The minute we pulled into the New Dehli Airport I took a picture from my window. This is what I came for…prayer, meditation…reconnecting with my spirituality and practicing my yoga.
I picked up my baggage and found my driver. We jumped into the car and headed out to the city. The first thing I heard while we drove off where the horns from the other drivers motioning for us to move along and then my driver chimed in with his car horn as if to tell them , yeah OK I hear you, but my horn works too , so you move along. This begins the sounds of India that does not stop.
We get on the highway that is shared with rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, dogs and cows. I was deflated within 5 minutes of arriving. This is it? My driver speed through the other cars, dust kicking the wind, not the other way around.
My driver pointed out the window for me to look at the cows eating garbage on the side of the road. He does not point out the children that are also picking through the same garbage. I’d like to think I didn’t really see that, but I did and it’s only been 15 minutes on the road.
Amidst the dust, spurts of colorful sari’s started to pop up here and there passing us by. Women on the backseats of motorcycles peacefully, balancing their bodies, both feet swung over to the left side, holding their driver’s waist.
The women don’t wear helmets only their sari’s flapping in the wind. Whole families on one bicycle…Mother, Father and baby sleeping in between them, while mom still manages to hold a grocery bag.
We make it to my hotel, Shanti Home. I settle in, the horns finally stop around 10pm, yet I wake up at 5am to the sounds of fireworks celebrating a Hindu holiday called Karwa Chauth. A holiday were women fast to celebrate their husbands. I decide to get up and watch the fireworks while eating breakfast on the outdoor patio of the hotel. The horns start again at 6am.
Today I take a day trip to one of the treasures of the world, the Taj Mahal: Memorial of Love. More honking, more dust, five hours later we reach the city of Agra. My driver tells me I will have a tour guide to take me into the Taj. We pull into a narrow alley way and my guide jumps in the car. He introduces himself as Navid.
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| Esther Friedman aka Frugal Buddha with Navid |
At the compound you can only take pictures of the outside grounds.
When inside the tomb, Navid tells me to listen for the echo of my name. He yells my name aloud and it echos through out the building, everyone looks up, including me, completely embarrassed. Navid tells me if I can hear the echo it means I’ll be back. I was like move it along Navid, move it along.
I am given the presentation. I was not up for the sell but here I was taking a tour of marble in a dim lit basement. The marble man was wondering why I was not marveling over the marble with the detailed embroidered flowers that takes them one day to make and they pay a worker $4.50 a day which I betcha that was him inflating the rate that he paid the worker. The worker may actually get $4.50 a week or less. I didn’t know how to explain the whole thing was not my aesthetic back home. I'm a minimalist. I wasn’t feeling it. I purchased a marble magnet with an elephant for 100 rupees equivalent to $10. Frugal Buddha pays and sprints out of there.
Navid tells me he wants me to see the jewelry store. I tell him him I’m not feeling jewelry. He tells me to only look. We drive to another location down another alley way into a rickety old shack. Once we pass the first front doors a door man escorts me into a room of jewelry that looks like stuff out of JC Penny or Target. I’m bummed because now I’ve got to sit through another presentation. I am offered another drink. I figure hang out and get what I want, a diet coke up in this joint. They bring me a pepsi.
I go through the loose stones and shown the stone of Agra. This stone can only be found in Agra. When held to the light it has a six point star. I tell Agra stone man that I’m not feeling the stones anymore. He tells me he is just doing his job, that I don’t’ have to buy his stones. He is right but I let that go over my head. I seek out the smallest stone to wrap up, pay for and get the hell out of there.
Across the street Navid escorts me to a gift shop, I walk out with teas, saffron spices and key chains. Frugal Buddha was not being frugal. I told Navid lets stop this shopping. I didn’t come here to shop for all this stuff I don't want. I'm hungry.
At lunch I sat and realized I needed to pull myself together. Needed to reel it in over here in India. I was so overwhelmed with all the vendors, the people, my surroundings, my safety in a foreign land not knowing the language. I became very dependent on the two men I was traveling with. Purchasing items from their friends to make them happy. It didn’t make sense to be so co dependent.
I realized I had seen so many people in India yet did not talk to anyone until I met these vendors in private rooms behind closed doors. I made them the face and voice of India, giving them my money. I would have preferred to give all those people I was seeing in the streets my money. I’m purchasing marbles, stones? It was a semi expensive lesson to learn no means no in any language. So when they ask me if i want to buy anything for the rest of this trip, I'm going to say NO!
