Greeting from Rishikesh

Have not been able to sit down and find an internet cafe, which in my opinion is great. No cell phone, no computer and life is good. I am so sorry for not being able to reach the people who are wondering what i am doing here! but no worries, all is well, we are all in good health and enjoying our adventures. After Mahabalipuram we travels by bus to Tirupati, the most pilgramaged city in the whole world! Here we traveled up a hill, barefoot, climbed fourthousand stairs and reached the temple where we waiting in line for 2 hours before giving darsha to the deity of Lord Vishnu. Because we were American we were able to give a long darsha- which was almost 2 minutes. This seems short but so many people make this pilgrimage just to see the deity for 5 seconds, so we are very thankful that we were able to see the Lord as long as we did. The next day we went to a waterfall and bathed. The water is considred holy so the bathing is part of purifying ones body. It was also really cold! but the cold water makes it a greater challenge to really concentrate on your breathing and focus inward- it was very peaceful.

We got to Delhi a few days ago and stayed for two nights. Here i was able tot meet up with the Colonel Shukla, the cutest old man ever! It turns out that he is an engineer and has dedicated his research to finding a scientific explanantion of God. He was very wise and wanted to share so much, unfortunatly he also has a very busy schedule so we were only able to meet for a short time.

Now we are in Rishikesh with the whole group. We got here yesterday (Friday) by train. Rishikesh is a very beautiful city and does not have the island vibe of Mahabalipuram. Every night there is a Ganga Puja- which is a worshiping of the Ganges River. Here people have chant and offer fire, ghee wicks, incense, flowers, etc. to the river. We also bathed and will continue bathing everyday in the Ganges. THere is a whole ritual that goes along with bathing and luckly i got it on camera so i will be able to share it with you back at home. We are staying in a nice, simple, and very cheap place. Must go and prepare for the Ganga puja later! hare krnsa