Have just said my farewells to Om, it has been lovely being able to dip into his world whilst in India with his guru, to be able to have time with him and his colleagues and yet also be able to do my own thing too.
On the Wednesday in Rishikesh he was working so we did not get to catch up but I had a gentle day partly revising some of the things we had done on the Monday but I also dipped into the Rishikesh Film Festival, and then had to run back to the hotel to see if my Thursday trip to the National Park had been sorted. It had not been but eventually it was sorted, so in the morning I said goodbye to Hari Om with one of his lovely porridge breakfasts and veg sandwich, then walked down tot he Ganga where I chatted to a female Indian birdwatcher, who birdlike herself described the 35 species she had seen whilst in Rishikesh, then I picked up my nice top made by the local tailor.
In the afternoon I was out of the noise of Riskikesh on a well made road running along a sort of canal of the Ganges that feeds a water power plant, and then at the entrance to the National Park, where I swopped my taxi for a jeep. I cannot claim to have seen many animals in the 2.5 hours that followed, but we went through a whole range of terrains, and weathers and by the end were racing through the rain to get home. At times we could have been in Richmond Park seeing the deer and parakeets, but seeing peacocks running around in the long grass was great fun and despite many breakdowns and some helpful observations like tree, burnt tree, my driver (did not pay for a guide) proved adept at spotting the one or two elephants that were on our route. They were quite a way away, and my old camera so useless, you cannot even see that that is what I am taking a picture of but I definitely saw elephants on my trip to India. And there was even a small bonus as my jeep carried stuff up to a building inside the nature reserve that turned out to be the elephant orphanage, I only got a brief glimpse when I stood up just to work out what the buildings might be but I was rewarded with the most gorgeous site of a couple of youngsters trotting alongside the keeper.
I felt very bad, that despite being back in time, I did not do puja which the flowers bought for the purpose the day before whilst on the beach, but I was cold tired and just did not have the energy to battle with the traffic and people to return to the Ganga. I hope mother ganga will forgive me that instead I had a lovely meal of paneer pasanda and biriyani rice and that I left my offering at the elephant good kept in the hotel when I creeped out at 6 to get my taxi to the airport.
On the Wednesday in Rishikesh he was working so we did not get to catch up but I had a gentle day partly revising some of the things we had done on the Monday but I also dipped into the Rishikesh Film Festival, and then had to run back to the hotel to see if my Thursday trip to the National Park had been sorted. It had not been but eventually it was sorted, so in the morning I said goodbye to Hari Om with one of his lovely porridge breakfasts and veg sandwich, then walked down tot he Ganga where I chatted to a female Indian birdwatcher, who birdlike herself described the 35 species she had seen whilst in Rishikesh, then I picked up my nice top made by the local tailor.
I felt very bad, that despite being back in time, I did not do puja which the flowers bought for the purpose the day before whilst on the beach, but I was cold tired and just did not have the energy to battle with the traffic and people to return to the Ganga. I hope mother ganga will forgive me that instead I had a lovely meal of paneer pasanda and biriyani rice and that I left my offering at the elephant good kept in the hotel when I creeped out at 6 to get my taxi to the airport.
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