Sihi 2006

(A collection of brief notes, snippets and god willing, good pictures; Largely un-edited and meant for Sihi parents and friends- certainly not for literary critics and web designers.. Ed.)

3rd May Evening

Uneventful flight; overnight road travel from Delhi to Mussoorie; As the sun rises everyone wakes up to Shivalik hills and Doon valley.. Jessica dropped off at Hotel Ajanta, Dehradun. Praveen (Manto) from Sophia is there to receive her.

4th May

Jet lag; Handle ceremony. Everyone sings a song and rest of the group gives a handle to the singer, based on the song.. Like..

(Songs were often quite ordinary but the process of deriving the handles, quite subtle, funny, flimsy and esoteric.. sachin)

6th May

The group essentially lolls about, plays with children, goes for a walk to Kempty falls, stretches their legs on the 9/17 gradient uphill for its daily bread thrice a day..

One evening they sit on a roof and try to share the little funny stories behind their names.. Many plan to learn more about their names, as soon as they get a chance.. little histories, little details, place names, events etc. Greg makes out a beautiful little story.. almost believable!

They give Frisbee to children, who often play it like Rugby.. but have lot of fun..

The group interacts with children in class, exchanging the children's sketches brought from Canada.. I take a peep.. (below)

We discuss Jainism in the evening after a free sharing round, where students shared their feelings and understanding of the faith they were born in, their cultural moorings..

7th May

Dr Prashant Upadhyaya dropped in for an informal session where we tried to go over our enquiry proposals, consider our focus, look at out methodology and question our assumptions..

Dr Prashant helped the group by sharing what he knew about the prevailing medical practices in this region and also, by helping us reflect at the broader philosophical questions: why does one need to travel across half the globe and visit a remote village when all this information may easily be available through other sources- particularly, from the notes of the previous five SIHI batches? etc. Eventually, it was reinforced that appreciative enquiry may or may not achieve other objectives, but it is certainly expected to change our perspective, our world view..

8th May

The group checked out their arms, flexibility and grit on an artificial and later a natural rock.. at Himalayan Adventure Institute. Here are some glimpses:

9th May

The group goes exploring the cave near Aglar suspension bridge.. Aglar is the small mountain stream behind Mussoorie.

They soak their feet in clear cool waters. Then they explore the cave. Finally they go for the steep climb up to their dorms..

Daily log from 12th to 17th May, below, was kindly contributed by Greg and Robyn.

10th May

Kempty to Vikasnager. Today we experience a whole new side of India. The real India. The temperature down in the Doon Valley, where Vikasnager is located, is synonymous with stepping into an oven! The combination of the very bumpy mountain drive, the hike the day before and the 38-40 degree heat was bad news bears for some of us, and the10th and 11th were spent trying to acclimatize!

11th May

Maggie and Ruben are the directors and active members of the organization SMTA, with whom we are staying for this part of our India experience. They also act as our personal body guards, chefs, translators and represent an incredible wealth of knowledge. We have already started to call Maggie "mom". Again today we spent most of our time reading, writing and trying to stay cool as the temperature again soared over 38 degrees.

12th May

Venturing into the down town market, or main street of Vikasnager today was an experience slash adventure in its own right. Organized chaos is the only word to describe downtown, and as the picture depicts, walking around, from shop to shop is an "unreal" experience unlike anything most of us had been through. We all bought fabric and walked to the tailor to get measured-up and fitted for our custom-made, traditional Indian clothing. It is important to note that none of this would have been possible without the guidance and perfectly honed bargaining skills of mother Maggie.

13th May

Today most of us are feeling better, and Maggie has taken our group to a village where SMTA has built a school. This represented our first taste of a rural "lowest caste" village, and the entire experience was quite literally out of this world. I don't think we have ever been so quiet in the jeep ride back to the hostel, lost in our own thoughts, as we were after that experience.

14th May

World Religion Day. Catholic Church by morning- Sikh gurudwara by night! Throw in a little Yamuna river (one of seven sacred rivers in India) action in the mix, and Sunday was a very fun filled spiritual day.

