Peoplescape of Rishikesh

Location: Rishikesh (city), Uttarakhand (state), India

Madlén Hjelmroth
I met Madz through Hana. It was always a short group talk, but I sensed depth in her. I asked her to join me for a coffee chat - glad she said yes. We did so at the scenic Ganga Beach Cafe overlooking the river and Laxman Jhula. She was writing an autobiographical book (that's my understanding as the answers do not come with clear-cut edges) so we defaulted to talking about the art of writing - a special topic to me as well. She talks with a slow cadence as if to carefully choose the words that come out of her.

shooting the breeze with Madz at Ganga Beach Cafe

Like most of the people I had been meeting in Rishikesh (Vanya comes to mind), it's hard to get something definitive about Madz as they don't see themselves as anything linear or someone who came out of a box. Simple questions are met with abstract answers meant to reconstruct a deconstructed convention. Questions like, "what do you do?" do not come with a one-word answer or anything concrete like a job title. I remember one time I was asked that question. I could have said yoga teacher, or web designer or English teacher, but it wasn't really an accurate answer because what I do to put food on the table doesn't sum me up. If I remember right, I attempted to answer the question (sincerely) by saying, "I go through life in search of Easter eggs". To the conventional 9-5 person, it's a weird answer. But to travelers/seekers I had been meeting here in Rishikesh, such answer is greeted with a knowing smile. Such was the conversation I had with Madz.

--- TheLoneRider
YOGA by Gigit | Learn English | Travel like a Nomad | Donation Bank

Peoplescape

Helena

Vanja

Baba Jay

Madlén

Hana

Greg

Reader Comments:

Leave a comment?

Rishikesh (city), India

hotel

• RAAHI The Travellers Nest - backpacker-friendly, dorm rooms, central location, tours & rafting, motorbike rental, great place to meet people
  Paidal Marg, Laxman Jhula, 249192 Rishikesh

Travel Tips for Rishikesh

1. climate-wise, best time to visit Rishikesh is from October to February when temperature is cool. This is also the high season for foreign travelers.
2. May to June (my time of visit, before the monsoon rains) is HOT and DRY. Temperatures can reach beyond 40° and your skin/lips dry up. Great to go rafting or a dip in the Ganga River for respite. There are mostly Indian devotees and Indian tourists flocking to Rishikesh. Westerns tourists are few, but Rishikesh gets crowded specially while crossing the 2 bridges, Ram Jhula and Laxman Jhula. Lodging prices can be negotiated down to INR 300/night for a bunk bed in a dorm room as this is low season.
3. During the cooler season when any of the hugely popular gurus or babas visit to give a satsang, eg. Prem Baba, Mooji Baba, all rooms are fully booked from Rishikesh to Hardiwar!
4. short power outages frequently happen during the day

How to get to Rishikesh from New Delhi by bus

1. Bus - take the Metro Yellow Line and get off at Kashmiri Gate. Exit the station from Gate 7 and enter the ISBT building - this is the bus terminal. Go down one flight and go to Platform 14. This is where you buy the bus ticket and board the bus. A/C bus, INR 454, 6 hours. You can take the 10:30pm bus and arrive 5am in Rishikesh.
   
   scam alert! - over the ticket counter, the guy may verbally charge you INR 765 - this is usually the online price of the bus ticket. But I looked closely at the printed ticket, and found the price at INR 454. I demanded more change! The guy knew he's been discovered and gave me back the rest of the change.
   
   You will arrive in Rishikesh at Adarsh Gram. To get to your hotel, travelers usually share a tuk-tuk (called Vikrams) for INR 10-20/passenger if shared. Since I arrived 5am, there was no one to share so I ended up paying a negotiated INR 150.

»» back to Traveling
»» back to Homepage

ARCHIVE 2024: JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC

1970 | 1973 | 1975 | 1976 | 1979 | 1981 | 1996 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ALL BLOGS