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Haridwar
Later that night we found our way to Haridwar and were happily ensconced in a lovely little hotel, La Casa (yes – a Spanish name though an Indian owner). Again we were adopted by all the staff who clucked over us like mother hens for every little need. At our first restaurant stop (ohmygod have I mentioned how amazing each and every meal is!) I made the faux pas of asking for a beer (we’ve only had 2 so far this whole month in India!). “We are a holy City; no beer!”
We loved the crazy bustle of the one main thoroughfare: ubiquitous honking, pedi-shaws, horse drawn carts, tuk tuks (motorized rickshaws), motorcycles, dogs, cows, donkeys, new cars, bicycles bearing every load you can imagine… A riot of color and sound – women in their gorgeous saris – men with amazing turbans… And then escaping down a sound street to quiet alleys with sleeping homeless, resting pilgrims – so many stands of various colorful prasad – here they use banana leaf ‘boats’ filled with flowers and oil lamps you can then float down the river. At the ghats many pilgrims kneeling at dawn and dusk to bathe, douse with the holy waters of the Mother, the Ganges – this is very near the source of the river, where it emerges from the Himalayas. Every dawn and dusk at one main spot (Har-ki-Pairi Ghat – the Footsteps of God) near a temple monks gather a huge crowd for ganga aarti (river worship ceremony) with chanting, cymbals, horns – huge candelabras, powdered color dyes – what a spectacle as pilgrims bathe and send off their prasad flower boats… They call to the crowd to great and thank and bless and receive the blessings of the Mother Ganges and all raise their hands… This is the place where Vishnu is said to have dropped some heavenly nectar and left behind a footprint. For Hindus, the place to wash away your sins.
…of course the other side of India invades this spiritual sweetness: there are the ‘crowd control’ police who blow their whistle and insure that people sit down or move to the back – and they at various intervals begin hawking for contributions to charity giving out little receipts. Hard to know if these donations go beyond their pockets… and hard to resist a uniformed official’s demands.
In Haridwar there are two temples high up on the hills – Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi: you take a cable car to get there. Once at the top of Mansa Devi (the wish fulfilling goddess) there is a warren of hallways filled with prasad sellers (candles-statuettes-pictures-flowers-incense) – and then a series of little alcoves, each with a monk and some different blessing process. (And the all important receptacle where you are to place rupees!). They give Tika (a dot on your forehead) – sometimes you kneel – some ask your name and sing or recite a blessing – at one station the old monk says a blessing over a thread and then you tie it around a post. Many of the pilgrims are transfixed and you can feel the depth of their experience. Yet on the other hand – it is crowded and pushy and many are insisting about the money… Our hotel staff friend bemoaned the commercialization of spirituality here.
At this temple floating over the City I experienced another encounter with Indians that has become familiar: there were a couple of darling young girls adorned with ribbons for their pilgrimage and they happily agreed for me to take a photo. Once I showed them – their whole family – dad, mom, grandma, auntie, little brother – all wanted to be in the photo… And then: they all wanted a photo with me. We have had so many people ask to have our picture taken with them! We hear some of these may show up on Facebook and other places – some with claims that we are actors or some famous person. Who would think it of 2 old ladies?!
Rajaji National Park
Next day we took a jungle safari to the outskirts Rajaji National Park (park was closed due to rain the night before) and made another wonderful new friend – from Modesto, CA. She had just come back from the Kumba Mehla where she bravely went all on her own. It was fascinating to hear of her experiences and the array of holy people and touts and shams that she met there. She was embraced by an ashram with their guru and under their wing was able to experience the deep spiritually present for so many – including heading to the Ganges several times to bathe as well as meditating. On the other hand, one encounter with a supposed holy man shockingly turned out to become proposition when he suggested they have sex… And, as for many westerners – it was difficult for her to manage the reverence and obeisance to the guru – a similar reaction I had amongst Amma’s supporters.
