Hrishikesh - Jan 2019

Jan 6 - Jan 13, 2019

The motivation behind this week long trip was to take a vacation in between my India vacation, do Yoga and Meditation and be close to the roots. I am not sure when the exact thought of going to Rishikesh came to my mind but it wasn't all of a sudden. I have been practicing Yoga philosophy for several years and it doesn't fail to amaze me how rich our scriptures and philosophies are or may be I should say how rich human beings really are since the philosophies mention nothing but the reality of human nature and its ultimate truth. This trip felt like the experience was custom made for me by someone! I didn't really do much planning other than booking my flight ticket. Throughout my time in Rishikesh I felt like I wasn't actually the doer, the planner, the thinker.

Going to write this post in terms of various experiences rather than day to day life there. Everyday had a bit of routine and then some that wasn't routine. Apart from the everyday yoga, meditation, lecture, I would get time between 10:30am - 12pm and then 1pm - 3pm. I made use of that time to visit other Ashrams and lectures. Waking up to the chants of mantras and wrapping up the day with the Ganga aarti was a unique experience in itself. This place definitely has a lot of positive and divine energy and a part of it can easily be felt in the people around. The ashrams, the sadhana of the great Yogis who lived here, the Ganga ji, the holy mantras, the hills around all contribute to it. 

The Ganga Aarti at Parmarth Ashram

I arrived Sunday and after having lunch, I decided to go see the town a little bit and then experience the Ganga aarti at the Parmarth Niketan Ashram in the evening. I started walking towards the Lakshman Jhula to see the Trayambakeshwar mandir. I had to walk all the small lanes to get to the Lakshman Jhula. I stopped by couple of book shops as well. The temple has a place for many different gods. I went upto 2nd or 3rd floor and then came back. 

Lakshman Jhula from Temple

From here I walked through the market and checked a few shops. Everything was priced much higher and I did not see a point buying anything there. To my surprise, the hair oil (made in the khadi bhandar, rishikesh!) that we just bought a day before from another place outside Rishikesh had a higher MRP in Rishikesh market stores. I continued towards the Ram Jhula walking by the side of the Ganga. There were different kind of tourists all around - the foreigners who come with the hope to learn what yoga is, the other category of foreigners who come to just get a 100 hour YTT (Yoga Teachers Training) certificate and start making money, the young Indians who love to take pictures in different poses, the religious people who wanted to do ritualistic puja.

Before stopping at the Parmarth Niketan for the evening aarti, I stopped by the ashrams on the way, had tea and then at the Gita press and bought some books. By the time I reached Parmarth, it was drizzling a bit, the monkey family was jumping around the ashram and the ashram folks were shooing them away. People around were waiting to get to the aarti place. I spent some time inside the Parmarth Ashram and then came back out to be there for the aarti. Since this wasn't the peak season, it wasn't hard to get a nice spot on the stairs near the Ganga ji.

The sky before the aarti looked as if it was also preparing for it. The sun was setting and the clouds floating around to get themselves highlighted.

The aarti starts with the young kids from the ashram gurukul coming out and then chanting the Shiva mahima strotam before the aarti. Then hanuman chalisa and the ganga aarti followed by bhajans.

The shiva was standing tall behind the aarti. During the floods few years back the water came up to the head of shiva. After the aarti experience I walked back to the ashram via the Ram Jhula. It was quite cold to walk with the cold winds around.

Parmarth Niketan shining across Ram Jhula

The Ganga Bank Kids

I had to meet a friend (friend's friend) for lunch outside and I was waiting downstairs by the Ganga ghat enjoying the Ganga ji in the warm afternoon. When I was walking back, three kids came running to me with flowers' basket in their hands. These kids were selling flowers for aarti at the Ganga ghat in Rishikesh. I had a conversation with them. I asked them if they go to school and the girl said they go to 'sarkari' school and were having winter vacations. I asked them who buys flowers in the afternoon and they said 'angrejni'. They thought I was an 'angrejni' sitting there so they all ran to me. I told them that I am not an angrejni (I told them see I speak your language and also live up in the hills and the tall boy said pointing to the hill on the right, 'there?'). When I asked if they give the money to their parents, the girl smiled and said '5 rupee ki cheezi kha lete Hain'. The smile in the picture is after I asked them to smile a bit.

