05.06 "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"(The Smiths)/"Road To Nowhere"(Talking Heads)

Asia

India ->Kashmir

Jammu->Srinagar

We arrived to Jammu on schedule, 440am. I immediately thought of the movie "Soylent Green": there are always a lot of people on the floor on Indian train station… but here it was impressive: we had to walk through the maze left by people sleeping on the floor in what many times appeared as a random distribution… outside there was our "guide" waiting as expected; his job was to walk us 50 meters to the taxi/jeep stop and start discussing prices. We finally got in, but had to wait one hour until the jeep was full… then more price discussion… then some more minutes for no apparent reason… then more money coming and going… and then we go!

Enjoying a beautiful sunrise, we notice the driver turns on a crossing and starts driving on the wrong side of the road for about 2 km… but all was good! It's India, baby!

There were lots of monkeys by the road, but saw no road kills despite people throwing food at them. Clever bastards!

Another thing that we found amazing were the impressive routes and tunnels  being built... reminded me movies like Emmerich's "2012" where humans prepare for the Apocalypse!

All went relatively well until... flat tire

It is amazing how many military posts are in this region. As we waited for the tire to be changed, we heard gunshots on the distance. Also a lot of military trucks, more as we came closer to Kashmir.

Breakfast… deliciously unknowable; also fix tire… and cleaned air filter… long delay...

Look at this 5-Star roadside Hotel!

3 hours of drive so far; maybe 5 hours more…

The title song came to my mind as we were hugging and our driver was passing a car on the mountain road just before a curve…

"…and if a ten ton truck

Kills the both of us

To die by your side

Is such a heavenly way to die…"

Another stop for lunch. Again, strange carnivorous food and people eat with their fingers... I love it!!! }:-)

Back on the car, more driving... we start seeing snow at the peak of mountains

We get to a point where we have our passports checked:

"1840 meters above see (sic) level"

After that, we enter into a 2.5 km tunnel and emerge into the beautiful Kashmir Valley! Impressive!

Way later we stop for toll. Backing, a truck breaks left back lights if our car... that leads to a small fight.

We keep rolling... we finally seem to flow quickly until, about 65 km before Srinagar… huge clusterfuck!!

340pm… we get out, stretch… movement! We all jump in the car… the other line moves 1 car, ours none. Eventually we start moving.

Observation: we are not in the USA; you can't be a gentleman in a clusterfuck. 

Forty minutes later we're out! In the end, it wasn't that bad ;)

As with the whole trip, since we were tightly packed, sleeping implied close contact…

It is incredible how any day I drive in Chicago, Milwaukee or in between I see at least 1 accident. In all the days we've been in India, we've seen none. 

Now in Srinagar; the most notable: it is filled with military garrisons. 

We left the jeep at 6:04pm; got into another jeep and arrived to the houseboat at 6:45pm =>About 14 hours on a Road To Nowhere!

Boathouse... but the boat does not move; only rocks and creaks ;) At least we have a lovely view!

Every time w flush the toilet we hear a noise by the boat… interesting...

After a lovely dinner, we went to bed under the spell of calls to prayer… I'll talk about it as soon as I recover from this long day! Good night!

05.05 "Nirvana"(The Cult)

Asia

India 

Rishikesh->Haridwar->Jammu

Our last sunrise on Rishikesh… for now

This view brings us back to my promise from yesterday: to explain some concepts related to different stages of illumination/liberation. Keep in mind this is just my  understanding (refreshed and expanded by Wikipedia ;), which is clearly limited and quite likely full of mistakes!

A) Satori is a (Japanese) Zen Buddhist term for awakening, comprehension, understanding. It is a deeper experience achieved after kenshō , "seeing into one's true nature", and both concepts are commonly translated as "enlightenment"

B) Samadhi:  In Buddhism, it refers to a state of consciousness in which the mind becomes very still but does not merge with the object of attention, and is thus able to observe and gain insight into the changing flow of experience.

In Hinduism it is described as a high level of concentration during meditation; a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the consciousness of the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object. The mind becomes still while the person remains conscious. Samādhi can also refer to the complete absorption of the individual consciousness in the self at the time of death - usually referred to as mahasamādhi.

C) Nirvāṇa: It literally means "blown out", as in a candle. In Buddhism it refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished. Once achieved, you're released from the cycle of death and rebirth (Samsara)

D) Moksha: In Hinduism means emancipation, liberation or release through self-realization and self-knowledge. According to some authors it is achieved immediately after nirvana; others use both terms interchangeably. 

