Travel In, Travel Out

In the words of Bowie: "Ch-ch-ch-changes!!"  

The Dalai Lama says to treat everyone like an old friend.  He just forgot to mention that this excludes single Indian men.  And after accidentally befriending a few too many questionable characters, I decided I'd had enough of Mcleod Ganj.  And so in an impulsive but instinctive moment, I hopped a bus and found myself in Rishikesh, sitting on the banks the holiest river in India, the Ganga.  (aka Gayn-jeez)

I stayed in the village of Lakshman Julha, place of the quintessential Rishikesh photo-op: 

  

If I didn't feel like I was in India up to this point, I sure as hell felt it now.  The funny thing was though, that it was actually less frenetic and more relaxing than Mcleod Ganj.  The flowing river, views of the foothills, and the mildly hot temperature were soothing and healing.  With my new personal rule, "only smiling on the inside permitted," the people didn't bother me.  It was a new beginning and a fresh look at Hindu India.

Rishikesh is known as the "yoga capital of the world."  (Where are you, sis?!)  It is notorious for the 'Beatles' ashram', that of Maharishi Mahesh where the Beatles stayed in the 60s.  Many songs from the White Album were written there, just up the hill from Swarg Ashram, an area with a name that means "ashram heaven".  Yes, there are many ashrams in this part of the country, being right on the holiest river.  I thought I'd continue on the path within, but that was thwarted by unexpected good times with two perfect strangers.  

Moshe and Itamar: two Israelis that I met on the bus to Rishikesh who changed my life in ways I can hardly put into words.  Never have I ever felt more comfortable sitting in silence with people I barely knew.  Sometimes I meet people whom I feel like I've known in a past life.  Not these two.  Despite the automatic familiarity and strange sense of comfort, I don't think I've met these two up until now, and good, because now was the perfect time for them to show up.

A few people had recommended I read the book "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle.  I finally got my hands on it and it has hugely changed my awareness of my thoughts and self.  I wonder what kind of effect it would have had on me if I had read it elsewhere... I can't be sure.  But I am sure that it found me (or rather I found it- in a bookshop in Swarg Ashram) at the right moment.  It's all about freeing yourself from the ego, disengaging and breaking your identification with form, and realizing your true state of oneness with everything, as opposed to that silly narrative you make up that you think defines who you are.  The Israelis had never read the book, but they seemed to embody everything it talked about.  It was hard to notice any kind of 'ego' in them.  They never fought, never said anything negative, neither complimented nor teased me; they just were.  And I was able to just be also.  At first I acted in my usual slightly self-conscious way.  I doubt they noticed.  After a few days I realized that these two had figured out a peaceful way of existence and could instinctively just go with whatever flowed at any moment.  With those two, I realized the true meaning, my own meaning, of 'Om shanti shanti'.  

I still don't know much about Moshe and Itamar but I have a pretty clear sense of them, their essence.  Both arriving in India alone, they met on the plane from Israel and had been traveling together up until now.  They took me in and included me, as if I'd been there with them from the start.  They were the male companions I had been needing by my side.  We went hiking up waterfalls, swimming, rafting, dove into a valley on a flying fox, and at the end of every day we would head down to the Ganga Freedom Cafe for a lazy dinner... iced lemon nana, guacamole, veg. makhani, chipati... sitting on pillows on the floor, which makes it a lot easier to lie down right after the meal.  Twenty minutes later I'd be sipping on chai and sharing a Hello to the Queen (carmelized bananas, cookie crumbles, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, nuts, coconut shavings).  How could I have ever ordered this alone?  

And to top it all off, on about the fifth of our eight days together in Rishikesh I finally taught them how to play Cribbage.  And they loved it as much as I do!  

Sadly Moshe returned to Israel tonight, but I'll be reuniting with Itamar next week (God willing) to take our method of Being to the Taj Mahal.

Bless you both, and bless good friends new and old.