04.30 "What A Beautiful World"(Louis Armstrong)

Asia

India

Rishikesh

This day was almost entirely dedicated to getting ready for the Wedding Stage #5. It involved going 8 of us to Rishikesh Town (walk and Tuk Tuk ride; like 45 mins each way) to buy my "suit" and all the girls's sarees and henna tattooing

Basia took it easy…

…Nicole went beyond easy!…

…so I brought the tattooing back to simplicity ;)

While 4 of the girls were still getting tatooed, some of us walked to one of the innumerable spiritual centers that bloom by The River. 

(Besides the statues, I watched a musical  performance that reminded me how much I like live Occidental music… by not enjoying this music!)

The ride back has been immortalized in these  pics:

Clockwise: Oski's head; Gay, Nicole, Rachel; Sonny, Basia & Tia's hands)

As soon as we returned, preparations continued. We were all involved in different tasks and it was marvelous!

(Clockwise from top: Tia, Nicole, Yogi Ji)

Finally, the time arrived! Our Asian Wedding finally happened in Rishikesh. I can't imagine a better setting for it; there was a reason for our failed attempts to do an underwater one in Thailand and later at Taj Mahal. 

The energy was absolutely fantastic. Yogi Ji planned Basia and I had to light together every candle around the heart… but human plan an Gods decide: it was so windy the candles, though protected, wouldn't last a minute. After many failed attempts that we took lightheartedly, we tried the second part of the ritual: lighting thin aluminum canisters filled with flower petals and a couple of flammable little wax squares and leave them to float adrift on Ganga… we had to try with 8 flammable squares before we had our first (yet short lived) floating gift to The River. 

After that we all sat and listen to our Latvian friend Otto play the Harmonium and sing local songs accompanied by Filip in guitar and someone else on drums. 

The rest of us joined chanting the simple yet beautiful tunes and clapping. Then Yogi Ji asked Basia and I to stand and gave us two beautiful and heavy collars of flowers; we gave it to each other and kissed among cheers while Nicole was recording the moment.

 

And of course we had to eat and drink! Everything delicious as always; so tasteful we didn't miss meat or alcohol ;)

It was a very relaxed celebration, in a pleasently dark night with a few flimsy candles. Life is Good :)

04.29 "The River"(The Cult)

Asia

India

Rishikesh

Ganges (Ganga) River: 

(from our balcony)

www.wikipedia.org

The Ganges (also Ganga) flows through India and Bangladesh. Its 2,525 km (1,569 mi) start in the western Himalayas and flows south and east through North India into Bangladesh, where it reaches the Indian Ocean at the Bay of Bengal. 

It is the most sacred river to Hindus, and it has been inhabited since long before written history. You can feel it is a special place.

I've been fascinated since, as a kid, I saw for the first time a National Geographic's map of the ocean floor. One of the main spots that sparked my imagination was the projection underwater of the Ganges… I imagined it to have been above water in the past, and I was blown away at its huge size (see below, described as "Bengal Fan")

http://geology.campus.ad.csulb.edu/people/

bperry/Geology%20160/Geol160ContMargi

nsOceanFeaturesImagesPage.htm

Despite my high expectations, I found The Ganges impressive… beyond words. I could live by its shoreline. 

Leaving The River and returning to our experiences in the Ashram, today we did Kundalini Meditation. It was something definitely different; it was divided in 4 parts of 15 minutes, the first involved shaking vigorously with a high frequency, electronic rhythmic music,  the second moving freelance while listening to a softer yet still fast paced rhythm, the third step involved sitting still and meditating with soft dispersed sounds, and the last part laying back in silence and darkness (before there was a green light and we had our eyes closed or semi-closed). During the last 2 parts you feel very energized, with your body tingling. The closest I've experienced something similar has been dancing on a beach on MDMA. A definitely unexpected and enjoyable experience that reinforce my feeling that MDMA, more than a recreational drug, it is an entheogen (drug that help you enter in contact with the Inner God / Cosmic Consciousness like LSD, psylocibin, mescaline and DMT) that everyone should try at least once in their lifetimes: after having mystical experiences, we become more tolerant and our lives take a more meaningful turn; life will be much better if all humans had felt at least once that in essence everything we see disconnected are indeed parts of One Entity... and I don't care if that is real or not; but I do care that the warm feeling makes us all more loving people.

