Back at Gangotri

Nomi Giri Naga baba with Alan on bamboo pole. Ouch.












Cathy with the sadhu at his campfire.





The walk down was quick and relatively easy. A large Tibetan type dog which was extremely friendly, decided he would accompany us all the way. Every now and then he would cock his head to the side and I'd search the ground to see what he was hearing or smelling - one time it just turned out to be an aging carcass of a blue sheep; another he took off into a shrub covered hillside above, and whatever he was chasing (in the wrong direction it turned out) loosened some rocks right above us. I happened to be looking right at that spot and just managed to get us both out of the way before a large one came hurtling down right where we had been.
We met some friends from our earlier stay at Gangotri (who didn't have permits), and they managed to get into the park by paying some baksheesh. We settled back into our old room at the Sri Krishna ashram run by a friendly swami who makes (free) tea for anyone who sits down on a chair for more than 30 seconds. Next day we bought some food supplies and headed up the river to visit the Naga sadhu previously mentioned.
He had made chappatis for us and they were waiting and ready. We had also arranged to bring the camera to repeat the photo that I had taken years earlier and which had been stolen. At that time he walked over to the river with his companion - "chela" is somewhere between disciple and servant in many cases I think. Anyway, he had a bamboo staff, and a bag of vibhuti ash: he covered part of the pole with the ash, then removed all his clothes and covered his penis with ash before tightly rolling the penis around the staff. One end of the staff was then pulled behind one leg followed by the other leg so everything was tightly pulled behind him - then his partner climbed on to the pole and stood, and I took the photo.
This time there was a slight difference. He covered his whole body with water then ash, and I climbed onto the pole as Cathy took the photos.
We took some other photos as he posed on one leg while pouring water from his Kamandulu (brass water pot) that he wanted. Then went back to the campfire and had lunch. He also showed Cathy some massage techniques which she found very interesting (like skin rolling along the spine and lifting the body off the table with it). A different day.
In the town we happened to meet up with an English guy and an American who wanted to go down to Uttarkashi to get a permit, so we 4 hired a taxi to get down the next morning. Most hotels were full so we jumped into another jeep and went for another 6 hours and were exhausted upon arrival at Rishikesh. Cathy's ayurvedic massage experience was about to start.