The Nirvana experience

Nirvana is the restaurant's name where a local friend took for lunch. I was hoping to eat at a small road side eatery to have the same old experience that we have been used to since childhood but then I didn't resist this. The place was nice inside and we could sit with our shoes off in the typical paalthi style. While we were eating some local flute player came outside and started playing the tune of 'bedu pako....' making the experience complete with the chai and momos.

This friend teaches Yoga at an expensive resort in Rishikesh. He was talking about how the rich people who come to visit the resort from all over the world, get surprised when they come to know the philosophy behind yoga. For them yoga is mainly just poses to make their body flexible. He also mentioned that he stayed at the Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) for 2 years and I couldn't stop telling him how I have been hooked to reading their Yoga magazines that are available online. These magazines kept me busy during the 16 hours flight from SFO to Delhi. While we were coming back, I mentioned that I was checking out few books from the BSY that I want to buy but found that the local book shops are charging more than amazon. He said he has a complementary copy of one of the books that I wanted and thought that he has found the right recipient for that since he didn't want to give it to just anyone. How could I say no! He gave me this book along with a few hard copies of the Yoga magazines and the yogi cloth! I felt nothing but grateful for his thoughtfulness.

The Chai Vale ji at the Ram Jhula

After the lunch we head out for another chai but at a road side chai shop on Ram Jhula. I really liked the chai as it had good amount of ginger and sugar. I also liked the way he would give the chai and take the money - with a sense of seva, putting his one hand on his heart. I had their chai multiple times. A few days I went in the afternoon to have the wonderful ginger chai. This chai uncle (he was may be in his 50-60s) would bow down with one hand on his heart while offering tea. His humility as well as the wonderful tea touched me.

The Dayananda Ashram visit

I visited the dayananda ashram before lunch at 11am. It took me 20-30 min by walk. I skipped the lunch and thought I will just eat at the Gurudwara in between. I visited the museum at the Gurudwara as I could not find the main hall. The structures inside the museums (depicting murders from the time of division) did not make me feel good so I just skipped finding the main guru hall and continued my walk to the ashram. I was keeping an eye on eating places so that I can stop by one of them while returning from the ashram. The thought of buying some sweet also came to my mind but then I put a check on my sweet desire. Reached the ashram at around 11:45am. Saw the Adi Shankaracharya temple and swami ji's samadhi. The bookshop was closed so while I was coming out, the guard asked did you have food? I told him that I am not staying here so I am not sure if I can have lunch here. He said go inside and just tell the manager, he should be ok. So I went and asked the manager if I can eat here today. He welcomingly said yes. There was still half hour left before the lunch hour so I just decided to go down at the ghat behind and sit by the Ganga. The next funny thing that happens - I see that they are serving jalebi during lunch. It felt like all the secret wishes were being fulfilled silently.

The Ghat boy

This was at the Ganga ghat behind the Dayananda ashram during my first visit to the ashram. This boy started asking me to buy flowers - 'didi didi fool le lo na'. I didn't want to buy flowers so I just started having conversation with him. My typical question - do you go to school and why are you selling flowers. He gave me his typical answer - 'School jata hun, chuttiyan ho rahi hain'. I almost bought the flowers but then he didn't have matchbox to light the diya in it. So I told him that he should sing a song or aarti or his school prayer. He said 'didi yaad nahin'. I scolded him for not remembering the school prayer. He said 'didi yaad thi par gaanv jake aane ke Baad bhool Gaya'. I asked him to smile in the picture and he gave the victory V :) After I came back, I was thinking if the boy was even a hindu that I was asking him to sing an aarti? Mind has its ways of projecting and making assumptions!

The Kailash Ashram visit

Kailash Ashram is one of the oldest Ashrams in Rishikesh. You can feel that from the structure as well. I was told that Kailash Ashram has some lectures in the afternoon so I walked to also check out their bookstore but the store was closed when I went. I talked with the care taker person. He asked around about the discourses going and told that there is one at 3pm so I should come at that time to also check the bookstore. There is a distinct peace in all these ashrams so I just walked around a bit, saw Ganga ji from far and came back. Revisited again at 3pm and listened to a discourse on Vivekchudamani then checked the bookstore. While I was heading out the care taking person saw me and asked if I could get the books. I said yes and thanked him for all the info he got for me. He then said 'chai pee aapne? chai pee ke jao'. How can a pahadi say no to chai! I went to get chai. One of the amazing ginger chai in total pahadi style (with extra sugar). I sat outside and sipped tea with the ashram folks and thanked the care taking person in my thoughts. He wasn't the first one to show the same small town hospitality that I have not felt in years. While coming back I asked him to take a picture for me. He was watering the plants while listening to some video lectures.