04.28 "Death Is The Road To Awe"(Clint Mansell + Kronos Quartet)

Asia

India

Rishikesh

Mahatma Yogi Ashram in Rishikesh is a simple place, but it shimmers in lovely energy.

These were our daily activities (with some variations) every day:

6:00a Purification

6:40a Pranayama (breathing exercises)

8:00a Asanas

9:30a Breakfast

11:00a Lectures on Yoga

1:00p Lunch 

5:30p Asanas

7:30p Meditation

8:30p Dinner

~11:00p Sleep

As an intro to the spiritual exploration we expect to have in this retreat, I'll briefly explain "Oscar's Gospel About Life, The Universe and Everything". Please do not believe it; I don't believe it. Just use it to think/feel for yourself… or to make fun of me ;)

The title song is from the movie "The Fountain" and refers to the concept expressed in different ways in almost all religions: you must die (physically, spiritually, intellectually) to be born again in a higher level of awareness. Death is then just a transition, a crisis that leads to a higher level of understanding. But, as we die every night and are reborn every morning changing very little, the physical death (if reincarnation exists) does not change a lot our evolution. The simple accumulation of experiences should suffice to eventually "pass to the next level" but if you want to rush, disciplines like asanas, martial arts, meditation, etc will help you go faster. I still wonder "why go faster"? I have no answer to that; I feel I have to go faster, so I am floating towards the center of the River of Life…

04.27 "Trip And Glide"(Love And Rockets)

Asia

India

Haridwar->Rishikesh

Train ride

PIX

People sleeping on the floor completely covered with dirty rags covered with flies 

I witness an incredible catch of  a fly by a jumping spider... and lost that picture among many others from India (I am glad I still have a brain that remembers!)

Taxi picks us up… oh boy... we remember all the ads:

"Cellular on wheel is costly deal"

"Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer"

Crazy drive (I love it; Basia is kind of accepting it…)









After almost an hour of evading a train, cows, monkeys, humans, other cars, buses, Tuk tuks, rickshaws, bikes,  we drive down a pretty abandoned road by the Ganges and the driver stopped and told us: "Car can go no further. Keep walking and somebody will be waiting for you". So we walked an we saw two contrasting realities: on the left, trash everywhere

On the right, the Ganga… majestic, flowing slowly with a beautiful green color textured by wind-driven ripples

… and the breeze… and we felt transported to a world opposite to the one we experienced just minutes before. 

"…just trip and glide with angels…" Life is Worth. 

We arrived to the Ashram. 

04.25 "Aal Izz Well"(Main song from "3 Idiots")

Asia

India

Agra->Jaipur

… the door rings again, insistently and loudly!

Barbara jumped out of the bed and slightly opened the door (I overheard):

"The driver is here"

(the alarm hasn't ringed yet! I was pissed!)

 "I am sorry; what time is it"?

"7:56a"

(Ooooops…) 

"Oh, I am so sorry!!! Please tell him we'll be downstairs in 25 minutes"

And we rushed! My phone battery was dead, and Basia fell asleep before setting up an alarm!

After paying for water (and seeing how they write the receipt, show it to you and then keep it… apparently another Indian tradition), we  devoured breakfast and left 1 hour late :(

Long car trip to Jaipur. We see lots of Holy Cows & Holy Buffaloes stopping anywhere, moving slowly through traffic… and eating trash!

PIX

Camels and donkeys roam on the road, too

PIX

And we arrive to Jaipur, "The Pink City"… really? ):)

BB: "How can people dress like this in this heat"?

City Palace

Wind Palace

04.24 "Terrible Lie"(Nine Inch Nails)

Asia

India

New Delhi->Agra

After doing my second watching Real Madrid to see them lose (this time against Bayern München) AND see them win (as they did against Barça), I took a nap and pretty early we were riding to Agra. 

On the highway so see many unusual things for someone from the Midwest USA… but India is far away! 

• Speed bumps

• A man sweeping with a broom on the side of the road

• Bikes as people crossing

• Bus stops (and of course people waiting on the shoulder)

Near New Delhi we saw for some kilometers a lot of "Multinational Corporation" buildings being constructed… and A LOT is short! It felt like watching a snapshot of a big city being constructed anew; like a bizarre mix between 2 movies and 1 real transient city: "Dark City" + "Brazil" + Black Rock City. 

