Shimla - December 26-27

The morning of the 27th we traveled by car The to the Himalayan hill town of Shimla (originally Simla), former summer capital of the British Raj. The drive from Dharamshala to Shimla took approx. 8 hours. We arrived around 8pm at night - I got to my hotel room and had a phenomenal yoga practice in the room while everyone else ventured into town for some food.

Shimla, the capital of the state of Himachal Pradesh, is a city dotted with imposing Victorian buildings, monuments to British power in India at the time, and arriving in Shimla is like travelling back in time to the ‘glorious’ days of British rule. Scottish civil servant Charles Kennedy built Shimla's first British summer home here in 1822. By the latter half of the 19th century the town had become the summer capital of the British Raj, and every summer many British soldiers, merchants, and civil servants moved here to escape the heat and disease at India's lower altitudes. As the locals say "Shimla's like a graceful old lady...she may have put on a bit of weight recently and got a few gimmicky clothes, but underneath she's still elegant, still got class..."

On the morning of the 28th we took a joyride on the Kalka-Shimla Toy train. The Guinness Book on 'Rail Facts and Feats' included Kalka-Shimla Railway as the greatest narrow gauge engineering achievement in India. The train is one of the most unique railway tracks of the world. It is said that this railway line has been first sketched in November 1847, almost 50 years before it was actually constructed. The Kalka-Shimla Railway was built to connect the summer capital of colonial India with the Indian rail system and was inaugurated by the British viceroy, Lord Curzon in November 1903. As it leaves Kalka (at 656 metres above sea level), the railway enters the Himalayan foothills and immediately begins to climb. Flanked by towering hills, the line clings perilously to the sides of steep cliffs, crosses graceful bridges (864 of them) with mountain streams hundreds of feet below. The train passes through 103 tunnels, 969 bridges, 919 curves and 20 railway stations in its entire journey.

After the train ride we made our way to Summerhill where we toured the Viceregal Lodge. Viceregal Lodge, formerly the residence of the British Viceroy Lord Dufferin and the Wild Flower Hall, one time home of Lord Kitchner, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in India and the Gaiety Theatre, where Kipling and Baden-Powell (founder of th boy scout movement) walked the stage.

Rishikesh - December 28-29

On the morning of the 28th we got back in the cars and drove about 8 hours to Rishikesh. Rishikesh is a holy city for Hindus located in the foothills of the Himalaya in northern India. Legend states that Lord Rama did penance here for killing Rāvaṇa, the demon king of Lanka. It is also known as the gateway to the Himalayas and is located around 100 kilometers away from another holy city, Haridwar. Rishikesh is the starting point for traveling to the sites that form the Char Dham pilgrimage — Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. The sacred river Ganga flows through Rishikesh. This is the spot where the river leaves the Shivalik mountains Himalayas, and flows out into the plains of northern India. Several temples, ancient as well as new, can be found along the banks of the Ganges in Rishikesh. Rishikesh, sometimes nicknamed "the world-capital of Yoga", has numerous yoga centres that also attract tourists. It is believed that meditation in Rishikesh brings one closer to attainment of moksha, as does a dip in the holy river that flows through it. It is also becoming a popular spot for white water rafting enthusiasts, both from India and abroad, as it offers medium to rough rapids in the course of river Ganges. On the 29th several of us went white water rafting in the ganges, and it was one of my favorite memories from this trip! It is higher than other holy cities of Haridwar and Varanasi, the water in Ganga here is cooler and cleaner. The flow of the river is stronger here and the city is less populated than others. It is more calmer and peaceful here.

Haridwar - December 30th

In the morning of the 30th we drove from Rishikesh to Haridwar and spent a few hours in the holy city before boarding an overnight train to Allahabad (which was supposed to take 17 hours but ended up taking about 23 hours to get to Allahabad) - did yoga on a train for the first time in my life ;)

In Hindi, Haridwar stands for Dwar of Hari or Gateway to God, with 'Hari' meaning god and 'dwar' meaning gate. Haridwar is regarded as one of the seven holiest places to Hindus.After travelling, 253 km (157 mi) from its source, at Gaumukh, 3,139 m (10,300 ft) above sea level, situated at the edge of the Gangotri Glacier, Ganga enters the Indo-Gangetic Plain of North India for the first time at Haridwar, and this is what gave the city its ancient name, Gangadwára , as the place where the Ganges descends to the plains.According to Hindu mythology, Haridwar is one among the four sites where drops of the elixir of immortality, Amrita, accidentally spilled over from the pitcher, in which it was being carried away by the celestial bird Garuda, after the Samudra manthan. These four spots -- Ujjain, Haridwar, Nasik, and Allahabad -- have today become places, where the Kumbha Mela is celebrated once every 3 years in any of these 4 places and after a period of 12 years, the Maha Kumbha Mela is celebrated on the 12th year at Prayag in Allahabad. Millions of pilgrims, devotees, and tourists congregate here from all over the world to celebrate the event. They perform ritualistic bathing on the banks of the river Ganga. The spot where the nectar fell is considered to be the Brahma Kund at Har-ki-Pauri (literally, "footsteps of the Lord," and symbolically the footprints of the Amrita), the most sacred ghat of Haridwar; thousands of devotees and pilgrims flock here during festivals or snan from all over India to take a holy dip. This act is considered to be the equivalent of washing away one's sins to attain Moksha.