(Did I mention we sadly decided not to go to Varanasi this trip because we had heard it was vastly overrun with so so many people from the nearby Kumba Mehla? First on our list for our return trip to India for which we are already salivating!)
On our jungle safari – we just missed an elephant: fresh, steaming pile of manure, sounds of crashing through the jungle… but no glimpse. As well. We did see two kinds of kingfisher (one a deep rich red-brown, one bright blue), two types of bright elegant parrots, buffalo, peacocks in the trees, rhesus monkeys and lemurs, eagles, hornbill, martens, spotted deer, astonishing Banyan trees, etc etc. Lovely! Our guide was incredible at spotting the wildlife through vision and sound – so attuned to his home in the jungle… We did get to visit some working domestic elephants at the forest rangers’ station. Closely: indeed, we got sprayed with trunk snot! Fascinating to watch the elephants strip the bark off the tree branches they were given for eat: they only like the bark, not the leaves. What they can do with those trunks!
Rishikesh
Next day we headed to Rishikesh (made famous by the Beatles at the Maharishi Mahesh Yodi) and enjoyed our meandering down the narrow, steep wandering road lined with Ashrams, yoga schools, and souvenir stands. The suspension pedestrian bridge was quite a trip – swaying in the wind, packed with people, cows, monkeys, dogs, motorcycles… View of crazy many storied temple like buildings of the two oldest ashrams/yoga schools… We drove further way through the exquisite country side, up the rice-field terraced mountains to an old and reportedly very holy temple: it appeared nearly in ruins – again, a warren of dark, confusing passage ways with food and prasad vendors – then a courtyard into a series of little alcoves with the monks and their bowls of rupees… All very dingy and dirty.
We had an interesting conversation with one of our hotel staff who expressed his view of karma and the purpose of life – as fulfilling one’s duty. He advised we study the Bhagvad Gita which would reinforce this lesson – even should it require you as a soldier to kill your own relations – so long as it is the rightful duty. My struggle: if everyone thinks God is on their side, how do we ever know what is rightful duty?
From Haridwar to Jaipur
Our departure from Haridwar, which we’d come to love, was rather dramatic: we were waitlisted #1 and 2 for the train and had been assured this would be no problem – you can always get on since there are many no shows and cancellations. What we didn’t understand is that we had unwisely chosen 1st class AC and this has only a dozen seats or so, so there are no open options – better to choose 2d class AC. Our ticket was automatically cancelled when the train is ‘chartered’ with seat assignments about an hour and a half before departure… As our friendly staff uncovered all this – and mistakenly thought we were headed to some destination where a big festival was happening – they began saying we should just stay over another night and leave the next day – Kathy saying sure sure – I began freaking out: no way! Our stay in Jaipur would become way too short and I was so ready/set to move on… So with a staff we headed to the train station to try to plead our case… Went from one official to another – they tried to find a way – but no seats… I recalled there was another train that same day and convinced the staff-helper… Yeah! We –after much haggling and I believe some special ‘tipping’ — were able to get 2d class AC for a train later that night! Our hotel let us go back and use our room all afternoon, no extra charge – and they were so kind and apologetic for our stress…for which really they had absolutely no responsibility!
We enjoyed the train and slept quite well. Our compartment mate was a delightful young man from Jaipur, so he coached us on all the things for us to see. And I lucked out again: there was a western style toilet! With my cranky old knees it is a trial to manage the squat toilets: I have been so lucky and only had to struggle a couple times so far!
It was fascinating to hear our Jaipur friend’s experience in Haridwar: he is newly married but having to live separately this year as his wife finishes graduate school near Haridwar. This was one of their first times together without the extended family – and they were quite overwhelmed with the touts and the hawkers at the aarti ceremony as we were. They wanted to light the candle for their prasad-boat on their own, to really reflect on their blessing and take their time… but the seller insisted she light it and when they got to the river one of the uniformed guards got very pushy and grabbed there basked, floated it away and demanded payment …
So dear readers: good night for now: we are happily in to yet another chapter of this incredible journey here in Jaipur at a lovely heritage garden hotel… More on that next time!
