The Point of Convergence

Shortly after pulling into Rishikesh my new cellphone that my Nani had given me rang. My travel companion Mike who I started this trip with a month ago hastily gave me directions on where to meet him, at the taxi stand near the Ram Jhula.

I hopped in a tempo and pretty soon Mike was showing me around the streets of Rishikesh, stopping to note the good spots to eat, pointing out the fake "sadhus" slanging ganja and filling me in on what he had been doing for the last two weeks. As we wandered down the streets we heards bits and pieces of conversations like "I saw her aura was yellow tinged with blue so I embraced her etheric body ... " and "No, we knew each other in a previous life, I was his nanny at boarding school during the war ..." And a smile started forming from right under my chin extended up the corners of my mouth.

Along the way we ran into Pete, the yogi we met in Varanasi who had just opened his crown chakra. Pascal was staying at the same guesthouse as Mike and as always, had few words but his presence said all that needed to be conveyed. At yoga class the next night I ran into Rose, who I had taught a few useful Hindi phrases to in Kushinagar. The following day we saw Karl just walking down the street, and he told us about what a great deal he got on the ride to town. This made the 4th time we had randomly run into Karl in 4 different cities. We didn't even bother looking for each other anymore because it just seemed like we were bound to cross paths.

Maria didn't show up until a few days later but she was full of tales of how wonderful Nepal was. "What about Rishikesh!?!" I tought. I wasn't sure what, but there was something about this city that made me fall in love with it immediately. Maybe it was the way it was nestled in the rolling foothills of the Himalayas. Maybe it was how the Ganges, close to it's source, flowed cleanly and powerfully right alongside the city. Maybe the mellowness, it was on a lower-key in terms of sights, sounds and smells, but still definately India. Maybe it was the abundance of yoga, tai chi, tarot, massage and just about any other "New Age" spiritual practice you could imagine within this city.

But actually I think it's the notion of being in a place where not everyone thinks you're a freak for following daring to tread off the beaten path. At lunches and in classes everyone we met and talked to had similar tales, similar points of view. Had at one point or another in thier lives had decided that doing simply what was expected of them was too easy and did not serve their soul. And most of them had tales of how much grief they had recieved as a result of it.

Sure they came in all shapes and sizes. Those who used their "spirituality" as their own ego. Those who adopted the dress and phrases of a culture far removed from their own in order to run away from who knows what. But that just made them all the more human. What made them interesting was that they did what they did even though it was not the path of least resistence. And I was happy to be among them, excited to explore this wonderful city and all it had to offer.