Namaste
Trip Start
Apr 28, 2009
1
2
3
Trip End
Jun 10, 2009
Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
such an incredible and different place...it even smells different. Oh
the smells. Cow shit, burning cow shit, Indian food, incense, flowers,
garbage...all mixed together equals the smell of India. It's actually not as bad as it sounds...
I'll start from the beginning: We had a lovely flight on Qatar
Airlines (a fantastic airline if you are ever traveling though the Middle East) and we had a layover in Saudi
Arabia. At the airport, Rutherford and I experienced the most diverse
group of people we have ever seen in one place. There were so many
different skin colors, robes and turbans. Some women were covered from
head to toe while others were dressed like me. It was pretty amazing.
Rutherford interviewed a man from Oman and though his English was not
all that great, he was smiley and welcoming. Anyway, it was a fascinating layover and definitely made me
want to learn more about the variety of cultures in that region of the
world...
We landed in India at 3:30am and even though I had not gotten much
sleep, I was wide awake from excitement. As soon as we left the airport I could feel the amazing
energy of this country. Our first day in India was surreal and
beautiful for me. We met up with one of Rutherford's friends- a woman
who made me feel great just by being near her. She is Buddhist nun
named Venerable Tenzin. We walked around a nice part of Delhi with
her, Rutherford had a great interview with her, and we filmed her
getting her head shaved out on the street. (Buddhist nuns all have shaved heads since
they are trying to avoid using any time on things such as appearance
so they have more energy for their practice). Anyway,
it was great walking around town- we got so many looks from the people we were passing. A Buddhist nun,
a 6'6" blond man and an American girl dressed very different from the
other women out on the street. It was quite the site for these people. It was a great day and I learned a
great deal about Buddhism, even though it is not all that common in
India. It is an open and beautiful spiritual philosophy.
Early the next morning we ventured to the train station to attempt to
take a train to Rishikesh, but it turns out that the trains fill up
quickly in India so we ended up getting a taxi to take us 6 hours
north to Rishikesh. Oh my goodness the drive was intense! My eyes were glued to the scenes passing outside. The way the Indian people live is unbelievable- so many slums and people living in the street...so much trash everywhere... colorful clothing, cows, stray dogs.... It's definitely difficult to describe. We got some incredible footage that will help tell the story. On top of the views
outside of the car, it was pretty crazy to be in the car as well. Our
taxi driver was flying down the streets- passing everyone and
everything in sight. I was slightly concerned for our lives a few
times, but we made it safe and sound. Arriving in Rishikesh was such a
wonderful relief for us both- what a beautiful part of India! The
small town is nestled right in the foothills of the Himalayas right on
the Ganges river. The people are so colorful, welcoming and friendly. It is definitely still India- don't get me wrong. There were people begging on the street, trash everywhere and cows hanging out in the road, but the feeling was much more peaceful than the feeling in Delhi. The people seemed so calm and at ease, and there was no harassing like you may experience in the cities of India. And I personally enjoyed having cows walking around with us. They are surprisingly adorable.
We stayed in the one Ashram in town that had availability, and besides
the itchy, disgusting bed bug bites on my legs, the dirty floors and
bathroom, and the fact that the power and water only worked part of
the time- it was actually a good home for us. We were right in the
quiet part of town where cars were not allowed- which was wonderful
since the Indians LOVE to honk their horns. I just heard a horn honk
as I wrote that...
We filmed so much footage in Rishikesh! 3 times as much as Italy. We interviewed a healing man who cleansed Rutherford of negative energy without even touching him, a pot smoking spiritual man who lives on the street, a loving Indian man whose enormous family was surrounding us (which brought us both to tears), a man who does Kundaliani yoga (not yet popular in Rishikesh), a quaint man who lives in the mountains with his family... wow there were so many great moments that I got to watch through the camera. Yesterday was probably a highlight- we went up into the Himalayas and Rutherford interviewed a few unique characters. We then were convinced that hiking back to Rishikesh was our best option and so Rutherford in his flip flops, all of the camera equipment, and me covered in sweat, hiked up and then down a mountain to get back to Rishikesh. It was absolutely gorgeous, but it took us longer than anticipated and so near the end we were literally running, in 100 degree weather, to get to our next interview. It was hot and exhausting... but luckily our next interviewee was waiting for us. His name is Swami Dharmanand and he is a teacher at our ashram. I cannot wait for you all to see this interview- he is such an amazing spirit and he had very interesting things to say about Hinduism (the predominate religion of India), about God, life, Indian culture, karma, the East vs the West, the masculine and feminine...etc. Some people have smiling eyes- this man has grinning eyes. You can tell he is completely at peace. Hinduism is a great religion as well- very open and welcoming to everyone. Swami Dharmanand's shrine had a picture of all of the world's "gods" from Jesus to Mother Teresa to Shiva. To the Hindus, everyone has God within them, which is why we were treated so well everywhere we went in Rishikesh. Goodness, I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful the people are. They are all seem so happy and peaceful...
We discussed the differences between the East and the West with each other as well as with many people we met and the common conclusion was that in the East, in India for instance, they look inside of themselves to find bliss and in the West, we look outside of ourselves. We figure that a nice house, lots of money, a fancy car, designer clothing- that these things will bring happiness, but as we have clearly seen- this does not work! Americans could take a lesson or two from the Indians when it comes to happiness! They are walking around with cows, in trash, in hot weather with no air conditioning, with everything smelling like poop and in general, these people are very happy. You should all come over to India and see for yourselves. I have truly enjoyed being in this country.
Ok, I am rambling, and I am really having trouble expressing all of the different emotions that Rutherford and I have experienced over the past week. Hopefully the story from all of the fantastic footage we shot will be more clear than my rambling blog...We are back in Delhi now (we took a train from Rishikesh- definitely an awesome train experience, even though it was soooo hot) and our flight leaves for Singapore tonight. We will be in Bali by tomorrow night. I cannot wait to see what another week of this adventure brings! We will keep you posted for sure. For now, namaste.
-Jeniece
