Hi again, India is happening so fast and we are already in Rishikesh. Tomorrow we will enter deeper into Uttarkandh by a 10 hours busride to Gaurikund from where we will proceed on ponnies to Kedarnath next morning. ("Uttarkandh" means the northern part, or "ytterkanten" in Scandinavian language.) Gaurikund is where Parvati (Gaori) meditated to win over Shiva. The climb up to Kedarnath is a steep 14 kms from 2000 m to about 3600 m. Up there Lord Shiva had his summer headquarters some 7000 years ago. If you see the local map below there is only China above its borders. Kedarnath is a famous and quite inaccessible travelpoint for devout hindus. While returning we will try to visit the village of Triyuginaryan where Parvati and Shiva wed. The flame burning there is said to be from the time of their wedding. Shiva and Parvati were the first couple to "tie the knot" and it happened in that village. More soon.

Premeditation

Namaskar!

It is an ancient greeting in which the palms are held together and the thumbs touch first between the eyebrows (indicating the concentration of thoughts or goodwill) and then the mid-point of the chest (indicating the sweetness of sentiment). “I pay respect to the Supreme Entity residing within you.” Fundamental wisdom before embarking on a tour of India -- and inviting you to follow us on our journey.

We are Erlend (25) and Trond (53), son and father, who will be travelling from the far north to the deep south and back again, visiting a number of places en route. For Erlend it's a first while Trond has been to India a number of times since 1975. Hopefully we will be able to furnish you with reports, pictures, videos and fresh insights that would convey some of the unique richness and treasures that this country surely possess. And possibly receive valuable/inspiring/whatever response ("comments", below left of article) from you time to time.

A main priority is to visit art festivals and get to know Indian creative expression better, both classical and modern. We want to do plenty of sightseeing as well. And we shall make many friendships and exciting inroads into Indian society as we will be staying privately most of the time in most of the places we shall visit. Thanks to Dada in Copenhagen for providing us with all the valuable contacts over there!

Departure is from København on Monday Sept 21, return before Xmas.
So come back here time to time, and better subscribe to new posts from us by way of Gmail or any of the other options up left.
So long for now.

The map shows our preliminary travel plan with Kedarnath (late September) at the northernmost, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum, early October) at the southmost, Jamalpur (late October) to the east, and Aurangabad (late November) to the west. Stations on way are Mysore, Bengaluru (Bangalore), Chennai (Madras), Hyderabad, Ranchi, Rajgir, Varanasi and Delhi. And there will be others.