15th May

Batman and Robin (a.k.a Greg and Robyn) watched the sunrise over the mountains again today, as per usual, as the rest of the group caught up on sleep. Shayla soon joined the dynamic duo with Yoga mat in tow. That night, Dr Jeff Leman, from the large regional hospital came to talk to the group about his work and more importantly his take on Ayurvedic (traditional) medicine in the region. Information overload, but a very interesting topic and one that the traditional medicine group will be looking more closely at in the weeks to come, once we head back to the mountains.

View from the roof of the SMTA hostel....where sunrises, sunsets, yoga, star gazing, and team bonding take place.

16th May

The group had the opportunity to visit a school for developmentally delayed children. In most of these rural Hindi communities disabled children are seen as a very bad omen and a punishment from a previous life. This school works to dispel this myth. This was a very interesting and educational experience as we got to interact with the children, learning how to count in Hindi as they did. The school was affiliated with Dr. Jeff's hospital and so he was able to take time out of his busy day to show us around the campus. We also visited a government hospital and learned even more about the health care differences between India and the Western world. Later that afternoon, we went to St. Mary's convent, an English medium school which is available for upper caste society that can afford this education. What an incredible difference between this school and other more rural, lower caste facilities that we have visited.

17th May

After previous plans fell through (Inam Babu...), Maggie saved the day with a casual tour of Vikasnagar's (and surrounding area's) hot tourist spots including: Ashokan Rock edict (3rd Century BC?), the Irrigation Complex (swimming pool!), park, the Himachal Pradesh border at the mouth of the Yamuna river and colossal Hindi statues. This was all done, fully decked in our newly acquired, traditional Indian garments (we looked absolutely brilliant, might I add).

18th May

Sachin was back last night. So, today at 6 am we had a yoga session on the open roof, as the sun rose above the mountain ranges to the east; We all tried various postures after a brief intro to Patanjali (and the story behind his name)- the man who gave Sanskrit grammar, compiled Yoga literature and Ayurveda..

Almost everyone was astonished by the flexibility and endurance their bodies displayed under the challenge- but ofcourse the guiding aphorism was:

Greg and Robyn tried to put together a brief description of the preceding days (above)- battling with an unreliable laptop- and tons of pictures, which made it difficult to chose..

Later in the day, the group took a bus to Dehradun to check out the market- Paltan bazar area. Thanksfully, there were AC shops.

19th May

Later, the group went for a swim at the local state tourist home, which has a swimming pool. They were hardly in water, when clouds came, a thunderstorm struck, temperatures fell- and the group had to get out of the water and return to SMTA hostel in a shower where warm cups of hot chocolate were awaiting their arrival. A sudden but welcome change in weather.

20th May

Paul consults a local orthopedician. Nothing serious- but a little pain in the left ankle. X ray doesn't reveal anything. He is given anti-inflammatory drugs. He is OK.

Sachin gives a PowerPoint briefing to the group about the third phase- Jan Vikas Sansthan (JVS), Chirbatiya. It started with a game called "Crazy times". Everyone shared a "crazy moment" in last two weeks; Very soon the whole group was holding their sides with uncontrollable laughter.

“ I saw Canada quite accidentally. I had left my Indian glasses behind by sheer chance. I peered closely at everything but made no comparisons; Ate lobster and missed no curry. Met strangers and discovered the essential man under various labels…” A traveler's quote.

The evening saw everyone getting ready for a beeg birth day bash: Tomorrow is Nishant's birthday; It was pre-poned on popular demand!

21st May

The group would be leaving at 6.30 am for Chirbatiya in the middle Himalayas. Parents and friends, please look at the junction of Mandakini and Alaknanda rivers - on the pilgrim route to Badrinath. It is north eastern corner of District Tehri in Garhwal.

Overheard:
Since I am a horse, you are overcharging me; Are you *$#^?

"Neha taught us how to bargain in India. I have mastered one line and I can say it in Hindi. Listen:
Mai ghora hun, is liye jyada paise mangte ho?"

"No, no; it is Gora- not Ghora. That is totally different." Neha jumps in.

Sachin is lost in thoughts: He is trying to figure out the effect on the hapless shopkeeper.. Ofcourse, the chances are the shopkeeper will burst out laughing and bring down the price by 400% for these special discerning overseas clients..