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Rishikesh
US delegation departing January 9 !
NEWS FLASH: GCJ Delegation departs on January 9! Stay tuned for blog entries from India.
We will begin in Delhi: all 11 US delegates will gather by Thursday evening, January 12. We’ll spend the weekend enjoying visits to historical sites, such as temples, fortes, Old City, the museum at the site of Gandhi’s assassination — and a trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We will also visit several NGO’s and meet local leaders.
Then on to Pune where we’ll join our 11 Indian delegates plus 2 Maher hosts and spend 8 days in the rural areas of Maher homes, interacting with the women and children of our home site (Vatsalyadham) as well as visiting the many varied aspects of Maher activities, including the self help groups, preschool in the slum, women’s vocational training, etc.
We’ll also visit Pragati Leadership in Pune, to discover how they combine western results-orientation training with spirituality, as well as their small foundation that supports and empowers urban women. The US delegates will spend our last days up in the Hill Station of Panchagani, partaking in the international program of Initiatives of Change in the morning and spending the afternoon reflecting and harvesting on all our learning. The program ends in Pune, on Friday afternoon, January 27.
Meet Sister Lucy on her visit to Seattle! Tuesday, September 20
We are thrilled to welcome Sister Lucy. Come join us Tuesday evening, September 20, at the Phinney neighborhood center. She’ll be accompanied by two extraordinary young men who grew up at Maher – Gaus Sayyad and Mangesh Pol. We’ll gather at 6:45 and begin the program by 7 pm. What a night!
India Blog 12: Holiest of Holies – Varanesi
Villages of the Lake
When I first arrived I came through Panajachel, known as Pana, which was the first area to become well known by tourists and has many hotels, restaurants, nonprofit projects, markets, etc. It is a great place to shop and access services but lacked much charm or atmosphere. You can hop on a boat for a 20 to 30 minute trip across to San Pedro for just 25Q (quetzals – about 7.5 to a dollar, so the ride cost $3.25).
I found San Pedro quite enjoyable – easy to walk around through narrow alleys that the ever present tuk tuks managed to squeeze through, with a steep hike up to the central market, church and lovely tiny city park. I enjoyed heading to the outskirts of town where my friend Nancy is living in a friend’s house that she has helped to landscape and decorate exquisitely. With an incredible view once you hike up to the upper house and climb up three steep flights to the terrace! Wowowowow.
One day we headed to nearby Santiago – a more traditional town where even the men still where their village trajes. It is beautifully situated on the shore of a deep inlet of the lake. This is the town told about in Martin Pechtel’s colorful and amazing memoir of how he became a shaman, Secrets of the Talking Jaguar – a great read, especially while here. This town was the capital of the Tz’utujil since pre-colonial times. During the war Santiago was especially hard hit with state-sponsored violence. Many villagers were murdered, tortured, disappeared – including the assassination of Roman Catholic Priest Stanley Rother by right-wing death squads on 28 July 1981, and the massacre of 14 people (and wounding of 21 others) when the Guatemalan Army opened fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians on 2 December 1990. Today there are collectives of women’s back-strap weaving and many Mayan traditions continue. For example, there are Cofradías (religious brotherhoods) who are the guardians of the modern and ancient religious practices: one task is to take an annual turn in guarding the cult of Maximón –a cigar puffing god-effigy to whom people come to offer liquor and tobacco in exchange of favors.
On the other side of my base of San Pedro is a small village, San Juan. This town seems to have a very unique character. Almost no hotels, no tourists – and a very enterprising population: apparently an American helped create a women’s cooperative many years ago and from that has spawned many women’s’ cooperatives. So all of the shops sell wonderful, organic, natural dye products and all share the profits with their members. There are many gorgeous murals throughout the village. And some of the services such as school and sports field seem better established and maintained.
