India Travel Log 4

Well, it finally happened, I suppose no one really gets to pass
through India without a few stomach problems,.. but my gawd, the last
couple days were pretty bad.... Not really sure what the cause was,
but whatever it was, Lorena and I both got it on seperate occasions,..
I think for me it was a combo of sun-stroke and maybe some bad food or
water. I won't go into details ,.. but yeah. Nice to be back to
normal now.

It's been a good while since I've even thought to come into one of
these internet cafes, mostly just been experiencing things here and
keeping busy. Also , when it says internet cafe that means 10 or 12
computers all sharing the same slow connection,... almost worse than
no internet at all. and the last few times I've got an email
formulated - Paff,. the power goes off. rrrrrrr!

Back on the 15th, was one of the major Khumba Mela pilgrimage days,
and the population here in Rishikesh must have gone up at least 10x
for those days. When Indians travel, they very rarely do so solo,
they always travel in family groups of at least 10, usually 15-20. So
when one person stops to look at a shop, instant traffic jam ! It's
been really cool to see all of the different people from all parts of
India coming here. So much variety in clothing style and colours.
Occasionally I would see someone from a certain part of India in the
north, you can tell right away because they are like 7 feet tall +
!!!!!! ( Jeremey's long lost tribe ? ) add a 1 foot tall turban on
top of that and you are really towering above the crowd.

So instead of traveling all through India, we allowed all of India to
travel to us. Been doing a lot of hikes around the mountains here.
Spent a full day exploring the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram aka the
"beatles ashram" where the beatles used to go and learn trancendental
meditation. It is abandoned now, but a very beautiful place to
explore with some really cool personal meditation domes. It's become
my unofficial ashram as I like spending time there, I talked to an old
Sadhu there who had seen it all come and go, the celebrities and their
helicopters, he even showed me the hall where Ravi Shankar once
played,... Now you only hear monkeys and birds, but there was perhaps
a faint echo....

Another place I like to meditate and meet with people is what I call
the "Shiva Tree" a beautiful old tree that overhangs halfway over the
beach, and half way over the pilgrim road. There is a baba who lives
under that tree, his name is Chandra Giri. He's taught me a lot of
things about Shiva, and the Ganga, but what impressed me the most was
his reverance for the tree, and his hospitality. Anyone who wants to
enter his house ( a few fabrics draped over some of the branches )
must first take off their shoes outside. Once inside he will observe
Indian tradition and offer food, even if it is only a small prasad of
nuts and dried fruit.
He has a few things out that are for sale, but he is no business man.
From what I understand he was once in a more wealthy of families,
doing audio/visual installations and such. He left it all to live on
the Ganga and have a spiritual life.

Some mornings I will come by and chill under the Shiva Tree with
Chandra Giri, with some fresh fruits to share, and watch as various
people will come and speak with on him on a variety of subjects.

Once I came with a my new bamboo flute. "ahhh" he said "dis Shiva
music is good, play play ! " I closed my eyes and began to let the
flute flow its melody. " slowly slowly, when Shiva music play,
animals will listen" he said. Sure enough, after just a few notes, a
group of birds came to rest in the tree, soon after a curious cow and
donkey also came right up to Chandra's abode. 20 minutes later, my
song was disturbed by a police officer - I opened my eyes to see what
was going on - he was upset because there was a growing group of
people stopped on the road, blocking traffic.

Internet is super slow today, so no pics yet, but soon !
I have a feeling the power is about to go out, so I'm gonna send this
while I can.

thanks for the updates everyone, and looking forward to being back in
vancouver again in a month.