I don't have a whole lot of money yet up in these parts I'm a very rich woman. I give when I give, when I can. Somewhere along this part of the journey I also learned to have no shame or guilt for having money, as it seemed these people that were begging have no shame or guilt for asking. There seems to be major acceptance all around. "It is what it is", over here.
I encountered this one little boy that kept tapping my thigh, signaling me to feed him. From where he stands that is what he does day in and day out and he has to. I played with that kid who could have easily been 4 years old, for probably only 5 minutes. He seemed to enjoy the break up of the monotony of his day of asking for food and money all day long. This kid kept taping me so I turned it into a game of tag. Under the circumstances this young boy seemed to be happy and playful. He also had a sense of dignity that was so profoundly ingrained in him naturally, that it didn't matter that he did not have pants on. This 4 year old kid gave me more within that experience then I could ever give him in rupees.
The next day my driver Raja picks me up and asks me where I want to go. I tell him I don’t want a pashmina, jewelry or any other touristy thing. I only want to see record stores. As we drive I tell Raja the story of how my family owned record stores and as a kid my dad would bring home children songs for me to listen too. I fell in love with an album of Indian children songs that was amongst the stack. I would dance for hours in total bliss. I'm only seeking Indian children songs today I tell Raja.
Through out the years I would look in record stores, go online, search YouTube but didn't know what I was looking for, I could barely remember the melody. I asked my Dad if he could get the album for me again and he said it was one I could only get in India. Well now I am actually here and I am on a mission to find that album. We picked up a friend of mine, drove to Lotus Garden Restaurant for lunch. I prepped my friend that I am on a mission to find this album, would she like to join me. I’ll go to one stop with all the boutiques but I’m only looking for music. All day we popped from place to place to no avail. Raja could see I was pouty. He said he was not taking me back to the hotel until I was happy.
Below cow standing outside music shop...
Below cow standing outside music shop...
Raja takes me to Kahn Market. He told me he’ll wait for as long as it takes. I tell him “No” wait ten minutes. I run into the music shop and I am greeted by a young man who was naming tunes for customers. This reminded me of the days I use to work in my father’s store and someone would only need to hum a tune without words and ask me if I knew the song. "Who sings that song?", they would ask. I would walk to the the bin, pull out the album without saying who the artist was and go BAM! I would pride myself for knowing they wanted “La la I love you” by the Delfonics or the soundtrack to the TV Show Taxi by Bob James. I don’t have that skill set anymore but I saw myself in this Indian man. I told him what I was looking for and he said it was an old Bollywood song from the 60s. I looked at the list of songs on the CD. Something inside myself said this could be it. I have it in my hands then I dropped the CD and crack the plastic case. Without showing the man the crack I pay 195 rupees. You’d think I had found gold. All I wanted to do was get back to the hotel to play my songs.
Back at my hotel, I asked the staff to help me set up the CD player. They closed the door. The first song played. No!! The second song played. I sucked my breath and heard what I thought I would never hear again unless I went to India. I am in India, listening to this song with happy tears rolling down my face. Now that I know what it is, here it is for your listening pleasure. This song bought me so much joy growing up between 8 – 9 years old. I’d create my own saris and make up my own Indian dance moves.
Enough of New Dehli…a native would tell you that, I head out to Rishikesh, India, a spiritual community in the Himalayas mountains. I get to the train station an hour and a half early to realize I’m waiting on the wrong track.
I run along the side of the train like the scenes you see in old movies. I reach my car and pull my bag up, the train starts moving. The train I am on is equivalent to the NJ Transit, yet the train that the Other people are on looks like a slave ship going by. Not cute. Looking out the window I continued to see more disturbing sites along the way for the rest of the journey up North. All I could ask the universe was, "Why?"
I run along the side of the train like the scenes you see in old movies. I reach my car and pull my bag up, the train starts moving. The train I am on is equivalent to the NJ Transit, yet the train that the Other people are on looks like a slave ship going by. Not cute. Looking out the window I continued to see more disturbing sites along the way for the rest of the journey up North. All I could ask the universe was, "Why?"
I arrive in Hardiwar train station. I needed to find a taxi to take me up the mountain before 9pm before the road is closed. No one speaks English not even the information desk. I start praying, "God please help me find my way."
I find a man standing next to a car and I ask him if he can take me to Rishikesh. He says No. He asks his friends, they say No. In broken English and sign language I ask where an internet café is, a taxi and a phone. He said I could use his phone.
