Neel Kanth

Saturday, March 1

This morning we walk down our alley to the “main road,” then the few blocks to where the shops and restaurants are. We try Little Italy for hash browns, tea, and something I cannot decipher, Rs150.

At our hotel we arranged for a taxi to drive us about 25 km up into the hills to Neel Kanth, a popular Shiva temple (Rs800, $20). We saw lots of monkeys on the road up to the temple. The taxi stopped a block or two short of the entrance to the temple grounds and our driver pointed to a path, up hill, of course, and we joined the throngs of people snaking their way through the narrow rock walled lanes and alleyways which we assumed would eventually lead to the temple. However, it soon became extremely uncomfortable and very claustrophobic. Indians are very gentle and sweet people, but they have a different feeling for space than we do. If there's a space, fill it. IOW, if you leave any room between you and the person in front of you, someone will step into it.  The press (literally) of people was impossible, we were jammed up and pressed by people in the narrow rock walled way and could not even turn around to leave the pack and the temple which by then we would have liked to do.  People were quite literally jammed against each other and it was not much fun. We realized we really didn't know what we were doing, and other than possibly experiencing something (in this case the experience would be the crowds pressing in on us on all sides), when we saw an opening off to our right that was absolutely empty we slipped out and hoped we would be able to find our way back to our taxi and get back to Rishikesh.

We had no idea where we were or what direction we might be going (or what direction we might want to go) as we wound our way seemingly in circles through the maze of narrow rock walled ways.  We eventually found ourselves in more open territory where there were stalls selling books and many kinds of souvenir type items. I bought a couple of pamphlets, a carved Ganesha for Tom, three lingams, and a little ohm in a shiny, “diamond” studded heart. Then somehow, miraculously, we found ourselves coming out into the open courtyard of the temple.  (We assumed it was the main temple but there were few people there so perhaps this was not what we thought it was.) 

Main Courtyard (we think) at Neel Kanth

Of course, we still had no idea what we were doing or what we were supposed to be doing, so we just looked, checked out some of the stalls then asked for help to find our way back to the edge of town and our taxi.

Since we had not spent the usual 90 minutes at the temple, we asked our driver to stop at a waterfall that had been recommended and we climbed over the rocks down to the pool and I washed my feet in the cool water. It was lovely.

When we returned to town I managed to get on the Internet (Rs40, $1).  We ate again at The Green Cafe, thali and dosa (Rs103, bout $2.50), then walked down to the river to check out some of the festivities. There is a huge 20' tall shiny white marble Shiva, in yoga posture, at the water's edge, and there are lots of dignitaries from all over the world here for whatever religious celebration this is. There are also lots of other statues of various gods around the area.

20’ marble Shiva on the bank of the Ganga

Shiva repositioned for the festivities

Rishikesh, Sunday, March 2

We gave money to the agent who appeared to be sort of attached to our hotel to reserve a taxi tomorrow morning at 6:30am to take us back to the rail station in Haridwar.  This will mean about a mile walk (at 5am) back to the pedestrian bridge to take us across the river where the taxies live. Thank goodness, we left our main luggage at the Prince Palace in Delhi and have only a backpack each.

Later we took a yoga class. Not much yoga. He took a look at us and decided we needed stretching and lifting so that's all we did. Oh, well. We were the only ones there. He says he usually has 6-10 students but they are somewhere else today.  We timed this trip well--or not--and landed here the week of the International Yoga Festival so town is crowded and so are all the temples. Rishikesh is supposedly the yoga capital of the world so we feel very fortunate to have gotten a room.  We walked to Little Italy for hash browns, tea, banana, and porridge (Rs50).

Breakfast at Little Italy, yum

After our lovely breakfast we hiked up to BhoothNath, a temple just up the hill behind our hotel.

Entrance to Bhoothnath

"Just up the hill," might sound a lot less strenuous than it actually is. There was a steady climb of about a mile up a concrete road, then lots and lots of stairs up to the foot of the temple.

These stairs lead to the bottom level of Bhoothnath

THEN you climbed 9 flights of stairs, most flights had 13 steps, some 12, some 14, to the top where there fortunately was another older couple who had a few words of English and encouraged us to sit in the little room at the top in front of what we assumed was a holy man and be blessed. Another tikka on our foreheads, a spoonful of water from the Ganga that we were supposed to sip (three tries they gave us and, remembering Tom's experience with the Ganga--beautiful as she is--I manage to avoid ingesting anything each time, altho' it did get on my lips, so if I get Hep E like Tom...). We were also given a string of beads and a little brass bucket of Ganga water. Roger's bucket leaks so I donno how much Ganga water we'll get home with. Mine seems to not leak. We also each donated Rs100 to the temple.  When I thought about it later, that was pathetic.  I wish I could get over my dollar focus and realize that Rs100 has little real relation to the number 100 as I understand it.  I am happy to donate to such places that are open to the public.  I'm sure they don't receive any other funds than what the tourists bring. I now find myself ashamed of my pitiful offering.

Each of the 9 flights of stairs has a little platform with brass bells hanging on several sides (you should ring the bell on each level as you go up), and a statue of some god on one side (Hanuman, the monkey god, sheep, snake, lingham, Ohm; at the top, where the holy man sat, was Shiva, one of the main gods).

Hanuman, the Monkey God, at Bhoothnath

Overlooking Rishikesh from the top of Bhoothnath

It was no doubt good for us--we are going to be in such good shape when this trip is over. But I find myself wondering what kind of damage I’m doing to my poor knees.  Every hotel has at least one flight of stairs to climb, several times a day, and we're doing lots of walking, and some amount of hiking.

To Sister

Rishikesh, Sunday, March 2

Sometimes I wish it were over, then I don't want it to be. It is a lot of work, and you have to watch yourself a lot. But other than the night in Haridwar I have never felt unsafe, in either Rishikesh or Delhi.  Except for the traffic, of course. But I often do feel extremely irritated.

Kate is out of the flying business for awhile. Romi (one of the students who had a hard time, but is very smart and seemed to be coming along) crashed the plane and as it is their only plane, they are out of business for awhile. Dixie will probably be interested to hear that. Folded the nosegear, scraped the prop, and damaged the engine. So, she's out of the program. And so is everyone else until they get the plane repaired. He has two more planes on a boat somewhere, but it may be months before they arrive.  And probably many more months before he bribes their way to freedom.

Rishikesh, Monday, March 3

We checked out of the Hotel Greenview at 4:05am Monday, March 3, and began our mile trek back to the pedestrian bridge to the western side of the Ganga where a taxi did eventually arrive for us.  It was confusing.  We talked to several different taxi drivers only to learn they were not there for us.  We MUST not miss our train as we would never be able to maneuver our way through the Indian system to get another ticket for another train. But a taxi did finally agree to take us to the rail station in Haridwar. India is hard on the nerves.

We liked Rishikesh.  It was fun. Smaller and quieter than Delhi. Comparatively speaking.  A lot less hassle.  And the shops there felt better, more comfortable to deal with.