yogis, ghats and karma, oh my

we're off to Rishikesh! tonight! for three days - we're taking monday off! - if I finish the Factsheets page, Pradip (editor) says! (in saying which he reminds me a lot of middle-school parenting; yes you can watch TV tonight if you finish all your homework.)

we're taking an exciting bus (read: non-air-conditioned, seven hour's journey) overnight up into the foothills of the Himalayas, to Rishikesh, a place very close to the source of the Ganges and full of ashrams and yogis. We've isolated some ashrams and hostels that put on yoga classes, packed t-shirts and shorts for a dunk in the Ganges - which is conveniently upstream from Delhi and Varanasi, and thus non-septic and far less risky - and stored up karma in the form of not killing any mosquitoes today. so three days of conforming to backpacker stereotypes, although i haven't bought any books by the Dalai Lama, the Bhagavad Gita, or anything by Hemingway or Joyce to read, which seem to be the most-read books by backpackers here, judging by what gets left in backpackers cafes in Paha Ganj.

I've had a good week, too - met up with Jem et family at the beginning of the week, and remembered how good it is to see a face from home; the film festival continues strong, with a very depressing (in film-festival terms, "moving") Inner Mongolian film about horse herders, and the British film Yasmin yesterday; and I've nearly completed a good five articles, three of which are full-page.

So yes, all continues well. I'm looking forward to getting out of the smog - ingrained dirt in exposed skin is all very well, but I've seen a few pictures of the condition called "Delhi Lung", and it's not pretty. It's also getting steamy in Delhi at the moment, as the rains haven't come for a good five days or more. So foothills it is, if this page gets done. Cheerio.