Travel Along With Me

We all slept in until a little after 9:00am. We all got ready and had breakfast at Dev Raj restaurant. We then took the long walk to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram (the one the Beatle’s stayed at) to finish exploring only this time we were with Llyn and Carter. We tried to schedule a tour with a guide that was listed in our Lonely Planet book but he was unavailable to help us. We stopped at some shops along the way to pack a lunch to picnic while we were there. Once again we saw many monkeys on the way and we stopped to feed them.

The gates were open to the ashram when we got there. We took our time and explored everything. The grounds were beautiful and green with plants and trees. The buildings were stone or concrete. We walked through the old buildings imagining what it must have been like before the place was abandoned. We picnicked at the top of one of the buildings that had a deck that overlooked the city of Rishikesh. We had two more buildings to explore before we left so after we ate we did just that. One of these two buildings was full of old papers – some from the 70’s. We tried to find some with the Beatle’s name on them but had no luck.

At the last building we explored there were domes on the top of it with ladders that you could climb to get down into the domes. Everyone was taking turns climbing and looking at the view and into the domes when an Indian man speaking Hindi showed up and began yelling at us all. Most of his words were in Hindi so we could not understand him. We did however understand that he was trying to charge us 80,000 rupees for trespassing and having cameras with us. We immediately were suspiscious of him and asked for his identification and told him we would not pay any money unless a police officer told us we had to. He pulled out some tattered paper from his wallet that I doubt was a real identification and told us to leave the premises right away. We began to leave and the man followed us yelling the whole way.

We saw some other westerners on our way out and we quickly explained to them what was going on and so they followed us as we were leaving so that they would not get into any trouble either. When we got to the front gate it had been closed and locked! We were scared at what to do next because the man had gone into one of the buildings, put on a uniform shirt and was still hollering things at us in such a hateful manner. The other westerners told us to follow them and they took us out an alternate way. Thank God the crazy man did not follow us past the exit. We were scared at the time but laughed about it all once we got down the road a ways. We figure the man must have been a park ranger and was trying to scam us for money.

We walked back into town and did some shopping, walking along the Ganges and ate supper.

We also went to the aarti ceremony along the Ganges that evening. Llyn and Carter enjoyed the experience and we enjoyed it again as well. It is beautiful to sit and sing with a bunch of strangers. All of us with peace in our hearts.

When we returned to the hotel I took the kids to play with the kids from the orphanage for awhile.

We went to bed after a full day looking forward to tomorrow which would be our last full day in Rishikesh.

This morning we ate breakfast again at good old faithful Dev Raj restaurant!

We decided to take a LONG walk down to Ram Juhla to try and find the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram. This is the now abandoned ashram that the Beatles had stayed at when they were in India in the late 60’s.

The walk was beautiful. The road was quiet once you got through town. There were some vendors alongside the road but they were not close together. I browsed at a few of them and picked up some gifts for some of my co-workers. We saw some new born puppies along our way that we stopped to admire. We also saw a cremation along the Ganges River that I sat and watched for awhile.

Not far from where the cremation ceremony was we found the abandoned ashram we were looking for. There was a gate in the front that said “No Entrance” but the gate was open so we decided to go in anyway.

It was a shame to see such a beautiful place sitting empty. There were many stone huts that were numbered on the top of them for persons that stayed there to have a private place to live and meditate. The bottom of the dome was the living quarters and the top of the dome was what we assume was the meditation room. We briefly explored some of the buildings but decided this would be a place that we would come back to next week when we had our friends from Waynesboro, VA with us. We figured they would enjoy the place as well.

When we were leaving the ashram there was a sadhu walking around near the Ganges River that came to Texil and I and asked if he could bless us. I was pleased by the offer and accepted. He said a little prayer over us and then pulled a small plastic container from his pocket that had ash in it and put some on our foreheads. He then gave me a piece of sandalwood and Texil a necklace. I was touched by his giving spirit and then was brought back to reality when he said “now you give me gift of 50 rupees”. I tried to give him less but he acted perturbed/insulted by this and so I gave him 50 rupees and left with a lesson learned. What a sucker I am!

