Friday, July 7, 2006 Haridwar holy city on the Ganges
There was class and a quiz I did really well on, by complete luck. I ate some lunch, and then Ajay, Jackie, Erin, and I got picked up by the Sikh cab driver (what's new) for Ha
ridwar. I was carsick on the way down to Dehra Dun, the capital of Uttaranchal, a typical Indian city with lots of forests, storefronts, vikrams, bicycles, cars, and people everywhere. It looked really dirty (again, what’s new). It took 2.5 hours to get to Haridwar, a holy Hindu city located at the point where the Ganges emerges from the Himalayas. The green cloudy hills slope down into the large, sediment-filled cloudy Ganges. A huge gold statue of Shiva against the backdrop of the Ganges and sloping green hills greets you as you drive in. It is hot and humid, not like Mussoorie. We checked into the really nice three-story deserted hotel, Hotel Sachin. Since it’s the off-season it was dead. Next time I’m not going to make reservations. We walked out of the hotel, and walked down Railway Road, the main drag. The train station was across the street, so there was a massive congregation of pilgrims (dressed in white loosely-draped cloths with prayer beads, walking sticks, dreads, and orange facepaint), drivers, taxis, bicycle rickshaws, horse carriages, and Vikrams. It was a lot to take in, even a small Indian city (population 220,000). It smelled like rotting garbage and incense and feces, traffic and cattle and poor Indian workers and pilgrims filled up every inch of space on the street, and all you could hear were high-pitched honks, rickshaw motors, and Hindi. There was refuse and feces everywhere, as people just discard both wherever the
y please here. The roads were narrow and had traffic circles centered around statues of Shiva. Shops abound, selling everything from shoes to samosas to breath mints to fruit to prasad. It was a typical Indian city, all aspects of life occurring right on the street. It was really dirty, especially for a holy city. It is so holy that Muslims don’t live here, and there is meat is nowhere to be found. We walked through the bazaar to the Ganges and walked over the bridge. The Ganges splits off at Haridwar, like a flood plain. The main section’s banks are lined with bathing ghats, steps into the river to bathe in the water. It is “thought” that dunking five times in the contaminated Ganges (the holiest of rivers) will wash away the sins of the bather…Yeah, that, and their intestinal lining when they get diarrhea and cholera. But there were a many Hindus old and young, rich and poor, all religious, washing and drinking in the Ganges. Damn, I guess there are a lot of really sinful Hindus. Then again, I’d probably have to make weekly trips here if I were a devout Hindu and do what I do on a daily basis. The Ganges itself is extremely fast-flowing at Haridwar, and ropes and poles are erected to make sure you don’t get swept away
in the current. Boys would swim out and in again, it looked pretty dangerous considering not more than 200 meters away, the waters poured through an immense blue hydroelectric dam. I doubt there’s a human or salmon ladder, either. We walked along the banks past lots of rich Hindu tourists, pilgrims, Sadhus, and prasad-vendors. The prasad included wooden beads, colorful cloths, pink or white flowers, and orange flower necklaces. Further from the river were pilgrim camps (dharamsalas for the poor and ascetics), which consisted of puddly fields filled with tents made of tarp and wood, with fires. People did everything from shit to sleep to eat to gather firewood to play in the puddles here. This is the off-season; every certain number of years this site receives the Mela festivals because it’s one of four holy Hindu sites. This means that every twelve years Haridwar hosts the Kumbh Mela, the largest religious congregation on earth, in which over ten million pilgrims of all castes and class and religions converge in the city. That would be DIRRRTY. This “Holy” city and river is dirty enough right now, the lowest point in tourism of the year. I can’t even imagine during that festival. And people go to purify themselves? I really don’t understand the idea of purity and pollution…Drinking Ganges water will purify you, but touching someone of an untouchable caste is extremely polluting…? We crossed the Ganges to Har-Ki-Pairi Ghat (the footstep of God), where Vishnu is said to have dropped heavenly nectar and left a footprint behind. Today it’s a small canal with lots of steps going up from the ghats on either side. The temple rooftops shelter miniature god statues and priests with rattails and facepaint and orange and white cloths. There we
re people everywhere, mostly rich urban Indian families on holiday for the weekend. People began to gather around the main ghat, and they all sat on little plastic sheets. We were the only ones not on one; once again, they’ll bathe in the parasitic Ganges but can’t sit on the clean concrete floor. We sat there for a while waiting for something to happen. Thousands of people gradually poured in to watch the ceremony at sunset. This uniformed officer asked for donations. He also doubled as a policeman, donation solicitor, and cheerleader. Bells started chiming and drums were beaten, while people went and bathed in the milky water. People descended the steps, prasad in hand. The prasad was flowers in a boat made of leaves, with a lit candle in the middle. They said prayers and held clasped their hands, and set the prasad free in the Ganges as an offering to float to the gods. The priests at the ghats alo lit these big offerings on fire and were waving them in the air as the bells chimed. It was pretty cool to see that many people watching and singing and chanting along. It was over when the bells silenced and everyone stood up. At this point, everyone gave their offerings to the river, the Ganges glittering with the lights of the prasad. We walked through the busy, noisy, well-lit, market, quickly, because we were hungry. The four of us ate at the really upscale (upscale meaning I spent $3 total) Big Ben Air-Conditioned Restaurant, I had a Thali meal with soup, roti, rajma, dal, paneer, papadum, and ice cream. Then I came back slept with all the fans on.