The early morning Sivanand ashram visit

This was a special 5am visit to Sivananda Ashram. 5-6am was spent in meditation and some mantra chanting by the swami jis there. It was pitch dark and I later realized that I was sitting in the men's section for meditation :-) There weren't that many people so it didn't make much difference. Nobody bothered about it. Later at 6am, went to the Vishwanath temple where the pujari ji was doing shiv abhishek. It was interesting to see. It was like giving bath to a small kid - he applied, haldi, oil, chandan and we were given the opportunity to do the abhishek with milk and banana mash. Later it was given bath and then adorned with the bhasm tilak and the white cloth. Then the Vasuki nag was placed. Later the aarti was done with damru and ghanta. I spent half an hour in the Vishnu Sahasranama chanting and then came back in time for breakfast.

The Dayananda Ashram revisited

This was my second visit to the ashram. I wanted to visit the book shop. I figured that there is a nice walkway along side the Ganga - Asthapath. So far I was going to ashrams through the main road which had lot of traffic. On the right side of the ghat in between there was a wall with a number of shlokas written. It took me 20 min to get to the ashram by walk. I took a book with me and sat in the ashram for couple of hours as the book store was only suppose to open at 3:15pm. The guard asked me if I would like to have the kheer which they had during lunch. I went to the kitchen and had 2 cups of kheer. At 3:15pm I was hanging in front of the bookstore so that I can quickly buy any books and then head back to be at the yoga class in the ashram on time. Unfortunately the person responsible for the bookstore was late so I was offered to have tea. I went and had a glass of tea and then bought a couple of books later before walking back.

The Neelkanth Mahadev

There was only 1 day remaining in my trip. The yoga teacher asked if I visited the Neelkanth Mahadev temple during our conversation. I wasn't aware of it but then thought since I have a day, I can try to visit it. So I went outside and asked around to figure out where to get a taxi from in the morning. I was told by a chai vala downstairs that I can find the taxis there early morning. I slept with the thought of heading out 5:45am next morning. I head out at 5:50am but did not find any taxis downstairs, after asking around I figured that going to the taxi stand on the other side of Ram Jhula is the only option. So I walked across Ram Jhula and asked someone where the taxi stand is. Since there weren't that many people going to neelkanth, we will have to wait till the shared taxi fills. After some wait there were 5 people in all so we could take one taxi. It takes a 45min to 1hr taxi ride to get to Neelkanth Mahadev. I was gladly offered the front passenger seat by the other 4 stranger young men I was pooling the taxi with. The way to Neelkanth was very scenic. There wasn't any crowd at the temple so we could easily get the shivling darshan and do jalabhishek. I was back by 10-10:30am.

The Bharat Mandir

Today was the last full day I had. I came back from Neelkanth mandir before noon so I had half day to myself. After lunch I went to see the Bharat Mandir in the market area. I had to take an auto to get there and then a little bit of walk through the market area towards the Ganga. The temple wasn't crowded so I spent some time there. Note that the Bharat here is not the same as Rama's brother bharat. Do read the shlokas and their meaning in the pictures below.

The Triveni Ghat aarti

After Bharat mandir, I took the Astha path towards Triveni ghat. My final destination for the aarti that evening. I reached around 4:30pm. Bhajans before the aarti started at 5pm. Aarti was scheduled to start at 5:45pm. This aarti experience was a bit different than the one at Parmarth but both were unique in their own way. There were bhajans after the aarti and the local folks were dancing with the bhajans. 

Epilogue

I went to my roots as a human, indian, pahadi and more.... After coming back home, I was telling my father about how one should go back to their roots (what ever one considers) more often as it constantly reminds you of your own uniqueness. Something that one often takes for granted and realizes and honors only after living far away from it all. These 7 days also made me constantly feel the uniqueness of the humans, the place, the people around and part of it which I have in me.

I bought a lot of books from Rishikesh. Knowledge is power supreme! (our college motto). Lastly I want to say 'गंगा तो नहीं नहाई लेकिन बहती गंगा में हाथ जरुर धो लिये' .... literally. I did not bring the Ganga ji (Ganga Jal) with me but I managed to keep enough from those 7 days within me that hopefully it will last at least for the full year.

May the light in me see the light in you and vice versa.

