Hello Rishikesh

The next morning we were up early and in true Indian style, I showered...cross legged, jug and bucket. If im honest it was probably the best shower iv had out here and reminded me very much of my younger days of staying at my nanis which was regular practice.

Hitting the alley way, we saw this guju guy making fresh papri ghatia and dhokla and immediately bought two portions. You could see why the guy was doing so well, the hot ghatia, melting in your mouth... were to die for! Whilst eating, this begger came up and my instant response was to shu him along, but there was something about this guy..and I immediately felt sorry for him. I guess I realised that it was freezing cold, and the poor guy was frozen himself so I called him over and handed over my portion. Further, I saw dad buying another begger some, so I guess he felt similar.

We soon made our way to the official taxi rank. We thought after the ordeal of the bus and hostel, we'd deserved to travel to Rishikesh comfortably...and although we paid way above the odds,it was worth every penny. Our driver was called Raju, clearly another Lewis Hamilton and although he had no audio, he knew exactly where we wanted to go and got us there safely.

Approaching Rishikesh, it soon dawned on me that dad was only gonna be with me for the night and that he'd need to set off first thing back to mumbai. He had literally just come to make sure id be ok and settle me in, a usual caring practice for dad.

Arriving at the Ashram, we left our bags with the trusty guard whilst we made our way to reception. There, we were met by a guy called Narendra, a short smiley chap that had this amazing American accent. I thought he was cool (atleast at the time), as he gave us an amazing room...facing the ganga...just for the night. Thereafter he advised id have to move to a "regular" room.

At this stage, I didnt have much to say. I think I was taken back by the scenery but also felt like a kid being dropped off at boarding school and I knew this place was going to be home for the next few weeks - on my own.

Quickly unpacking, we hit the banks of the ganga knowing that dads time was limited. At one stage we just sat on the some stairs, taking in the sheer beauty,until dad was approached by a cow. The cow kept putting his head between us and after stroking him, dad tried to coax him away, but he wasnt having any of it. A gentle push later, the cow was upset and aggressively went for dad with his nose. Meantime, I was in hysterics watching dad tryna get away.

Further along the ganga, is a bridge called Ram Joula. An impressive structure, even by western standards, except you run the risk of a motorbike running you over each way. So faf, I think iv been lucky...with only 2 clips...only.

5'oclock was aarti time and this is what we had come to see, as televised on sky, it was an unreal feeling to be here. Soon, we were surrounded by rishikumars (the ashrams students) all dressed in yellow dhotis. The aarti itself was amazing, even dad had fallen in love with the set up, and its probably where I made my most useful contact...a rishikumar. Dad gave him 100 rupees as darshan, and from this day this guy has been my savior. For example, he makes sure I always get an aarti..if I want to do Havan I can...and sit wherever I want too...an excellent return on investment!

A make-shift hot water bottle...literally

Morning soon arrived and we checked out leaving the baggage with "concierge". We hit the street and was immediately confronted by rickshaw men to which we enquired about any gujarati restaurants from breakfast. The guy said hop on and for 20 rupees ill take you, so we did...only to figure out it was like 4 alley ways down the road (we could have walked it).



Inside, the guy hadnt let us down..we were served with chora, dhal bhat, bateta shack, and papad. Unsurprisingly dad got talking to the owner, only to find out they were from the same gham (district/village) originally. Further, the guy was related to a well known caterer we know back in London.



Once we left the restaurant, we immediately saw this gujarati ashram/hostel to which they said it was only 80 rupees to stay in (around 8% of what we paid at Sachin!!) and so we booked. They wouldnt let us see the room however, so again this was another chance.



Outside the hostel, another riskshaw guy (auto), approached us saying he could show us Haridwar and all the mandirs (temples) in one day, so we negotiated with him to take us round..but firstly he had to goto sachin pick up our baggage and let us get settled in our room.



10 mins later we had our luggage and went the room. The watchman unlocked the padlock, and told us we needed to buy our own to lock it, and so we entered. I wasn't impressed. It was freezing, had two rock hard beds, and 4 walls. Never the less, we thought its only one night, lets use our suitcase padlock and get sightseeing.

The sightseeing started by seeing various mandirs, one which had a stone that Ram bhagwan stepped on. Cool. One of the main mandirs that stood out was Parvati, this had a effergie of parvati and so it kinda brought things to life. Moreover, this was my first proper sight of the ganga...and where me and dad engaged in some pooja, lit a float and sent it down the river in memory of our nearest and dearest.

