From the beginning...

Namaste again!

Anyways, arriving in Gangotri- where the pilgrims begin their trek to Gamukh (or "Cow's Mouth" glacier, the source of the Ganga) was cold (why do I find myself in extemes in this country)! Though my stomach was still a far cry from being healthy, I made the full day trek into the camp 4km below Gamukh passing sadhus with their orange robes and tin carriers and families also making the trek (most of whom opted to go on horseback). I camped alongside
about 30 other folks in a sea of blankets in a dabhas (a tea stand) which was quite an experience and was happy that another foreigner (German guy) and I had befriended a small Indian group that spoke english very well. Despite snow, leaks and a hopelessly late dinner at 9pm (hungry!), we awoke to a beautiful day and I continued to Gamukh. Passing several Hindu shrines, I came to the base of the glacier and the Cow's Mouth- pretty spectacular site, both in the symbolic sense and the natural beauty of the surounding sites.



And so this completes my journey to the source of the Ganga, and filled with much Hindu karma, I rest my angry stomach in Dehra Dun and find my thoughts drifting home...

I hope all is well with all of you and it's always good to receive notes and greetings! :)
Be well and much peace,
Kristy


The first "snap" is the Gamukh glacier. Note the small opening (Cow's Mouth). There she be... the beginning of the great Mother Ganga! The second is a line of Dabhas, where I slept... an interesting experience indeed! But can't beat the 15 rupee charge (the equivalent of less that 50 cents)!

On the Hindu pilgrim path...

Namaste!

In attempt to futher experience the richness and diversity of Indian culture, I decided to join the thousands of Indian tourists on their pilgrimage to one of the most holiest sites: the source of the Ganges, or their Mother Ganga. Seeing that John and I have been tracing the Ganga from our arrival in India, I feel it is appropriate to end up my travels in India in her pursuit.

So to begin I arrived in the holy city of Haridwar, where it was like Ganga puja (workship) central! The city is filled with Sadhus, pilgrims, peggars and families, while the shops sell shells, beads, religious garbs, goodies for offerings. There is one main ghat where puja is performed 24x7 by thousands of colourful folks.

One the way to the ghat, I passed a group of travelling saddhus, a sea of orange, singing and drumming as they collected alms from nearby wallahs. Closer to the rapids of the Ganga, I was blown away by the action... From the adventurous teenage boys testing their swimming strength against the strong current, to the woman accompanied by her husband and small daughter taking great care to reapply the red vermillion powder down the part of her hair as a sign of marriage, to the group of old women fanning their wet saris in the sun while re-wrapping themselves with its length while their friends enjoy their afternoon chai nearby, and finally the little guy (maybe 3 yrs old?) relieving himself on the stairs with great concentration despite the surrounding festival-ish atmosphere.

Among the masses, these sites unravel but a threat of the cultural fabric on India linked by religion and place... (an author you say? perhaps I've plagarized this from one of the many Indian novels I've been reading!!!)

Pretty cool spot, though I was eager to escape the heat for some mountain air in my search of the source of the Ganga... next stop: Gangotri!

Namaste and blessings from the Ganga to all! :)
Kristy

The adjacent shot is the nightly Ganga worship ceremony. There were SO many people that the officials used their whisters to try to control the hords of people... with limited success!!

Kermit the frog is a clever little dude!

It's tough being GREEN and well, I'm going to take the liberty to include BLUE to the mix!!

Let's just say that a white person wearing a sari attracts all eyes, but a green/blue person, you can just imagine!!!...

I wasn't going to blog about this but it seems like a good excuse to temporarily escape the wallahs and heat of New Delhi, so why not! Plus, I figure if I can't laugh at myself during such silly occasions, that I'd have a lot less to laugh at! ;)

OK, OK, I'll get to the story... So in my attempt to experience India and while marveling at the flashes of colour at the market from the women in saris, while in Varanasi, I picked up a sari. With a quick lesson on how to put it on (a sari consists of ~5.5m of fabric 1m wide and is wrapped around its wearer traditionally without the aid of pins. The outfit is complete with a short blouse and petticoat underneath the bundle of fabric), on the way to Jaipur I decided to give'er a try. This wasn't smart for 2 reasons:

a) lugging around a backpack and a daypack is nearly impossible with a sari (indeed the usually simple act of walking becomes almost a dangerous activity for a neophite sari-wearer!)
b) it was HOT!!! Rajisthan is not known for it's cool climate in the summer!!!

So, bundled up in green and blue fabric like a Christmas present, sweating up a storm and putting up with stares from pretty much everyone, we made our way from Agra to Jaipur until John informed me that my back was green. Not just a pale tinge, but a highly noticeable GREEN! In fact my whole body from neck to ankles were green/blue- the back of my legs almost true royal blue!!

