Rishikesh to Delhi

 Playing Carrom Board with Prerna.

Beasts of burden.

The Ganges River.

 Washing bodies and clothes in the holy river.

 Shadus.

 A hornbill.

 Brown monkeys on the bridge.

 Langor monkeys.

The baby was crying and the others came to see what the matter was.

 The 'upper class' waiting room...

and the rest.

 Boarding the train by crossing tracks.

Camped out at the station.

Friday, March 23^rd.

After we had breakfast, Prerna challenged me to a game of Carrom board, which is similar to crokinole, a board game we used to play at the cottage. It involves flicking a disc and trying to knock yours into a hole in the centre. In this game you try to knock the discs out of the centre into the corner pockets. You get points based on the colour of the disc. I lost handily but made a couple of spectacular shots in a row that surprised both of us, as they were totally luck.

Then we loaded into a van and a taxi for the ride back to Rishikesh. The road is a mountain road with steep drop offs and is being widened. There was machinery and rocks all over the road and at one point we were blocked for about fifteen minutes as a machine cleared the road.

When we finally got back to the Green Hills Hotel most of us went for a wander down the back, over the bridge across the Ganges and back into the main part of town. I was mystic hunting and managed to get a couple of shots. I found an ATM and withdrew money for tipping Prerna. I also came across a troop of languor monkeys, and a hornbill in a tree, before retracing my steps and having lunch at the hotel restaurant. I had a bowl of muesli and yogurt loaded with bananas, apple and papaya.

At 3:30 we again loaded up in the two vehicles for the drive back to Haridwar, where we had to catch the train back to New Delhi. We had an hour to wait so I prowled the station marvelling at all the people, some of whom seem to live here. They are camped out on the floor and don’t seem to be going anywhere. I went across the street and bought two bananas and two clementines for the train. When I got back to the platform I collected my big red bag and followed Prerna to where we should be. I was followed and almost attacked by a brown monkey. I had to swing my bag at him. He was after my bag of fruit. They are very smart and know that those little white bags contain food. I quickly put it in my backpack.

The train ride was long and through the dark, as looking out the window was not an option. We arrived over an hour late, at 12:15 and loaded up in three cabs for the drive back to the Pooja Palace Hotel. When we arrived we finally had a quiet place to present Prerna with the tip we had collected. I thanked her for the group and wished her well for her upcoming wedding on May 11^th. She is a terrific young modern Indian woman. We will miss her. Then at 1:00 it was off the sleep.