Rishikesh: A photo diary

Rishikesh, otherwise known as the ‘Yoga Capital of the World’, is a colourful place, jostling with sadhus (holy men) dressed from head to toe in orange, backpackers and pilgrims seeking spiritual enlightenment. The sounds of ringing temple bells mingle with religious chanting and the ubiquitous beeping of India’s traffic.

The town sits on two sides of the fast-flowing, sacred Ganges River in India’s northern region of Uttarakhand (formerly Uttaranchal), nestled among the soaring green Himalayan foothills. It is united by two rather bouncy pedestrian bridges - Lakshman Jhula and Ram Jhula – which are used by pilgrims, locals, mopeds, cows and monkeys alike.

Rishikesh became world famous in 1968 when The Beatles came to stay at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram. It was here that they reputedly wrote most of the White Album, although Ringo left after a couple of weeks; he didn’t like the vegetarian food and missed his kids. The ashram was abandoned in 1997, but it is possible to take a tour of what remains of the buildings.

Today, Rishikesh is popular with Western and domestic tourists and pilgrims. They come here to stay in one of the many ashrams, practise yoga and meditation, learn to play a traditional Indian musical instrument, take part in one of the adrenaline sports that the place is quickly becoming renowned for, or to simply soak up the atmosphere.

Photos

1.    The view from our hotel balcony

Our incredible view more than made up for our budget hotel room; where we didn’t have hot water, we had the Ganges and where we lacked any kind of ornamentation, we had the fairy tale-like Swarg Niwas Temple to feast our eyes on. The bridge in the foreground is Lakshman Jhula.

2.    Looking along Lakshman Jhula

The first thing we did was explore Swarg Ashram, a traffic-free area of temples, ghats (steps leading down to the river) and shops. To get there, we had to cross Lakshman Jhula. The bridge is meant to be pedestrian only, but it is used by mopeds, which force their way through the crowds, and cows meandering their way across town in search of something to eat.

3.    Cows and Ambassadors

Cows, being a sacred creature in Hinduism, roam India freely. You see them everywhere, equally calm and ponderous whether they’re chewing cardboard amid the roar of Delhi’s streets or napping in the middle of a mountain road. These ones were contemplating a pile of rubbish in front of the Ganges, with a row of India’s famous Hindustan Ambassador cars behind them. The first car to be manufactured in India, the ‘Amby’ was based on the British Morris Oxford III but is still considered to be as Indian as masala chai.

4. Monkey hug

Craig spent ages photographing a bunch of monkeys hanging out in front of one of Rishikesh’s many temples. The monkeys also like to hang out on the suspension cables of Rishikesh’s bridges. We saw one expertly swipe a plastic bag from a very surprised Hindu lady who was walking across Lakshman Jhula, climb up to a safe height and begin to work its way through the bag’s contents of crisps and snacks. In this shot they look contemplative and cuddly but elsewhere we’ve been advised to avoid eye contact, not to smile at them (baring teeth is a sign of aggression in the monkey world), and, in Shimla, to carry a stick to ward them off when necessary.

5. Singing bowl instruction

The shops lining the streets of Rishikesh sell all kinds of religious artefacts and souvenirs, from statues of Hindu gods and goddesses, colourful saris and cloth to chillums and tie-dyed backpacker clothing. The owner of this tiny stall is showing me how to get the best sound from a Himalayan singing bowl, which is meant to help with meditation, relaxation, prayer and personal wellbeing.

6.    Bottles of sweet lime

Sweet lime, made from fresh lime juice, water and sugar, is a highly refreshing drink available everywhere in India from upmarket restaurants to street stalls. It is not uncommon to see the drink displayed elaborately and perfectly lined up in glass bottles, garnished with a whole lemon, as in this stall by the side of the road in Swarg Ashram.

