I'm one of those fortunate people who loves road trips and being in motion in moving vehicles. I can ride for hours and hours, entertaining myself and my company. Unfortunately, my tiny bladder doesn't always agree, and combined with my water drinking addiction, I'm my fellow road trippers' truck stop nightmare. Traveling all over the US, I've began to think of any trip in terms of toilets. The stretch on I-35 from Norman to Carrollton? I bet I've seen the inside of at least 50 different stalls at about 20 different stations, since moving to Norman about 10 years ago.
In the States I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I get all the Loves and QuikTrips and Flying Js I want and I can even choose to prefer them to the state rest stop areas. But in reality, I could "tour" any toilet, and in reality, I probably have. Because no matter if you're offered plush, quilted toilet paper and a wide sitting space, or squatting over a concrete slab with a mouse-house sized hole, when you gotta go, you gotta go.
As one might imagine, road trips in India are a little more, let's say, intense... At 6:30am on Feb 5th, we left our hotel in the undesirable city of Agra, in route to Rishikesh. Our driver, Hari, warned us it could take about 12 hours, but not because the distance is that far. It's only about 210 miles, approximately the same distance from north Oklahoma City, to downtown Dallas. It takes about an hour to simply escape the gridlock and honks of any city in India. And you're never really free of either one of those, completely. And it took us about 2 hours to pass through the capital city, Delhi, with about 1.5 million residents. And once we finally got north of Delhi and out on the "open" road, it went down to two lanes, which really put the word "trip" back in road trip. We took turns switching seats, but the lucky person who needed the front for carsickness or space, got a personal omniplex presentation, as Steven said. Hari was constantly starting and stopping and dodging traffic, cows, people, potholes, you name it... We saw a couple of serious accidents, and then, about 15 minutes later, saw the ambulance fighting traffic from the opposite direction. But we were fine, and very fortunate road trippers. We had an extremely skillful and patient driver, books and music and snacks, a guaranteed pick up and drop off, fuel, a reliable car, and above all, all the opportunities to tour toilets-western, eastern, outside, inside, pubic and personal, that we wanted.
Hari was pretty dead on, and by7:30pm, we arrived in Laxman Juhle, just north of Rishikesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas, and a yogi's dream, or an indecisive person's (like me) nightmare. Stacy informed me that the Beatles came here in the 60s, and after which, the town garnered much attention. Now it is known for a backpacker's destination and it is a mix of yoga shalas and ashrams and restaurants and souvenir stands and ayurvedic centers and holistic holes, every single way you glance. I think we have done a pretty good job of filtering out most of the signs and information to have an enjoyable and relaxing time here, and escape from the over crowded and polluted cities. Our hotel, Divya, is simple and cheap and slightly away from strip. We've tried out different shalas and yoga classes, including Ashtanga (the kind I practice in Norman), Vinyasa flow, and traditional Hatha yoga. We've walked down the quieter streets and explored unfamiliar paths, which often led to the Ganges River, but always a new adventure. One day, we took a motor rickshaw down to Rishikesh and spent a day watching people in their
pilgrimage to the Hindu holy waters. Jen and Stacy bought an offering of flowers from a woman and we all contemplated and participated in the culture and enjoyed the river in our own ways (including befriending beggar children, indulging in paparazzi pictures, writing, and dipping our feet into the waters).Yesterday, we found another way to the river, down a rocky ridge, in Laxman Juhle. After discovering a lingam (represented in rock form, it is the fire that has no beginning or end) alter and writing for a while, my tiny bladder told me it was was time for another toilet tour. I trusted my gut and asked to use a resident's bathroom when I saw a boy looking down at me from above, outside a window. I walked inside, used the bathroom, and on my way out, the voices from one of the rooms called out to me to "come in, come in"! I bent down to peer inside, and two old men sat around a tiny wood fire, boiling raw cow's milk, behind a giant alter of pictures and statues of Hindu gods and goddesses. Dressed in orange, beards tinted orange from henna and hair knotted and dreaded and wrapped around heads like a giant turban, Omkar Puri and Bhola Baba invited me in. After a split second thought, I was taking off my shoes and joining them for a cup of milk. The men were Sadus, said to denounce worldly possessions in exchange for faith. They invited the rest of my "family" in and before we knew it, we were hearing the history of the Ganges River in Hindi first, then the whole thing again translated to English, and being invited for dinner the next day. Stacy commented that the story was a good one, and Omkar Puri exclaimed it wasn't a story, but of course, the truth! (and how would we think otherwise, when in ancient times, a Sadu killed a king's 60,000 sons with a single nostril blow of fire)?!
Tonight we are off on a sleeper train back to Delhi, to catch a flight back to Mumbai and recuperate at Steven's sanctuary for a day, before heading down south, to warmer climate and spicier food, near the beach town of Goa. The sleeper train brings thought of the movie Darjeeling Ltd, and by the end of India, I think we will have just about experienced all of the major modes of transportation a person can take! It's been cold here and we've all been a little under the weather at some point, up north. We have about 10 days left of our journey and I can't believe we've seen and experienced this much. My traveling companions are considerate and adventurous and polite and organized and I'm enjoying every minute of this trip. I keep thinking positively and am excited to find out what's in stall the next time duty calls...
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