After seeing around 9/10 different ashrams/mandirs, we decided to head for the main Aarti area on the banks. The rickshaw guy dropped us off on a random bridge and told us to squeeze in between a gap and walk down this dusty path to find it. We soon did and was immediately confronted by beggers, sales men and wanna be gurus.

The were something special about this place, despite the hustle and bustle, dad and I hardly said a word as we were deep in our own thoughts. We also dipped our feet in the ganga here too, which was absolutely FREEZING. I couldn't believe people were actually taking full on baths here! We also decided to light a divo here too and let it flow down the river, we had a guru making us repeat a mantra which, from what I took away was remembrance of my grandparents, striking an emotional cord.

We still had about an hr to the Aarti and so we decided to pick our spot (on the bridge overlooking) and watched hundreds of people fill the banks. The Aarti was amazing, everyone was so engaged and the flurry of lights was a spectacle to see.

After the Aarti, we aimlessly wondered around the adjacent baazar until we decided we had enough and decided to walk it home. Getting directions, the chaiwala told us it would be only a 5 min road, but I soon calculated that any time given in India should really be multiplied by 3 or 5, and I was right, 25mins.

On route we stopped at this juice guy, who told us to trust him ( I didn't, I just said Carrot & ginger would be fine, but for dads he made an amazing concoction, made of pretty much every possible fruit + ginger.

We also decided to get dads hair chopped, but this was no 10 minute haircut, this turned out to be a cut, face massage, face pack, face massage, electric face massage....and you guessed it...a face massage. I think when dad agreed to put some cream on post-shave, he hadn't bargained for a full on lady like facial :)

The time came to head back, and to be honest I was dreading the room and how cold it would be. This is where I discovered dads best kept secret... a make shift hot water bottle....literally.

Wondering up and down the alley way, we realised we weren't gonna find a heater so instead we bought a large water bottle, drank it and woke up the nearest chai walla. We explained that we wanted him to boil some water and fill the bottle, to which he refused..he couldn't understand the logic or reason of what was doing. However, as soon as we showed him 10 rupees, the gas was on full power and he filled us up. I was quite sceptical as to dads method...but you know what, the bottle served its purpose, and was still warm in the morning. genius.

Yatra Begins

So we booked the day before and managed to arrange with a random taxi guy to pick us up at 5:30am...the guy actually slept all night in his cab outside the complex and called us at 530 on the dot.

Our flight was at 7:35, but knowing full well our driver was the next Schumacher, we knew we'd be there in plenty of time...and we were right. Surprisingly there were no issues, in fact as soon as I boarded the plane I KO'd so did not even feel/realise the take off or landing.

SO, we arrived in Dehli with no clue how to get to Haridwar. The options were either Train, Taxi or Bus...but it seemed that we already missed the 11:00am fast train and the next one was at 15:30. Talking to the locals, it they advised that the next best option was the bus, which was equally as fast and a fraction of the price of a taxi. However, we were still dubious and wanted to go see what trains we get onto.

Dad inquired at the official taxi office (at the airport) and they said we needed to take a cab to the train station. The airport has its own official taxis but being the Indian I am, I suggested we walk outside of the airport and catch a local dude to take us as it may be cheaper.

However, I was wrong. We walked and walked until we found this Punjabi guy who agreed to take us, little did I know that this guy would stop every so often to answer his phone, pee in the street or swear at driver alongside.

An hour later we reached the train/Bus station and this was the point which proved to be our biggest mistake. As we got off this guy approached us and said the bus for Haridwar was leaving in half hr and the bus was, and I quote, " a 280 seater LUXURY coach". So we just went along, booked and waited in the pick area. By this time I was hungry, so I manned the bags whilst dad found food and fresh carrot & ginger, and pomegranate juice.

While waiting we got chatting to the guy opposite, a professional engineer, who soon informed us there was no bus till1pm (only another 30mins)..giving us time to watch the rats run around us and buy some guava fruit.

1pm soon arrived and this guy came shouting "Haridwar, Haridwar". He asked us to follow him, across a mega busy carriage way to the bus. I was somewhat relived as the buses I had seen go by in the waiting area were..to be blunt...awesome. Not.

Approaching our bus, the word luxury didn't really spring to mind. In fact it was quite the opposite, the front looked liked it had hit a few cows and on entry all the seats were ripped, had metal poking out of them or no seat to sit on. Fortunately, dad told me to go find seats whilst he loaded the luggage so I was able to pick the best of the bunch. The seats however, were next to 3 local old guys that just kept staring at me, and looked liked were out of an Alladin movie (multi colour turban inclusive)

Dad got on the bus and looked at me, I could read his mind thinking...what have we got our selves into. Never the less, we 'man'd' up and decided to look upon it as an adventure.