7.    Lady in trolley

A group of ladies, seeing Craig photographing the sweet lime stall, asked Craig to take photographs of them. They were on a pilgrimage to a temple in Swarg Ashram but two of them were too old to make the two-kilometre walk along the pedestrian-only road. Undeterred, they hired a man with a trolley to pull them along. They had paused for a break and a glass of sweet lime, and were delighted to be the subject of Craig’s camera lense, taking it in turns to pose. The lady’s radiant smile contradicts her apparent frailty.

8.    Sadhu

Craig spotted a group of elderly men taking shelter from the midday heat and asked to take their photographs. This sadhu was perfectly happy to have his photograph taken, as many are, but asked for a banana from a nearby stall in return. Craig, of course, obliged!

9. Craig by the ghats

It didn’t feel right to photograph the people bathing in the Ganges but this picture of Craig gives a general idea of what the scene was like. Men and women of all ages walked down the ghats into the holy brown water and repeatedly dunked themselves under. I would have given it a go but have been repeatedly and earnestly warned about the river’s shockingly high levels of pollution, caused by the dumping of raw sewage, carcasses and chemical waste into the river on a daily basis.

10.    Pilgrims crossing Ram Jhula

Later on that evening, we tried to see the ganga aarti ceremony, which takes place with a few hundred devotees at sunrise and sunset every day. People light incense and candles in a flower bowl and float them down the Ganges River. Bhajans are sung and prayers offered to Shiva and the Ganges River itself. It was only when we got to Ram Jhula that we realised we had arrived on one of the busiest days of the year, as thousands of pilgrims were making offerings to the Hindu deity Shiva. Earlier that morning, they had gathered water from the Ganges and carried it 16km to the Temple of Shiva. We caught the returning crowds and were told it was too dangerous for us to cross the bridge with them, due to the sheer mass of people. The man to the left is keeping them all in line with a stick.

11.    Kids seeing themselves on video camera

We tried to console ourselves for missing the ganga aarti ceremony by talking a stroll along the other side of the river. We took a break from the crowds in a square next to the Ganges. Other visitors had the same idea and the family of four (to the right of the image) asked us to take pictures of them. I also filmed them waving at the video camera, which attracted a bit of a crowd…Ram Jhula is in the background.

12.    Sadhus contemplating the Ganges over a chillum

A short way further along the Ganges, we stopped again to sit down on a ghat. A group of about 10 holy men and women were to our left and, seeing Craig set up his tripod and take some photos, a sadhu with the chillum asked him to take their portraits. He took a photo of every one of them, but chose this one because: “They look so standoffish in the picture but they were really smiley and friendly as I talked to them. This is something that happens a lot here – people take on a really serious expression when having their photo taken. And although the sadhus seem to have no connection to modern technology, they were so excited to see their pictures on my camera.” Ram Jhula is in the background.

13.    Typical lads
As Craig was taking photos of the sadhus, I sat on the steps to indulge in some people watching. It soon became apparent I was the one being watched as all kinds of people edged closer and asked to take a photo of me with them. I must have been papped about 50 times in 15 minutes! Eventually, as my cheeks started to ache, I decided to turn the tables and took this picture of a group of lads who had each just had their photo taken with me. They weren’t displeased by the proposition!

14.    Family on holiday
Another family portrait with me, but this time they didn’t have a camera of their own. They were incredibly friendly and wanted to sit with us, have a chat and pose for a few photographs. We ended up just talking to each other in our own languages, laughing our heads off at the fact we had no idea what the other was saying! Look carefully and you’ll see the little boy is blowing a bubble – something we unanimously thought cheekily hilarious!

15.    The aarti ganga ceremony at night
Despite the Festival of Shiva crowds, we did eventually manage to see and perform for ourselves a part of the aarti ganga ceremony. The picture isn’t perfect, but it does somehow capture the moment. The shutter speed was set to 30 seconds so you can see how solemn this family was when performing it. We bought a flower bowl with incense and candle and launched it into the Ganges. It was carried off downstream at a rapid rate of knots until, within seconds, it was a just distant shimmer on the water.