Hanging in Haridwar

Woke up about 6-ish yesterday, and went for a walk. Ended up at what i think must have been, if I've read the book right, the Jai Ram Ashram. A rag taggle group of sadhus, in orange robes and with painted forheads, were gathering in the driveway, opposite a small food stall, obviously waiting to be fed.

The driveway opened up into a large courtyard, dotted about with several little temples, statues and wall mural type thingies, that looked as thought they were depicting scenes from something or other. The statues were large, mainly white, but a couple had had their facial features highlighted in coloured paint, as though they were wearing make up- a slightly disconcerting effect!!

Back at the hotel, I got chatting to one of the aussie girls in the next hut; they'd arrived at 4am the previous morning, and had already been to Har ki Pauri, so she gave me directions.

Har ki Pauri is considered a holy spot, and is where believers go to wash away their sins in the Ganges. I walked down after breakfast, and although there wasn't a ceremony going on (they happen at sunrise and sunset) there were still loads of people, splashing around in the river, wandering around the stalls, buying puja to let, having blessings etc. I hovered around at the back for a bit, and after a while, plucked up the courage to walk down the steps to the river's edge- well, the steps were very wet, and probably slippery, and you can't be too careful!!- where three middle aged women, thru pigen english and miming holding their noses and sinking down, jokingly asked if I was planning to submerge myself in the river.

Later in the day, I went to the Mana Devi temple. Going up involved the scariest cable car ride in the world- imagine the equivalent of three Thorpe Park rides, all with names like Death Wrangler or Wall of Fear, and you'll get the picture. The cable cars take three or four people, and going up I was in with an indian couple, who could tell from my face that I was sitting there, fists, teeth and toes clenched, trying not to think about safety records and that teeny, tiny piece of metal, that we were balancing on the cable from (I'm sure it's a tad more technical than that, but logic goes out the window when you're several thousand feet up, dangling by a piece of wire wool). The Indian bloke kept saying to me, "Look behind you, it's a lovely view", but I'm not stuipid- first rule of showbiz- don't look down.

Haven't read up on the temple yet, so probably got it all wrong, but it seemed to consist of several smaller temples. People were threading through, following a designated route, stopping at each of the temples to receive a blessing. At one of the temples, people were leaing forward, and the holy man would give them a hefty slap on the back. I couldn't quite see how this constituted a blessing, and had my suspicions that the man administering them was perhaps simply exercising anger problems, so gave him a fairly wide berth.

Going down on the cable car was, strangely, a little less scary- maybe the blessings I hadn't wimped out of had done the trick. I wandered round for a bit more, then went and sat in the hotel garden, by the river.

Later that evening, i went back to Har ki pauri for the sundown ceremony. Marching bands were walking through the streets, there were fireworks, people dancing. The ghat was much more crowded than it had been earlier in the day- this time I hung back a little, and stood watching from the steps above. There was lots of what sounded like devotional music, people singing and waving their arms. Several people were in the river, throwing themselves into the currents- they tended mostly to be men, so I don't know if that means women don't have any sins.

This morning, got a cab up here to Mussoorie, where I'm treating myself to a couple of nights in one of the old Raj places.

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