A few words about the holy land

Hello friends and family, I haven't written in a while because of procrastination and the fact that computer's are really slow here. But now I'd like to share a few words about my life in this holy town.

Rishikesh is really lovely. I have fallen in love with the cows and monkeys (so far I haven't had too much trouble with them, this could change). But I find the cows to be really cute. They just walk around slowly minding their own business and every once in a while picking up the pace if a local starts coming at them with a stick. Some are little babies and other's are enormous. Big bull horns and all. The locals can be really harsh at times with the cows (which confuses me because I thought they were to be considered holy). But It's true they sometimes get their face into the foodstands and I'm sure that would be annoying.

The monkeys are extremely adorable. They sit on this one wall that I walk past most days and just look around eagerly to see what's going on. Sometimes they are grooming their little ones or just holding them in their arms. They usually have one eye on any food that travels past. The other day I was holding a couple of oranges without thinking; I must have felt a presence because suddenly I noticed a monkey lurking beside me ready to go for the dive. They do this all the time. It's also hilarious. Especially when they come into your room looking for food. The other day they got my roommate's raisans. The mama (or papa) grabbed the bag, reefed off, another monkey took a grab and the whole thing exploded in the hall. Suddenly a team of monkeys moved in to clean up the mess. I'd say they usually put on a good enough performance to accept the absence of the food. And out back behind our place they like to jump around in the trees (or maybe just to be mischievious) cause the man who lives back their must really hate them. As soon as he sees a monkey he starts hollering, screaming and throwing rocks at the trees. The family of monkey's usually find their way to my roof and start practicing for some kind of marathon (at least that's what it seems like). The monkey's seem a little smarter than us folk.

Every night after class my roommate and I come home at the same time to the same music playing in the distance. It seems to be this jolly man singing songs of love, that I obviously can't understand. We are pretty sure it's coming from an ashram and these are hymns of praise and gratitude. Everynight he sings the same songs at the same time. One night we are going to go out adventuring and find where it's coming from. What's so funny about it is that these songs sound so bouncing and playful, not your typical religious music. I personally like all kinds of worship music, but I've just never heard anything like this before. Also, he does a set at 5 am every morning, but usually it just melds into my dreams. That and the hour bell.

Night after night a friendly man sits outside our home and rings a bell to mark the hour. Why this man needs to ring the bell all through the night and get no sleep is a little beyond me. But he seems to enjoy it. I have come to get use to (more or less) mad sounds. India has made peace with it no doubt about it. Random sounds from every direction, after a while you just stop noticing them. Except for when the neighbors (also Indian) like to just let there door hang loose and swing and smash in the wind. Again, some things (maybe a lot of things) just don't make sense to me in this country. But it's all part of the journey.

And one more thing, cause the time is ticking away. India is hilariously make shift. I took a peek out my window yesturday to see a man setting up for a wedding. He was hammering in the laces and frills for the table decorations. And sure enough, his hammer was a big rock. But my favorite so far are the brooms. Indians make these rounded brooms that are so small (some are half a meter and less, others slightly larger) out of this straw stuff and spend hours hunched over brushing the floor. At first I was just wondering why they didn't find a way to extend them over the years and help out the old back. But since I started using one I have found brooming to be kind of adventurous and fun.

I have much more to say but I must wrap up now. So until next time, I hope everyone is well and enjoying the beautiful snow and Christmas/New Year Season. Again, I wish they invented the snapper (snap an object and you can be in another geographic location in an instant) but they're holding back for some reason.

Lots of love,
Niki/Nicole