Following the Footsteps: WAGH BORDER & HARRIDWAR

HARIDWAR 10TH AND 11TH SEPTEMBER

Got out of bed this morning and stepped into 2 inches of water in the room. Some how the water from the next room, where the outside door was not properly shut and the blocked drainage, the heavy overnight rain flooded the room. Not a good start to the day.

Leaving Delhi , with rain falling was a real problem, traffic chaos everywhere. Here they do not believe in traffic lanes. One simply drives through any little space you can squeeze through, no matter which side of the road.

The journey to Haridwar with persistent rain was a big problem. Progress outside the big cities seems to be non existent.Every road side towns and villages are a mess. Big potholes in the middle of the roads in the towns, rubbish everywhere,cars, rickshaws, lorries, cows , dogs jostling for space on the roads. Change it seems is very unlikely to reach to such places.

Arrived in Haridwar and checked into Ginger Hotel. Few weeks ago I read an article in the FT about hotels in India. They are either super luxurious and opulent and one stays there to impress or at the other end the hotels are non decrypt where the plumbing works intermittently. Tata group are rolling out high tec modern hotels which are bright , spacious and modern furniture. They are maintained to high standard and exceptionally clean. Highly recommended and value for money.

First outing in Haridwar has to be the banks of the River Ganges. As soon as you get there a throng of priests surround you . They all claim to be the priests of your ancestors and insist that you perform a pooja to purify your body and wash away your past sins. Even without agreeing to anything or even realising it, we were performing the pooja with two priests, his son and his daughter. The 5 minute ritual ended up costing me a fair bit, by Indian standard. I suppose price worth paying for cleansing my mind and body of sins. If it took the priest 5 minutes I could`nt have accumulated that many sins. I have always. been a good boy.

Washing hands and feet in the Ganges

By the Ganges

A mode of transport

a Cow in Haridwar

a thirsty monkey

Parents in Haridwar
Haridwar means house of god

Happy mum

seems happy enough

View from Cable Car(not clear)

Aarti In Haridwar

Haridwar

Evening gathering in Haridwar

Hari Ki Podi in the evening

WAGH BORDER 9TH SEPTEMBER

30Km. from Amritsar lies the Indian Pakistan border where every evening around 6PM about 4000 Indians and on the opposite side a few Pakistanis gather to watch a "tamasha" of lowering the flag ceremony. On the Indian side the noise, the cheering and singing of national songs drowns out anything the Pakistanis can muster. The fever of patriotism on the Indian side is incredible. They arrive 2 hours early to occupy the best seats for a 25 minute spectacle for which I did not care much. Wait in the heat for this long is not for me., however the parents had fun and insisted on going as close to the border as they could.