Passing via Tehri, we saw the might of modern technology- also the desolation it leaves behind.. Here are some shots along the way and after arriving in JVS:

We arrived at JVS to a refreshingly cooler temperature... and a colossal thunder storm! However, the silver lining within these stormy clouds was seen when following the down pour, the mist cleared and the snow cap mountains in the distance became breathtakingly visible. It was the perfect "welcome back to the mountains" greeting!

22nd May

The morning began with a little morning walk to a spot high up on the ridge- a spot popular with previous sihi groups (pictures above). After breakfast, the group went to Bajira village, close to Jakholi, which has a PHC and is the block head quarter. We took a Sumo (a local car brand) down in the valley; walked a kilometer to get to the village. Women's health group assisted by Anita (JVS staff), interviewed a group of women, though it was difficult, since most women were working in fields. The locals were beside themselves with laughter as all of the girls tried their hand at working the fields, processing rice and sporting the harvesting baskets on their backs. Traditional health group, facilitated by Sachin, interviewed a local villager about the use of home and herbal remedies: Ginger, Asafetida, Basel leaves, Turmeric, Aniseed, salt water etc, Onlookers also participated spontaneously. Later on Doob, Brahmi and other common herbal remedies were also discussed. Young students who had finished a game of cricket also joined: their knowledge was less about the herbs and home remedies compared to elderly informants.

The group saw a documentary: Purva Uttara; It was about Sanchi and Konark; The sculpture, architecture, stories behind, representation of enlightened Buddha, through a Parasol, foot prints and other means etc.

23rd May

Some of the students got up in time to go for a morning walk - in a different direction today: another SIHI spot from previous years, from where, if the sky is clear, you can see the northern snow ranges. We sat in a quiet spot and read Tagore- four poems from Gitanjali. It was just an introduction to his thought and his themes- a renaissance genius from 19th century India. While returning, we did some boyish cross country stuff through the cedar forest, steep slopes and cliffs.
After breakfast we went to Tharti village. Where is it? Someone pointed down in the valley- you can't see it but you can imagine it being down under, where the forest thins out and gives way to terrace fields- some green, some gray, ready for rice transplantation- and neat little toy hoses with strange color themes and slate roofs..

We descended steadily; came across a temple, where Sachin, out of the blue, asked: what is the carrier of Ganesha, in Hindu mythology? which animal? (answer)

Once in the village, the two groups divided as the day before; The traditional health group was fortunate to get hold of a faith healer. He is a devotee of Narsing devta (Vishnu's incarnation as a half man-half lion deity) and he heals through a pinch of ash, rituals, prayers, etc. but no herbs. He devoted himself to Narsing devta from quite an early age. As part of his chosen calling, he has to observe certain austerities: observation of ritual purity, vegetarian diet and abstinence from alcohol. He doesn't charge a fee for his services, which include exorcism, but accepts whatever people offer. His main sustenance is a small plot and casual farm jobs. He has four children. He doesn't know whether his children will take up this calling or not.

And then, we missed the last bus- on purpose or may be through indecision; anyway we all trudged up to Chirbatiya via a different short cut.

24th May

It rained through the night; All misty; Not a day for a walk in the woods; We gather in the hall for yoga, some fun front roll and back roll; and finally discuss a paper on Hinduism presented by Swami Vivekanand in Chicago in 1892. It summarized the philosophical basis of Hindu faith and practices. Later, we went to an Inter school, 2 kilometers away, which closed by the time we reached- unfortunately. The traditional health group interviewed the local allopathic doctor, popularly called Bengali doctor. Women's health group interviewed the local allopathic lady doctor.

In the evening at the old guest house, we had gripe, fun and feedback rounds- all rolled in one. Here, and earlier while perched atop a 10 foot concrete platform (with the hopes of finding a moment of peace), a few of us became spectacles once again as the local village children swooped in and surrounded us. The crowd became increasingly larger as though those gathered were emitting a summoning cry that only other children could hear. Like little "wood nymphs", they seemed to just appear from nearby shrubs and trees, unabashedly interested in what the foreigners were up to. But we have since learned how to deal with this sometimes unappreciated and always inevitable audience!

Every individual is an island in the west - and therefore privacy of an individual is sacro-sanct. Here individual is the building block of community (group, caste, village). The community therefore takes a precedence over mere individual. Hence, everyone wants to know, who you are, what you are doing in their village etc. In short, everyone's business is everyone else's business. On the bright side, this same community will provide shelter and food to a stranger in need, and will shrink from accepting money for it.