Beyond that I visited San Marcos – a haven for New Agers. There are holistic healing centers, yoga retreats, and health food stores. It is on the shady side of the lake and has a more tropical feel. Very quiet, peaceful and lush, with narrow paths from the dock leading up to a sweet shared playground where gringo and native families gather to watch the children play. There is a beautifully maintained little park with paths and vistas and swimming holes – and four ceremonial circles (one for each pillar of the earth – used at different seasons) – where I came upon Tata Pedro and Shuni.
I also visited Santa Cruz, accessible only by boat: there I visited friends’ of friends who founded Amigos de Santa Cruz which has established wonderful programs for the six small communities associated with the town – for vocational training, nutritional education, early childhood education, and scholarship supported advanced education. This small village needed to be traversed by precarious wood planked walk ways at the lake’s edge, as the planned lovely broad pathway was now submerged.
On another day I took a day trip away from the lake to Chichicastenango’s famous market and vibrant K’iche town. The shopping everywhere in Guatemala is insane: there is such richness of beautiful textiles, beads, etc. in wild and vibrant colors with painfully detailed handwork. Needless to say, my suitcase is now emptied of the books and art materials I brought to Taa’Pi’t but is overflowing with handicrafts…. The church at ChiChi is fascinating, with observers conducting a maya-catholic blend of ritual similar to what I once saw in San Cristobal in Mexico. Candles, incense, offerings of corn, flowers, pine boughs, liquor and prayers by shaman while the Catholic saints look on. The church is the site where the one remaining copy of the holy Popul Vuh telling the Maya origin stories was found in the early 18th Century.
…I was sad to leave the gorgeous lake, which really cast a spell upon me… But excited to have more adventures ahead: I’ll soon post the last two blog entries – one from Tecpan and my visit to Project Somos and one from the jungles of Peten where I visited Tikal.
Encounters with Mayan Cosmo-Vision
As is common to human groups everywhere (at least everywhere I’ve visited!) –there is some competition and uneasy trust amongst various schools, factions or groups… So there are multiple answers to many questions about what is the Maya way. Some feel the traditions should be held closely, others feel it is time to share and spread throughout the world. As the year 2012 came to a peak, so much interest and energy was aroused and attracted – it has created a renaissance within the Mayan community as well as with visitors from around the world. This seems wonderful indeed! My sources teach me that 2012 marked the end of an over 5000 year cycle, which was characterized by patriarchy and domination over nature, thus a lack of balance with the natural world – And now, the new era being ushered in has the chance to be a time of transformation, with the integration of the feminine and harmony with nature. We humans have to do our part in the awakening and changing. If we wise up we can be collaborators in bringing about this wonderful new era. Read more
Second blog from Guatemaya: San Pedro de Lago de Atitlan
Hard to believe tonight is my 10th and last night here at the Lake. Time slows down and yet is also very full. I’ve just felt very present to every moment and reluctant to step away from what is happening to write about it. It has been a blessing to have several friends to connect with here, to get a deeper sense of life and the changes going on.
The Maya call the lake Our Mother – and she is so beautiful! My eyes drink in the view, the beauty – and immediately want to take it in again and deeper. Now I understand why many say it is the most beautiful lake in the world… Surrounding by mountains including three awesome volcanoes 10,000 feet high that look like a child’s drawing, they are so vertical and steep, arising directly from the shore. Though once some of the slopes were denuded and ravaged by scars of war, now there is green everywhere, with many coffee trees and cornfields all around. The lake was formed as a caldera about 84,000 years ago and is Central American’s deepest lake (1,120 feet): It is technically endorheic (lacking direct flow to the sea) but substantial seepage feeds two nearby rivers: in other words, water flows in but not out. The introduction of bass some years ago ultimately led to the loss of the local flora and fauna. Plus the introduction of fertilizers and raw sewage which run off compounded by the lack of circulation which has contributed to many ecological issues, with the growth of a deadly bacteria (cyanobacteria) at times.