Until next time ........

Besan Laddoo

California is surrounded by the fire disaster right now. There are 2 fires and thousands of people missing. I became aware of the smoke outside when I went to my apartment balcony early morning last friday. The sun felt weak and the instant reaction as soon as I took a breath - it feels or rather smells exactly like how it use to in India after Diwali. Once I reached office, my coworkers started asking if its good to bike and that was the moment when I actually came to know about the fires. Ignorance was bliss! May be this is what grace looks like that we are sitting in between 2 fires and still able to breathe.

Its sad to see the damages that have happened with the fire, the number of people missing and a lot more suffering. Whatever may be the real cause, but it is time to rethink the amount of damage we do to mother nature. Its also a good time to remember to not be too proud of your achievements and donate what you can - nobody gets to take anything with them!

Coming back to Besan Laddoo, I have a funny memory related to besan laddoos. It was one of the year during my undergraduate in Pilani, 2004 I think. My photographic memory shows me a picture of me in my Malaviya bhavan room where we spent our last year. I had a jar of besan laddoos packed with me from home when the fall semester started in July/August. By the time laddoos reached pilani, they had all merged into each other due to the hot weather and the enormous amount of ghee so it was one big besan laddoo stuck in a jar. May be they all were meditating all throughout the journey from home to Pilani that by the end of it they just forgot their bodily boundaries and merged! I think I just used a spoon to eat laddoos after that :-)

Ingredients:

1. Besan (I used a mix of fine besan and coarse laddoo besan) - 3 cups

2. Ghee - 2/3 cups

3. Sugar - 1 cup

Steps:

1. Heat a pan and dry roast the besan and set it aside.

2. Heat ghee in the pan and add besan to it. Keep stirring it so that it doesn't burn.

3. Keep roasting until you can smell the roasted ghee and besan and the besan has turned brown.

4. Add sugar and mix well.

5. Take the mix off the heat and let it cool a bit. 

6. Make Laddoos by taking the mix in the palm and pressing it. 

7. Final trick to make them smooth and shiny is to just roll them inside the palm as you would normally do with the dice before rolling them. 

Kasaar

Oct 24, 2018 (Sharad Poornima)

'Kasaar', the word is not something native to my language but then this is what people around me use to call it growing up. I think we simply called it 'आटे का प्रसाद'. I also noticed that there is a similar dish name in Nepal and the recipe is also similar. Whatever the name but I am sure most folks have had it in some form or the other.

Its full moon day today! Somehow the moon never fails to amaze every single time. I have so many different memories with moon. We grew up singing 'चंदा मामा दूर के, पुए पकाये बूर के। .... ' that I am sure moon was wondering how come he got so many sisters. My 'real' name means moon or rather moon phases/moonbeams. All throughout our childhood full moon use to be a special day for us - mom would do the fast. We would listen to the satya narayan katha. My brother was responsible for reading it and my sister was responsible for blowing the conch. After that we would go see the moon and eat the prasad. Some days the moon would be hiding behind the clouds but we still got to eat the prasad. It would then be distributed to the neighbors as well. I made it today but in a healthy way to avoid overdose of sugar.

On multiple occasions I had the chance to see the Moon in the sky on one side while the Sun was rising on the other side. All so normal for both of them as if wishing each other a good night and good morning but the sight is absolutely mesmerizing!

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour (Aata)

2. Sugar or Gud (used Gud)

3. Ghee

4. Dry fruits (optional)

Steps:

1. Add a few teaspoons ghee to a heated pan.

2. Add the atta to it and keep stirring.

3. Add the cut dry fruits (fox nuts, almonds).

4. Keep stirring.

5. When it turns light brown, add sugar or gud to it.

6. Keep stirring and then take off the heat when the color is brown. 

Homemade Ghee

They say stories can create positive emotions! May be that's the reason people tell bed time stories to kids? So I will add my Ghee stories in this post. I guess the Ghee recipe is probably well known so nobody will care about that.

I have been making Ghee at home for quite some time now and eat it regularly. Something common with my parents who would boast about eating so much Ghee in their times. I have some good childhood memories associated with Ghee.

