Day 3, April 5th
I woke up at 3 a.m. in the morning and was not able to go back to sleep, again. The time difference has never hit me so hard as this time. I though about practicing but then I realized how crazy it will be considering we had self practice in the morning plus class in the evening, so I used the time to chat with my beloved and catch up in our lives.
At 6 a.m. I felt asleep again and slept till 8:30 a.m. but woke up with a very weird sensation in my body. I felt a little bit of naussea and strong headache. Anyway, I went to self practice but after the first 5 minutes I realized I was not going to be able to practice too hard. I tried some standing postures and full arm balance but my body sent me back to the floor. My head didn’t allow me to keep doing any time of effort. I surrendered to practice some restorative postures and a great Savasana.
After coffee and breakfast I was feeling a little bit better so I decided to take my camera and start an adventure around the town. My goal was to learn to use my camera, because since my husband is a photographer, I’ve got super lazy on really putting some effort into learning. I listen to the theory from him all the time, but to put it in practice is another story. So, today was the opportunity to start.
I wanted to learn to approach to people to take photos without making them feeling uncomfortable, because I am one of those who feel super uncomfortable when someone else is taking pictures of me, so I can relate with people saying they don’t want to be photographed. It was an interesting adventure, with all types of shapes and prices.
I enjoyed a lot photographing the Saddhus. Most of them wanted to charge me, I found some who said yes to be part of the game and we got beautiful pictures, I also found some who charged me 40 rupees and I paid them, some with whom I got to negotiate till 10 rupees for taking a picture, and of course there was the Saddhu who wanted to take advantage of me: "You take photo and pay me 50 rupees". Of course I laugh and left.
The best of the day was this big Indian family who run to me and asked me if I could make a photo of them, so I took a photo of all of them together and separately of some. When I turned, there was a group of Indians asking me to take photos, but this time they wanted selfies with me. Well, if you have been in Rishikesh before you know how common it is this to happen and how difficult it is to get out once you have said yes. Anyway, I had fun and enjoyed making pictures with the kids.
When I was crossing the bridge there was a family of monkeys, so I got a little nervous. The guy in front of me told me it was ok, that they don’t hurt. But I have been here before and I knew he was wrong. I started crossing the bridge together with tens of people. Suddenly one monkey jumped to the bridge and grab a kid from his pants, her mom held him in her arms, and the monkey pulled his pants off. Fortunately the monkey didn’t hurt the kid, but it was scary for the kid… and funny for the audience. Of course I didn’t get to photograph this situation but I did get to photograph some of the monkeys on the bridge.
I made it safe to cross the bridge and with only a little headache back to the room to get ready to evening class with Ushaji. After class, only a little energy was left in me, enough to eat something, take a bucket bath and falling asleep before the noises of the streets.