

After visiting this temple and some other points of interest the yoga guru wanted to show us, we ate some food and rested for a while. The guru got us to buy some sweet banana treat the locals sold in their kiosks.

In the evening we headed to a major Hindu festival, which was also the main event of our little excursion. Many millions of Hindu pilgrims come to Haridwar each year to witness several different major holiday celebrations in Haridwar. The one we partook in is called Ganga Aarti.

Ganga Aarti happens every evening at the Har Ki Pauri (meaning: “The feet of lord Vishnu") site in Haridwar. Lights are lit by brahman (priests) and attendees sometimes partake in a puja ritual where something called Diya, made from a type of leaves and flowers, are thrown in the river for hopes and wishes.

Some monkeys on the rooftops nearby were curiously viewing the Ganga Aarti.

The crowd was packed tightly, and even after we sat down I could not see the end of the crowd, even when I stood erect. The mass of people reminded me of something like Roskilde or other massive music festivals held in Europe. I have no idea of how many people were attending this ceremony this evening, but it must have been several thousands. The fact that this is not one of the main Hindu festivals held in Haridwar, but just the everyday evening ceremony is astonishing to me. I’m not sure I would dare see what kind of crowd would show up for the Kumbh Mela which is held only every 12 years, and supposedly has 70 million visitors.

I remember one of our last days in Rishikesh quite vividly. We had a bath in the Ganges near Upper Tapovan. The water of the Ganges has the most beautiful crystal blue color here up in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand. A thin old Indian guy was also taking a bath nearby us, and he started chatting with us, and shared his 6-pack of beers with us. Generally speaking Indians are quite open and love to chat with strangers, quite the opposite really of Norwegians in public in this aspect I would say.

A few more pictures from Rishikesh

I think it was in the evening the same day we went out to a restaurant in Upper Tapovan to celebrate the birthday of one of the students in the yoga ashram. The evening became quite the celebration with deserts, gifts and even a dance floor. This birthday celebration served as a proper goodbye to the others in the ashram for Boye and I. The yoga instructor course wasn’t done until a few weeks later, but Boye and I were not there for that course. We had plans to go see Amritsar and then finally we would have our reunion with Omer, when we arrived in Srinagar, Kashmir.

I remember the faces and some of the stories of the many interesting people we met in the ashram. This was certainly a memorable time for me. Christmas is coming upon us quickly, and I won't be releasing a blog next week due to the holidays. Merry Christmas to all my readers who celebrate this winter event, and I hope you will have a wonderful new year in 2025.

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