Rishikesh, India-Culture Shock

Posted November 4, 2015

November 4^th

Today I woke up at 4:00am, brushed my teeth, showered and headed to the first scheduled event, a Satsung which they claimed was morning meditation. I thankfully ran into a group of girls from Europe who were looking for the Satsung hall as well. It was their first day in the ashram as well. We walked into the hall, we were the first people to arrive after the pundits or sadhus. Not sure what they were. They began with a satsung for about 45 minutes of singing and then what appeared to be a pundit spoke in Hindi. As usual I couldn’t understand what he was saying since it was pretty deep Hindi. I reminded the girls that were next to me that even though their feet are falling asleep not to point them in the direction of the front of the hall/god as it was disrespectful. They were trying their best to focus but since none of it was in English most of them kept their eyes closed. After this was over I wondered if we would have breakfast as it was 6am now. The girls told me no, breakfast would be served at 8am after morning yoga. It was a bit chilly so I grabbed some socks and headed to the yoga hall. This was the area the taxi driver had dropped me off originally yesterday. There I met the 4 girls again and another girl from Florida who was very thin. She was travelling with her mom and friend. She told me she was doing a “cleanse” here which involved fasting, yoga, meals, massages and eating some type of laxative. She said they got a “great” deal of $500USD for the week (with the current exchange rate $750 CAD) I didn’t anything since I had paid $70 CAD for the week and my meals were about $1.20, but they were definitely taking advantage of the fact that she was an obvious foreigner. The other group of girls had paid 200 rupees a night which irritated me since I had paid 500 ($10 vs $4)/night) because I was single and had my own room. The yoga class was excellent, it was more on the beginner range but I really enjoyed it more than the classes I had taken in Canada. I felt I was moving different muscles I hadn’t used in a while or ever. Yoga was done at 7:30am and I walked out with the group of girls I had met at the satsung. They asked if I was having breakfast here which they did not prefer or if I was heading to the “Office” a place to eat in the town. I told them I wasn’t sure but I’d see them later. I wanted to head out to explore the town a bit. The first place I went to was the Ganga river, did a quick prayer to the giant Hanuman statue and reached down to touch the water. The girl from Florida was there laying out her yoga mat to do some meditation. There was another pooja near by that I quickly observed and then headed through the disgusting and filthy streets of Rishikesh. Cows and cow dung everywhere. Men pretending to be sadhu’s who were clearly beggers asking me for money, speaking to me in English then Hindi, since they couldn’t figure out what I was since I was wearing my kulmis salwar top and black tights. I walked past the “Office” took a look inside and walked a bit further till I felt like I didn’t want to explore any more. I turned around and saw a small shop that was an adventure-based operation. I walked inside and introduced myself. The young man was trying to organize a train to Chandigarh for me next week for when I go see Ankita (my university dorm buddy). We chatted for a bit in Hindi, well my hindi/English mix which to my surprise is good enough to get around here. I saw a computer and asked if I could use one, he said yes. I was surprised he didn’t charge me. I logged onto Facebook and wrote a few private messages to my family and friends to let them know I was alive. I emailed my blog website girl and asked her some questions on where we were at with the website. She mentioned I needed a host, which I couldn’t get set up with the slow internet connection. I gave up and asked my sister in law if she could help out. I asked the young guy where I could get a sim card in Rishikesh, he mentioned something about an “Airtel” to be near some hotel but I couldn’t quite catch what he was saying. I asked him what else there is too do in Rishikesh but he couldn’t explain to me in hindi or English what the tours consisted off so I decided it’s time for breakfast and head back to the ashram. I ran into the group of girls again who invited me to the “Office” so I went back with them. A tiny restaurant with only a few tables, looks like a son/father operation. I had a delicious quinoa and fresh fruit porridge and some fresh chai, for about $1.40. The girls and I discussed various aspects of their trips. They had met in Jaipur in a house they were staying at and were all volunteering, they had been in India for 2-3 months. They told me toilet paper is scarce here in India and you have to buy it if you need it. The toilets are pretty much all equipped with a little hose that will shoot water up. They’ve told me most of the time the toilet paper cannot flush and there is no garbage can so to get “creative”. This would explain why I didn’t get toilet paper. I’ll hold onto it and mindfully make space in my bag for a few extra rolls. I said good bye to the girls and told them I’d see them at 3pm, the next yoga session.

