Ringo Starr left after ten days, possibly because of a lack of good (!) English food and a dislike of insects and McCartney only stayed a few weeks. Lennon and Harrison departed in great haste after tensions arose with the Maharishi. There were financial disagreements between the band and their guru and women at the ashram had claimed sexual misconduct from the Maharishi. Other sources float the possibility that the Beatles were using LSD against ashram policy. But despite the sour note the visit ended on, the Beatles' visit started a Western trend for the spirituality of the East that continues to this day. Apparently even Western dress was influenced when band members appeared in clothing made of saris and fabrics bought locally in Rishikesh.
I'm sorry to say that L and I arrived in Rishikesh without the media entourage. And we weren't there long enough to stay on an ashram, but we loved Rishikesh which, despite having the same river flowing through it as Varanasai, is as different from ancient Benaras as a place can be.
The difference starts with the river. While in Varanasi the water is choked with debris, oily scum and the occassional body, in Rishikesh the Ganga is as clean as you could wish. And with the steep, forested hills on either side, L and I were both reminded of New Zealand a little. And like New Zealand, adventure sport is now a firmly established part of the local landscape. Rishikesh is full of signs advertising bungy jumping (with instructiors from New Zealand!) and rafts full of tourists are always floating down the river.
In Varanasi the narrow lanes are filthy and the wider streets of the modern city are so congested it can take an hour to travel 10 k, in Rishikesh the small town is quiet and even the street dogs look well fed. And it's probably safer than Benaras. Please don't think that this comparison diminishes my love of Varanasi at all though!
What starts with the Beatles tends to catch on, and Rishikesh is still the place to come if you want to meditate, live on an Ashram or do yoga. To be honest, L and I felt a little out of place because we didn't have om tattoos (though due to a wardrobe emergency I now have an om t-shirt). there is a large population of hippie travellers in Rishikesh, some still teenagers and some LSD-wizened relics not much younger than the Beatles. One of these was in a yoga class and made the whole experience much more interesting with his groans of enjoyment.
We experienced a tiny taste of the delights Rishikesh had to offer, including a couple of blissful wades in the Ganges. I even had my palm read.
I have to admit it was a very disappointing experience. I'd sort of been hoping that it would be scarily accurate, but no. It was scarily inaccurate. Apparently I'm very indecisive, have just changed jobs and am a long way from finding my life partner. I neglected to tell the guy that I often make up my mind too quickly, have been in a relationship for nine years and have worked at the same place for four. But I hesitated before having my fortune read, and was alone so he probably drew his conclusions from more than my palm. Yours truly remains a sceptic.
Yoga, on the other hand, was not disappointing. Afterwards I could definitely feel muscles I didn't know I had. I'd love to go to Rishikesh for a couple of weeks just for the yoga.
Best of all though, was the day treck we did back down to Laxmanjula (the part of Rishikesh we were staying) from Kanjapuri, a Shakti temple. We got a puja from the priest at the top and then we walked down.
The landscape is amazing with craggy mountains covered in steeply climbing forest and schist slopes. There are also a number of people living up there, which, while gazing at the perfect green mountains from Rishikesh I somehow hadn't imagined. The locals main language is Gharwali and one of the guides spoke it fluently.
All down the mountain from Kanjapuri are villages and their lands. You might think it would be impossible to grow crops in such steep rocky ground, but like many mountain dwelling people in the world (L has seen similar constructions in Bolivia) they have built amazing terraced gardens that climb the hills like steps made by giants.
We ate delicious yellow berries that were a little like raspberries and we were shown other plants to eat and chew. We also saw the rather unlucky attempts of a young guide to talk to girls. Male female relationships seem very traditional up in the hills and while the Westerners in Rishikesh still have a Beatles era free-love hangover, Lillian and I were allowed to step into a village and look at a traditional house while the younger guide stayed on the periphery because 'I am unmarried boy.'
He was also very interested in whether L and I were married. Then he wanted to know why not. Then he asked us if we had boyfriends, to which we said YES (and no we are not plannign to swap them for you!!!)
Further along the track we walked a little way beside an elderly man who the guide talked to in Gharwali a while. When the conversation finished the young guy said to us, 'Don't laugh, but he has two sons and three daughters and all are married but one daughter'. Apparently he was asking about the available daughter. Later when he called out to a girl she completely ignored him (probably very sensible) and he reassured us, 'I am not playboy, I am good boy.'
In Rishikesh more than anywhere we've been I got a sense that a transient Western population and a local population cohabit in similar but also completely different spaces. Aspects of cultures mingle and exchange but other things are completely separate.
Rishikesh might be an enlightenment tourist's paradise, but one part of it is not touristy at all and that is the ashram the Beatles stayed at. Now it lies deserted just outside a seedy end of town. It was built on land leased from a national park and when the lease ran out it was just left to fall down in its own good time. Now the forest is creeping back behind the high walls and the place is deserted apart from tourists who break in up the side through a hole in the fence (if you're interested there is a path up the left side through the forest and a gap a little way in, but you have to clamber through lots of foliage). We checked this out but went no further than the gap, being just two lasses and having read about muggings at the ashram.
If I were to take the abandoned ashram as a symbol, I might say that it's as folorn as the idea of all the people living their lives in peace. As if Western idealism inspired from Eastern influences has well and truly crumbled. But I think I'd rather not think on this too much because I'd rather be a dreamer than a cynic.
And so I can now say I've seen the ghost of Sexy Sadie walking! Did you know that 'Sexy Sadie' was originally called 'Maharishi'? The Beatles changed the name for fear of libel.
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