Rishikesh, And A Day At Uttarkashi -- GRAND FINALE IN INDIA!!!

 I had a fairly decent sleep that night in the dumpy Haridwar hotel, and woke up ready for the next adventure. The other three--who had stayed overnight in the swami's guru's ashram-- were presumably to meet me at 8 a.m. that morning, in order for all of us to catch a bus for Uttarkashi, an 8-9 hour journey. I wasn't relishing another long bus trip, but was anxious to see this town deep in the mid-range region of the Himalayas. (e.g., at about 6,000 feet.) 

At 9 a.m., still not having heard anything from them, I messaged that I was heading to the bus station. (I was disinclined to spend any more time than I had to at the hotel.) The rickshaw driver who took me there charged double of what it should have cost, of course...  and... I wound up waiting at the dirty, grimy bus station for TWO WHOLE hours!!! The other three were piddling around, taking their sweet time to get to me... and by the time they did, there were no more buses from Haridwar to Uttarkashi. 

Since not a word of apology was forthcoming from any of their lips, I was fuming, as you might imagine. It was so disrespectful and inconsiderate of them... and, I hate to admit it, but this was not the first time I was subjected to such behavior from the swami and Manakshi (before the Brazilian came along). 

At that point, we piled in yet ANOTHER uncomfortably crammed rickshaw, and were whisked away to Rishikesh... the idea being, we could supposedly catch the last bus from that town to Uttarkashi. 

Alas, the traffic getting there was terrible... we missed the last bus. There then proceeded to be the usual drama and fiasco about where to stay the night in Rishikesh...

Where we ended up wasn't too bad, as it turned out: the Sant Sewa ashram, overlooking the famous, most sacred Ganges river. The rooms were low-end but mostly clean and acceptable. The price was right... Marilia and I shared an upper room with a balcony and TERRIFIC view; the swami and Manakshi shared a lower room. 

We had a pleasant enough half day in Rishikesh (I came back in 2 days' time by myself, after departing from the others) and saw what we could. 

The next day, we finally made the bus to Uttarkashi, but it was the last one of the day (12:30 p.m.), made a trillion stops along the way (so it seemed to me!), and broke down within the first half hour of travel! (Apparently, the brake line broke...yikes! Thank GOD the bus had been going UPhill, and not DOWN!!!) Fortunately, another bus came along fairly quickly, and we were all transferred to this second bus, along with all of our luggage. 

The ride there was long, exhausting (close to 8 hours) and hard on the body... flying around the curves, crowded (with many passengers standing in the isles), and only one bathroom stop in ALL that time because we begged the driver to give us one! Incredible!!

Again, once we arrived, the usual hassle ensued about where to stay, because nothing was planned or reserved in advance... the swami had hoped for the ashram there, but--no surprise--there was the usual discrimination of not allowing foreigners. We settled for yet another dingy hotel just next door: the Gopal Palace--ha ha ha! Misnomer of the century!! It was another dump. Worse-- there was a group of men partying and playing cards next to my room... and smoking. The smoke poured through the shared bathroom vent, so I had to keep the bathroom door closed...and when I went in to bathe or use the toilet, had to try to hold my breath! Yes, it was that bad... I asked to be moved, but the only other ones available faced the main road, hence loud traffic noises... so it was a no-win, to be sure. 

The next day, we were supposed to go trekking. In fact, that was my ONLY motivation for suffering through the long, terrible bus ride to get there, knowing I would have to go through the very SAME again the VERY next day!! Was this a moment of madness, of error in judgement, on my part? I unabashedly admit that it was! In fact, this move on my part was one of the stupider things I have done in my life!!

Did we get in a trek that day??? That was the ONLY thing I wanted; the ONLY thing I longed for... and...of COURSE it didn't happen! The swami, per usual, had no plan... had no clue where the trekking trails began (and/or was unwilling to pay for a car for us to get to them!) We wound up merely visiting temples...something I have done throughout India, and had no need to travel SUCH a great distance to see more of them! We climbed up to the second one along a road (and some steps) and, while pleasant enough, was too short, and DEFINITELY didn't qualify as a trek!!! They then proceeded to dink around: chanting, eating, sleeping, chatting, etc...wasting the rest of the afternoon. When we finally departed, the sky clouded up and it was threatening some serious-looking rain, so even just hiking a bit up the road was no longer an option. 

Was I pissed??! Oh boy, you bet I was! P.O.ed, utterly disappointed, and fed up with this group. THEY were staying for a few days more, and proceeding further on up into the mountains AFTER I left, so why should they care, after all!?!?I came to the ultimate conclusion that these people were definitely NOT my friends, and I was glad I was getting away from them the next day... 

Which I did. And yes, it was another horrific, insane bus ride back down the hill to Rishikesh. 