On our long walk back Kali and I gave some of the poor children that we saw some of the bracelets we had made at home to give away. They were thrilled and it made us feel good to give to them. We stopped at some more shops as well to pick up gifts.

When we were back in town we ate at a restaurant inside of a hotel called Bhandary Swiss Cottage. The food was not that great. By this time in our trip I think we all were missing American food!

We took a rickshaw back to the orphanage and again assisted the kids in their studies. After their studies the children invited us to their dance class. It was a 2 hour class. The girls and boys attended. The teacher was a terrific dancer. It was traditional Indian dance that they were learning. It was a complicated looking kind of dance but very beautiful and the kids did well at it. Several of the kids in the orphanage are so good that they compete in local dance competitions and have won several of them.

After dance class we went to – you guessed it – Dev Raj restaurant for supper.

We came back to the room and Texil and I were tired and decided to stay in the room for the rest of the evening but Tilak and Kali went to satsang at the orphanage. Ankita and Lolita came by our room to pick them up.

Texil and I took turns giving each other back massages (though I had to pay him rupees for mine) and we went to sleep at 8:30pm that night. I did not even hear Tilak and Kali come back from satsang that evening.

Tilak left early morning to go to the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram and Hanuman Temple about a half hour away. The kids and I slept in then we walked into town together for breakfast. Texil bought a hackey sack ball to play with with the kids at the orphanage. We worked on some flash cards and journal entries when we got back to our room.

When Tilak returned from his trip we decided to take a rickshaw ride to a waterfall that was nearby called Neem Waterfall. The hike up to the waterfall was beautiful. The trail was green. The air was clean. It was amazingly quiet. There were a couple of places to cut off of the trail and take a peek at the waterfall before you get to the top. We did so and took some pictures. At the top there was a bridge that crossed over the waterfall and a pool of water from the waterfall that we let the kids play in. They stripped to their underwear and played in the water until they were too cold to continue. Tilak and I stood on the bridge and watched the kids play, looked at the scenery and were glad to be there together.

After we hiked back to the bottom we decided we would walk back to our hotel instead of taking a rickshaw. It was about a 40 minute walk back. The road overlooked the Ganges River. When we got back to the hotel we decided to have a quick meal at Dev Raj restaurant before heading to the orphanage to help with the children.

When we got to the orphanage I paired up with Lolita again. She told me that she had done well on her quiz today that I had helped her study for – I was proud of her. Kali’s friend, Ankita joined us today. They both were going to be quizzed tomorrow on the subject of photosynthesis. Kali sat with us while I quizzed the girls on the facts in their workbooks. It was a bit more chaotic than usual in the study sessions that day because Raju, one of the young boys (who I think has ADHD) kept disrupting everyone. He soon was sent out of class to see Prabha (the owner) about his behavior.

After studying, we went out to play with the kids on the playground. Tilak went to talk to Prabha about purchasing the children’s shoes for them. She said that we could go on Sunday with them to help the kids get their shoes. She said that she knew of a place in Rishikesh that would be appropriate for all of us to go.

Tilak then went to pick up our clothes from the dobi walla in town. We were pleasantly surprised at how the clothes looked. Most of the dirt stains had come out and they had pressed our clothes for us. Even the jeans and socks were pressed!

We walked across the bridge that night to a restaurant called Chotiwala. Tilak had eaten at this restaurant when he was in India before and said that it was good food. Outside the restaurant sits a man painted purple with his hair pointed up in a pony tail who greets the customers as they come in by ringing a bell. We got our picture with him. The food was good. They served spaghetti there and French fries so the kids were happy. Tilak and I got traditional Indian food (Masala Dosa, rice, Vegetable Korma, etc.). We left full and happy.

When we left the hotel we found a cyber café to e-mail our family. Then we found a shop where Tilak purchased a nice prayer Mala.

We sat by the Ganges River again for some quiet peaceful time.

We rode a rickshaw back to our hotel and went to bed.