My hotel is right at the lake-shore – in fact, it may soon be IN the lake, as it is rising. Read more
First Days in Guatemala: Antigua
Que pais magnifico! What a wonderful country! Despite Guatemala’s horrendous history and recent past – I find a deep sense of serenity and welcome here. The climate is deliciously perfect. The scenery is astonishingly magnificent. The people are impeccably kind and friendly. The arts and crafts are an explosion of color and gorgeous design. Antigua is a city of remarkable beauty and charm. The artistic life is pulsating –from traditional crafts to contemporary art – painting, sculpture, architecture. Oh fellow Global Citizens, we are blessed with such an amazing planet and so many rich cultures!
Yet amidst this beauty, serenity and charm, I find myself repeatedly triggered when confronting the beautiful and pervasive colonial influences. I feel my stomach tighten and churn, as every historical figure, church, painting all make me think of Los Conquistadores – the cruelty, greed, violence, genocide that has swept this land for hundreds of years with their wanton destruction of so much of Mayan culture – which manifested in the last century in the cruel greed of “Banana Republics” and CIA supported death squads. (With Israeli supplied helicopters.) I feel culpable and sad. Read more
India Blog 11: The Planet’s Favorite World Heritage Site – Taj Mahal and other Agra sites
We headed out early towards Agra in an especially comfortable and spacious car for the three of us, arranged by a travel agent. Interesting that all the stops were now at much more upscale (and expensive) restaurants that were also filled with overpriced souvenirs to buy. I kind of missed our more low-keyed grassroots experiences.
We stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, built by Emperor Akbar, capital of Moghul empire during its hay day in the 16th century. This spot was chosen as the Emperor made a pilgrimage to a saint in hopes of a blessing for fertility so he would have a male heir – when his hopes were fulfilled, he moved the capitol and built this splendid City (such were the riches of Emperors), soon to become a ghost town as there were difficulties with the water supply. Akbar was a fascinating character: Muslim but extremely devoted to inter-faith (indeed, he developed a new religion called “Deen Ilahi” to try to synthesize all faiths. His palace included fabulous structures for Hindi and Christian as well as Muslim. Read more
India Blog 10: The Pink City of Jaipur and Ranthambhore National Park
Oh my. Jaipur was astonishing. Take a few moments to fantasize what a fabulously wealthy and artistic lineage of maharajas would create… and now multiple it up by several powers of ten and you may begin to imagine some of the wonders we saw. The older Amber Palace atop a mountain – multiple courtyards – a brilliantly designed system of air/water cooling and plumbing from the 16th century (and we thought we were creators of sustainability and environmentally responsive design???!!). Jewel, granite and mirror encrusted gorgeous designs everywhere. Suites for harems, administrators, billiards, relaxing, writing, dance-music performance, etc. etc. A floating garden. Another ‘floating’ palace – known as the Water Palace – not far away – where the sultan could relax and hunt ducks undisturbed… Fort with an incredible network of walls and watch towers that seemed like the China wall. And then – several centuries later, abandoning Amber Fort… and creating the City Palace in Jaipur itself with it’s adjacent astrology/astronomy center (Jantar Mantar – a garden like park setting filled with futuristic incredibly accurate structures to track time and stars – within 20 seconds!!) and the Wind Palace (Hawamahal) where the harem was housed in beautiful glory… One example to help you imagine the scale of life: in early 19th Century the Raj was going to London for a big exposition. He wanted to be sure to have enough water from the Ganges along for the trip and so had two enormous pure silver vessels constructed to take along – the largest silver containers ever made – about 6 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter… (When near the Ganges people fill containers with holy water to bring to their homes as we saw in Haridwar and soon in Varanesi) –And on and on. The old City is surrounded by a lovely crenellated wall and all is painted in a pinkish salmon tone thus Jaipur is known as The Pink City. We capped off our day of touring with a visit to Tiger Palace (Nahargarh Fort) – which floats high above the city with an incredible view. I hope you get to visit some day! Read more
India Blog 9: Holy Cities on the Ganges: Hardiwar & Rishikesh
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Haridwar
Later that night we found our way to Haridwar and were happily ensconced in a lovely little hotel, La Casa (yes – a Spanish name though an Indian owner). Again we were adopted by all the staff who clucked over us like mother hens for every little need. At our first restaurant stop (ohmygod have I mentioned how amazing each and every meal is!) I made the faux pas of asking for a beer (we’ve only had 2 so far this whole month in India!). “We are a holy City; no beer!”
