Karin: After a reasonably relaxed start this morning I discovered that Amrita and her family had decided to stop off in Laxman Jhula before proceeding down to Haridwar for the Diwali ceremony. We made an arrangement to meet up by the bridge and it was confirmed that Daniel and I should join them for the Haridwar festivities. Haridwar is one of the sacred sites to host the Kumb Mela – a gathering in which 6 million Indians gather on the banks of the holy Ganges for a little communal soul purification. The Kumb cycles through about 8 different locations along the Ganges and happens every 12 years. The event we were to participate in was a much smaller affair. We all bundled into the Kamath family taxi. Mr Kamath had taken his student Vijay with him on his 'plein air' painting tour. Vijay was a delightful man from Bangalore.

Dan: We stopped in Rishikesh so that Amrita's family could buy us some treats - in this case, some sweet candies made from milk products. It turns out that most of the sweet treats in India are made from milk products - something I hadn't known.
Whilst we were there, Amrita's father explained that in traditional Indian culture, there were 3 groups of people that should be treated as "gods": Parents, Teachers... and foreigners! Because of this, Amrita's family insisted on paying for everything, and were determined that we enjoy as much Indian culture as possible.
I must admit, I felt very humbled about this - it's something that would seem so foreign in our culture, but it explains why you hear so much about the Indian culture of kindness and generosity to foreigners travelling in India.
Vijay was also very respectful about his "master", Amrita's father, and said that it was a real privilege to be his student.
I got the feeling that the bond between them was more father-son than anything else, but it was still a bond of mutual respect and love.

Karin: The plan was that we should stay in a special shrine created by a man of the same caste as the Kamath family, but owing to the festivities all the guest rooms were full. We ventured, thus, into town to try and find a room. We finally found a place, dumped our bags and went for some lunch.


Statue of Shiva at Haridwar 

Dan: As we walked through the grounds of the temple, I noticed how many more Sadhus there were here than anywhere else. Vijay exmplained to me that it was a community's responsibility to ensure that Sadhu's were fed and sheltered, and that the temple here was one of many places that would feed the Sadhus three times a day, as long as the Sadhus spent their time in meditation.
Vijay also expained the significance of the orange robes that all Sadhus wear: the colour they wear is saffron, and signifies an offering, in this case the offering of the Sadhu's life to the gods, to ponder life and study the existence of being.

Karin: After lunch we proceeded to a very secluded bathing spot that adjoined the temple where we had originally planned to stay. Here we took a holy dip together, although having no change of clothes Daniel and the girlies just paddled up to our knees. Amrita showed Daniel and I how to do a sacred sun offering.


 

Bathing in the Ganga


Dan and Amrita's familty

Before too long it was time for us to head off to the festival of lights. We arrived just a few moments too late as thousands of leaf baskets containing rose-petals, marigolds and flaming torches were cast off into the dark torrent of the Ganges. We cast off our own offerings and then headed into town for a spot of sari shopping.


Karin and Amrita and their flower baskets

After much deliberation and consultation, I came away with a lovely golden silk sari with black trim. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling too well by this time and I had to take my leave rather rapidly to avoid an embarrassing scene! Amrita kindly accompanied me back to the hotel where after being sick, I retired into a woozy haze. Thankfully Daniel saved the day and was able to reassure our worried hosts that I would live to see another day. 

Dan: Amrita's family took me to a local restaurant called "Big Ben", complete with a picture of the tower itself (which is called St Stephen's Tower - it's the bell that's called Big Ben, and Daniel that's called "pedantic"...!).
We all had lovely Chinese dishes - I've never had a chowmein with Indian spice in it before!
One thing that Amrita explained to me is that Indian's love things in both Salty and Sweet flavours - so, if you order a lassi (a drink made from yoghurt), you can get it salty or sweet - and, if you order a lime soda, you can also get this salty or sweet! I mention this as Amrita's mother ordered a salty lime soda - which I couldn't bring myself to try!
The funny thing about this restaurant, is that no-one seemed to have any clue what Big Ben actually was, or where it was!
After dinner, I retired back to our hotel room to check on my patient - who was feeling a bit better for having had a bit of sleep.