Time for farewells:

Lunch with the bunch and group picture:

Hasta la vista, Ganga

(no pictures; just a sweet, brief swim and sunbathe on the little rocky island's beach. 

Adios Rishikesh; Haridwar, we arranged the trip to stay here as little as possible (like… 1 hour ;)

In the end, we stayed 10 minutes… we made it just in time and thanks to our driver (who was a guy that happened to be at the meeting point, not the driver hired). He took us on a very picturesque toll road that was practically empty (toll: U$ 1); longer but faster! (the other road is horrible, and probably so full we wouldn't make it). Here is his info:

Overnight train Haridwar->Jammu.  We didn't seem to have assigned seats, but if there were #1 & 2 appeared on the paper… We sat each on our supposed seats/beds. After a few minutes, another guy came. He looked at us "the Indian way" (staring shamelessly but saying nothing; and the ass spoke English), sat by my side, took of his sandals and started talking in the phone. 

The ticket controller took out paper, look on his papers for a while, and finally assigned us seats on the other run of the cart. His English as manners were both quite rudimentary, but it was quite obvious he wanted me and Basia to share one… he left and we took one each.  Another guy was on the opposite bed and we finally clarified the situation: the train was probably overbooked, and that means we had to share. Nice…

But we didn't share! My sleep was interrupted a few times, but I slept a lot. Poor Basia not only went to the bathroom like 5 times; she was also awakened by the rude ticket controller (she thinks to tell her the seat was confirmed… ja!)

05.04 "Happiness Is A Warm Gun"(The Beatles)

Asia

India 

Rishikesh 

… A trekking adventure! Basia is feeling better but not that well, so she stayed. After driving a while uphill on a winding road, we arrived to a cave that has been used by holy (wo)men to meditate for centuries. 

"The goal in Life" according to this sign is to achieve Samadhi… I'll return tomorrow to clarify the topic of different levels if enlightenment/liberation (concepts difficult to understand…)

…and talking about understanding, if I thought understanding Basia was a challenge… meet Sonu! 

He is a lovely an talented Yoga instructor, who also takes care of a myriad details in the Ashram. Most of the times I have to hear a short phrase in context and think about it for some seconds before understanding! Anyway, the title of top difficulty to understand for my brain belongs to Becs, our (also lovely) kayak instructor in Antarctica. The strong Kiwi (New Zealander) accent beat my previous challenge (a strong Scottish accent). 

Back yo the cave (no pox allowed… nothing to see anyway; just a dark cave) I enjoyed like 15 mins… after that I got restless (still can't hold physically a comfortable position for a long time) but that time was enough to feel calmness and a vibrating energy; I guess the practice has sensitized me a bit. 

But the cave didn't look safe, so I got out and sat somewhere else

(I always follow orders :P)

This lizard wasn't paying attention to signs either!

After The Cave, we drove down to a "restaurant" to have breakfast. Since the selection of food was not very ample, I went for the omelette… more about it later…

Then it was time for The Waterfall… driving even more uphill on a narrower, unpaved road that was severely eroded by water… that OBVIOUSLY implied close encounters face-to-face with other cars

Of course we also had to walk uphill! It was a nice hike that reminded me I am still a fatass that seriously has to get back into a shape different than "round"

The massage under the waterfall was lovely… but then, we had I descend all that we ascended

(It was not that much; I'm just being melodramatic! ;) The most important thing was to avoid spraining my ankles, so I constantly had to stop thinking g about awesome ideas and focus on the next step!

Meanwhile, it was obvious that the omelette was a Trojan Horse that sneaked into my body an invading army… the battle was fierce and a couple of times I thought my defenses were being defeated… but We prevailed! There were skirmishes during the rest of the day but the souls of the "evil bacteria" slowly and intermittently abandoned my body in a series of rumbling winds… ;)

We returned just after noon; Basia was now up for our next adventure, that proved to be much more interesting than the previous one…

We walked South for about an hour to reach the abandoned Mahareshi Mahesh Yogi Ashram (a.k.a. "Beatles Ashram"). It is on the borderline of the jungle, in what is now a protected area. It is left to decay, since "the political powers" do not let anyone take care of it due to old, strong differences with the Mahareshi… basically, left to die due to dirty politics. 

In this Ashram The Beatles composed The White Album (the title song is my favorite one from that period). Not only the album represented yet another jump into new horizons for the band; it was also a time when all fabulous 4 started diverging in their musical, spiritual and philosophical styles. 

