Stephen's "Where on Earth is Asha" 2003

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Where on
Earth is Asha?

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Map of Uttaranchal

Himalaya Hindi House

Time in India

Entries:
7/22/03
7/20/03
7/15/03
7/10/03
7/8/03
6/25/03
6/20/03
6/15/03
6/9/03
6/6/03
6/4/03 ii
6/4/03 i
6/2/03
6/1/03

[7/22/03]
Asha back home 7/21/03

Asha is safely back in South Glastonbury! Her flight out of Heathrow was delayed 90 minutes by an ongoing ground-crew strike. But, that was one of only two hitches in an otherwise long, tiring, but uneventul trip home. Asha's mom Kamla and I met her at JFK. Her flight, which had been due in at 3:40 PM got in around five. A little before six, as Kamla and I were craning our necks to spot Asha coming out of customs she popped up right behind us. "Very much like a pussy cat" her mom said. :-)

Today is going to be a quiet unpacking, laundry, just hang out kind of day. Asha says that she'll be posting her pictures when she get them developed. So, visit again in a couple weeks and hopefully there will be things to see!

[7/20/03]
I spoke with Asha last night -- she's at the Hotel Nikko in Delhi. She had had an uneventful trip down from the mountains, meeting up with her uncle Gian in Rishikesh. While in Rishikesh she was able to attend the arathi at one of the temples which she missed on the way up. I asked about the roads (she had mentioned in her last email that the monsoons rains have made the roads a bit dodgy) and she said that they had found a very good driver with a good car -- the same man who had driven them to Dehra Dun and Gangotri -- so the trip was fine. Director Yadev and a couple of other students rode down with her to Rishikesh.

Despite the monsoon rains, both Rishikesh and Dehli are apparently still quite hot (as of 7:00 PM the temp in Delhi was 86 °F with a heat index of 97 °F due to the high humidity). Asha was lamenting that she hasn't been able to do any shopping for things to bring home. She also told me that she's been having trouble with her Lycos account -- for the past couple of weeks she's been able to read and compose emails, but not reply to emails. Added to perpetually flakey Internet connections, this has really put a crimp in things. So, if you've sent her something and not gotten a response, don't take it as a sign that Asha suddenly thinks that you stink! :-)

Asha's flight back leaves at 5:45 AM IST Monday (8:15 PM EST Sunday) and arrives at JFK at 3:40 PM EDT Monday, a total of 19½ hours counting a stop at Heathrow in London. Asha's mom and I will be travelling to Kennedy to meet her.

[7/15/03]
I received an email from Asha over the weekend. She'll be pulling up stakes on Friday the 18^th and heading from Senj to Rishikesh by car. In Rishikesh she'll meet up with her uncle Gian for the trip back to Delhi. She departs Delhi on Monday the 21^st and arrives at JFK in the afternoon.

[7/10/03]

I received a second post card today -- this one dated the 18^th of June. At that point she had been in Senj for about twelve days and had just had her first "Himalayan trek". In what I can only describe as an example of proper form for Bast to reward one of her faithful servants, a grey and white cat has turned up at Nolunna to keep an eye on Asha. :-)

[7/8/03]

I received this post card today from Asha. She sent it on the 6^th of June from Rishikesh. Yes, that is thirty four days for surface mail. Anyway, the postcard depicts a thin suspension bridge crossing the Ganges to temples that mark the site where Hindu myth holds that Rama's brother Laxman crossed to make reparations for killing Ravana - a demon who kidnapped Laxman's brother's wife. Asha says that the bridge is so narrow that it sways as you cross it.

Asha's folks spoke to her by phone on Thursday. Her trip to Gangotri with her uncle Gian & Co. went very well. One of the instructors, Krishna, went with them; one of his relatives is a priest at the Gangotri shrine, so they got VIP treatement while they were there.

Based on the weather reports for Dehra Dun, it appears that the monsoons have arrived. The temps are a lot lower and the forecast is rain, rain, rain, and after that, some more rain. :-)

[6/25/03]
I heard from Asha by email on Monday. She was in Dehra Dun, with plans to stay there until Tuesday. The weather there is substantially hotter than Senj (in the low 100s). Of Dhera Dun Asha writes:

It reminds me a bit of Bangalore, but Bangalore is cleaner and the streets are wider. I found the Oxford Book/Penguin book dealer (Nataraj Booksellers on Rajpur Road) and had a glorious hour looking at books written in English:) I bought 7 on the flora and fauna of the Himalayas and the best part was that I was able to use my credit card. We just had some delicious kulfi ice cream and for lunch we had masala dosas (paper dosas) that were 24 inches long!

Asha's uncle Gian, cousin Venuka (Gian's daughter) and her 3 year old son Sonu will be traveling up to Rishikesh on Thursday. They will then join Asha and Yogendra Yadev to journey to Gangotri, where as Kamla writes "according to legend the sacred River Ganges descends from heaven to earth to start its journey to the sea (Bay of Bengal, which opens to the Indian Ocean)." The entire region is spotted the Hindu pilgrimage sites, and is a popular tourist destination.

[6/20/03]
Asha's folks spoke with her yesterday. It sounds like she'll be marooned in Senj over the weekend as the director of the program is having car trouble; this will probably put the kibosh on their planned trip to Dehra Dun.