I call the Ashram Parmath Kiketan where I am staying and tell them I’m having trouble finding a taxi to bring me up the mountain. They tell me what street to start walking along. I ask how much is a fair price to pay to get there. They say 900 rupees. I thank the man that let me use his phone and started walking along the road. A man approached me and asked if I needed a taxi. I asked if he could take me to Rishikesh, he said 900 rupees I said you are on. Meet Itvar who lovingly said to me “Welcome to India!” as I got in the car.
I checked into the Ashram and was informed we would have 3 Ayurvedic meals per day. I made it a priority to figure out what time I had to be ready to be the first to get to the dining hall. There were over 600 people at this 11/11/11 celebration event. At the dining hall I meet like minded folks who like their food. We learned our names and what countries we came from.
At my first Kundalini yoga class at the retreat, I faced the waters of the famous Ganga River. Water from the Ganges is used to cleanse any place or object for ritual purposes. Bathing in the river is believed to wash away one's sins. To bathe in the Ganga is a lifelong ambition for Hindus. I am not a Hindu nor keep up with all the deities...
yet as I did my yoga practice my inner voice said to the Ganga, “I’m here. I made it. What do you have to say now?"
The Ganga said to me, “Thank you for coming.”
“Why am I here?", I asked
Mata Ganga said, “ I just wanted to see you.”
Mata Ganga said, “ I just wanted to see you.”
That Mata Ganga. I put my big toe in the water.
Every day for 8 days straight we did Kundalini yoga alongside the Ganga River while Snatam Kaur, Deva Premal and Mitan, plus Guru Singh amongst others played live for us. This is why I really came. Every day I got to listen to my favorite yogi music live while practicing my favorite yoga in India was heavenly and magical for me. I was so engrossed with practicing yoga, I got in 6 hours a day while my peers were putting in 8 - 12 hours.
It was really important for me to pace myself between classes so I had enough time to get to the dining hall at the designated eating times. Priorities people.
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| Breakfast |
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| Lunch |
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| Dinner hahahahahahahahahaha |
After the ceremony Swamiji invites people to sit with him and ask questions in his home. I got to go. I got to listen to Sadhvi Bhagavati speak about forgiveness. The voice recorder would not upload. someday I'll figure it out.
Some days I would take a walk through town. It was really bizarre walking amongst the people. A very ancient land.
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There was a manic chaos within the streets, while a reserved calm covered it all.
Where did this inner peace come from? I couldn't tell if it came from within the people or the people were within the bubble. Another observation was the lack of neurosis, obsession and compulsion within the society as a whole. I enjoyed myself without phones, emails, TV, movies, glossy magazines, refined sugar, alcohol nor any kind of branding so much so I too lost all my own neurosis, obsessions and compulsions. Something to revel in and enjoy to the fullest. When I left that was the thing I cried about. I didn't want to leave that feeling.
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| Monkey butt |
I remember one afternoon I was saying to myself I won’t find pennies on the ground in this village. Back home I always see pennies and I pick them up because the penny says "In God we trust" ,and I like to remember that. To me it is a symbol for me to pause and remember I have a higher power. I get to my room and notice a penny on my bed. “Come on!” That’s what I said. But I’m just telling it like it went down.
I also like to take photos of stars, smiley faces and hearts that I find throughout different cities I visit, and now countries. Another day on my way back to my room from an evening music concert I see a red shining star on the pathway to my room. No biggy, but nice for my little star fetish.
Many afternoons we danced at the Ganga River.
There was also a yoga aide were money was raised after each yoga class. $45,000 was raised for six orphanages in India. Group photo of all the folks that raised money.
Below children from the Ramana Gardens Orphanage perform.
In Rishikesh, it is the nice part of the river, where there is a green project and they clean the water as it goes down stream. Swamiji had a clean up team which I took part of .
Later after the clean up,I sat at the Ganga River with my roommate. She was taking my photo when I looked down and noticed the same red star that was on my pathway to my room was now underneath my foot.
I saw that star 2 days prior. . Come on! That’s what I said. There was no confetti or glitter of any kind throughout this town or anywhere near our tents. Only this one star that followed me down to the river. It was my star to pick up and make a wish upon...
that I did.
Wishing continuous peace and serenity, excellent health, and abundance for my family, friends and even enemies because my enemies are also great teachers as well.
Happy Thanksgiving
Sat Nam
