The Beatles have much to answer for! Not just some of the greatest music ever, but also adding a very significant stop on the hippie trail to the East, for Westerners, and probably ending the rampart use of drugs in modern Indian society. Huh? Come again.

The Beatles famously came out to Rishikesh for a few months and produced their White Album thereafter. But they became very upset with the Swami Maharashi and his frequent demands for more money and the way he treated his female students. Ringo and his wife eventually left early and John Lennon even sang about this supposed guru and his attitudes in a later song. You could argue that with the start of the swinging 60s and the hippie trail expanding itself, the Beatles had a real part to play in putting Rishikesh into the forefront of any travellers' minds when they came to India.

At the time that the Beatles came here, drug use in Indian society was entrenched and very much an accepted aspect of life here. Even today there are bhag shops in places like Jaisalmer and it was not very long ago that opium was still sold by the government for highly subsidized prices that came in 10ml containers. Nowadays, when a particular ceremony is performed by the Jodhpur Maharaja and his guests, they use saffron coloured water or tea to symbolise the opium that they used to enjoy. We had supper with an Indian we met in Dalhousie who told us that the reason that Indians love hard spirits like whiskey is because the Maharajas of old loved the fact that they became absolutely blind drunk and intoxicated after just half a bottle. Brilliant they said! Not a lot got an addict where he needed to go and it is a whole lot cheaper than wine or beer or bhag or opium! And what a monarch does is usually copied by his subjects and the rest is history. Now days, India is a very significant player in the world whiskey market because of these humble beginnings and even some of the famous Scotch brands are owned by Indian conglomerates!

But the free and easy drug taking came to an end when the hippies of the 60s starting dying like flies from drug overdoses from easily available hard drugs. Western governments, like, needed to get a handle on the problem and, so like, they pressured the Indian government to get the problem sorted! Sheet! Heavy, man, chill out, make love, not war, dudes.

But Rishikesh has been firmly established in the western travellers' mind as THE place in India to seek spiritual enlightenment by the source of the Ganga River as it leaves the Himalayas and makes its way to the Bay of Bengal. Here is where Lord Shiva apparently put his foot down as he strode across the river from one side to another as so it is a very sacred spot for Hindus across India. As such there are sadhus and ashrams galore here. One Frenchman we met here said, "Zhere ees so moosh power 'ere, it ees incredible!" Really? I must be a complete heathen and pagan then, I felt no power. Keeping our feet out of the cows*** that litters the paths and roads here and dodging the those same cows as they lumber down the same paths and roads tends to keep us focussed on the here and now, rather than the hereafter!

As you cross on the huge wire suspension bridge over the river, the ice cold Ganga flows glacier melt blue and fast out of the mountains beneath you, you notice splashes of orange in the water near the river banks. As you get closer, it is the sahdus (Indian holy men) dunking themselves! Cleansing yourself in the Great Mother Goddess is one way to ensure that you shed many of the lives mere Hindu mortals believe they must in order to break the karmic cycle! Having felt that water, they certainly deserve it. But more than that, when you see what is in the water, doubly so! Compared to Varanasi, this river water is mineral water pure! Rather here than there then!

But since we are here (and given up on finding a bath anywhere in our budget ANYWHERE in India), we attended a gang Atari ceremony as the sun set and the Ganga flowed fast by. It must have been a very special occasion because there was some filming of the ceremony going on. The ceremony takes places every night at sunset with much exalted singing, clapping, swaying of novices and students. As the rhythm and tempo of the music increases so does the singing and swaying; all at the ghat alongside the Ganga river. At one point plenty of candles made an appearance and were waved around with plenty of vigour and then put away! At the beginning when we arrived there was a small fire on the broad bottom step of the ghat surrounded by the swamis and their novices. The westerns that were included looked deadly earnest in their attempts to blend in. They tended to really belt out whatever it was that was being sang and clapped and swayed about with real enthusiasm!

Just out from the bank where the ceremony was taking place was a large marble statue of Lord Shiva in a yoga pose watching proceedings from his vantage post. I would have liked to have joined him as he had the best spot for photos. However, common sense won the day and I stayed put at my vantage point and lived to see another day!

Since I am a heathen and a pagan I nicknamed the red and clothed grey bearded swami, Cheese and Tomato Sarmie (Sarmie, Swami. Same thing!) and his partner, who was dressed in white and clean shaven, Chicken Mayo Sarmie. They seemed to the centre of all of the proceedings and the camera spent a lot of time focussed on them. But it was those in the shadows that where most interesting. Where these guys were putting on a show, it seemed that the sadhu, sitting in a lotus position behind us and was quietly mouthing the words to the singing was perhaps the most devout of all. With little but his loin cloth, grey beardand devotion, he was a picture of reverence in this slightly strange off-key town!

Now, where can we do a little yoga?