At a "pee stop", I experience in the restroom 2 very common:

• People stare at you like a kid 

• Nobody waits in line

Our driver on this part of the trip (until we're back to Delhi) is Amit. We talk about many topics along the ride, being the most important related to married life (Amit: "Without wife, no life" ;) We exchange info about cultural practices and taboos and suddenly, there we are: Agra!

Our first stop here was the Tomb of Etimad Ud Doulah

2 PIX

The entrance gate (we did not want to pay to go beyond) had the same style we'd see later at The Taj…

About Agra: today is Election Day on this state.(India is the largest democracy in the world, so you can imagine the exponential spinning of promises and lies… terrible lies!

And Lies lead us to the main attraction of Agra: Taj Mahal (READ ABOUT IT) romantic tale, murder mystery or hijack by Muslims of a Shiva temple?

PIX TAJ MAHAL

Once gone through the South Gate of Taj Mahal, it dawn on me that the Wedding #5 had to be postponed! I forgot my GoPro SD card and got pretty upset at my stupidity on not checking the camera beforehand & Basia was suffering a heat shock = headache + dehydration… that means, neither was in the best mood to reaffirm our votes ):) it was a pity; Basia looked so pretty!!!

Rest of the day: Rest and recover! ;)  We even didn't use WiFi for Blog Job!

And while we were about to watch a movie at 1030pm, the bell of the door rang insistently, and as I walked there the phone started ringing loudly! I opened the door and a short guy stepped on (like trying to 

enter) shouting "give me your passport"! I knew this was just their way if asking for things,  but I stand firmly and look at him upset and in silence. Since I was more than double his size, the guy stepped back and I told him "wait here", closed the door and answer the phone that kept ringing all the time: 

"This is the front desk; someone will go for the passport, please give it to him"

"OK" and I hanged up

I didn't know what passport they wanted, so I opened the door (the guy was a couple of steps away) and gave him both passports without a word. He didn't say a thing and turn around and left. It was a precise non-verbal communication. 

Ten minutes later the man at the front desk came to the room to tell me my passport was expired… so that was the mess (NOTE: they made copies of passports on every hotel and also when I bought a SIM card). I explained him patiently hybrid it wasn't expired and showed the extension. He was not very convinced so I explained again and he accepted it and gave them back. 

Then I watch "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" while Basia fell asleep (surprise! Jaja!) and, before falling asleep, I saw I had 15% battery (Basia was using our only charger) so I set up the alarm at 630am and when to sleep for 4 hours, since I know the phone lasts on Airplane Mode more than 4 hours with that much battery left…

------------------------------------

04.23 "Ball Of Confusion" (Love & Rockets)

Asia

India

New Delhi

 (Still got to add pix; whenever you see a post that lacks details like this one, it is "work in progress"!

Buy tix for Hardiwar-(train)->; Jammu-(jeep)->; Srinagar (trekking, boat, camping)->(air)->; Delhi

Red Fort

Head-tilting/wobbling

No mosque (Jama Masjid)

Car parts bazaar

Old market

Dirt dust

Honking

PIX CART NO SEAT

Autocarts (Tuk Tuk)

Rajghat (Ghandi)

PIX FLAME

We had lunch at the same restaurant as yesterday's. Basia already knew the place from her stop at Chennai during Semester At The Sea (her first trip around the world!). Yesterday I was concerned all the veggie food was going to explode inside my guts… but, since it didn't happen, here we are again!

PIX BUTTER ROAST DOSAI

Baha'i Temple (Lotus of B…)

PIX BAHA'I TEMPLE

Dinner @ Denise's: tiramisu

04.22 "Tattva" (Kula Shaker)

Asia

India

New Delhi

At least if French instead of British had colonized India, maybe guys would use some "cologne"…

(Still got to add pix; whenever you see a post that lacks details like this one, it is "work in progress"!)

Visitor Center

Tix for Delhi-Jaipur-Agra-Hardiwar

Taxi for 2 days (Ahmet)

Lunch

Temple swastikas

Boars

Polish contingent

India Gate

Tomb

Lodhi Garden

Chipmunks gone wild!

Directions to find a place in Delhi…

Dinner @ Denise's