We loved the crazy bustle of the one main thoroughfare: ubiquitous honking, pedi-shaws, horse drawn carts, tuk tuks (motorized rickshaws), motorcycles, dogs, cows, donkeys, new cars, bicycles bearing every load you can imagine… A riot of color and sound – women in their gorgeous saris – men with amazing turbans… And then escaping down a sound street to quiet alleys with sleeping homeless, resting pilgrims – so many stands of various colorful prasad – here they use banana leaf ‘boats’ filled with flowers and oil lamps you can then float down the river. At the ghats many pilgrims kneeling at dawn and dusk to bathe, douse with the holy waters of the Mother, the Ganges – this is very near the source of the river, where it emerges from the Himalayas. Every dawn and dusk at one main spot (Har-ki-Pairi Ghat – the Footsteps of God) near a temple monks gather a huge crowd for ganga aarti (river worship ceremony) with chanting, cymbals, horns – huge candelabras, powdered color dyes – what a spectacle as pilgrims bathe and send off their prasad flower boats… They call to the crowd to great and thank and bless and receive the blessings of the Mother Ganges and all raise their hands… This is the place where Vishnu is said to have dropped some heavenly nectar and left behind a footprint. For Hindus, the place to wash away your sins.
…of course the other side of India invades this spiritual sweetness: there are the ‘crowd control’ police who blow their whistle and insure that people sit down or move to the back – and they at various intervals begin hawking for contributions to charity giving out little receipts. Hard to know if these donations go beyond their pockets… and hard to resist a uniformed official’s demands.
In Haridwar there are two temples high up on the hills – Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi: you take a cable car to get there. Once at the top of Mansa Devi (the wish fulfilling goddess) there is a warren of hallways filled with prasad sellers (candles-statuettes-pictures-flowers-incense) – and then a series of little alcoves, each with a monk and some different blessing process. (And the all important receptacle where you are to place rupees!). They give Tika (a dot on your forehead) – sometimes you kneel – some ask your name and sing or recite a blessing – at one station the old monk says a blessing over a thread and then you tie it around a post. Many of the pilgrims are transfixed and you can feel the depth of their experience. Yet on the other hand – it is crowded and pushy and many are insisting about the money… Our hotel staff friend bemoaned the commercialization of spirituality here.
At this temple floating over the City I experienced another encounter with Indians that has become familiar: there were a couple of darling young girls adorned with ribbons for their pilgrimage and they happily agreed for me to take a photo. Once I showed them – their whole family – dad, mom, grandma, auntie, little brother – all wanted to be in the photo… And then: they all wanted a photo with me. We have had so many people ask to have our picture taken with them! We hear some of these may show up on Facebook and other places – some with claims that we are actors or some famous person. Who would think it of 2 old ladies?!
Rajaji National Park
Next day we took a jungle safari to the outskirts Rajaji National Park (park was closed due to rain the night before) and made another wonderful new friend – from Modesto, CA. She had just come back from the Kumba Mehla where she bravely went all on her own. It was fascinating to hear of her experiences and the array of holy people and touts and shams that she met there. She was embraced by an ashram with their guru and under their wing was able to experience the deep spiritually present for so many – including heading to the Ganges several times to bathe as well as meditating. On the other hand, one encounter with a supposed holy man shockingly turned out to become proposition when he suggested they have sex… And, as for many westerners – it was difficult for her to manage the reverence and obeisance to the guru – a similar reaction I had amongst Amma’s supporters.
(Did I mention we sadly decided not to go to Varanasi this trip because we had heard it was vastly overrun with so so many people from the nearby Kumba Mehla? First on our list for our return trip to India for which we are already salivating!)
