Neelkanth Temple, Rishikesh
For the last time in Haridwar I was waken up at 4:00 am by the bajan. It stops in the night, probably around midnight and they start again singing around 4-4:30 am. It is a pleasure to listen to it and every morning I was pleasantly awaken and listen to it. They sing from many tents, each with its own amplification so it is not only one but many bajans making a sort of cacophony but in the morning it sounds great. Obviously if you don’t want to sleep…
We packed starting at 6:00 am and at 8:00 am, after a short satsnag with Babagi who gave us prasad we had to say goodbye to everybody from the camp and thank them for their hospitality. We left to Rishikesh, that is on the Ganga up stream, about 23 km from Haridwar. James pointed us to a hotel where he stayed and liked a lot called the Great Ganga, and we went directly to it and we could right away take a shower because we were caked in dust and dirt after 5 days in the tent eating and sleeping on the floor, the dust coming in waves under the tent’s flaps. At 12:00 pm the driver picked us up and droves us along the Ganga, that is even faster and cleaner than in Hardiwar, a wild mountain river, to Neelkanth, a temple dedicated to Shiva. The road to the temple, like the road to Rishikesh is sublime. From here we start going into the Himalaya, these being the first hills at its base. The atmosphere changes radically and the road is driven only in Indian Jeeps, Mahindras, that look like from the old times. At the temple there were as usual lots of pilgrims making offers. Lots of incense, candles and flowers adorning Shiva and Nandi, Shiva’s bull. It was a very long line of Indians coming to worship the God but the temple itself is very small but with a very strongly adorned top in all colors. We left the place around 4:45 pm and we drove down in Rishikesh with the plans to go to the aarthi that was in one of the yoga & meditation ashrams that make the place well known. Unfortunately, the driver who did not know the place, dropped us to a wrong bridge and we had to walk another 30 minutes to get to the destination. Meanwhile we got lost of each other and I reached the aarthi right when it began. Very beautiful and inspiring.
Rishikesh is a yoga place so it is full of ashrams that are catering mainly for westerners. There are so many of them that is disconcerting. The singing at the aarthi was done also by a European girl. Lot of the audience was European, to my surprise coming in contrast with Kumbha Mela where most of the people were Indians. All these aarthi events are with extensive singing, very nice, and lots of fires that is supposed to burn your bad karma, so people touch the fire and put their hands on their faces for cleansing. After the Internet session the dinner was special, after of so many days of eating on the floor on leaves. An Italian restaurant that was serving everything. We are still in India, but also they served crepes, that they called pancakes. So I ate a delicious banana pancake forgetting for a moment about dal, navratan korma, curry, palak paneer, or rice and enjoy some European decadent food. All Indians were watching cricket on TV that is on all channels, or at least it seems like it, and is the only game played by kids on the street. The evening still lasted longer being all involved later on with E&L in a discussion about yoga, meditation, methods, etc. Still we have to discuss more.
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