Life in Rishikesh, India

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FEBRUARY 25, 2013

I came for a couple days.  I stayed for a couple weeks. 

My room

Cooking lesson in the kitchen

I asked the world for a beautiful European woman that makes a lot of dough. I get this little French chapatti making machine.

My tabla teacher, Bansai Baba, and Sinja

Several years ago in a kava bar in Ft. Lauderdale I had a conversation with the owner one night.  He was tired and wanted to leave but was the only one working.  I told him to go.  I was certain that he had created a  great enough sense of community in the bar that not only would us regulars pay our tabs and lock up before we left, but someone would likely step up and keep serving kava to any strays that walked in.  He never took me up on the experiment.

Night fall in the Rishikesh Valley

The run down old ashram where The Beatles used to study

Here in Rishikesh a similar sense of community has developed at The Vedic Yoga Guest House.  Jen, from New York, has taken to feeding and bathing the puppies that hang out downstairs.  Yaroslav, from Belarus, has started teaching free ashtanga yoga classes on the roof.  He and Sinja, from Germany, stepped up to lead the nightly chanting when the normal teacher left town for a couple days.  I volunteered to teach the morning yoga class today before catching my flight out.  Keep in mind we are all guests, not staff.  That’s the special kind of environment here.

It doesn't matter what culture you're in - at some point in every party the guys will step out back and smoke a J

My time here in Rishikesh was sublime.  It wasn’t travel.  It was living.  And living well I might add.  Work maybe four hours a day.  Do yoga and meditate twice a day.  Eat a mix of weird fruit and wonderful prepared food for less than $5 per day. All the while interacting with wonderful travelers at the guesthouse and in town.  Each night, retire to a comfy queen size bed in my marble-floored room for $10 per day.  I could get used to this.