Today's adventure began after breakfast when we ventured out to another village, first following the road for some time and eventually taking a "short cut" down a muddy mountain side. Like a true team, every member of our convoy slipped at least once. But we all made it to our final destination, albeit a little more disheveled than when we began but without serious injury (a quick "leach check" after, further ensured this point!)! Both groups sat together as we first interviewed an aryuvedic doctor (taste-testing a few of his most common remedies) and later a group of women, one of whom was 95 years old and the village's "birthing attendant", responsible for all deliveries within the village!

Due to another misty and rainy morning, the morning walk was postponed until later in the afternoon - where the eager trekkers still had to put their brightly coloured rain gear to use. We returned, exhausted and soaked, and decided to warm up by introducing the JVS staff to the joy of hot chocolate.

Mark made us play a very interesting game on the roof in the morning: Squirt. You had to be one of those "fast draw breeds" from the frontiers (wild west) to survive in this game. Sachin was out at the first shoot out!

What began as a "day of rest" turned into a day of hiking antics. We went for our usual morning walk and spent the rest of the afternoon reading, writing in our journals and doing laundry. A few of us then decided to create our own path up the side of a nearby mountain, using a seemingly random wall which served to divide the mountain into two separate halves as our guide. When the storm clouds rolled in and the rain began to fall, we started our descent down the less steep and presumably "safer" backside. We tumbled from the wooded slope onto a farmer's terrace on a high plateau between two peaks. It was then that we first saw the dogs. As we realized that the dogs were not stopping in their bounding pursuit from terrace to terrace towards us, we hastily scaled the wall that had been guiding our way. Needless to say, our journey down took a fraction of the time it took to climb, with our "massive rabid" pursuers nipping at our heels. (Greg's perception: Ed.)

Evening saw us scratching our head to recall tables of three: We played "boom out". We stood in a circle and counted numbers: every number which was divisible by three or contained a three, had to be "boomed out". After this energizer, we had a feedback round: sharing our frustrations, perceptions, special take, slant, insights.. One major feedback was: strangers (many children) staring at us. These were the same children, whom we had wooed with bubble making toys and tattoos, just a couple of days ago. Now the tide had turned!
Possible solutions: Just switch off and carry on whatever we are doing; enter our rooms and close the door. Long term insight: Prepare oneself emotionally and culturally better before visiting.

(Paul, thank you- for editing the report which I am sick of reading by now! -sachin)

This morning's hike marked Trek Training Session #1 with the future trekkers packing 4 bricks into each of their bags in an attempt to simulate the grueling conditions we expect to encounter over Rupin Pass. Mr. Baisakhi bhai later took the group on a leisurely walk towards his green house (actually a state run herbal nursery: Ed.), demonstrating his vast knowledge of the local foliage along the way.

The group watched a documentary on Ajanta and Ellora, followed by a discussion about:
Why did monks need these monasteries?
Who stayed in these rock monasteries at periods other than monsoon?
Hindu, Jain and Buddhist influence are seen in the sculpture; How did that happen?
Monkhood (sannyas) was a culmination of preceding three stages- and not just a sudden abandoning of family and world..

Decentralization: Last two days the group has been doing a lot of planning/ consultations directly with Birendra and the kitchen in charge; They have also been going for a morning walk on their own.. Sachin does sit with the group once a day to exchange the feedback all round.

While sachin was away on a prior commitment elsewhere, the group visited Chakreda village and Jakholi PHC. Chakreda, he was told, was an interesting village and at the Primary health center, the group got to interact with a very intelligent English speaking doctor. Before leaving sachin had sat with the group and Birendra to plan in depth for this period. On the last day, the group sang Indian National Anthem (again as told to sachin) in Hindi and ofcourse Canadian National anthem too (in English, I guess). The JVS staff too sang and danced late in the night.

Next morning, the two cars were their to drive the group down from Chirbatiya to Rishikesh, where the Ganges comes out of the mountains in to the north Indian plains. Sachin was their to reciev them; The group stayed in Omkarananda Ganga Sadan (near Shivananda Ashram), a yoga center on the banks of Ganges; It has two basic rules:

You take slippers/ shoes off right at reception and move around bare foot as long as you are in the premises.