ridwar. I was carsick on the way down to Dehra Dun, the capital of Uttaranchal, a typical Indian city with lots of forests, storefronts, vikrams, bicycles, cars, and people everywhere. It looked really dirty (again, what’s new). It took 2.5 hours to get to Haridwar, a holy Hindu city located at the point where the Ganges emerges from the Himalayas. The green cloudy hills slope down into the large, sediment-filled cloudy Ganges. A huge gold statue of Shiva against the backdrop of the Ganges and sloping green hills greets you as you drive in. It is hot and humid, not like Mussoorie. We checked into the really nice three-story deserted hotel, Hotel Sachin. Since it’s the off-season it was dead. Next time I’m not going to make reservations. We walked out of the hotel, and walked down Railway Road, the main drag. The train station was across the street, so there was a massive congregation of pilgrims (dressed in white loosely-draped cloths with prayer beads, walking sticks, dreads, and orange facepaint), drivers, taxis, bicycle rickshaws, horse carriages, and Vikrams. It was a lot to take in, even a small Indian city (population 220,000). It smelled like rotting garbage and incense and feces, traffic and cattle and poor Indian workers and pilgrims filled up every inch of space on the street, and all you could hear were high-pitched honks, rickshaw motors, and Hindi. There was refuse and feces everywhere, as people just discard both wherever the
y please here. The roads were narrow and had traffic circles centered around statues of Shiva. Shops abound, selling everything from shoes to samosas to breath mints to fruit to prasad. It was a typical Indian city, all aspects of life occurring right on the street. It was really dirty, especially for a holy city. It is so holy that Muslims don’t live here, and there is meat is nowhere to be found. We walked through the bazaar to the Ganges and walked over the bridge. The Ganges splits off at Haridwar, like a flood plain. The main section’s banks are lined with bathing ghats, steps into the river to bathe in the water. It is “thought” that dunking five times in the contaminated Ganges (the holiest of rivers) will wash away the sins of the bather…Yeah, that, and their intestinal lining when they get diarrhea and cholera. But there were a many Hindus old and young, rich and poor, all religious, washing and drinking in the Ganges. Damn, I guess there are a lot of really sinful Hindus. Then again, I’d probably have to make weekly trips here if I were a devout Hindu and do what I do on a daily basis. The Ganges itself is extremely fast-flowing at Haridwar, and ropes and poles are erected to make sure you don’t get swept away
in the current. Boys would swim out and in again, it looked pretty dangerous considering not more than 200 meters away, the waters poured through an immense blue hydroelectric dam. I doubt there’s a human or salmon ladder, either. We walked along the banks past lots of rich Hindu tourists, pilgrims, Sadhus, and prasad-vendors. The prasad included wooden beads, colorful cloths, pink or white flowers, and orange flower necklaces. Further from the river were pilgrim camps (dharamsalas for the poor and ascetics), which consisted of puddly fields filled with tents made of tarp and wood, with fires. People did everything from shit to sleep to eat to gather firewood to play in the puddles here. This is the off-season; every certain number of years this site receives the Mela festivals because it’s one of four holy Hindu sites. This means that every twelve years Haridwar hosts the Kumbh Mela, the largest religious congregation on earth, in which over ten million pilgrims of all castes and class and religions converge in the city. That would be DIRRRTY. This “Holy” city and river is dirty enough right now, the lowest point in tourism of the year. I can’t even imagine during that festival. And people go to purify themselves? I really don’t understand the idea of purity and pollution…Drinking Ganges water will purify you, but touching someone of an untouchable caste is extremely polluting…? We crossed the Ganges to Har-Ki-Pairi Ghat (the footstep of God), where Vishnu is said to have dropped heavenly nectar and left a footprint behind. Today it’s a small canal with lots of steps going up from the ghats on either side. The temple rooftops shelter miniature god statues and priests with rattails and facepaint and orange and white cloths. There we
re people everywhere, mostly rich urban Indian families on holiday for the weekend. People began to gather around the main ghat, and they all sat on little plastic sheets. We were the only ones not on one; once again, they’ll bathe in the parasitic Ganges but can’t sit on the clean concrete floor. We sat there for a while waiting for something to happen. Thousands of people gradually poured in to watch the ceremony at sunset. This uniformed officer asked for donations. He also doubled as a policeman, donation solicitor, and cheerleader. Bells started chiming and drums were beaten, while people went and bathed in the milky water. People descended the steps, prasad in hand. The prasad was flowers in a boat made of leaves, with a lit candle in the middle. They said prayers and held clasped their hands, and set the prasad free in the Ganges as an offering to float to the gods. The priests at the ghats alo lit these big offerings on fire and were waving them in the air as the bells chimed. It was pretty cool to see that many people watching and singing and chanting along. It was over when the bells silenced and everyone stood up. At this point, everyone gave their offerings to the river, the Ganges glittering with the lights of the prasad. We walked through the busy, noisy, well-lit, market, quickly, because we were hungry. The four of us ate at the really upscale (upscale meaning I spent $3 total) Big Ben Air-Conditioned Restaurant, I had a Thali meal with soup, roti, rajma, dal, paneer, papadum, and ice cream. Then I came back slept with all the fans on.
No comments:
Post a Comment