Monthly Archives: April 2007

Hippy Dippy Do – Rishikesh

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The Beatles Slept Here

The Beatles Slept Here

Rishikesh is a smallish town set on the Ganges at the foothills of the Himalayas. In part due to it’s “auspicious” location it’s a pilgrimage site for Hindus. But of late there are a lot of other people here besides Hindus.

In addition to being “auspicious” the location is gorgeous, the hills ascend up from the river dramatically with high banks on either side, in the middle there are a pair of pedestrian bridges that link the two sides of town, and there are Hindu Temples all around, it’s quite picturesque.

Which begins to explain why since the mid-sixties westerners have been coming here in droves. You can blame it on The Beatles. They came here in their Maharishi phase (and wrote much of “The White Album” here), along with the Beach Boys and an assortment of Hollywood types.

Since word has gotten out about the place it seems it’s been hard to keep the flow of Westerners away. And the folks here are pretty smart – the over building that seems to happen in many Indian cities has been kept to a minimum, people are fairly respectful of you, even the Touts are almost polite as they try to sell you things you don’t want or have no use for.

LeeAnne and I have been here the better part of a week chilling out, doing some Yoga, and generally “re-grouping” (Re: Recovering from a cold in her case, and a nasty stomach something in my case). Luckily this is a very good place to do just this sort of thing.

Which may be why half of Israel is here. I swear, we’ve had an opportunity to learn as much Hebrew as Hindi since our arrival – it’s almost laughable. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say 8 out of 10 westerners in town are Israeli hippies. Before you say it – I know, I know – if you don’t like hippies don’t go to the greatest population center of hippies in India of all places, but here I am.

As for the Yoga, let’s say their idea of “Beginners” level classes here are not the same as ours in the States. In the second class the instructor started off the class by having people do headstands, you know, where you stand on your head!?! Half of the people in the class still had money-belts on. But surprisingly, some people pulled it off. I have now idea what the hospital bills were like.

“Oh Dirty River”

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The Ganges River at Rishikesh

The Ganges River at Rishikesh

As I stood at the edge of the Ganges in Rishikesh, I couldn’t help but hum the final lyrics to Sleater Kinney’s “Light Rail Coyote.” Oh Dirty River, Come Let Me In   Except, I have no desire to dip into the Ganges.  Apparently I’m not the same girl who once swam in the Rio Paraguay!

The Ganges, or Ganga, is a major river in India.  It emerges from the Himalayas in the pilgrimage town of Haridwar not far from Rishikesh and flows southeasterly all the way to the Bay of Bengal.  For Hindus, the river is sacred.  Most believe that bathing in the river at certain times will wash away one’s sins and help to attain salvation.  Many bring the ashes of their loved ones to the river with the belief that the ashes will be sent to heaven.  Though we only saw a few boxes and bags float by, it is apparently not uncommon to see dead cows or even people float by.

I find myself again at a crossroads of understanding.  This same holy river, a sacred burial site to some, also serves as a dumping ground for some major pollutants.  In addition to the estimated 1 billion litres of waste per day, there are apparently leather processing factories (does this seem ironic to anyone else?) which dump chromium and other chemicals into the river futher downstream.

Between this love of the river as a holy cremation site and the pollutants that are dumped into it, you can imagine my hesitation to join the ritual bathing along the steps of the river.  All this aside, it’s still an attractive river at this point in the foothills of the Himalayas.  And there are plenty of rivers I would no longer swim in the U.S. too!

The World Cup (of Cricket)

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Satellite TV, On a Black and White TV

Satellite TV, On a Black and White TV

One of the things we were excited about was being in India during the World Cup of Cricket. We arrived in Mumbai just a few days before the first match and were anticipating a huge outpouring of support for the national team from India’s billion plus people. Sadly, India went out of the cup in the first round, so there was really little more than a wimper on the street.

But there’s still Cricket on TV, lot’s of it! The World Cup goes on (much like the game itself) FOREVER! It’s a two month tournament! So there’s been plenty of opportunity for LeeAnne and I to learn a thing or two about the game, sadly we haven’t. I have learned that Australia are very good. South Africa is good. And people in Pakistan value their Cricket highly (the Pakistani’s coach was murdered after they were knocked out in the first round). Beyond that, not much.

Still there’s plenty of games and comentary on the TV. There’s also a surprising amount of Soccer on TV (thank God!). We had the chance to see a Liverpool game broadcast in Hindi, and we even caught highlights of DC United’s game against Chivas in the Champions Cup.