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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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