Now if you are like me, I always wondered what an Ashram would look like? Honestly I pictured a heap of Hare Krishna's floating around in orange robes clanging their finger cymbols away (I actually love them so am not taking the mickey out of them too much!) but instead you are confronted with something that felt more like a university campus - in the sense that the grounds where quiet spread out, there was military security, lots of communal meeting rooms, park benches and beautiful gardens. Unfortunately for my timing there was a heap of pavement construction during my stay so it didnt seem quiet so tranquil in the gardens as I tried to tip-toe through setting concrete without splashing it on my new white yoga pants - failed! - they were covered within 3 minutes of putting them on!
I must say that aside from the students of this style and their strange uniforms that resemble the guards of the Golden Temple at Amritsar - Kundalini yoga really seemed to have some benefits. It felt like it was infused with some Pilates poses so my abs were actually getting a work out - I just didn't like the yelling in the background by the instructor and the weird chants I had to repeat at some points.
In the middle of my class I happened to be facing the student to my left and realised that I knew her from the dance school in Pushkar as we had regularly seen each other and said hi in passing. She caught my eye and we shot each other a smile, after class we spoke and I was relived to know that she too didn't appreciate the teachers boot camp style instruction.
When you are travelling alone for long periods in a foreign country and particularly somewhere like India, a new friend can really affect the daily happenings of your trip. For example, my intention after that class had been to eat lunch at the Ashram since it was included in the room fee and then just crash as I was exhausted. Instead my new friend convinced me that the lunch at the Ashram wasn't all that nice and she was rebelling against their strict schedule of you must eat at this time. Instead she took me to a little restaurant nearby that specialised in delicious and so cheaply priced Southern Indian cuisine and then she took me on a tour of Rishikesh that extended into a 4 hour expidition across to the otherside which was a few kilometer's good walk, that I simple would not have had the motivation to do on my own that day.
What amazes me about Rishikesh and it was certainly the first thing that caught my attention, is the blue and clean looking water of the Ganges and the strong current that it flows. There's a brilliant BBC documentary on the Ganges that I saw back in Australia and I do remember them showing footage of the flowing Ganges from Rishikesh but you just dont realise its power until you are there. We found lots of people and bathing Sadhu's along the riverbank resting on the boulders, so we decided to soak up some of the beautiful sun and mountain fresh air alongside Mother Ganga as they call her. I had read to reconsider swimming in the Ganges as the current was super strong and dangerous, so I just settled for rolling up my pants and walking in knee deep - it was chilly and so "norsca fresh" as I called it. I washed my face and felt suddenly relaxed.
Now I'm sure that many of you have head about how dirty the Ganges is particularly in pilgrimage areas such as Varanasi, bodies of the deceased are cremated and their ashes are deposited into the river. Let me assure you that is not the case up here - Rishikesh is near the start of the Ganges so it's super clean and I would consider swimming there had it not been for the current. There is actually a big tourist trade happening in Rishikesh now with people white water rafting - that's not something I had ever been interested in the past, throwing my life in the hands of the rapids just dosent excite me as much as a stroll through the bazaars of India - but I considered it here. If I had more time I probably would have done a rapids tour and also trekked into the Himalayas as there were quiet a few tours starting from here - again something that had never interested me previously and something that I had reserved for hardcore adventurers - maybe I was finding myself or at least opening up to new opportunities!
In front of the Niketan ashram that I was staying at every evening at 6pm they perform what is known by the Hindus as "aarti" its a ceremony using fire and I personally think at its grandest in Varanasi. Being my first night I went down for a wonder and there were many Indian pilgrims who had obviously come to Rishikesh to take part in this ceremony at such a holy site. Some people told me that many of the Hindu visitors attending the Kumbah Mela back in Hardiwar were coming to Rishikesh for a day trip and to attend the ceremony also since they were so close.
At dinner that evening I had my first experience eating at the Ashram - nothing too exciting to report just felt like an American high school cafeteria - there was table spread with vegetarian dishes - you took a metal dish and a scoop of each and sat quietly on the floor at these little individual almost TV dinner tables but they were on the floor. There is a big sign in the room saying to observe silence during dinner as all food has been blessed etc but neither tourists or Indian pilgrims paid any attention.
I noticed one lady who had been in my yoga class earlier that day and she was one of those people that do something and go all the way. What I mean is, watching her you could see that she was there definately to find herself spiritually and by the looks of it she had - well at least she seemed to beleive she had. At dinner she was probably the only one who sat in silence and prayed before eating and I felt at any minute she may gravitate into the air from her seated pose on the floor. I know I'm mean - if she was Indian I wouldn't even have noticed, but she just seemed to be trying so hard to do the whole ashram thing.
After dinner we attended the meditation - to both our dismay it was the same boot camp instructor - I considered making a run for it, but thought I would attempt an open mind and see where it took me. So again I found myself chanting something that certainly didn' t sound Hindi - it sounded like a fictional language like they made for Lord of the Rings - only the people in the "circle of trust" seemed to know the words to the jibber. We did all sorts of breathing exercises which I will admit were quiet good, it was the sound effects that I could see a few people about to crack up laughing. We did one chant for about 10 minutes, over and over it sounded something like (change your tone to a deep monster like pitch)...
"mmmmmm jiiiiiiyyyaaaaaaa shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr froooooaaaaaaawwwwww cha. Chinnnnnyyyyy maaaaaaaaaaaaa diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyava..."
I felt like I was on magic mushrooms. Finally my one hour of vocal vibrational massage as I called it was over and my friend and I along with a few of the other ladies all shot each other knowing glances of what we had just survived. Being me, I couldn't shut up any longer and told my friend how the teachers meditation voice reminded me of this evil sounded monster voice I was awoken to in Padang Bai on the East coast of Bali at 4am when they were starting a prayer ceremony mimicking the gods. Meditation complete!
Of course on my last day there we did manage to find a brilliant yoga class at an Ashram down the street from ours - brilliant is an understatement - I keep thinking about heading back in September just to attend his class. This class was taught by an Indian guy -not so personable, but his class was packed and he was brilliant. He unlike Bootcamp master of Kundalini, had a soothing voice that I had to strain to hear and all of us just pretty much played Simon Says to know what move to do next. Granted this class was also Hatha yoga, which I was more familiar with and found both relaxing and effective. We were doing backbends and moves that I was doing for fun as a kid and never imagined my body could still do so many years later. Oh and did I mention this class along with all the flies that attached themselves to our everymove only cost $2.50!
To describe Rishikesh, I would say it reminded me of Kathmandu minus the madness - more "norsca fresh". The town had more Sadhu's than normal as many of there were again there due to the nearby Kumbah Mela. To be honest I have only ever seen Sadhu's beg tourists for money, so I was very suprised when it was either one morning or afternoon I saw many Indian Hindu's buying food and going along distributing it to the various Sadhu's in equal rations - made me kind of feel bad for always looking past there money as purely a target for tourists.
Next blog.... Hardiwar and the Kumbah Mela 2010 pilgrimage!
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