Last words from India (EN)

It has been two, almost three months, since I left India. I spent there only about three months, quite a short time comparing to all the wandering foreigners I met around there who have spent their lifetime getting to know India.

It has been a completely different experience for me. What do I mean by that? Well, there were few aspects of this trip which I haven’t experienced in any of my previous travels. I have to point out once again that I don’t consider myself to be a traveler. Yes, I spend my time mostly abroad, but that’s it. I don’t go on holidays or trips where your aim is to keep on moving around. From all the long months, now years that I have spent abroad, I was usually settled in one place. In Colombia it was Bucaramanga and for long time the only places I visited were the surroundings of the city like the Mesa de los Santos. Then, in Brasil, my second home Lapinha. My first three months in this huge and beautiful country I spent only there. Next trip I planned to travel around, but guess what happened, I almost didn’t leave Lapinhaagain :) And so India was a new challenge for me, I had no „home“ there, no contact or project where I could establish myself and this time I also WANTED to get some travels done.

That’s for the personal point of view. And the rest is... INDIA IS SO DIFFERENT to the worlds I have known. I was told that before. „Take it easy and don’t rush, you have to get used on this new universe of India“. At the end I did. It took me almost all these months to start feeling comfortable and to start feeling like I want to explore more. The first weeks I was even counting off the days to go back to Colombia, but at the end I could happily admit that I should return one day.

Here is a little summary I made for myself when I was constantly thinking why the things are not flowing and which helped me to accept the differences and new experience.

Why India has been a very different experience for me

• I had expectations, expectations of the difficulties I might face and I did at the end. I created a prejudice thanks to those expectations, especially towards people and their behavior.
• I have never been in this situation before, that I am not moving from one place to another, but I actually am on a temporal leave from my life. Sort of holiday feeling. 
• The language barrier makes it difficult to meld in.
• People and their culture make it completely different. Impossible to stop being a tourist. They respect you a lot, as a guest. But it is not like if I learn their language they will accept me into the society. Even among them, if you are from a different place, it might be super difficult to be a part of another place. You will always remain who you were when you came.
• They are very respectful though. Especially with guests. Treating them as Gods. But that is completely opposite of what I am used to, so another situation, I have to let them treat me as nobody had done before just to show respect to their culture and hierarchy in all kind of its form.
• The constant distance I have to keep between me and men. And that wouldn’t be a problem if men were not those you have to deal with in the society. Women are usually at home. Especially in the city life, men are the sellers, service providers, men are on the streets. So whatever you need, you have to ask men about. No any choice of searching for a female adviser.

Well, enough of philosophy. When speaking about last words I have to recall the memories of few things. First, I remember one extraordinary experience I had in Rishikesh. A massage.  Here is what I wrote down right after:

Incredible massage

– tips of the toes until tips of the hair... It was weird at the beginning, but felt very well. Just enjoying. I felt that the ambiance of all the spas I went through before is not even necessary to have a great feeling from a massage. When I was told it was the end and that I should rest two minutes and there was no relaxation music or aromatic oils only the noisy fan from the ceiling and sounds of working from the neighbors shop. Still, I felt super refreshed.

How to become a fashion-model judge and an ex-model 

– 24 hours which went completely out of the plan and took me to a totally opposite world to the one I am living in right now in Rishikesh. Away from meditation and questions about your supreme being, deep inner thoughts and pursuing the knowledge to the world of glamour and fashion shows. Well, without exaggeration it was quite a change. But what one won’t do for a desperate girl. (I was helping out a friend who needed to cover for her boss when a Russian ex-model presented to be a judge for selecting the new brand representative didn’t show up...)

Studying yoga in India

– can have many different forms. I talked to Akshish who spend 7 years living in an ashram and learning yoga from his teachers and guru. Quite different experience. As he said „we didn’t learn asanas, nobody was actually teaching them to us. Of course eventually we learned them, but by observing our masters. For example, after I came we were for 6 months studying just one or two techniques of Pranayama. Breathing...it was too much for many of the students and they left. For me one of the challenges was when my guru send me after a short time to deal with the management of the ashram. They are different people. You know, we, who wanted to learn about yoga, had everything. Food, accommodation, so we could concentrate on our learning without worries about the casual things, that was why we came. But the management is a different world. I didn’t want to be involved with these things, I wanted to study yoga. So I complained to my teacher and he told me not to complain and do the work, that once I will understand how important it is. That to know the management is also very important and will come in handy one day. And he was right. After seven years in ashram I really needed this experience, because there is no other way if you want to exist in the outside world. You cannot avoid it. And now I am having my own yoga school and at least for parts I can transmit my knowledge to the others.