The time now was 1:30 and dad asked when we would be setting off to which the guy replied 2, already 1 and 1/2 hrs late. 2oclock soon came to which the locals started abusing the organiser, who was just waiting for more people to make money out of and take on board.

At this point, I too was frustrated and added to the pressure by shouting "chalo chalo", then out of nowhere the guy behind me starts shouting and says he wants his money back, little did we know that this guy was ex-Indian army and later told us he had medals for killing people.

Anyway, we finally set off at 14:45 and at this stage I was wondering what time we would reach as we hadn't booked anything in Haridwar and this is when the nightmare began.

The driver kept stopping to pick more people up along the way and traffic was a nightmare. Several hours later, it was getting pretty dark and I thought we would reach around 7 until we hit this road block where the oncoming traffic wouldn't move and we were in the middle of a jam.

To make it worse, the driver stalled and couldn't get the bus started again untill 25mins later. After a few shouts and clever mounvering, we edged forward only to see a train zip past but the ill taught driver managed to start up and stall again..only this time he stalled on the train track!!

At this point, I started to REALLY shit myself as theres no way we could have moved on if a train came towards us. Luckily, the bus perked up with people pushing at the back and we were off...so we thought. 10 mins later the driver pulls over for a break at a service station, which I guess I didn't mind as I was hungry and needed to go to the bathroom.

I soon went, only to turn around to see a monkey watching me pee in the middle of a dark, secluded path. Meantime, dad bought chips and a coleslaw sandwich and then we were off only to stop another 5 mins later!!

The driver had realised that he wasn't going to able to drop the random passengers he picked up to their destination and so he got off, with them, and jumped onto another bus driving them to their place...leaving us waiting for yet another 40mins and the adventure didn't stop here, once he returned we set off once again only to learn that the bus lost power and we had to get off...in the middle of nowhere, with no taxis, shops or people. At this stage, I think I had no more frustration in me and could only laugh, nervously.

Outside the bus, the driver was getting endless amount of abuse from the passengers, in fact I was pretty sure he was going to get beaten by this old man...with 1 leg and two crutches. By this time 11:15, I noticed a little van pull up and so we picked up our bags and made a b-line for it only to be followed by everyone else. Luckily, we managed to get a seat and just watched everyone pile on like sardines. I was worried dad would stress out although, as usual, he was cool as a cucumber.

20 mins later, the driver stopped and it seemed we were here, finally. We asked one of the bus guys about hotels and he said 'Hotel Sachin' was good, we had no choice but to take his word and so we began walking for about 10 mins up the road, checked in and paid whatever he asked.

My first post

Hi all,

As some of you know I decided to pack my bags and go travel india! Initially I came out with dad for 2 weeks but have now decided to stay out here indefinately!

The trip began on saturday 21st 13:00 when sat at home looking for holidays when i came accross a deal for mumbai which was too good to miss, telling dad.. we packed out bags and were at the airport by 18:00.

The last time I went to mumbai was 12 years back and so my thoughts and ideas were purely based around these concepts. However, dad soon informed me that things were a little different as I soon came to realise.

Landing at the airport, I braced my self for the blast of indian heat I experienced 12 yrs ago, and I wasnt disapointed. Looking round the airport, me and dad searched for Dilip Kaka (dads cousin), who turned up shortly after with his driver and Riddesh (his son).

Driving through mumbai, it was exactly how I remembered it was, lots of horns, close encounters and wannabe lewis hamiltons!

Then came the biggest suprise of all, we pulled into this complex of 3 towers which could easily be described as 5 star luxury...this was Dilip kakas new pad, a multi million $ development complete with olympic sized swimming pool, squash courts..you name it.

It was really good seeing kaka, kaki, riddesh and the family after 12 years!

The first week was spent in mumbai, with dad and I catching up with family. Further we attended a international food exhibition which dad was interested in. I also attended one of Riddeshs law classes at college which was a good laugh, as his pranks soon caused the class to be halted and for him to sit at the front!

The next day we met up with dads other cousin, Ajit kaka, and again it was soon good seeing everyone especially riddin, bijal and vaishali. Here, kaka took for a ride on his moped..a scary but awesome experience!

The week soon flew by and by saturday I contacted one of Riteshs friends caleld Nimesh who is a music producer/singer out here. He let me know that he was going out at night and that to go to lower parel (club named Zenzi) to which he was wel known...and he wasnt wrong. As we approached the entrance, I mentioned his name and we were in like a flash, vip style. Further, it seemed that anybody we chatted to in there seemed to know him.

On sunday, we decided to search for flights for Dehli in order to make our way up north and to our success we were booked for first thing Monday morning!