[6/15/03]
Asha went to Uttarkashi (see map) on Saturday and sent several emails from there. She writes:

After sweating it out in Delhi and Rishikesh for about 6 days i am in the foothills of the Himalayas enjoying much cooler weather. Himalaya Hindi House is situated on the banks of the Ganges, surrounded by 'hills' that look like mountains to me. It's been in the low 80s during the day and in the 50s at night. We've been getting some rain which pelts down for a few minutes and then moves on. I've had a chance to take some walks in the hills using the local footpaths (rastas) which are narrow dirt paths that zigzag steeply. They are used by people and animals alike. It is quite a sight to see a big cow making its way downhill on one of the steeper rastas. As we have no electricity and a phone line that is more often down than up, it is quite peaceful. I am enjoying the candlelight dinners and a life based on the solar cycle.

Asha said that the class is moving very fast -- she's already done some translations. She will be going to Dehra Dun (the state capital) next weekend.

[6/9/03]
I got word tonight from Asha's folks that they had just spoken with Gian in Delhi. Asha is safely ensconsed in Senj. Today was her first day of class. Actually, as I'm writing she should be getting ready for her 2nd day. From here on out, I expect that the pace of news from India will slow down. If I get word from Asha about class or her extracurricular travels I'll pass it on.

Anyway, the nearest big town, Uttarkashi, is 180 Km (110 mi) from Rishikesh -- a 5 1/2 hour journey by taxi. Uttarkashi to Senj is 18 Km (11 mi), or an hour by taxi. One can only assume that the roads are what the USGS would call "unimproved dirt". :-)

Gian described the weather there as "cool". Coming from a Delhi resident who's been through 115°F weather, "cool" could mean a lot of things, but at least he didn't say that it was hot.

[6/6/03]
Asha and her uncle Gian have made it to Rishikesh. They are stying in the Hotel Shree Ji in Rishikesh. They traveled by train from Delhi to Haridwar, then by car to Rishikesh. Asha's folks talked to her last night our time, catching her just before she and Gian set out in the morning on a sightseeing trip. There are many temples, river shrines and such in the area -- Uttarkashi is home to many tributary rivers of the Ganges and is thus a pilgrimage destination. She reported that is was still quite hot (40 C / 104°F) even though they were farther north and had picked up some altitude.

Asha and Gian will be heading for Senj today. As I am writing at 10:30 PM EST it is 8:00 AM IST, and they are probably getting ready to move on.

[6/4/03] Part II
I received another email from Asha today. One of her cousins has equipped her with a cell phone, so we'll see how far out into the countryside the Indian wireless network extends. I had speculated that there wasn't a cell site within a hundred miles of Senj; we'll see. :-) Asha says:

"Although it was 115 degrees yesterday and slightly cooler today I have had a wonderful stay in Delhi and am looking forward to going north."

I've been having a devil of a time (no pun intended) keeping the time difference between here and there straight. I remebered that Asha had found a site with the current time in India. Thirty seconds with Google, and now all of us can see the current time in India.

[6/4/03]
Asha emailed me overnight from Delhi. The heat there is oppressive -- 46.5 C, which doesn't sound hot at all until you do the conversion and realize that its 115.6°F! She said that were the weather cooler she might hire a car and do some sightseeing today, but she qualified the heat as "almost unbearable". With 13% humidity sweat just evaporates with out you even knowing it, but damn that's hot! The Indian phone system is not all that great (which I discovered while trying to reach Asha at her hotel Monday), so Asha is having some trouble keeping in touch with her relatives in Delhi.

Asha will start her journey into the hinterlands tomorrow at 6:30 AM local time. First will be the train to Haridwar, a four hour trip. Second will be a car ride to Rishikesh, a 90min drive. Her uncle Gian is going with her at least as far as Rishikesh, and perhaps all the way to Senj.

[6/2/03]
Asha is now in Delhi, enjoying the accomodations of the Hotel Nikko, and trying not to wilt in the 100+ temperatures. It was 104°F in Delhi when she touched down at 01:30 local time (3PM EDT). Thankfully, where she's going the weather should be 70-80 during the days, and 40-50 at night.

The trip itself was apparently uneventful. She had the could-not-have-planned-it-if-you-tried fortune to be sitting next to a woman who is a Hindi instructor on the flight. Asha says that she got through Indian customs without a problem. Arguably the roughest part of her trip so far was getting to Kennedy on Connecticut Limo.

[6/1/03]
Asha is leaving today for India. She'll be traveling by air to Delhi, where she will be staing for a few days visiting with reletives. Leaving Delhi, she'll be going by train to Haridwar in the state of Uttaranchal, then by hired car to Rishikesh. In Rishikesh she will probably be meeting up with the director of the Himalaya Hindi House, Yogendra Yadav and going up to HHH by car.

The Himalaya Hindi House is near the village of Senj, which is so small that we have yet to find it on a map. It is also so small that elecricity hasn't arrived there yet. Asha is bringing with her a pile of batteries for her tape recorder and flashlight. Once there, Asha will be taking a six-week course in elementary Hindi. She'll be returning to the U.S. on July 21.

The map below shows the Uttaranchal, with a tiny map indicating where Uttaranchal is in relation to the rest of India. Delhi is a smidge south of Uttaranchal. The altitude in the area she'll be staying in should be around 5,000 feet, so Asha will have some adjusting to do. To the north of Uttaranchal is China, and to the east is Nepal.

Map of Uttaranchal state in India

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