[JPM Travel Journals] INDIA and NEPAL 01 Intro to India Holi Holy Vrindaban The Sadhu in Taj's Shadow Pushkar's Respite A Sitar & a Vespa in Udaipur The Clean-Bombing of Mumbai Goa Beach Hippie Sighting Tours Unequal Vision in Benares Everest, Out the Window Into Their Thin Air Anna Purr Now Within You Without You Rishikesh Part 2 Amritsar: Bold, Gold His Holiness of Dangerous Liasons Delhi Visit #5 New Delhi Turns to New York [ PHOTO ARCHIVE ]

Within You Without You 30 May 2001 Rishikesh, India. This will be a quick entry. The gates to the ashram will be locked in only a few minutes but I am taking advatantage of these spare few minutes with which the connection seems stable enough to post this message. I was in Benares (Varanasi) for another six days prior to this, which was four more than I expected. The trains were sold out for days locking me once more in the frenzied, blazing city. Not only was the electricity going out hourly it seemed (and often during the hottest parts of the day when the ceiling fan could've been the most practical) but then I was in transit madly for two days with the trains, rickshaws, and taxis to get here to Rishikesh. I've been here for two nights, and my head and body are so full, so overloaded. This, I must say, though I've thought it before, and now stand corrected once more, is the India I'd longed for, waited for. Yesterday at sunset I hiked down the banks of the Ganges to the remote and long since closed ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the pilgrimage retreat site/compound of 1968 Beatles fame. I had to climb over a locked gate and under pulled-back barbed wire and then walk cautiously with a large stick to intimidate all the wild monkeys, but it was well worth it. Being in this foreign, gorgeous, over-grown section of this universe was intense. So alive. So unallowed and yet so necessary. Delapidated stone huts, falling apart edifaces, the trees and the falling sun and encroaching darkness. I had to rush back immediately to listen to "Within You Without You." Such emotion. I want to write so much more, but I must retire to my room. But yes, I am still alive. Very much so. And my apologies for the lapse in communication and the impersonalness of this message. I will try for more words soon. I anticipate being here for at least a week longer, then into Dharamsala - McLeodganj where I hope to attend a public audience of the Dalai Lama, relax in the higher elevation. It's still quite hot here in Rishikesh, but not as miserably so as Benares. The electricity doesn't cut out quite so often here, and the shower water is usually comfortably cold, the rooftop tanks somehow better insulated from the scorching sun. There is so much more to say. Yet, so much will remain unspoken. I keep it as secrets to myself, private intimate moments of mine, which I possess and cherish. For this, I can't apologize. Rishikesh Part 2 >> ©2001 JPM. All photography and writing copyrighted.