India - 2

Looks like updating the blog though my tablet is a bit tricky, so I'll have to post new updates, as opposed to adding to the previous one. Here's the latest:

Nov 9 Rishikesh 

Rishikesh was a pleasant surprise. Its setting is truly lovely - it occupies both banks of the Ganges, at the foothills of the Himalayas, and has two pedestrian hanging bridges that stitch the town together. The Ganges, so close to its source, is majestic: it's wide, fast-flowing and clean (as it will never be again down its 900km journey to the Bay of Bengal). I washed my feet in the river, something that wouldn't have even crossed my mind in Haridwar, just 30 km downstream. 

Unlike Haridwar, Rishikesh had a lot of Westerners. In the streets I heard Russian and Hebrew, and some Japanese and English. Foreigners come here for extended periods to learn or improve their yoga, meditate, relax or "find themselves" (a hotel sign invitingly advertised "spiritual seekers are welcome"). Similarly, the town is a magnet for holy men of various degrees of holiness and teachers with dubious credentials. While it is true that not all who wander are lost, many clearly are and quite a few of those end up in Rishikesh. Among them, were The Beatles, who spent some time in the area in 1968 and wrote a few of their big hits. They ended up being disappointed by their guru ("you made a fool of everyone") who made sexual advances to one of his students (Sexy Sadie). The ashram where The Beatles stayed was at the edge of town and abandoned some 15 years ago, but I went there to take a look. I saw some holy men sitting in the shade, monkeys inspecting the garbage, a few stray dogs and two other tourists. I knew this was not where I belonged and while I was glad to have stopped by beautiful Rishikesh, I was ready to push on.

Nov 10 Rishikesh - Chandigarh 

I took a rickshaw in the morning to the bus terminal, hoping there would be a bus to Chandigarh. When I arrived, there were lots of parked busses, but all the destinations were written in Hindi. Fortunately, by asking around, I found a bus that left for Chandigarh about an hour later. The journey of 260 km took over 7 hours (on flat terrain!), but on the flip side, it cost only $4. Taking public transportation is always the most authentic way of traveling around, but not always the most pleasant. In the 7 hours of journey, (of which I spent half jumping up from my seat and the other half falling down back into my seat, courtesy of the endless bumps and holes in the road) we only had one stop, five hours in, and it was at a place so primitive and dirty that it made me question my choice of not booking a private company bus...

Upon arriving at my destination, I took a cycle rickshaw to a near-by hotel recommended by Lonely Planet. For $20/night, it was a fine choice with a good location and hot water (no Internet). I decided to get me a nice Punjabi dinner and ended up in the Punjab Grill (by Jiggs Kalra), one of the top restaurants in town and had a truly spectacular meal! It was my first non-vegetarian meal in India and it did not disappoint. Gone are the humble brown rice, fresh coconut and mildly spiced meals of Kerala. Punjabi food, like everything else it seems, knows no restraints. My main course was the "Raan Hari Singh Nalwa", an unbelievably tender meat ("kid", so I'm guessing goat?), marinated in a exquisite combination of yogurt with cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, pepper and other spices. It came with tasty garlic naan. For desert I ordered the kulfi (yumm!). It was the most expensive meal I've had in India ($36 in all, that is almost as much as both nights in my hotel), but it was worth every rupee. The  portion could have fed 3 people, so I had them pack the left overs and gave them to the lucky cycle-rickshaw rider who dropped me back at the hotel.  I know Colin would have loved that meal and I was really bummed he couldn't be there to enjoy it. 

Nov  11 - Chandigarh

Who would have thought that Le Corbusier (who in 1928 designed Colin's and Dad's favorite chair) spent much of his creative energy in architecting an Indian city, as well as a number of its main buildings and landmarks?! In the 50's, newly independent and partitioned India commissioned Le Corbusier to plan a modern city. The resulting Chandigarh is unlike any other Indian metropolis - it's neatly organized in a grid, split into "sectors", marked with signs, lined with wide and straight boulevards, dotted with parks and even decorated with an artificial lake, for good measure. One would expect nothing less of a Swiss. Maybe it is my Western design sensibilities or just the thrill of being able to easily orient myself for the first time, but I loved Chandigarh! It helped, also, that the weather was pleasant and I was able to spend the entire day exploring without getting a heat stroke. 

I started at the Nek Chand Fantasy Rock garden, a whacky garden built in the 50s, with architectural salvage and other waste. It seems that Nek Chand was well ahead of the recycle and reuse trend . It was a fun place to explore and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had been kept in a relatively good shape. The site was filled with school groups and other domestic tourists and I was constantly stared at, and asked to have my picture taken with. Whenever anyone asked, I obliged, though very quickly the "one snap, please" became many snaps, with several cameras and a mushrooming number of people around me. It was all friendly and in good spirit, so I was patient.  I was less thrilled when I caught people taking pictures of me without my permission (it happened a lot too). In quite a few cases, people stopped me and gestured for me to take a picture of them. Sure! They seemed to derive great pride from the fact that *they* - out of the billion of Indians, would be immortalized in my India vacation pictures. Of course, I was thrilled to have the voluntary photo opps. 

One of the young couples that asked me for "one snap, please" ended up walking with me to the nearby lake and we had a very nice conversation. They were college students, recently engaged and with big dreams for the future. The girl said that she wanted to "escape the narrow-mindedness" of her area and the boy said he wanted better employment opportunities. They had set their minds on moving to Canada or the  US upon getting married. It is immigrants like them who make the new world prosper and I very much hope their plans come true. 

I spent much of the afternoon visiting the various Le Corbusier buildings and the museum dedicated to him. I also strolled through the large rose garden, which supposedly has over 800 varieties, though I saw exactly two in bloom. I found my way to the Indian Coffeehouse, a Chandigarh institution, which has been around for as long as the city itself. At some point the employees bought over the company and it is now proudly employee-run and employee-owned. Nothing seems to have changed in it - the decor, the plates, the prices and its popularity seem to be frozen in time. I managed to find a single seat and ordered a masala dosa. A very friendly lady came over mid-meal to "check on me" and make sure I'm doing well in Chandigarh and during my India visit. She wrote down her phone number for me, in case I got into a pickle while in India. So kind! 

I originally had planned to head to Daramsala tomorrow, but it looks like I may be unable to find a bus to get me there. If that's the case, I'll skip the Dalai Lama and head to Amritsar directly.