Wanting nothing more to give up my cultural experiment of the sari and to have a shower, the rest of the day consisted of me trying to forget the spectacle I was making and laughing at the whole situation! Not wanting to give up, after a thorough wash of my sari, I wore it twice more. Though still white, I have to admit that it's not my thing- it's just simply too much fabric for me to successfully contend with (!!!) and am trying to figure out a way to pawn it off, or offer it to a women who could use it.

Unfortunately, we have no pictures besides one of me pouring out the water after soaking my sari (which was literally indigo). But I can assure you all (and John will surely attest) that I looked hideous regardless of the rainbow of skin colours that I tried out that day!! :)

Your friend committed to embarrassing Canadians overseas,
Kristy

ps. If anyone wants a sari, please let me know! ;)

India by storm!

Namaste all those back home!

Seems like a while since I've sat down with old Blogger and we've been travelling a lot it seems. After an interesting trip from Kathmandu to Varanasi (more like Nepal to India to Nepal to India because of our Nepalese visa running out, then an (extended) bus ride marked with a rain storm which forced us to stop due to the heavy rain for which we didn't have windshield wippers, accidents, and finally no headlights... needless to say, Varanasi wasn't as crazy as it's made out to be... maybe we're getting used to it??!) .

Anyways, let's start with Varanasi- it is one of the holiest spots in India where Hindu pilgrims from all over come to bathe and do laundy, brush teeth, pray and play, wash animals and most famously be dunked before being cremated on one of the nearby burning ghats. It's a truly fascinating place with the Ganges (Mother Ganga) acting as the life vein of the city. The Hindu people believe that the Ganges flows from the feet of the god Vishnu and if they die in Varanasi, they will escape the cycle of birth and death. It's also the spot where the film Water was based (though the film is banned in India after considerable controversies). In addition to the Ganga and the ghats, the streets are narrow narrow mazes filled with food stalls, shops selling holy offerings, silk saris, temples, cows and monkeys. Despite staying there for 4 days, we still got lost whenever we left! I really enjoyed Varanasi as history, religion and day to day life really converge in your face.

This third picture is the night puja (offering)
ceremony on the main ghat- pretty spectacular.

Next stop, after an overnight train ride (I have to say that after reading many books based in India, for some reason I’ve dreamt for years of riding the overly congested Indian trains, filled with all sorts of walas (vendors) to catch a glimpse of the diversity and chaos (and beauty perhaps?) of humanity) to Agra. We rode 3A/C (3 tiered beds in A/C) which was way to comfortable and lacked the chaos I was expecting. But I’ll cut my complaints as I’m not sure I’ve mentioned that it’s HOT in India… but again I won’t complain as I’m soon to write about our next couple destinations which are even hotter! Anyways, without too much trouble we arrived in Agra, the home of the most recognized Indian visual: the Taj Mahal.

In the heat, we were pretty wiped, but managed to get a rooftop restaurant view of the Taj Mahal (as to get in costs what we pay for about a day of traveling and we were happy with a glimpse while holding a cool drink!). Pretty beautiful and an amazing tribute to love. It was constructed by a devastated husband whose wife died after birth of her 14th child. But what caught my attention from our perch were the number of multicoloured kites being flown by young children and fathers alike- oh and the monkey playground (I mean city scape!).

Next stop: Jaipur! Why we decided to enter Rajisthan in this heat, I will never know… but interesting none the less! Jaipur is known as the pink city as the old town is all painted in pink. Lots of interesting bazaars with tie dye and all sorts of gems. We visited a field of astronomy/astrology sculptures which was really interesting and via the sundial, I determined that my watch was 1 minute slow- cool! We also enjoyed the local lassiwala (think yoghurt drink) which made the heat bearable!

Here is the palace beehive-like watch tower building thing- neat little spot to watch the city pass by... and one of the sun dials (the 27 m high one is currently being restored).

From Jaipur, maybe due to madness caused by head, we went further into Rajisthan to the Shekhawati region to Nawalgarh. Upon our arrival, I got hit with heat exhaustion I think and didn’t move far from the bed (and toilet, but I’ll leave out the details) for almost 48 hours. Meanwhile we stayed at a great family guest house with great food and lots of friendliness. Though no one does much from 10am – 5pm due to the heat (it was about 48oC), the region is known for it’s villages filled with havelis (old mural paintings- see the images below) and laidback rural charm (oh, and camels!!). John toured around when the heat was bearable, while I finally got out to see one of the main haveli that was really spectacular!

Though I can’t say we were in tears to leave the heat to enter Delhi, which even in a heat wave is a lot more bearable! I’ll write more on that later… that’s news for now!

Hope all is well back home and the summer is sneaking up with pleasant temperatures and all sorts of goodstuff!

Namaste!
Kristy