Ah..... Rishikesh

It really is a lovely place here, it is pretty much hassle free.
My neighbor John is an ex Hari Krishna in his 50's from Canada. Every Morning at about 4 or 5 am he starts chanting, the vibrations come through the wall filling my room with an other worldly sound.
He is a great sole that really gets off on being "out there". Every second word is "bro" and he is a pleasure to hang out with as he works through his 2 liters of water he collects from the Ganga every day we talk life.
"You gotta hang onto your seed bro" he tells me as the conversation turns to girls as it always does when two men get chatting.
Every day I go for a swim in the Ganga. The water is so good, any heat stress or stomach pains just drift away with the current.
Everybody is very open and friendly so you are never alone here, in all the cafes everybody just talks to everybody.
The Luxman Jula area is for the tourists and there are allot of Israels here, they all get out of the army and then just head out hear, is them same story with pretty much all of them.
Yesterday I went for mt daily swim and I find John in the usual spot to find that only 10 minutes ago an Indian guy had just drowned. Usual story, there was a group of them and they had been drinking, 3 went in, John managed to rescue 2 of them but the 3rd was taken by the tumultuous current. The river gets very deep very quickly and the current is very strong also these guys can not swim at all. John is a bit shook up but I tell him "you did your best bro!". Is the 5th drowning this month. Another hopeless life taken by the Ganga to be reborn into something better hopefully. 40,000 births a day in India with a population of 1 billion people, I don't feel much for him.
Moved to Swarg Ashram, an area on the other side of the river form Luxman Jula. It is a real India place and the Indian tourist out number the westerners greatly. It has a very different vibe. It is based around a very big old ashram that only seems to have locals staying there. Every evening they have a big ceremony on the banks of the river. The Ba Ba singing mantras and performing the ritual, all around him his followers stand and sing, fires passing through the crowd for people to cleans themselves with. As I stand among them I'm really moved by the emotion and devotion. The tourist with their video cameras makes me feel guilty of being a westerner though.
Swarg Ashram is about 3Km from Luxman Jula and the walk is a very pleasant one along the river bank. Bodhi trees line the lane cooling the air. About half way there is a tea stand that makes some of the best chay I've tasted yet.
All around the main areas holy men line the sides, all their worldly belongings, a tin pale, a stick and the cloths on their backs mildly beg.
Had a shave and a hair cut today in one of the many street barbers. After the shave and cut all of a sudden it was if I was in a wrestling match. The old dude with strength beyond his body size has me in all kind of half and full nelsons, slapping me, working my shoulders and head, it was fantastic then onto a cafe for more chay and conversation.