Both the rules, sachin guesses, were a novelty for the group- especially after Chirbatiya, but they coped well. The group was taken to an Italian restaurant for a change (what a change though!). After lunch, the group went to Brahmpuri Leprosy colony, 10 km from Rishikesh.

The group went to visit Haridwar in two cars. Some bathed at Har ki Paidi. The group saw Haridwar town and then went to Chandi mandir on cable cars. They also visited Cheela national park, which is close to Haridwar.

Today was the big day of Fire ceremony (Havan). The group planned to hike to Neelkanth. But it rained in the morning and somehow the whole idea fizzled out. The group had bought white clothes for the evening ceremony. So, everyone dressed in white, made their way over the suspension bridge to Parmarth niketan on the other side of the river. Onlookers wondered if they belonged to one family or what..

We got on the ghat (bathing stairs on the banks of Ganges) right time- 5 pm. A priest in yellow and with a flowing beard officiated over the first item of this long ceremony: Ganga Pujan. The group sat in a tight circle around a ceremonial tray with flower, rice, red paste, Ganges water etc. The group was asked to recall their surname (gotra name actually) whenever the priest uttered certain chants. Ganga pujan is done for the peace of the souls of the departed ancestors and for one's own peace. This lasted about 20-25 minutes. At the end, one offers flowers, rice etc received in joined palms at different points during the ritual, at the Ganges, few feet away.

Next, we sat round a fire receptacle (havan kund). Two young priests uttered long Sankrit chants (they did this in the fashion of a relay race- when one would come to the end of his breath, the other will pick up the chant, without dropping a syllable..) - With every "swaha" the group was asked to drop oblations in the fire and utter- swaha! The mixture to be thrown in the fire, was to be picked up by the thumb, middle and ring finger only. The heat was oppressive but somehow the long ceremony was completed in about 20-25 minutes.

While the fire ceremony was going on, ghat began to be filled up by people of all ages and background. Suddenly there was a blaring PA system next to us, broadcasting evening prayers. So, after the fire ceremony, we were taken to sit in the middle of this gathering of people- just behind the abbot of Parmarth Niketan and some other distinguished sadhus. To our, right, was a group of young children dressed in yellow, who we were told, are training at Parmarth Niketan to become Hindu priests (learning scriptures, rituals etc). These children repeated the chorus after the lead bhajan singer- who sang melodiously to accompaniment on Tabla and harmonium. In front of us, Ganges murmured on eternally; Rays of the setting sun took an ever increasing slant on this tableau on the banks of the Ganges- which seems to have materialized out of nowhere.

We were given a leaf bowl full of flowers, a small lamp made of flour, camphor and incense stick. After the melodious Ganga aarti was sung, people got up to float their lamps down the river- a little chaos. We were asked to wait till the entire Aarti (vesper) session was over. Some more devotional songs were sung. Sun went down in the west but the entire place was lit up in flood lights. The crowd was quite thick. Some people were busy with their video cameras. Some stood with their feet in water on the white marble steps half under the water- It had been raining for last few days and therefore the water level was high.

We prayed like a family- for world peace and happiness all round.. (as sachin translated and gave hints..)

After Aarti, we too lit our lamps from a small lamp burning at the small ritual pit on the ghat. Some of our leaf boats with the lamps floated down for quite some distance, while others were not so lucky. But it was an interesting scene. Then we had some photographs on the ghat and supper at Italian restaurant- and eventually returned to our rooms on the other side.

We went to meet Swami Bill and Swami Susan of Shivananda Ashram at 9 am. Old friends of Drs Pradeep and Karen, they had kindly agreed to receive us. Some students asked very relevant questions, which Swami Susan answered with depth and feeling: The formless, the gods and goddesses with form, can mind conceive the formless, etc etc.

Later, we had last get together. People shared their feelings and feedback. We exchanged some books as gifts. Sachin was handed one about Rumi, a 13th century Muslim saint and mystic, by Rupal. A quote:

"How can I- or anyone else-ever cease being astounded that He whom nothing can contain
is contained in the heart?"

Then we al went to catch some sleep as the next day was going to be a hectic one for everyone. The trekkers were to leave with a local guide, for Kuari pass (near Joshimath). The Delhi group had to catch a train at Haridwar at 6.20 am.