Food

Paratha for breakfast, my favourite!!

And of course the food...Mostly vegetarian (excluding also the eggs), with rare exceptions of restaurants serving also chicken and mutton dishes. It really was much easier NOT to eat meat than vice versa.

Sometimes I couldn't resist. The truth is, I went through few "episodes" with my stomach. But nothing serious, just a little bit uncomfortable. 

The traditional food as I got to know it especially in the Nirvana camps is simple. Bigger meals consisted of rice and dal (soup-like dish made from lentils or different kinds of beans and veggies). Or mixtures of vegetables usually with potatoes called subzi accompanied with roti or chapati (simple Indian bread which I really LOVED). One of my favorites were parathas, bread similar to roti, but thicker, often filled with potatoes or onions and when fried a lot of oil is used to give it taste. These we were eating for breakfast, sometimes served with jam, sometimes with pickles.

Dal and rice served as lunch in Nirvana camp.

There is a lot of fried food on the streets in India. And yes, everyone will advise you not to eat there and it is after all a very clever idea. But who doesn’t know the street food doesn’t know the country I would say. So, in places which looked less risky I tried samosas and other super oily veggie or potato based stuff.  India also offers a lot of sweets, soaked in syrup. You can try them in one of many sweet shops and they nicely explain you if it is fried or not, if it is made of flour or rice... 

Men in a shop in Udaipur preparing all the sweet little balls called Gulab Jamun. 

As there is a lot of influence from different cultures I also tried Tibetan and Nepalese food and I fell in love with momos. I think they are known in English as dumplings. I loved them all, vegetable ones, with mutton, in a soup or without soup.  The Indian food is spicy, so I had to learn to say in advance that I don’t want spicy... It was spicy anyway, but just enough to still enjoy the food.

Mmmm, momos! In a soup!!

Chai

Chai and always chai!

It is something so typical that without „chai“ I couldn’t imagine India. It wasn’t always chai with spices, so called „masala chai“. Most common was a simple super sweet drink made from water, lot of sugar, black tea and a lot of milk. In the Nirvana camps we drunk about three or four cups of this every day. Sometimes accompanied by traditional Parle-G biscuits. Simple, but enchanting. Unforgettable combination discovered thanks to an India traveler I met during my stay in a hostel in Jaipur. Kevin from Mumbai. He definitely knew the best things about food and drinks in India.

In the Nirvana camp they got used to serving me chai without milk as I always asked them :)

Last last words. I hope to return one day. It doesn’t have to be super soon, but once more in my life I wish to go to India. 

Yamunotri (EN)

A HOLY TEMPLE OF YAMUNA

very unsettling pilgrimage

There are many sacred places in India. Depending on your religion you should visit them at least once in your life. The Chardam, the four temples, are such a destination for people following the Hindu religion. These mountain temples lie in a state Uttrakhand, a state called also „Gods‘ land“ where in the mountains the holy rivers are born, Yamuna and Ganga. To worship them people have built temples where the rivers are formed and now they are called Yamunotri and Gangotri and are the first out of the four pilgrim destinations followed by the temples in Kedarnath (dedicated to Shiva) and Badrinath (dedicated to Vishnu).

A yellow temple of Yamuna in the back, sacred destination for many pilgrims.

As I wrote in some of my previous articles, I spent about three weeks working in a tourist camp in Barkot. This place is mostly used by tourist going to visit the temple in Yamunotri. They come with they guides in big buses or cars with private conductors, stay one night and after breakfast the next day they ride to Yamunotri and do the pilgimage to the temple.

In a bus from the tourist company Heena. Sometimes it was better not to look out and simply trust the driver. 

The season started and the first buses came, from a tourist agency called Heena. As I very quickly made friends with the guide he invited me to take the tour to Yamunotri with the group. Excellent! The next day after breakfast we started and I had no idea what was coming. It was the first day when the temple was opened for the pilgrims so many people were heading there, many locals as well.

I happily accepted a blue cap with the logo of Heena company and followed my new friends. Like that it was slightly more difficult to get lost even though the amount of people going to the temple was surprisingly huge.

