I headed up the mountain on a shared autorickshaw to Laxman Jhula, a small village along the River Ganges. Pleasantly surprised to find it looking a lot like McLeod Ganj with mountains, trees, etc, I settled in at an ashram for a few days of yoga, meditation and peace and quiet, something I've been long needing after the overexposure to dirt, dust, people, noise and bad smells.
A main road in Laxman Jhula where cars, buses, trucks and motorbikes zoom by all day long.
The ashram is a quiet and clean environment where yoga is practice twice and day (6:00 - 7:45 a.m. and 4:00 - 5:45 p.m.) and meditation is included in this daily ritural. The yoga here is based on breath and many similar postures to what I've already practiced, so I felt pretty much at home in either the basement or rooftop yoga rooms equipped with fans, music and sound bowls (brass bowls that are rubbed around their edges with pestle-like hammers to produce a ringing vibration).
Everyone eats together in the dining hall. We are given our own set of dishes when we arrive and are expected to bring them to meals. The food is healthy and the portions are huge. Seconds are always offered.
Rice, chapatis, beans of one sort or another and vegetables are always on the lunch and dinner menus.
Everyone waits until all are served by the kitchen staff before digging into the meal. Also, we pray together in a chanting voice before meals. The prayer is painted on the walls for beginners like me who don't know the words to this Hindu prayer for thanks.
After dinner, we're expected to wash our dishes at the communal sink. Dishes of soap and scrubbers are in the sink where we wash with cold water. Leftovers are saved in a pail for the cows that provide the milk for curd for some meals.
Two cows and one calf live outside of the ashram in this barn. They are some of the most well taken care of cows I've seen in India so far. The ashram is family owned and all take part in the care of the facility and its grounds.
I walk into town each day to check email and publish a post on the blog. This is a drain that is in the road that leads to the ashram. I'm glad I noticed it for the first time in the daytime. Apparently, there are no drain covers on the roads. Drivers have to skillfully steer around these open drains in order not to get a tire caught in one of the many found along the way.
This limeade stand is along the main road in Luxman Jhula (jhula means bridge). The three or four men who congregate here everyday do a lot of sleeping and not much selling, but I was taken by the lovely big water jug sitting on the ground. The dog in the photo doesn't belong to them (or anyone), but we invited him over for the picture. He was willing, probably hoping a food scrap was being offered for a reward!
I'll end with two photos of the River Ganges as seen from Laxman Jhula. The first, near the huge temple where streams of Hindus are constantly afoot across the bridge to visit the temple and pray is close to the town. One must walk down a series of steep and winding steps through many shops and stalls and beggars in order to get to the bridge.
The other is the more rural end of the river between Rishikesh and Laxamn Jhula. Here the wildness of the river is more apparent with huge rocks in the middle of this surprisingly wide waterway to make rafters' rides even more daring!
Alvida! (Goodbye, in Hindi!)
No comments:
Post a Comment