The overnight bus from Manali was relatively comfortable. Driving in the dark, you have no choice but to surrender to it all. You can’t see the curves coming or know if the brakes will be applied – the best thing to do is to relax and find the most comfortable and secure way to sit on your reclined seat, and to try and sleep.
The bus arrived in McleodGanj a little earlier than expected – and so began the usual challenge of finding a place to stay without having booked ahead.
I wandered the streets in the early morning light – it was a good time to experience the peace and silence that pervades above the pilgrim, tourist and refugee clutter. Ganj is the home of the Dalai Lama, and has been the seat of the Tibetan government in exile since India granted asylum to His Holiness in 1960. Consequently, Tibetan Buddhism prevails here; prayer flags and wheels are easy to find, and many bald-headed monks wearing maroon robes can be observed going about their business.
But going back to what I just said – the sense of peace I felt here was amazing. All those monks meditating must really have an impact!?!? Yes, there is noise, commerce are blaring music. There is alcohol, meat on the menu, drugs, poverty and crime. For me though, my mind was mostly empty while in Ganj, and I felt very much at ease and at peace. Perhaps it was just an accumulated loss of my own sense of self that gradually crept up over what was now more than 20 weeks since I had left home?
The landscape of Ganj is hilly, much like Manali; with pine trees and lush undergrowth, though the actual town of Ganj is built high up on the side of the hill (where Manali was stationed in the seat of the valley). The temperature was generally cool and damp, and there was a lot of mist (often tending toward to a lazy drizzle) on most days which made the atmosphere a little slow and sleepy. This reminded me a lot of the climate of Gordon and Ballarat (Victoria) during the winter.
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| temple in the main street of Mcleodganj |
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| View from my room, Mcleodganj |
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| Mcleodganj |
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| Main Street, Mcleodganj |
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| street near my guesthouse, Mcleodganj |
While the Dalai Lama was ‘in residence’, there were no teachings at the time, meaning that he was out of sight – but this also meant that a lot of pilgrims were gathering for the upcoming teachings, and hotel prices were a lot more higher than anywhere else I had stayed in India.
I used my time in Ganj to explore the Tsuglagkhang complex and some of the other attractions – and the rest of the time I caught up on reading, journaling, facebooking, etc. The Tsuglagkhang complex comprises mainly of the Dalai Lama’s residence, a series of temple spaces and the Tibet museum. The museum was the most fascinating (and moving) part for me. It tells the very upsetting story of the Chinese occupation of Tibet through photo’s and stories, and I also watched short file which documents the plight of Tibetan refugees.
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| Tsuglagkhang complex, Mcleaodganj |
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| Tsuglagkhang complex, Mcleaodganj |
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Tsuglagkhang complex, Mcleaodganj
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It’s all very one-sided as the Chinese government very strictly controls the whole situation and does not allow journalists to investigate – and tourists visiting Tibet are only permitted to visit certain areas.
Lonely Planet India 13th Edition quotes:
“Until May 1949, Tibet was an autonomous kingdom, ruled by the spiritual dynasty of the Dalai Lama, the living incarnation of Avalokitesvara, the Buddhist deity of compassion. Then the Chinese People’s Liberation Army marched into Lhasa with the aim of peacefully liberating Tibet. Since then, it is estimated that some 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed and 90% of Tibet’s cultural heritage has been destroyed”
If you don’t know much about this issue it’s worth taking some time to find out. I’m not trying to fear monger you, but the information I have read suggests there is cause for concern; China is a huge economic world power with a massive military force. I only hope that the hearts and minds of the Chinese people can somehow emancipate themselves from this oppressive regime and realise their humanity.
I had four days in Ganj, which was time to see all the sights, but not enough time to do meditation and yoga. However, there wasn’t any need to worry; the next destination was Rishikesh – the yoga capital of the world.
