Back to Rishikesh

My last few days in McLeod Ganj were a combination of highs and lows. I found a great non-profit to volunteer for, Rogpa, that helps Tibetans become self-sufficient, and worked with them in their cafe for a while. It instantly felt like home and I met a lot of sweet and committed people. I might go back in the spring and stay for a longer period of time - this place has a very good vibe to it.

However, while I was working there, I ordered a bowl of soup from a nearby restaurant, and then was too busy to eat it for a while. By the time I got to it, it was cool, and I unwisely ate it anyway. Bad move! I had some of the weirdest, full-body-infection feeling food poisoning I've ever had. I walked around like a zombie for a day and a half until the antibiotics I took kicked in. After that I felt better rapidly.

Gina and I had made plans to meet back in Rishikesh to do some filming. I was pretty apprehensive because this involved a 11-hour bus ride, but was feeling a lot better so I took the leap and got on the bus. The first 4 hours or so were on this windy switchback road getting down the mountains, and I thought I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. To fend off nausea, I had to put on my headphones and listen to mellow music like "Amplified Heart" by Everything but the Girl, and try to get to my happy place. After we got off the mountain, the road turned pretty manageable and I even was able to sleep for a couple of hours on the trip. At some point a bunch of college kids filled up the bus, and a very nice guy named Sanjay sat next to me. He invited me to his family's house for Diwali (couldn't go) and ended up saving me and a group of other Westerners when we got lost looking for a bus station in Dehradun.




Hanging out with Gina in Rishikesh was a lot of fun and we had an awesome day of filming up at the Visistha Cave, an ancient holy site where the Gayetri Mantra was originally received. We went into the cave to do some chanting and some monkeys evidently got inside one of our closed bags and stole some bananas. There were tell-tale banana peels under the tree when we came out and some of the monks were chuckling about it. Filming went well outside of the cave, in spite of monkeys dropping things behind Gina and cows weighing in with their opinions once in a while. Afterwards an Indian group that had come to see the cave saw Gina's harmonium and asked her to sing a song for them, which was a big hit. On the way back, the government was blasting a section of the highway with dynamite to widen it, and our taxi driver had to get out and clear rubble so that we could pass. Just another day in India!


Gina left for Japan the next day, and I was in Rishikesh on my own for a few days, which included Diwali. Diwali is the biggest holiday of the year for Hindus, a bit like Christmas and New Year's rolled into one. It's a celebration of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and beauty. Everyone lights candles, puts up Christmasy-looking lights, and gives each other gifts, which are often sweets. It was beautiful to see the city all lit up with tons of lights and candles, and to see all of the families who came to Rishikesh to celebrate dressed up in their finest. I went to the Ganga Aarti ceremony that night, which was lovely and a bit like midnight mass on Christmas (the whole town seemed to be there). Jeesh they have lound firecrackers over here though! They really sound like dynamite.