I enjoyed a lot the bus ride, the pilgrims were super friendly, singing all the way religious songs (which sounded to me like very happy devoted songs) and there was a young girl speaking very well English so she was explaining me a lot of things, about their specific regional culture (as the group was from another Indian region, Gujarat) and the reason why all the pilgrimage was so important. She also was so kind and interpreted all the curious questions and my long answers about traveling alone, being an independent woman in India always rises a lot of curious looks.

Yamunotri and the beginning of the "pilgrimage". Only about 5 km, but uphill. As it was the long awaited opening, there were some famous politicians and religious leaders having speeches in the village.

Getting to the main bus parking place was impossible for so many buses going through that day, so we had to stop about kilometer before the village. There it is usually possible to hire a donkey to take those with less strengths to the temple, but because it was the opening day all donkeys were taken already. For me no change, I was determined to walk those 5 km and enjoy the pilgrimage.

Donkey station :) (One of many, by the way)

It was 5 km walk on a busy and muddy road, but I had deep happy feelings from the fresh air. During the walk I enjoyed nice talks with other people from Heena tour. Sometimes it was quite difficult to keep talking as the flow of incomers and outcomers was too dense, on foot, on donkeys or even in man carried chairs. Finally among the first from our group we reached the temple and its busy surroundings looking like a super small village with food shops and shops selling religious articles.

This little carriage seemed to me especially particular. I am not sure how comfortable it could be, people seemed to be crouched in those chairs.

I was watching the people in deep amazement – people from all casts and places were doing their rituals there such as taking bath in the hot springs, in the Yamuna river, shaving their kids heads, praying doing pujas and waiting for the temple to open. Some things I understood as they were explained to me before during those previous weeks in India, some were new for me. The men I walked up with left me alone for a while and went to take a bath in the hot springs. I resisted as it seemed too complicated (for a women there was a different place to go and I would have to go alone, but mostly it was the problem of bathing in clothes and not having dry ones to change which stopped me from this traditional ritual).

Following their believes that shaving their kid's head will bring them happiness and health some parents were using the holy water from the Yamuna river and offering the hair to the goddess. Some children took it with calm, some were crying and fighting for their hair.

There was a huge and dense crowd waiting for the temple to open. Surprisingly for me, it was all just about pushing and being pushed. My only advantage was my height. Like that I could see over the small Indians what was going in in front of me. But I am too pacifist to push through, I realized. So after hour or more of trying I gave up as I was really bored and getting angry from the people. What was fun turned to be a crazy crowd. This isn’t a religion and worship I thought...

Taking a bath in the hot springs is another of the rituals the pilgrims do. Not that I wasn't interested, but it seemed to be all complicated due to the division to the male part and female part and due to the fact that women must bath in their clothes. I didn't have any spare clothes with me and didn't want to freeze in the cold mountain weather.

Anyway, the clouds were coming and it was getting cold, so it was about the time to call it off and go back. I got separated almost from everyone, people were everywhere. I decided to go back on my own knowing the meeting place anyway. The way back was fast, I was running and finding my way among the donkeys, people and carriers. The rain was on and off and I got wet and sweaty. When I kept moving it was OK, but once I stopped I was getting cold very quickly.

Everyone was waiting for the temple to open. And then pushing to get themselves in...

When I got to our meeting point, a restaurant with lunch already prepared, I started to freeze fast. Even though there were just few people from the tour gathered, we could grab our lunch and it was super nice and warmed me up a bit.

The temple itself seemed quite simple, oldish colorful wooden building which has great significance for the religious people.

In general I was very satisfied with the trip no matter that I didn’t get into the temple. It was a very traditional experience, the opening day is a big event for locals as well as for pilgrims from other places or even countries. There were many Indians living abroad who are coming to do the four temple trip to „fulfill their duty“ as Hindus and make these pilgrimages at least once in a lifetime...

There were more local people that day then tourists (meaning Indian tourists from other places of India, from foreigners I was the only one I could see in miles).

Well, my expectations were of a peaceful pilgrimage, but it was something different. Still, it was great. But I was super happy to be with the group of tourist from Heena, otherwise I would feel a little bit more lost in the crowd. I was happily wearing the company cap given to me in the bus to identify myself and be seen...

Looking back, it was a great experience. Very "Indian".