India 2018 — Carol & Scott On The Road

After a week in Nepal, we traveled to Northern India and focused on exploring the Northern India Himalaya Mountains and their villages, and India’s northern cities. We started at the spiritual city of Varanasi to witness life on the River Ganges which is a sacred body of water to Hindus. We observed the daily sacred practices of the Hindu pilgrims such as bathing in the sacred waters which washes away the sins of mortals. We witnessed the night cremations and ceremonies at the most sacred ghats along the river. In addition, we watched the Ganga Aarti spiritual ceremony which honors the River Goddess Ganga and is held every evening. Fire is used as an offering to the river and the Ganga Aarti.

From Varanasi, we moved to Delhi for a quick stop and enjoyed a behind the scenes visit to Asia’s largest spice market on “tuk-tuks”, “rickshaws” and by foot. We also had a chance to reconnect with good friends from Alcon for dinner at the Imperial Hotel, which is famous for hosting India’s leaders such as Mahatama Ghandi, Pandit Nehru, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Lord Mountbatten as they met to discuss the partition of India and creation of Pakistan.

We then left Delhi by train and drove up into the Indian Himalayas to begin our “guest house to guest house” walks and hikes through the mountains and villages. By talking with our guide, visiting the different villages and staying in the guest houses, we gained memorable and interesting insights about the Northern India village life. Still today, the majority of families who own property, divide the property among the sons and stay at the home once the parents pass. Daughters are not entitled to the land and are married primarily through arranged marriages. Once married, they are now a part of the family they marry into. Multiple generations live together by adding on to the initial home. The hard work, such as taking care of the crops, animals, household chores, is carried to a great extent by the women. It seems like little has changed here in the past hundred years, and life goes on as is, regardless of the fast-paced progress in other parts of the world.

Religion is very important in every-day life, and both the Hindu and Buddhist religions co-exist in harmony, with Hinduism as the dominant. Each village has a Hindu Temple and a priest that is from the Brahma caste, who typically inherits the role from his father. Hindus believe in the doctrines of Samsara (the continuous cycle of life, death and reincarnation) Karma, Dharma and Moksha. Believers strive for Moksha, where the cycle of death and rebirth is broken, and enlightenment is achieved.

Our next stop was Amritsar in the state of Punjab. This holy city is in the northwest at the border of India and Pakistan. Amritsar is the most holy city for the Sikh religion with 50% of the area following Sikh and approximately 50% Hindu. Tens of thousands visit here to visit the Sikh Golden Temple each day to worship. In addition, the Temple’s volunteers serve over 80,000 vegetarian meals per day, regardless of class, caste, sex or faith. Also, we visited Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a memorial to commemorate the victims of the massacre carried out by the British in 1919. On our final evening, we watched the Wagah Border ceremony, where the Indian and Pakistan military forces conduct a daily military practice to lower their flags to the patriotic celebrations of both the Indians and Pakistanis.

Our final stop was at Rishikesh, which is located in the Himalayan foothills. Rishikesh is also known as a holy city and renowned as a center for studying yoga and meditation. We stayed at a resort above the city, and spent 3 days learning and practicing yoga, mediation and learning the philosophies of Vedanta.

**The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre 1919**

**Wagah-Attari border ceremony - India and Pakistan**

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Dec 22 India 2018

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Dec 22 India 2018

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