My mom use to make extra rotis during lunch when we were in school so we could eat those to get past the 3pm slump. We will eat those rotis as the lunch energy disappeared and my favorite was to eat them with 'ghee-cheeni'. It was a thing! Put good amount of Ghee on the roti and then spread sugar all around on the roti and them roll it up so that the sugar won't fall. I realize that I had a great affinity to sugar back then where I would put spoonful of sugar in the mouth when bored - the activity was called 'cheeni-phankna' :-). I remember how I never ate yogurt without sugar but then taste changes and now my taste is much more healthier.

So why make Ghee at home? If you are just bored doing nothing, it can keep you engaged for an hour or so - probably not the best motivation though. Here are some others:

Saves money - $4.69 for 1LB(450gm) butter which produced approx 375ml of Ghee. The same amount of readymade organic Ghee would cost more than $15 I guess. Talking about saving, its in my blood I guess to optimize and get the max value out of the money I spend. My parents never wasted anything to an extent that I have a few funny stories that I still tease them on how could they save so much. I didn't see any impulsive purchases happening around (except few ;) ) so it has really come to me mixed in the genes.

You know what you are eating - I mean you really know what happened to that butter and how it turned into Ghee.

Tastes great - I have a couple of old Indian store Ghee bottles lying around with some Ghee in it. I think I stopped liking it after a while. Homemade Ghee reminds me of old days when we use to sometimes get fresh cow milk (freshly milked from the cow in front of you!) and it tasted so good that I understood why I didn't like the normal buffalo milk taste. Freshness and purity made all the difference. Those raw experiences really help me appreciate a number of things in life more.

You get more! - The left over brown colored milk solids can be eaten with sugar like a cool dessert. We use to eat them as kids but not I just throw it away. Remember to throw it in the trash and not in the sink drain as it can clog it.

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For those who really wanted to read the recipe here is mine (nothing fancy).
Ingredients:
Unsalted Organic Butter - 1LB

Preparation:
1. Empty the butter sticks into a pan and put it on medium low heat.
2. Let the butter melt. Soon the milk solids will start separating from the fat which is ghee.
3. Keep heating on low heat, stirring it in between and let the milk solids become brown and settle at the bottom of the pan.
4. Once you see the clear ghee, turn off the heat.
5. Let the Ghee cool down.
6. Keep a bottle handy and use a paper towel or a thin cotton cloth as a funnel to filter the ghee.
7. Store the Ghee at room temperature.

Panjeeri

Adding a post to this blog after over 2 years. Reason? I made Panjeeri on Janamashtami and then some Laddoos on Ganesh Chaturthi for a friend. She liked the Laddoos and asked for the recipe so I decided to write it up. I am sharing my mom's (dad's? I always found both of them in the kitchen together on festivals so I am not sure who's recipe it use to be) Panjeeri/Ladoo recipe. I wish they could just write all these precious recipes down or better make videos. Since childhood we have been used to eating different kinds of Panjeeri on Janamashtami and making these brought back all those raw memories.

Ingredients:
1. makhane (fox nut)
2. badam (almonds)
3. kajoo (cashew)
4. bheej (melon seeds)
5. posta (poppy seeds)
6. kishmish (dried grapes) (optional) (I forgot to add them so I am putting it as optional :)
7. dry coconut powder
8. sugar
9. water

Preparation:
1. Heat a pan. Add 1/4 cup beej and roast them till they start to splutter. Keep them aside.
2. Now roast 1/4 cup posta till it's light brown or you can smell the roasted smell.
3. Add 1 cup makhana, 1/2 cup badam, 1/2 cup kajoo and add the beej and posta to this.
4. Now grind this mix and add some coconut powder and some cut kishmish to it.
5. Heat a pan and take 1/2 cup of sugar for each cup of the above ground mix.
6. Add the sugar and add 1/2 cup of water for each cup of sugar.
7. Now stir this to make sugar syrup with one 'taar'(wire between your index finger and thumb when you touch the sugar syrup). you keep stirring and heating and checking by your index finger and.thumb. take off the heat when you can find one 'taar' forming between your index finger and thumb if you move them apart
8. Now heat a pan and heat some ghee. Add the ground mix to this and then add the sugar syrup. Stir till the mixture leaves the pan.
9. Let the mix cool a bit (make sure it's not fully cooled down or it will get tough to make Ladoos)
10. Take the mix in your hand and make Ladoos by pressing it inside your fist.
11. Garnish by rolling the Ladoos on dry coconut powder.

If you want to make Panjeeri (cut into barfi style), then add the mix to a flat plate and then flatten it to an appropriate height as per your need. let the mix cool a bit and then cut them into polygons as per your desire.