Ganga Aarti

Day 9 was quite a day.  It was the day I felt like India finally defeated me.  But it also the day I reached nirvana.

I had to get to the station obscenely early to catch my 5:30 a.m. train for the six-hour-and-40-minute ride to Haridwar.  From Haridwar, I’d need to locate the bus to get me to Rishikesh, my destination.  It had been an easy walk from New Delhi station to super efficient bloomsrooms hotel when I returned to Delhi.  But I was leaving from Old Delhi station, and I planned on hopping a tuk tuk to get there.  It was so early, the hotel called me a taxi because there wouldn’t be a lot of tuk-tukson the road.  It was very kind of them.  The taxi got me to the station at 4:30.  I was barely alive, let alone awake.

The electronic display didn’t show a track number for my train, but it said the train would be 8 minutes late.  I figured they would assign a track number when the train was closer.  So I waited.  And waited.  And as 5:30 grew closer, I started to get nervous.  Still no track number.  I asked a couple station attendants.  There was definitely a language barrier.  I think they finally figured out what I was asking and told me a track number.

I began climbing up and down staircases to different platforms.  I wasn’t sure that the train at the track number they mentioned was the right one.  (Later on, I decided it may have been.)  My train’s departure time came and went.  My spirits fell.  I went to a couple service windows, but the language barrier prevented me from getting meaningful help.  (English is widely spoken, but with a very thick accent that can make communication difficult going both ways.)  Initially I felt helpless.  I felt after trying and failing to defeat me on Day 6, India had finally defeated.  Then I figured out what to do.

Back at the hotel, I remembered seeing a sign for travel services.  I knew that they would be able to help me.  So I grabbed a taxi back to the hotel.  I felt extremely frustrated.  But I also felt a sense of relief, knowing I’d get help.  After we left the station, the taxi driver tried to start a conversation.  Because of his accent, I had no idea what he was saying and I told him so.  And I wasn’t really in the mood.

The extremely friendly staff was ready to help me when I returned to bloomsrooms.  The travel desk guy would be in at 9.  I got to have a relaxing breakfast in the café.  Best of all, my room was still available, so I could crash for a while.  At 9 I met with the travel guy.  He arranged for a private car to take me directly to Rishikesh.  It would cost about $75.  As it seemed to happen often during my trip, I was spending more in India than I had anticipated.  But still, $75 wasn’t bad for a 6-hour trip by private car.

It was a very long 6-hour drive.  Traffic was bad for much of the way, even in rural areas.  Naturally, I slept for much of the way.  Once we got out of the Delhi area, the gradual increase in elevation was unmissable.  We were very slowly but very steadily heading up, towards the world’s highest mountains.  After several hours, I caught first sight of Haridwar and the Ganges, Mother Ganga.  The holy river was never out of sight for the rest of the way to Rishikesh.

I was able to put the stress of the day behind me when I arrived at the fabulous Ganga Kinare, the best hotel of my trip.  The day started off disastrously.  Arriving in Rishikesh, under any circumstances, would be a victory.

My plan for the day, now obsolete, had been to walk north to Ram Jhula, the 1st of the 2 pedestrian suspension bridges that cross the Ganges.  From there, I’d head back south on the eastern bank to get to Parmath Niketan, a major ashram.  The ashram’s ghat (river bank) is the site of Rishikesh’s biggest Ganga Aarti celebration.

Ganga Aarti is a Hindu ceremony that takes place nightly in India’s 3 holy cities of Varanasi, Haridwar, and Rishikesh.  At sunset each night, Hindu worshipers offer prayers to Mother Ganga at Ganga Aarti, a ceremony involving ritual fires.  The Ganga Aarti at Parmath Niketan draws hundreds or more of participants and visitors every day.

The hotel offered a group visit to a smaller, closer Ganga Aarti at Triveni Ghat.  Groups are usually not my thing.  And of course, I had wanted to witness the major ceremony at Parmath Niketan.  But these were special circumstances.  So I went with the group outing.  Triveni Ghat is a 20-minute walk from the Ganga Kinare.  The entire route was along the Ganges, which made for a lovely walk.

When our group arrived at Triveni Ghat, the riverfront was brimming with excitement, not to mention traditional Indian music.  We took seats on the ghat’s steps and waited for the sun to go down.

There was so much going on, it was almost hard to believe that this takes place every night.  And this wasn’t even the main ceremony in Rishikesh!

At the start of the day, back in Delhi, I felt defeated.  By the end of the day, in Rishikesh, I felt ecstatic and filled with the spirit of the Himalayas.  And maybe I’ll make it back to Rishikesh someday and witness the full glory of the Ganga Aarti at Parmath Niketan.

[Factual information is primarily gathered from Wikipedia, so you know it must be true.]