Sleep in, rest day followed by hot showers. Outside the wind is racing through the valley. Not since Kasauli have we heard such a wind, hopefully not foreboding wind of extreme cold, not yet anyway. Breakfast at the New Bhandari Swiss cottage, back to a touristy place and porridge is back on the menu. Thank you porridge god.
Down from High Bank where the hotel is located to Lakshman Jhula on the other side of the Ganges (Ganga) via the Jhula (suspension bridge) from last night. The sun is making up for the cold wind.
On the way pass a holy man whose face is completely painted. He places a mark on my forehead, blesses me on behalf of Ram, I think.. with his fancy wooden maraca looking implement before indicating that a 100rup would be adequate recompense for his trouble. We, or more appropriately I settle on a lesser sum, whilst my erstwhile companion who has motored on down the road is muttering about our financial future.
The feeling crossing the Ganges is a different from in the dark the night before.
We setup in the Lucky inn for the following three hours using the wifi to respond to our fan mail....not... Then along past the various touristy trinkets, memorabilia and "antique" stores heading down to Little Buddha for a late lunch, mango shake, nachos and tuna pasta. Post refueling and with dusk less then an hour away we move onto the Swarg Ashram vicinity to catch the evening ganga aarti or river ceremony at the Ashram.
Shoes are left with the free shoe minding service at the river temple's entrance, but socks were retained and we took up a balcony view to oversee the ceremony that had just begun.
At the river temple, following decorative arches stairs lead down to a mezzanine prior to one or two further stairs into the green Ganga which moved briskly across the front. Out on a raised circular dais in the Ganga accessed via a semi circular platform was a large statue of a seated and muscular Shiva, lit by atmospheric lighting. On the mezzanine floor in the middle directly before the statue of Shiva was an open fire around which sat devotees who lead by a priest were upon key moments throwing flower petals into the flames. On the stairs above and the mezzanine to either side were temple adherents in golden yellow and some also with the ochre red throws similar to those used by the Buddhist monks. Then further above the band and live singers who were singing the chant of the ceremony.
The colour, beat and earthiness was fantastic with as my father might describe plenty of happy clappy. Further into the ceremony candles were lit on silver platters and elaborate bronze candelabra before being handed through the crowd who rotated in a circular movement to the right toward the statue of Shiva the vessel held flame before passing to another in the crowd. It was a very stimulating ceremony especially with the backdrop and the rush of the river. Some people then floated flower boats with candles, out into the Ganga which serenely floated out into the main flow of water before picking up speed downstream.
Following the ceremony and the recovery of our shoes we went and had a look at the Chotiwala restaurant just up from the Ashram which is Indian touristy with a pair or almost clown styled mascots sitting out the front of the restaurant on raised stages acting disinterested on the crowd passing below whether into their restaurants or not.
From here back along the river side via a dark concrete park up towards the higher Jhula. On the way we pass the police station where inside the cadets are playing badminton inside the wall, whilst outside a young donkey has it's head well and truly in a waste bin, only removing it with selected waste to nose through it on the ground below. Further up the road we are passed at speed by same donkey spooked by a pursuing moped.
Feeling on the famished side we decide to try the pizzas at the Ganga Beach restaurant, which has a slightly Turkish bazaar feel. The Ganga does have sections of sandy shore along it's banks in town and is used by from holy men, tourists and the occasional rafting boat. The pizzas unfortunately do not live up to expectation and so we move onto the German Bakery on the other side of the Jhula for hot drinks prior to retiring for the evening.