The journey to Rishikesh was another challenging ordeal; a journey that was supposed to take 15 hours that ended up taking 24 hours. The road was blocked due to a small landslide that caused a tree to fall across the road. There was just enough room for a truck to squeeze underneath, but it got bogged – and all but motorbikes could get through! So for some 8 hours it was hilarious but mostly frustrating to watch the Indians try to get us all moving again.
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| Road blocked due to landslide - bustrip from Ganj to Rishikesh |
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| Road blocked due to landslide - bustrip from Ganj to Rishikesh |
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When I finally arrived in Rishikesh at 7pm I was very hungry and tired. The veg thali that I ate before I checked into my room was delicious (considering how hungry I was), and only cost 40 Rupees. I found a hotel by 8pm, and I was showered and in bed by 9pm.
The next day the sun came up and I looked out of my window onto rice-fields and the lush green foliage that nuzzles the outskirts of Rishikesh. I indulged in a long and lazy sleep in, and finally ventured out amongst it in the afternoon to find some more food and to get my first look at the holy Ganga (Ganges River).
Rishikesh isn’t the most sacred place for Hindus, but it is still sacred nonetheless! I found Rishikesh to be beautiful; the temperature, the monkeys, the butterflies, great food and the spirituality of the Ganga – it’s easy to see why the Beatles spent a couple of months here in the late 60s to explore their own spirituality.
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| Ashram visited by the Beatles in the late sixties, now being reclaimed by the jungle - Rishikesh |
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| Ashram visited by the Beatles in the late sixties, now being reclaimed by the jungle - Rishikesh |
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| Swarg Ashram Bridge, Rishikesh |
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| Swarg Ashram Bridge, Rishikesh |
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| temple on the banks of the Ganga, Rishikesh |
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| The VERY high Ganga, due to unseasonal floods - Rishikesh |
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| Sunset on the Ganga, Rishikesh |
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| Butterfly, rishikesh |
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| waterfall near Rishikesh |
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| my feet in the Ganga, Rishikesh |
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| Sadhu having a quiet moment with the Ganga, Rishikesh |
The ashram that the Beatles stayed at has since been abandoned, but there are still many ashrams and temples here, along with saddus (holy men) and monkeys (did I say that already?). In fact, the hotel where I stayed had an ‘ashram’ as part of it. Though it was in many ways a genuine place for the study of yoga and meditation, I found the setting and commercialism of Rishikesh to be off-putting though. I tried a couple of yoga classes there, but I felt the teaching to be lacking in depth. Instead, I visited a waterfall, attended an Indian classical music concert, at the food, did some shopping, looked around, took photos and read books.
It was a very enjoyable week in Rishikesh, but having run out of things to do there I took another challenging bus ride north into the Himalaya to spend a couple of days visiting the Valley of Flowers. Unfortunately, the bus took a little longer than expected to reach the destination and I wasn’t allowed enough time to even reach the famous valley (I didn’t really allow myself much time, and I had only a week before my Indian visa expired). Luckily though, the region of the Himalaya north of Rishikesh is beautiful so I spent one night in Chamoli, and another two nights in Joshimath. From Joshimath I did a couple of day trips; one to the temple town of Badrinath (just before the border into China), and another to Auli (India’s only ski-resort). On both of the day trips I saw breath-taking views of snow-capped peaks, including India’s highest mountain, Nanda Devi.
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| communing with the forest at Auli |
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| Badrinath temple |
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| beautiful valley,near Badrinath |
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| horses obstructing my way on the path, valley near Badrinath |
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| view of the Himalaya, from Auli |
Following my extended weekend in the mountains, I emerged from the Himalaya back by the Ganga, but this time in the bustling town of Haridwar (after yet another long bus ride). I spent my first night in my hotel room watching the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi on T.V. and then ventured out the next day to find that Haridwar is a manageable, charming and inspiring holy city on the Ganga. It had all the elements of Rishikesh, but everything is scaled up; including the stadium-like ‘Footstep of God’ (Harkipairi Ghat), the giant statue of Shiva facing the east and the busy Bara Bazaar.
