Haridwar and the Sadu Happening

Sorry but I don't have any good pictures of Haridwar, they are all on Kalpana's camera. But it is a very sacred place, the gate of the gods. Since I am so paranoid about the water, Girish and Kalpana just splashed some water on my head and clothes - I didn't get into the water. It is a great blessing.

The second picture does not do the event justice at all. Here is a link to another blog (explicit material alert) but she covers it really well. I'm SUCH the amateur.

http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Haridwar/blog-474658.html

We were trying to LEAVE Haridwar to return to Delhi, it has been a very long day of driving and exciting places. The police and army were out in huge numbers, directing traffic etc. I thought at first the traffic jam was just a bus accident, but really what was happening was this incredible huge influx of people (not just sadus, gurus, swamis, and aethetics) and even after being 're-directed' through all of the craziness, we still sat in a jam for almost two hours. This facades are entry points into large tents that each guru/swami has. Some had music going (extrememly loud on a not too expensive loudspeaker) and some were actually singing. One in particular was chanting and it was worse than scratching on a blackboard. That was pleasant for two hours, huh? Good thing I travel with insect repellent because as it got dark - they came out in numbers along with all of the crowds. Things were feeling kind of "CLOSE".


These last two pictures are of the place we called home in New Delhi. Great security as I said before and since Gujrati's were being targeted in Mumbai, I was glad for it. We said our goodbye's to all of the very nice people and caught a train for Nashik.