Our Final Weeks in India: Arriving in Haridwar
We left our story with an abbreviated mention of our arrival in Haridwar en route to Rishekesh…but here’s a deeper look into our lovely time there. So, as we mentioned, when we pulled into the station after our long ride from Delhi the sun was just rising. We climbed to the top of the train station via a side staircase and sat on the roof of the station, sharing an orange and seeing our first glimpse of the Himalayan foothill mountains. It was a wonderful way to open this final chapter of our India tour.
The atmosphere felt different being up the Northern way. Certainly it was quite a bit cooler than in the desert, but more than that there was an air about the people and the place that spoke of a deeper calm, a bit of quiet, possibly having to do with the close proximity to the holy River Ganges. Of course it’s still India so you had to look closely to see the calm and peace amidst the traffic, noise and chaos…but it was there!
We had made arrangements to stay with a couchsurfing family in Haridwar which is about an hour outside of Rishekesh, our ultimate destination. We’d decided to stay with this family mainly because we wanted to get one last dip into “real” Indian culture before going to Rishekesh which – for all of its loveliness – has a deserved reputation for catering to Westerners and being more of an International experience than an Indian experience. So needing to get to the host’s home we took a deep breath and dove once again into a sea of rickshaw drivers for a good upstream swim in the tide of negotiation. Shark Alert: these Haridwar rickshaw drivers were a match we’d never come up against before! We’d been informed via email by our host that the rickshaw from the train station to his apartment should cost no more than 15 rupees, but these guys started their price quoting at 300 rupees! And more, they all banned together to charge the foreigners these outrageous prices and were hardly interested in haggling…certainly not down to 15 rupees. It went long past frustrating and on to the place where all you can do is sigh, put it in perspective and do the best you can. In the end we paid about 50 rupees – a sum lower than 300 but high enough to get an eyebrow raise from our host.
Our host was called out of town for the days that we were staying in his place, leaving his lovely wife and young daughter to be our hostesses, which they were more than capable of though they did not speak much English. Our host spoke to us via phone a few times a day to make sure we were happy and there were no communication questions, and he even went so far as to arrange for a family friend to come by and take us on a tour of the amazingly beautiful ashram across the street. The lush gardens were a sight to behold!
There was a Shiva festival happening on the day we’d arrived which meant much festivity all over Hardiwar. At this particular ashram there was a lovely outdoor ceremony we got to witness and enjoy.
The ceremony was beautiful, simple, and was followed by a very moving outdoor group meditation which Christine was glad to be able to take part in.
Back at home we had a lot of fun getting to know the ladies of the house, learning to make chapatti and eating (and eating and eating…) all sorts of lovely homemade Indian food. Jonathan and his tummy were in 7th heaven! Christine had a wish fulfilled when our hostess offered to paint a traditional henna on her hands. It was much fun for all of us to sit around together and watch this traditional art form emerge.
The henna is applied as a thick paste and Christine looked as if she had patterns of chocolate frosting all over her hands. The dye is allowed to dry and then set overnight. In the morning it is washed off to reveal the skin underneath dyed a beautiful deep reddish/brown color. The dyed patterns last for about two weeks (except on the fingernails, which stay dyed until they grow out!).
We had a very fun and relaxing few days in Hardiwar, but it was time for us to move on to Rishekesh. We couldn’t leave without promising to return to celebrate the festival of Holi with the family in two weeks time. We excitedly accepted the invitation, grateful to have a new family of our own to stop and visit on our way out of India in a few short weeks.
seeingspain
April 11th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I love all the colors in India. It sounds like you have had good couchsurf hosts throughout India- that’s really cool! Reading your posts makes me want to go there even more…