I spent last weekend in Rishikesh, which is about 2.5 hours south of Mussoorie. With the Ganga (Ganges) River running through, it is a sacred city filled with religious pilgrims (usually dressed in orange), yoga followers, and hippie tourists. In line with other sacred cities, Rishikesh doesn't sell alcohol and is almost 100% vegetarian. While there is a part of Rishikesh that is more or less an average Indian city, the part to go to is set on either side of the Ganga with two suspension bridges connecting the sides. The bridges are only about 5 ft wide and thus are "pedestrian only" (which includes motorbikes, cargo pushcarts, cows plopped in inconvenient places, and monkeys ready to pounce on unsuspecting people with fruit).
Set at a lower altitude than Mussoorie, it was very hot and humid. We spent the weekend perusing the many shops and then sitting in cafes to escape the heat. Many of the cafes and restaurants cater to the unusually large number of young Israeli tourists, so we indulged in great hummus and pita. And I had my fair share of cold coffees, which are sold everywhere. I also tried a delicious drink made with fresh lemon juice and a whole lot of chopped up mint plant (enough to turn the whole drink a solid green color) - very refreshing! On Sunday morning I got up early and headed to the Ganga to sketch and just have some alone time. It was so wonderful to watch the city come alive.
The locals were out running errands in the cool morning weather. Sitting by the river, I also saw many Indians bathing and performing rituals. Overall, I really enjoyed the city. The biggest disappointment was not being able to fit a whitewater rafting trip into the weekend!
RAJPUR: Today I was the lead chaperone (ah! the responsibility!) for a Saturday field trip to Sharp Memorial Blind School in Rajpur (which is very close to Dehradun). Once a month the high school students have a "Closed Bazaar" weekend which means that they can't go into town. They are encouraged to either do a hike/camping trip or a CARE trip (I'm not sure what the acronym means, but it is basically a community outreach program). This is the third CARE trip I've gone one (treeplanting and Tibetan Homes were the others) so apparently that makes me qualified to be the lead chaperone! We took a school bus down and spent a few hours at the school. It is a boarding school that, along with blind children, also takes in a few orphans. We brought some play-dough to share with them. They loved it! It was really cool to see how the Woodstock kids quickly got over their hesitancy and were soon fully interacting with the kids. We only had two Hindi speakers in the group, so not only were we crossing a vision barrier but also a language barrier. Everything basically revolved around communication through touch, which was a valuable experience. Afterwards, we headed to Dehradun for lunch at McDonald's and Nirula's (Indian fast food chain) and then headed back up the hill. I'm very relieved that everyone survived the trip without any major catastrophes!
Sahil (the trouble-maker) creating a pretty amazing person flying a kite...or something.
Woodstock students and Sharp Memorial kids playing with clay.
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