from Dickinson's India travelogue, 15 Sep 2008:

Sun and Water

Why would wet feet spark a surge in strange deaths?

 

Loved Ones,

 
I've found my own way in the world for a week, and am wildly rejoicing that the weather's no longer wet. The monsoons have run their course and the sun is shining again! But not everyone is feeling relief from the wet weather yet. Violent rains and the associated flooding have displaced 2.5 million people (India Today).

 
Vikrant left for a conference in South India, and while more limited in scope, I'm plotting my own course and that's been exciting. Stepping into "guesthouse" culture launched me into a different world. The quiet and serene hilltop retreat stands in such marked contrast to the busy city of Rishikesh that it is hard to remember an alternative exists while immersed in either. Be it the yoga, ashrams, price ranges or some other lure that has drawn them, a most intriguing assortment of folks can be found reclining around thatched gazebos or under ceilings of tangled vines.

 
The cast of characters I encountered were primarily from Australia (and I'm tempted to take up a new friend's offer to work with his kite boarding company someday). Other friends were English, Italian and Canadian. Being there kindled a lot of lively debate. One running discussion was the "Path of Self Inquiry" as a means to oneness with God compared with the "Path of the Devotee." I started writing out the most insightful points about different facets of a truth, our state of being, and knowing but it was dry and looked to be a better book then essay. A poem informed by the conversations materialized one night, and it illustrates a glimpse of what I believe.

 
Hungry for the horizon, I decided to set out for Dhanaulti. The two-day circuit brought my buddy Rohit and me to some incredible vistas among a host of other memorable scenes. We managed to sneak a peek at the mountaintop palace resort in Narendra Nagar. Ananda is astounding, but their rates are crazy with the cheapest room running US $425 a night to a week long package that runs just shy of ten grand. We were wowed, but continuing on, the blatant disparity was disquieting until I became aware that on some level, given the state of things (granting the barest grounds for exceptions) decisions to book rooms stemmed from erroneous thinking.

 
Our own guest house that night was a more reasonable $7.50 and we made a fire on the roof top on that cloudless night. . Best of all, our hosts enjoyed hanging out and were kind enough to offer fireside service as opposed to the room variety! The guesthouse fellas also helped us get wood, walked a trail with us the next morning. Sharma even gave a pair of wool socks fresh off the loom to both Rohit and me to remember him by! Other folks we met were equally awesome, and I was truly ready to stay indefinitely everywhere we stopped. The clear skies really made a huge difference riding. With the sun smiling down on us I felt we were wading in the shallows of heaven.

 
Vikrant returned shortly after we did and the next days took us to the ruined remains where water had wreaked havoc. Our four-man team set out on the eight-hour journey to Mailani. We had to navigate the last stretch of road in the dark, an area notoriously noted for bandits. While appreciating the officers we saw, I was reminded of my time in Pakistan. We arrived at our host, Samuel's, house early enough to hear some stories of what people are facing.

 
Samuel dropped by a friend's a few days before our arrival and his companion naturally insisted on preparing chai. Having no wood, however, he stepped out to gather some. He never returned. A search party found his scarf in a tree and his hand; a panther was the last to see him whole. The wide spread floods have cloistered both man and beast together on the few islands that the plains of Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh have become. The big cats especially don't like to have their feet wet. Alas, we came prepared to help battle only the smaller animals.

 
Mosquito nets were received with triumphant smiles, this strategy being recommended over the indigenous method of burning plastic. While preferable to malaria, I wondered what the actual affects of the noxious fumes were during the half hour or so it took to habituate to them. The real boon, however, was the food.