We reached Haridwar at 4:30 AM, as opposed to 6 AM. We were anxious, how are we going to go to the Ashram? After alighting from our rickety bus, we were quite amazed to find a share auto within 5 minutes. There are no normal autos in Haridwar, only share-autos, something we learnt later. So, after explaining to the Auto guy in Hindi the directions to the Ashram, we took in the city of Haridwar. No buildings. But this was nothing new or unexpected, as most towns in India do not boast tall buildings. This place seemed normal, like any other small town. Narrow roads, paved streets etc.
We had booked our company ashram, so we weren’t quite sure how good/bad it will be. After the caretaker showed us our rooms, all we could think of was sleep. After hitting our beds, we heard water leaking somewhere. Great, we thought, at 5 in the morning, neither of us wanted to deal with leaking water. After checking the source, we realized, maybe, it isn’t leaking water. We opened the balcony door. At this point, I honestly can’t describe what went through us. The view was stunning. Wow. Wow. Wow.
We said that a couple of times, until it finally sunk in that our balcony was jutting out in to the Ganga. Well, I’m not sure it sunk completely in even when we left the place. We literally had our own private bit of the Ganga. The mighty Ganga! It flowed so fast. It was a little scary at 5 in the morning, it was pitch black. The sound was that of clear ripples running through boulders. We slept a very satisfied sleep. I will leave the photos to describe it in the morning.
We said that a couple of times, until it finally sunk in that our balcony was jutting out in to the Ganga. Well, I’m not sure it sunk completely in even when we left the place. We literally had our own private bit of the Ganga. The mighty Ganga! It flowed so fast. It was a little scary at 5 in the morning, it was pitch black. The sound was that of clear ripples running through boulders. We slept a very satisfied sleep. I will leave the photos to describe it in the morning.
Contrary to what people say, or assume more likely, the water was clean, it was blue in fact. Maybe the water gets dirty as the river touches other places; Varansai, Allahabad, Badrinath etc. We went walking to the Maya Devi temple first. I quite liked the temple. It was peaceful. Personally, I love temples for the very peace they can offer, an aura of sanctity. This was one of those temples one can sit and just reflect on one’s own thoughts. We met a couple of Babas, or Sadhus. They have much to tell.
That evening, we went to see the much-hyped Ganga Arati. This arati is performed every evening at the Har-ki-pauri - it is one of the famous rituals where praises of the Ganga ma are sung. More details .
Next morning, we left for Rishikesh by the local UK transport bus. Rishikesh typically has 2 bridges for which it is very famous; the Laxman Jhula and the Ram Jhula. Those are the so called ‘tourist attractions’. Even though I’m not a fan of going merely to the tourist-y places, these bridges are really nice. We had only a day in Rishikesh, so we had decided to only visit few places. There’s a small lane, filled with small stores on either side, selling harem pants to idols, devotional song CDs to leather bags. Beware, these stores warrant heavy negotiation in case you want to shop.
nice post !! :)enjoyed reading
ReplyDeleteThanks Bhav !
DeleteNice post..did you get private ganga as bottled ganga on your way back?
ReplyDeleteThanks, and nope, din't bring the magical water back !
Delete