On our jungle safari – we just missed an elephant: fresh, steaming pile of manure, sounds of crashing through the jungle… but no glimpse. As well. We did see two kinds of kingfisher (one a deep rich red-brown, one bright blue), two types of bright elegant parrots, buffalo, peacocks in the trees, rhesus monkeys and lemurs, eagles, hornbill, martens, spotted deer, astonishing Banyan trees, etc etc. Lovely! Our guide was incredible at spotting the wildlife through vision and sound – so attuned to his home in the jungle… We did get to visit some working domestic elephants at the forest rangers’ station. Closely: indeed, we got sprayed with trunk snot! Fascinating to watch the elephants strip the bark off the tree branches they were given for eat: they only like the bark, not the leaves. What they can do with those trunks!
Rishikesh
Next day we headed to Rishikesh (made famous by the Beatles at the Maharishi Mahesh Yodi) and enjoyed our meandering down the narrow, steep wandering road lined with Ashrams, yoga schools, and souvenir stands. The suspension pedestrian bridge was quite a trip – swaying in the wind, packed with people, cows, monkeys, dogs, motorcycles… View of crazy many storied temple like buildings of the two oldest ashrams/yoga schools… We drove further way through the exquisite country side, up the rice-field terraced mountains to an old and reportedly very holy temple: it appeared nearly in ruins – again, a warren of dark, confusing passage ways with food and prasad vendors – then a courtyard into a series of little alcoves with the monks and their bowls of rupees… All very dingy and dirty.
We had an interesting conversation with one of our hotel staff who expressed his view of karma and the purpose of life – as fulfilling one’s duty. He advised we study the Bhagvad Gita which would reinforce this lesson – even should it require you as a soldier to kill your own relations – so long as it is the rightful duty. My struggle: if everyone thinks God is on their side, how do we ever know what is rightful duty?
From Haridwar to Jaipur
Our departure from Haridwar, which we’d come to love, was rather dramatic: we were waitlisted #1 and 2 for the train and had been assured this would be no problem – you can always get on since there are many no shows and cancellations. What we didn’t understand is that we had unwisely chosen 1st class AC and this has only a dozen seats or so, so there are no open options – better to choose 2d class AC. Our ticket was automatically cancelled when the train is ‘chartered’ with seat assignments about an hour and a half before departure… As our friendly staff uncovered all this – and mistakenly thought we were headed to some destination where a big festival was happening – they began saying we should just stay over another night and leave the next day – Kathy saying sure sure – I began freaking out: no way! Our stay in Jaipur would become way too short and I was so ready/set to move on… So with a staff we headed to the train station to try to plead our case… Went from one official to another – they tried to find a way – but no seats… I recalled there was another train that same day and convinced the staff-helper… Yeah! We –after much haggling and I believe some special ‘tipping’ — were able to get 2d class AC for a train later that night! Our hotel let us go back and use our room all afternoon, no extra charge – and they were so kind and apologetic for our stress…for which really they had absolutely no responsibility!
We enjoyed the train and slept quite well. Our compartment mate was a delightful young man from Jaipur, so he coached us on all the things for us to see. And I lucked out again: there was a western style toilet! With my cranky old knees it is a trial to manage the squat toilets: I have been so lucky and only had to struggle a couple times so far!
It was fascinating to hear our Jaipur friend’s experience in Haridwar: he is newly married but having to live separately this year as his wife finishes graduate school near Haridwar. This was one of their first times together without the extended family – and they were quite overwhelmed with the touts and the hawkers at the aarti ceremony as we were. They wanted to light the candle for their prasad-boat on their own, to really reflect on their blessing and take their time… but the seller insisted she light it and when they got to the river one of the uniformed guards got very pushy and grabbed there basked, floated it away and demanded payment …
So dear readers: good night for now: we are happily in to yet another chapter of this incredible journey here in Jaipur at a lovely heritage garden hotel… More on that next time!
(→ next entry →)
Rishikesh