But--to add insult to injury--before my departure that morning, I was chastised for my distress around the cigarette smoke; for intruding upon the swami's breakfast of fruit; for "gesturing" in a presumably "disrespectful" manner in front of him with my hands; and other conjured transgressions by this narcissistic, false "guru" of sorts. I had had it, my friends! 

As the bus whisked me away, I felt lighter, freer, and able to release myself from the dark cloud of their company. A somewhat tragic way to spend precious, last few days in India, but there you have it. 

The good news is that I was able to see--and say good-bye to-- dear friends, TRUE friends, in my Ananda communities of Pune and Mumbai. I gathered belongings I had left in both of these places, and, tomorrow morning, 3 a.m., a taxi will take me to the Mumbai airport. There, I will catch my flight to Turkey! I am excited... but I am also a tad sad to be leaving friends and community behind in India... 

Last blog of this long series: "The Final Analysis"!  Don't miss it, for a complete and total picture of my 6-month long sojourn here in this country. 

One mildly redeeming factor of the long wait in the bus station: meeting some lovely people, all of whom wanted selfies together, of course! This group of ladies were all from Nepal. 

The group slowly grew...

Once in Rishikesh, we had to take a ferry across the river Ganges to get to the Sant Sewa ashram, where we would stay for the night. (I returned there alone, two days later, after I came back from Uttarkashi.)

Taking a quick dip in the frigid water of the Ganges! A must...it is said to purify all sins, or something of that sort! 

That evening, we attended a famous arati ceremony on the edge of the river: A homage to the Ganges, otherwise known as Mother Ganga, considered a living, feminine deity. 

The very famous, humungous, Shiva statue sits at the water's edge

Huge crowds gathered there to chant and wave individual arati trays to honor the river. 

The night view off of our balcony, looking across the river...quite beautiful. 

Not sure the point of this "painted Buddha" of sorts...perhaps to draw people into the restaurant behind him?!

Such a typically Indian scene: cows wander anywhere they please and are rarely stopped! 

This bovine lady was smart! She clearly knew the pleasures of a complete spa treatment!!! 

Lovely view from the balcony the following morning... 

Gorgeous sunset, the eve that I returned... 

Phenonenal dessert I ate at the Little Buddha cafe overlooking the Ganges. It was a "jumbo chocolate ball" a la mode... thought I had died and gone to heaven!!! THIS was nirvana, for sure!!!

On to Uttarkashi: Also on the Ganges. The town itself was pretty much uninteresting, and could have been anywhere in India. There were some nice temples (also, as anywhere and everywhere in India), so really, the only distinguishing features were some distant views of snowy, Himalayan peaks, nice skies and other scenic vistas. There presumably were multiple trekking trails to explore...but as mentioned above, the swami (and our guide) didn't know of them or was unwilling to pay for transport to get to them. Of course I didn't know any of this ahead of time or I never would have gone! It was definitely NOT worth the long and horrific haul to get there and back, for only one day of NOT trekking!!! Chalk this one up to experience! Not to be repeated, to be sure. 

The scenic suspension bridge, which took us from the hotel side of the river to where we did a 3k climb up to a hillside temple. 

This was a first for me: actually SEEING a cremation ghat on the Ganges! It was dirty there (trash, old food, animal excrement, etc.), like most of the areas along the river, and the idea of the bodies being burned there before being flung into the river was horrifying and creepy to me. I would NOT want this to be done with MY body!!!

Human body grills of sorts! Pretty crazy... ashes fall below, smoke from the fire goes into the vent above... a large bar-b-que, as it were!!!

In the afternoon, the clouds came in and made for some very beautiful, dramatic skies. Thankfully we beat the rain, but lightning strikes caused a very large tree to fall across the road we were walking down on, not more than 30 seconds after we had passed by! Pretty chilling, to be sure! A few minutes later, we passed a fire at the base of a tree...no one making ANY effort to put it out...and the tree was right next to an electrical power transformer! Astounding! What an explosion that would cause if the electrical works caught fire, but no one seemed the least bit concerned! So, as my new expression goes: "That's India!!!" 

The lush green, terraced farmland we saw below was quite lovely... 

The little temple we climbed the 3K to get to. 

This kind priest, surprised by our arrival and request for a lunch, quickly whipped up a simple meal of rice and dahl for us. 

The first temple we visited, back in the town. Not great resolution, but if you could see the expression on my face, it was NOT a happy one!! 

It doesn't show up well in this photo, but way off in the distance in the upper right hand corner, I could see a bit of the snowy peaks. After I left, the other 3 took another 100 k drive to get up to those heights--11,000 feet--in order to get to the originating point of the Ganges. I was SO bummed to have missed out on this, as it was far more beautiful... and now, this will have to wait until my next trip to India, IF there is a next trip!! That remains to be seen... 

The dive of a hotel we stayed at, but with SUCH a nice, enticing name: Govind Palace! (The Indians frequently give very elaborate names to dumps, as I have seen, all throughout India.)