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To Rishikesh ... route to the Ganga Photographs and text: Veeresh Malik
One of the routes, I frequently test cars on, leads along the Ganga, in the hills before it enters the plains. Highly recommended, and if you don't have your own wheels, well, buses will do. But to get into the hills, you do, perforce, need a proper base camp. Haridwar is the more obvious choice in terms of historic importance and size, but loses out because the place has become extremely grubby as well as grabby. Luckily, an enlightened administration has deemed fit to build a fast highway by passing Hardiwar enroute the mountains, which is just one more reason why Rishikesh is a better bet.
Rishikesh, on the other hand, is blessed with a vibrant and alive river bubbling through its last turns, and a celebration about the discovery of matters beyond the worries of the world. In short, Rishikesh is alive. Beyond Rishikesh are a variety of roads leading to the Himalayas, as well as old trails heading towards Tibet, Kinnaur and some sanctuaries, where the bio diversity has not changed for millions of years, which shall remain unnamed here simply because these places are only whispered about by the guides and contraband runners who abound. For years now this writer has reached Rishikesh, slept overnight in any one of dozens of welcoming ashrams where all they demand of you is a bit of sanctity for their feelings, and moved on by local bus. It is still the best way to do the area, and it shall be detailed over the next few weeks. What we spell out here is the 'how to get to Rishikesh' part of the deal. Worst case scenario, even if you don't like the place, you can simply go white water rafting and return.
Or, you can travel all the way by bus. Round-the-clock, from any of the bus terminal, but best from the Kashmere Gate or Anand Vihar Inter State bus terminals. All sorts of buses, from ordinary ones costing about Rs 125 up to swanky air-conditioned coaches setting you back about Rs 500. It takes some six hours to cover about 230 kilometres, but the traffic jams enroute can be amusingly horrendous sometimes. The benefit is that you can have a flexible departure time, and you don't have to change modes of transport. In the winters, travel during the day to see the colours. In the winters, do the plains to sleep out the browns and yellows. Once at Rishikesh, move away from the bus stand area and head for the Ganga, near any of the many pedestrian suspension bridges now spanning the river. The oldest, and therefore the most famous, of the lot is the Lakshman Jhoola. There are more ashrams at Rishikesh than there are sinners. They'll all welcome you, though there's always the option of using hotels, many of which have started popping up too. Or, if you really want to savour western Uttar Pradesh, before entering the hills, drive on your own. The roads are reasonably good, but the traffic sense is obtuse. That's half the fun, actually.
Speciality of the house: hot, fresh paneer bread pakodas (fiery cottage cheese sandwiches dipped in batter) and lime juice. Moreover, it is clean. Barrel on, avoid entering Meerut, unless you want to check out pre-war cemeteries and other relics of the Raj. Take the bypass, and if you want to visit Begum Samru's tomb, as well as the church built in her honour, at Sardhana, halfway through, the signboard will guide you. Begum Samru was a femme-fatale soldier of fortune from the pre-British days, who has a history all her own and will get her own travelogue some day. Pelt through the sugarcane and mustard rich fields on both sides. As you go past Muzafarnagar you may be held up by the sight overloaded tractors waiting outside sugar mills. Then again, the ripe smell of cane being converted into molasses may tempt you into buying fresh gur or jaggery. When stuck for containers, we have had it poured into cleaned hub-caps. Beats white sugar anyday, fresh and pure, straight from the fields. They also have a very interesting wine made from cane sugar called raab which you may be able to get a taste of! Or check out a mustard field, that's where the pungent stuff came from!
The amazing part is that about 10 per cent of all devotees are women, often unescorted, and they all walk through the badlands of India's roads without fear of being robbed, mugged or troubled anywhere enroute. In season, around Mahashivratri, the crowd on the road becomes so thick that the traffic is diverted and the highways are shut to motorised traffic. Do not try and stop to take photographs as they can be a bit touchy about things. Pass the old engineering and army town of Roorkee, some of the best civil engineers in the world come from the Roorkee Engineering college. A sign of their talent is the Ganga canal, which actually crosses the river below and goes on to ensure a wider distribution of water downstream. The new road to Haridwar, again, bypasses the canal works, but if you just ask while driving through the Rorkee Bazar (after Motel Polaris) for the way to the 'Old road to Haridwar along the canal', they will gladly guide you. This is one place where the British lion still stands, erect and roaring. The 'old road' is on the embankment, and you hurl past inches away at high speeds on a road that people, and time, seem to have forgotten.
The road between Hardwar and Rishikesh is pure foothill, banked and fast, along the river Ganga. There is a three-wheeled plague on this stretch, which belches diesel smoke as it slows down the rest of the world, but otherwise this is where the jungles start. The river, from being a companion on your side becomes, very quickly, a rush of water flowing in a deep gorge beneath you. Spanned by a series of suspension bridges, the oldest one here is known as Lakshman Jhoola. Built in 1823 by the Uttar Pradesh public works department, it has a span of 284 feet, and was rebuilt in 1930 after a great flood. That much we come to know by the tablet on display at the entrance. Rishikesh is a simple town, if towns can be given that attribute. Move away from the bus stop area, cross the river, and you enter a different world. You need to give this peaceful abode of the saints a few days of your life, before you select your next destination, direction, in more ways than one. In some ways, the last photograph taken at a tea-stall in Rishikesh spells out the innocence of the place. It says it all and I am not being homophobic either. The car features in the picture because it is not just to prove that I was there, but also provides a pleasant colour contrast. It is a one litre Hyundai Santro, one of India's newer cars, and I was testing a new kind of radial tyre on it. A Tamil Nadu registration plate in Uttar Pradesh does attract attention. Caution : Driving at night is not advisable in these parts unless you have a fast car and know the area well. Where do you stay? Rishikesh and beyond is part of an ancient pilgrim trail, where there is always room for one more. Hindu and Sikh places of religion enroute have always got attached living quarters available at nominal charges and they do not discriminate on the basis of your faith, though they do expect that you respect theirs.
There are upmarket hotels along the route, too, but the quality seems to vary. The brighter the place, the lousier the service. As for government run efforts, the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd is the government body, and can be contacted through U P Tourism or your travel agent, and is best avoided unless you are partial to mediocre service at high prices. Increasingly, the local population is getting very 'touristy'. People in 'native dress' may well demand money to be photographed, so do check before clicking. There is an increasingly strong anti-polythene bag and anti-plastic movement, and environmental protection as far as trees goes is very prevalent. The thumb rule seems to be: don't hassle us and we won't hassle you. What better place for getting away from it all? Next time we'll go further upriver. In another car?
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