We started in the early morning from Haridwar where already the Aarti ceremonies were going on. Normally I really like the sound of this but today it was very artificial. It was not the sweet sound of bells and gongs which are traditionally used at these ceremonies but the music was played by a machine. It was very loud and did not have anything of the devotional sweetness of the original instruments. I do not understand why some people think that God should be especially pleased from this. Do it yourself, do it with devotion and don't just press the button and let the machine play.
Like this we got on our way to Sahastradhara. I have been there two years ago and, like everywhere in India now, things have changed. Two years ago there was still wonderful nature but when we came there today we saw a 'joy park' next to the natural beauty of the caves. So commercialized! All the nice nature destroyed by buildings of concrete and this amusement park. It is really horrible what human does to nature. This is another thing that I love in Europe. There are parks and old buildings preserved by law. People also have more consciousness about pollution of rivers, air and all nature.
We started from there again and, because of the bad state of Indians national highways we got a puncher. Well, this happens, it is quite normal here. The street has many holes, there are all kinds of vehicles on the road and sometimes there is not even a proper road to drive on. Good, so we put on the spare tyre and had our tyre fixed in the next workshop. About 150 kilometers later we had to stop again. We got a second puncher. It was very good that we had the tube of the first puncher fixed in time. Okay, we changed the tyres again also had that one fixed and then we got stuck in the organized chaos of Indian traffic. In the end we took 17 hours for around 420 kilometers. You cannot do anything when you are stuck in traffic jam or when the railway barrier is closed for twenty minutes. Being in traffic is one of the best exercises to accept things as they are. Become the observer, the seer instead of being the doer and maybe even getting angry. Stay calm and relaxed and you will enjoy your journey much more!
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Being stuck in a traffic jam can make me feel very anxious. I am not experiencing where I am. Instead I am thinking about arriving at my destination. I like to practice acceptance by telling myself “I have arrived, I have arrived” when I am sitting in my car. The sun becomes brighter and the things I see with my eyes become clearer and I can feel content.
I live near Yellow Stone, been there many times as a child and an adult. It is just sad how bad it’s gotten up there. It was sanctioned as a park to protect it, but now there is so much tourist traffic it is slowly getting destroyed.
Ah everything beautiful gets destroyed doesn’t it?
I also find it disturbing that humans destruct nature by trying to create something good out of it. Rather than importing concrete to make the area more human-friendly, we should preserve natural areas like national parks where nothing should be disturbed. Nature has so much beauty inherent in it… we have to protect it before it’s all gone.