Uttarkashi

I am up at 4000 feet in fairer weather in Uttarkashi, a lush, forest mountain valley town with Ganga river rushing through. It rained last night and it's great to be out of the heat of Rishikesh. Honestly, I was bummed out almost the whole first week I was here because it's been so muggy all one can do is nap and lay around. Not exactly a vacation and not a motivating clime to do extended practice in, which I so idealistically believed I would be pulled towards when times got tough. When things got rough in my last trip to India I was travelling alone and much more adept at pulling myself out of ruts with self-reliance, but travelling with someone else, especially someone as verbally and descriptively talented as Tom, I am learning can mutually enhance the shared prolongation and awe at miserable circumstances--but it can also provoke a good bit of survivalist humor at it. We pushed ourselves to hike several places back and forth along the Ganga which was grueling but burnt off the gloam of being depressed about choosing the wrong time to be here. Hmm, existentialist /relativistic arguments arise at that idea that there can be any wrong time to be here. However, our spirits remain strong as Uttarkashi is turning our disposition around by sheer relief of a few degrees. We are taking a shared jeep for five hours on a windy, barely one-lane at times "road" to Gangotri at 8,000 ft. elevation and after a night of rest, hiking to a glacier at 11,000 feet (from 8000 feet or so) after setting off in the early AM. I am learning to think in kilometers, meters, and hectares but for the benefit of y'all reading I will save you the brain-bending on numbers and convert here. Here in Uttarkashi we got supplies for our Gangotri trek and are looking around at the celebration of Krishna Janmasthi (Lord Krishna's birthday). For those of you less aware of the Hindu deities, a brief bio ensues: Lord Krishna is the great trickster/conspirator and enchanter of Divine Love. He takes form as the handsome, dark-blue, flute-playing shepherd who wins the hearts of all the Gopis (shepherdesses), playing his flute which has the sound which awakens the Soul to its' true nature as love and compassion; as baby Krishna he invokes the dual aspects of nearly maternal love for (a Divine) point of focus, and that we are simultaneously protected and cared for like children of Divine Love as well. Because of this emphasis on Love, Krishna's worship is, among the many Gods and Goddesses, the example of essential Bhakti or devotional kind of Yoga, although we encounter a different and more austere aspect of him in the Bhagavad Gita as the giver of the great philosophy of dharma and duty he appears with a more of a somber edge, revealing the shadow side of Love as human conscience and how it fits into right action within the spiritual quest. Many couples have arrived to get married on this day and take the Yatra (pilgrimage) up to Ganga source at Gangotri. Hindu weddings are absolutely terrific. Down the sloppy, muddy road an area has been transformed into a kind of temple with a huge pink and yellow awning marking the auspicious place of entry for the wedding party, replete with outdoor chandelier and many colorful lanterns, tons of sparkly lines of decor and a fairytale atmosphere. The ladies and gents are beautifully dressed in fine sarees and kurtas and show no signs of the hardship of travelling here. The weddings mark an opportunity for a prolonged family reunion and have at the central rite the sacred Yagna or fire ceremony, which is a powerful and moving commitment ceremony that binds the couples for life.
Catching the spirit, Tom bought me a $3 beryl-in-brass ring today for fun and to help ward off all of the staring Indian men. The magic of wearing a ring to signify that I am married means less that I am "Taken", but more that I have been made "Respectable" in terms of Indian social mores. Every time I come I slog against the depressing reality of what women endure here. But the women seem free in their own right, in terms of victoriously ignoring the antics of their men, and I meet their smiles everyday. Not to make them sound like Pollyannas but there is a tremendous dignity and endurance in the spirit of Indian women living in this man's world. This deserves much more attention which I hope to pour into some later writing.