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| "Footprint of God" Ghat, Haridwar |
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| Giant Shiva Statue, Haridwar |
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| Ganga Aarti at the "Footprint of God" Ghat, Haridwar |
There aren’t many foreign tourists here, and this added to the appeal as I felt I could become lost amongst it all. I spent my 24 hours here watching the Hindus come to perform their sacred rituals by the Ganga. The most notable thing I observed was the Ganga Aarti (river worship ceremony) which occurs every night at the “Footstep of God” ghat.
So after the Ganga Aarti I had some dinner and made my way to Haridwar train station where I would take an overnight train to Varanasi. The snippets I had heard about Varanasi and the page that Lonely Planet gives was not enough to prepare me...
Both beautiful and insane, Varanasi is one the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities and it is considered the centre of the universe by Hindus. On the surface, Varanasi is a disorienting tangle of busy streets, muck, old buildings, poverty, ritual and tension. But as I became weathered to all the adversity that was there, the magic of the place began to reveal itself...
My first morning in Varanasi I awoke at 4.30am to depart on a boat ride down the Ganga while the sun rose. What I experienced was a spectacle – and was probably the most iconic thing I experienced in India. The pinkish-red sun slowly burned through the brownish-grey smoke haze to shine a warm orange light against the many ghats and old buildings lining the wide and murky Ganga. In the air there was the stomach-churning waft of burning human bodies tinged with the sweet aroma of incense offered as puja. Hindus came down to the banks of the Ganga, as they have done for millennia, to offer their daily puja to the Ganga and to bathe in its holy septic water.
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| Flower sellers on the street, Varanasi |
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| Sunrise on the Ganga, Varanasi |
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| Hindu pilgrims having their morning bath in the Ganga, Varanasi |
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| Holy man bathing by the Ganga, Varanasi |
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| The holy Ganga, Varanasi |
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| Shiva lingam, Nepali temple, Varanasi |
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| one of the narrow lane ways, Varanasi |
For more photo's see my Facebook photo albums:
India - Part 5
My time in India (on this occasion) finally felt complete. The emotion and devotion that is expressed in Varanasi really can’t be articulated in words as the culmination of the scents, sights and sounds add up to something that is very profound. To be cremated on the banks of the Ganga here is considered a great honour by Hindus, and as the spirits of the dead are purified and released by the fire, they merge into the potent spirituality that fills the air. This, to me, is the essence of India. There’s a timelessness and a connection to ancient culture and a long lineage of people past that can be felt. I consider that probably some of my relatives were burned here in the past also. ..
After 10 weeks in India I was tired and my brain was struggling to assimilate all of these memories, images and sensations. I still haven’t really figured it all out, but it seems a little clearer to me now. I feel connected to another aspect of my heritage – and as I observe the way the people live around the world, the similarities between the religions start to stand out and the key questions they all seek to answer remain unanswered.
Why are we here? What does the future hold for humanity? Is there a greater being out there somewhere? What is the source of existence? How big is the universe? While I can never answer this (and I know some of you think you can), it is the great mysteries and the concept of the infinite possibility that encourages me to at strive to be a better person. Swami Satyandanda Saraswati says that it is important to consider these mysteries each day as an exercise in the spirituality of anyone – religious or atheist.
Our Mother Earth and fellow human beings suffer under our ignorance and need for material pleasures... What can we each do to make things better for the future of the human race and our delicate environment? Praying is a start – but thinking about how you can change, and then to take some sort of action is more important. To strive towards a better future is something we should all try to do regardless of our circumstances. If we each individually evolve by improving ourselves, loving more and becoming better people, this all adds up and contributes to a bigger picture. Visualise it! Can you see it? What’s your role in all of this?
For me it all comes down to trying to live modestly, speaking out for freedom and equality, and by trying to help others when I can. My travels have helped me to see that I should lead my life in this way.