I headed back to the room, took a quick nap, had strange dreams, unpleasant demonic type dreams. Woke up and told myself to get out of there. I was frustrated and in tears. I looked for my Lakshmi matha picture which I couldn’t find. I’ll have to look for it tomorrow. This room really sucks. I walked today to the other rooms upstairs, and they seems a lot nicer than being in the basement which is dirty. The noises irritate me, it’s so loud, the hallway is so loud, babies screaming, people’s bangles/churiya banging together, men hoarking. The sheets and pillow look filthy. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow to ask for a room change. I grabbed my knapsack and decided to go explore to town more. It was pretty warm out now. I went to the ganga river took a seat at the steps just to remain peaceful and clear out negative thoughts. I saw a brunette girl with an Indian guy at the steps too, she looked a bit uncomfortable almost in a bad mood but they knew each other it seemed. When he left, she burst into tears and wouldn’t stop crying. Not sure what happened there but I got up and asked her if she was ok, she nodded yes so I continued into the town. I walked into a couple of other ashrams along the way, which were in terrible condition. I kept walking along the road which lead to the Ram Jhula bridge. I crossed the bridge and saw beautiful views of the Ganga river but it was very annoying that all the mopeds/motorcycles were crossing this 1 meter wide bridge too with all us pedestrians. Honking constantly for us to get out of the way. I thought how do people get use to this life? Honking, being honked at, what about the cows? Have they gone deaf and use to this? When I got to the other side there were more shops which I walked through. I found a bus operator and asked him how much it would cost to get to Chandigarh. He said around 275 rupees from Dehradun but I’d have to get a bus there too. I don’t want to pay another $28 in cab fare when I could pay $6. My foot was in a bit of pain, the Tevas (sandals) were maybe breaking in? I walked back to the ashram and it was around 2:30, decided to take a quick 10 min nap which turned into a few hours and I had missed yoga. At that moment I felt a mild depression settling in. Not because I was travelling alone (well maybe a bit) but more like what am I doing here? I looked at the Lonely Planet book for Rishikesh and there’s really nothing to do here other than join satsungs and go kayaking. Where do you learn to meditate here? I’ll have to keep searching but I’m not sure if I want to go kayaking either. I’ve got another 6 days here so I’ll force myself to make the best of it. I just continued to force myself to sleep till around 10pm. I woke up and told myself you have all the time in the world to do anything you want, so get up and be productive. So I thought I’d catch up on my thoughts here. Tomorrow I’ll get the courage to go find cell phone provider and go get bloody internet on my phone. It’s not that I’m dependent on internet to keep in touch with people but I need it to get around here and see where bus stops are, how much tickets are, how much tours are. I should have downloaded google offline maps when I was in Toronto but didn’t know it existed until I met Claudia on the plane to Shanghai. There wasn’t enough speed in the internet connection to download it fully there and in Delhi airport my internet connection timed out. If I book things here you never know who is ripping you off, etc. Let’s see if Airtel gives me a sim card to begin with, they are very tough to get approval because they want you to have a permanent address in India. If I can’t get one here, I’ll wait till I get to Chandigarh and have Ankita help me sort through this. So tomorrow morning, I’ll go to Yoga, see if the girls are there. Try to meet some tourist like people here and see if I am able to get a sim card and phone plan. Try to get access of the internet again. I think after Chandigarh and Delhi I’ll have more of a plan of what I’m doing cause this ashram meditation thing isn’t working out. It just seems like a business operation where you’re just another number. At least the statues of the god and goddesses at the temple are stunning in beauty!