Could you please pretend to be my husband?

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Eiiiyy. So much to talk about since my last update!!!!! I believe it's been about six weeks since the last post... which brings me to my 3 month mark here in India.

From Delhi, I was originally supposed to head to Dharamshala, yet i was told it was unsafe due to a small conflict with the chinese government and the Dalai Llama (these conflicts tend to be ongoing). Dharamshala was still freezing at the time, so it's probably better that I headed to Rishikesh- yoga capital of the world. There is yoga everywhere, the small town is located on the upper part of the Ganges river. There are many criminals dressed in orange to disguise themselves as sadus, or holy men, but otherwise Rishikesh was incredibly safe. Oh, and, foreigners run the town. I've never seen so many tourists in my life. I made a million friends, it felt nice to finally meet other travelers who I could hang out with and share my experience with, as much as I knew that Rishikesh was far from being real India.

I started at a small ashram called yoga niketan ashram The ashram fed us a strict vegetarian diet without use of onions and garlic, 3 times a day. In yoga philosophy fruits, vegetables and grains are considered Sattvic (pure) foods, foods like garlic, onion, and radishes are Rajastic (active/ stimulating) foods, and meats are Tamastic (lazy, dead) foods. Meat is actually illegal in Rishikesh, as is alcohol. I remained a vegetarian the full 5 weeks I lived there. Here was the ashram schedule:

5 am- wake up bell
5:30- 6:30- morning meditation
6:45-7:45- morning yoga
8-8:30- breakfast
9-12- reading at library
12-12:30- Lunch
12:30-3- library reading
3:10-4 -lecture
4-4:30- tea time
4:45-6 -yoga
6-7 meditation
7-7:30 dinner
8-9- singing ( only twice a week)

It was quite a schedule... time passed very fast, life became predictable. It was nice to be in the ashram for a while, I built my strength here and reintroduced meditation into my day (something I had lost in my first month). The best part of the ashram had to be the people I met. It was here that I became close with my friends Melissa (Canada), Victoria (Croatia), Otto (Mexico), and Eva (Poland). I remained friends with these people throughout my stay in Rishikesh.

pictures from the ashram, Victoria and Mellisa, Rishikesh:


























I decided to find a yoga teacher certification program to participate in during my stay in yoga capital of the world. It's much cheaper in India than in California. I found a month long Sivananda style training course. the schedule was as follows:
8:30 to 10:30- yoga
3 to 5- lecture
5 to 7- yoga
The course has a written test on yoga philosophy and yoga, as well as a requirement of teaching several of the classes. When I wasn't eating and studying (the two things i did most! man was I hungry as a vegetarian) i was making a bunch of friends. I moved into an itty bitty room that cost me 2 dollars a night. It was just enough space, I was actually quite happy there. I was in the busy part of Rishikesh, I met new friends almost every day. I became close with many people in my yoga class, including my friends Jen and Gene from Thailand, and my friend Annamieke (Canada) who I love very much and will probably meet up with in Nepal in May. I meditated 30 minutes at least every day. Understanding the yoga philosophy helped me deepen my meditations, it was amazing.

below are pictures of my room and my yoga class (as well as more of rishikesh). The cool dome pictures are from the ashram where the beatles wrote their album White, we did yoga there one day.



















Annameike and I!















I started getting wrestles in Rishikesh. The bubble was definitely nice; I got a decent break from Indian food as I ate at the "health food" touristy cafes, but I knew that there was so much more to see in India, just waiting for me. Many people get stuck in the Rishikesh bubble for months at a time. I made sure to book my train ticket for the day my yoga teacher training ended. The original plan was to find a travel buddy, but everyone is on their own mission over here in India, as am I. I decided to leave alone, Destination Varanasi.

My stay in Varanasi was very short, only a few days, yet the city had an enormous impact on me. Varanasi is one of the most holy cities in India, many people pilgrimage from all over to bath in the ganges. Varanasi is about 12 hours train ride away from Rishikesh thus the river barley moves here, and is significantly more polluted. There are stairs along the whole river called Ghats, each ghat has a name. Small ally ways lead away from the ghats. My best time in Varanasi was simply getting lost in these ally ways and finding my way back to the ghats. It's considered holy to burn the dead body of a loved one here, and once burned in Varanasi, the persons soul is freed from Samskara, or the cycle of death and rebirth; they will exit the cycle of reincarnation. There are certain ghats that are designated to these expensive funerals.
I was very lucky to meet my friend Pierre, who would be heading to Darjeeling around the same time as me. Varanasi was a rough place to be a woman, he was really good to me and walked me home every night.

Varanasi had an impact on me in two important ways.

First of all, Varanasi made me feel almost angry to be a woman. The men were very aggressive here. I definitely got stared at, followed home, and physically sexually harassed. I didn't feel safe walking in the ally ways here. Being groped in the streets infuriated me, but mostly depressed me. I felt to the fullest extent, for the first time, what it meant not to have woman power. I also found out that pregnant women and menstruating women who die in this state aren't aloud to be burned at the ghats because they're considered dirty.
Furthermore, I was here for Holi, the color festival. I understood during this festival that men ruled this world. The men all god drunk and doused each other with colored dyes, the women stayed inside because it wasn't safe to be outside for them. I stayed inside too. Pierre and I left for Darjeeling later this day. I changed my train ticket to match Pierre's, and I asked him to pretend to be my husband, this is the only way I felt safe traveling on Holi.

Second of all, Varanasi really illuminated the cycle of life and death for me. This city was so crowded, so alive. And at the same time, there was death all around me. Dogs and cows were dead on the ground, human bodies were constantly being carried through the streets and to the ghats to be burned. Varanasi made death appear completely normal. Passing grieving families along the ghats helped me to understand something. This country is very old and full of wisdom. Birth and death are very normal here. Wisdom about how to grieve has been passed down through generations. A whole life cycle can be seen in the course of a day. It really makes life seem short.

Below are a small few pictures of Varanasi:









I'm currently in Darjeeling, which is a safe lovely town in the mountains. Also known as Bianca's Tea Heaven. It's so cute and refreshing and wonderful! I went to the Zoo the other day and saw Himalayan animals, it was awesome. I'm leaving tomorrow for a trek, after the trek I will have an extensive blog on Darjeeling and Sikkim.

To all of my friends and family, I love you guys and miss you like crazy. Until next time!

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Comments

[Jasy]

wow
Bonky this seems like a profoundly interesting adventure! Good for you for not taking the safe touristy way, and good for you for being careful! Learning about gender and death and life in other paradigms is one of the most powerful lessons about traveling. You look gorgeous and healthy and I miss you!!!! ~your loving big sister

[George]

[e-mail]
I love these photos B! I cant wait to here all the stories.