3 Lovely Weekends

The past three weekends have been lovely adventures that have furthered my appreciation of India's physical and human beauty.

3 weekends ago,
I travelled 1 1/2 hrs northwest of Rishikesh to the captial of the State, Dehra Dun, to reunite with my 'Indian sister' and friend Sumitra. It was 8 months since I first met her and yet it felt just like yesterday when we embraced in the busy market of Dehra Dun. Instantly, it was as easy to relate and spend time together as I remembered. We shared stories and caught up over masala dosas, sweets and chai. We see the world very similarly and I have a feeling we were once related or most certainly supposed to meet in this lifetime.
I took the opportunity to visit her since she usually lives 6 hours north, which is too tiring a distance to travel when I am this deeply immersed in my practise. I spent the night with her in a peaceful setting outside of the capital. There, her friends were as warm and welcoming as her, calling me thier Canadian daughter and sharing stories about thier children living in Australia. They cooked a scrumptuous lunch and so naturally made me feel at home.
Sumitra told me about all the beautiful karmic work she has done since we last met. She is co-founder of an alternative school in Uttarkashi where I spent time with her last trip. She really is a woman of selfless service. Unmarried, she has humbly dedicated her life to helping those in need. She works from her heart and has completed numerous projects throughout the villages of this mountainous state from helping to create womans co-operatives selling handicrafts to assisting victims of monsoon landslides rebuild thier villages. It's remarkable how she does so much with so little funding. My mind naturally started brainstorming ways to support her. For only $1000/month she can run the school in Uttarkashi educating dozens of children and employing a handful of local staff. A little sure goes a long way here and I would love to help her continue to do the amazing and necessary work she does. She is so grateful for the little, yet sufficient amount, that she has in her modest life and sees a world in need. With skills to share, she gives and serves and teaches me so much by what seems to come so natural to her.

So 2 weekends ago,
I was inclined to take the opporunity to visit her again over my full moon long weekend. We travelled to the nearby hill station town of Mussourie to see the powerful Himilayas.
After meandering for 1 1/2 hrs up a nauseating, treacherous road in a rickety old bus we arrived at 6000 ft. The air was crisp and the landscape completely different. We piled on warm layers and set out to explore the popular Indian honeymoon town. The ridgetop town is full of shops and chai stalls, restaurants and more shops but it was the landscape that I came to see and revel in. The trees were completely different than those along the banks of the Ganga river where I stay in Laxman Jhula. Beautiful, tall evergreens stood towering over us, reminding me of B.C's coastal hemlocks.
The highlight was climbing up to the town lookout called 'Gun Hill' to see the snow covered Himilayas in the distance. Mountains remind me so much of Canada and there is something special about being reminded of home all the way over here.
We stayed up at the viewpoint as the sun set painted the peaks pink and the full moon rose. What a beautiful sight!
We drank warm chai as the temperature dropped and squatted next to a wood fire with the locals, to keep warm. The familiar smell of wood smoke amidst the crisp mountain air also reminded me of home and brought a warm smile to my heart.
We meandered down from the lookout revelling in the stillness of dusk, the power of the full moon rising and the beautiful natural setting and good company. Needless to say we were incredibly happy and feeling grateful for having this experience together. It had been many years since Sumitra visited Mussourie. Being from a mountain village near Shimla, she appreciates the rocky peaks as much as I.
I am not sure when I will see Sumitra again but I trust our paths will cross again offerring us more memorable experiences to share :)

This past weekend,
I travelled with 4 (Icelandic, Spanish, and Swedish) friends from yoga to a nearby waterfall with an unexpected delightful visit to a peaceful hillside village.
We set out early, keen for a break from the hectic traffic and bustling crowds of Laxman Jhula. Travelling 5 kms upstream of the Ganga it didn't take long for our spirits to be renewed as we entered the moist, green, quiet forest. The air felt clean and crisp with a light morning dew on the west facing slope. Soon after starting the climb to the waterfall I stopped and took a deep breath in, washing away the accumulated busy chaos of weeks of town life. Just hearing birds chirping and water flowing was such a refreshing treat.
We hiked up a well marked trail for about 1/2 an hour taking in the green, green forest to arrive at the cool mist of the waterfall. It felt spectacular to simply delight in and connect to nature with no distractions. We each shared stories of beautiful natural areas of our homes and remarked how important it is to have places like this in the world.
No one went for a dip in the water but instead we layered on sweaters and appreciated our surroundings.
Before heading back down we took another trail to what a few passing Indians told us was a small village. We climbed some more to what turned out to be one of the most peaceful places a community could live.
Rising out of the forest we reached the clearing of the village where terraced slopes grew an abundance of local food and cows, goats and horses grazed. We walked with a hesitant slowness at first, not wanting to disturb but soon a warm, smiling older Indian man greeted us. He lead us through his incredible garden of flowering roses, hibiscus, marigolds, and more. He spoke excellent english inviting us to sit under his avocado tree. Within no time his well wrinkled wife started a fire to prepare chai. We instantly felt at home with the kind, warm hospitality of this couple who it turns out have been married for 45 years!
We all sat and remarked how this was the kind of place we would love to spend more time in, where you only hear the call of birds under the warm afternoon sun next to the sweet smell of flowers.
Within another few moments his wife cooked us up a sweet snack of Sooji and coconut and yet another chai for the walk down. He showed us pictures of the handful of other foreigners who visited his place, which interestingly did not take away from the authenticity of our experience. Although others had been there we still felt genuine in our experience. I think in large part this is due to how natural and down to earth Indians can be in their interactions. They were just living thier life, happy to see and welcome visiters. They reminded me of my family in eastern Canada with thier natural hospitality and desire to give to and care for others.
While in some ways we could have spent forever here we began to descend the hillside and make our way back to the more busy life below in Laxman Jhula, taking a piece of this stillness with us. He wished us well, inviting us back next time, and his dear wife (who only spoke Hindi) smiled, squeezed our cheeks and gave us a big hug.

Three wonderful weekends have passed and I am glad to share some of my experiences with you!

WHAT NEXT:
Only 2 weeks left in this lovely northern clime, then I am off to the south to Goa to say Hello to Iain and the coconut trees. I plan to attend a vipassana meditation course at the grand pagoda outside of Mumbai over Christmas and then I am likely off to northern Thailand for the New Year.
But as always, I'll keep you posted!

All the best,
Theresa