Below are pictures taken inside the huge complex. I was impressed by 4 things: 1) how big is the complex; 2) how destroyed it is; 3) the acoustics inside the conical stone huts; 4) some of the graffiti art, mostly one room in one of the main buildings as the famous "Beatles Cathedral". Take a look below ;)

Then Basia and I left the rest of the troupe that went to a ceremony by Ganga, and walked straight back

(for a moment I felt transported to The Planet Of The Apes…)

Poor little Basunia was again feeling really bad…

(the sign above is about the benefits of colonic cleansing… jajaja!)

Strong winds, dust and a gloomy sky warned us we might not arrive before being drenched, so we walked as fast as we could but doing some stops… after we got out of one store, we found the floor soaked; we just missed the rain because there was none more :)

We had dinner at 9 and went to sleep and had 9 dreams…

05.03 "Enjoy The Silence"(Depeche Mode)

Asia

India

Rishikesh

"…all I ever wanted, all I ever needed

is here, in my arms

words are very unnecessary

they can only do harm"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Mv3WS3D-o

My favorite song of Depeche Mode reverberates in my mind every time I explore the realm that exists beyond logic… in that realm you can only use expressions with terms familiar to us but in a combination that defies our comprehension:

Hear the Silence

See the Darkness

Touch the Void

Smell Time

Taste Space

Experience Nothingness

The crude attempt to use words to express what cannot be expressed with words only emphasizes the idea that the only way to reach that realm is through practice of activities that help you control and later transcend your body. 

As Chuang Tzu expressed: 

"The purpose of a fishtrap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten.

The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten. 

The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. 

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to."

Early morning at Pranayama (breathing techniques) I had a very interesting conversation with our instructor Tanmay. From time to time it is nice to get in touch with people that share the same unorthodox viewpoint on Life, The Universe and Everything ;)

After Pranayama we did Asanas with Vivek on a sand bank by the Ganga.  Amazing!

Since today was the last day of doing Asanas, Sunno (with Vivek, our Yoga instructors) had the GREAT idea to do "abdominal asanas"… I could feel how the massage of the abdominal organs was releasing tensions… and at the end comes the relaxation… suddenly I realized my Spirit was dwelling in my intestines and had a firm intention yo start an Astral Voyage… I still can't believe how I managed to avoid farting several times!!

After releasing many Spirits in the comfort of loneliness, it was time for  meditation practice. Our teacher is again Tanmay, and we performed the third day of Kundalini Meditation. It was another great experience; each one has been different but in all I felt intense energy. In the last one a realization came to me… one of those elegantly beautiful ideas I can't discard. It was an interesting correlation between chakras and the planets in the solar system:

Mercury (hottest planet)

Venus (sex chakra)

Earth (gravity center; solar plexus, hara)

Mars (heart)

Jupiter (throat)

Saturn (Kronos, Time, pineal, melatonin…)

Uranus (axis inclined 90 degrees… so the flow of its energy is perpendicular to other planets, just like to crown chakra)

Before dinner, our Brazilian artist Camila performed a Contemporary Dance that she graciously dedicated to all of us and Ganga. 

Poor Basia is still feeling up and mostly down after 2 days. Abdominal cramping is very debilitating, as I have experienced myself. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be fully recovered for our next adventure…

05.02 "Clean"(Depeche Mode)/"My Sweet Lord"(George Harrison)

Asia

India

Rishikesh

The song "Clean" refers to the purification process Basia and I had early today. 

Basia suffered from vomiting and diarrhea several times during the night which, accompanied by the other monthly purification that reproducive-able females suffer, made her morning quite miserable :(

On my side, I voluntarily submitted myself to a stomach cleaning procedure that involved drinking about 2.5 liters of salty water and then induce vomiting

(Warning: graphic image follows) :P

I have the vomit reflex poorly developed, so I am sure I did not vomit all I drank… in cue to confirm my belief, less than an hour later I had diarrhea. 

"…now I'm clean…" ):)

Later Basia started feeling better; at breakfast we had Peace guarding our door…

… and Basia almost completely recovered after a couple of naps and garlic bread

I left the room for 5 minutes; when I returned, I had to penetrated a wall of garlic smell! :)

Later that evening I saw a Hare Krishna and that reminded me of George Harrison and The Beatles and that in a couple of days we'll visit the corpse of the Ashram where The Beatles composed their self-titled album, also known as The White Album because… it was all white ;) 

The second song of the day is a beautiful inspired melody that balances the darkness of the first song; you can hear both here:

"Clean"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_yU8u55ssI

"My Sweet Lord"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qJTJNfzvr8