Chapter 2 – The Trail of Rama

February 25, 2017December 1, 2020

Those types of train journey

I knew about the difficulties surrounding train travel in India. The first of such journeys I ever did was when I was ten years old, and the train had been delayed to such an extent, that the journey ended up lasting twenty-four hours.

My first train ride this time, however, went incredibly smoothly. I was scheduled to board the train at the first station stop so the train arrived early, I found my name assigned to the right seat and everything went well. It was only a four hour journey during the day so I was able to see India as I went along, and we were only twenty minutes delayed (which for India is, if anything, early).

The return journey was the exact opposite. I was catching the train halfway through its course and at Ayodhya station there really was nothing to do, apart from enjoy the company of the animals. I had arrived an hour and a half early, partly because I didn’t want to do too much wondering around with my full bag, but also because of the unpredictability of trains in India. Unsurprisingly, I arrived to find my train was already an hour delayed.

So, I decided to enjoy the zoo before me. Pigeons, monkeys, dogs, cows and even a goat all strutted around the platform. However, it did mean that no one could eat any food on the platform. As soon as anything was opened monkeys would try to take it from you, often successfully, as I found with the packet of crisps I was looking forward to. Dogs would stare with those eyes that are difficult to resist, and pigeons would fly overhead, as if waiting for a clearing so they too could enjoy some food.

So I was waiting for two hours over lunch without food before I found that my train would be another three hours late. By the time it arrived I had been waiting five hours and it was dark. I found my seat to have been already taken by a family of three generations, who claimed the top bunk where they were meant to be sitting was too difficult to reach, and not having much energy to fight I reluctantly agreed to the swap.

Getting onto the train halfway through also meant there was no room for my bag, so hauling it onto my bunk, where there was just about room for one of us let alone both, it stayed with me for the journey which should have been four hours but was more like six. Having not slept, I arrived at 1:30am grateful to finally be at my hostel after what had been a very long day.

February 26, 2017December 1, 2020

The Pizza Moment

I was at this point almost two weeks into my trip. I had visited amazing places and had once in a lifetime experiences wherever I went, but I still did not feel comfortable. Maybe it was being away from home, surrounded by a great deal of uncertainty that accompanies one when travelling to new places alone.

I was back in Varanasi to catch a train onwards and so I had decided to have lunch in a pizza place I had found on the river Ganga, before setting off. It was an outdoor restaurant with an impressive wood chip pizza oven in a beautiful setting. I was sitting eating, and still feeling uneasy when I stopped and had a thought.

I was in one of the oldest cities in the world, in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. It was twenty-five degrees and the sun was shining. I was on a year off from school travelling the world and to top it all off, I was eating pizza.

I realised that sometimes the easiest thing I could do in the situation I was in was worry. But, if I took a step back and just appreciated where I was, I was happy. I hope I can carry this thought with me, wherever I go.

February 27, 2017December 1, 2020

The Wedding at Khajuraho

I arrived in Khajuraho on the 15th February, where I was to have a short break from the Trail, to attend the wedding of some of our closest friends, who are really family, Ishan and Shiva. The event also meant I was able to meet up with my parents and Nish, my brother, for just under a week. After a few weeks of travelling alone, I could not help but appreciate the company of those closest to me.

The wedding also allowed me to meet with a great number of other friends and I enjoyed a restful few days in the Ashram at Khajuraho with good food and good company. The ceremony itself was beautiful, a feast of colour for the eyes, food for the stomach and emotion for the heart that left everyone with a smile on their faces.

We briefly visited the temples in Khajuraho, and i really do mean brief, it was a 15 minute quick walk through them to ensure we saw as much as possible before closing time. The rush was down to the fact that, as we often do, we had prioritised food over seeing the sights.

The few days I was there seemed to fly by and before I knew it, the time had come to set off to Allahabad to continue the Trail. I am fortunate to have the family that I do, as they decided to join me for this leg of the journey.

Although I was not directly on the Trail, staying in an ashram gave me another experience linked to it. Rama, along with Sita and Lakshmana, spent a great number of his 14 year exile staying in ashrams. Places where I find I do not have to worry about the problems in the world I am so used to living in, giving a space and a freedom to just be. I would also be staying in an ashram in Allahabad, my next stop, and I will elaborate on this further in my next post.

March 3, 2017December 1, 2020

Allahabad

Rāma’s time in Allahabad was limited to a single night, which he spent with the Sage Bharadwāja. He did not want to spend too much time in a place that was still so close to Ayodhya. My stay was a luckily a bit longer.

So, my family and I embarked on what should have been an 8, but was of course an 11, hour taxi ride to Allahabad.

When in Khajuraho I was fortunate enough to receive a list of places I should visit related to the Trail in Allahabad and Chitrakoot from Panditji. In Allahabad they included Bharadwāja’s ashram. There were also 12 temples devoted to Vishnu, or Narayana, who was born on earth as Rama. These included the Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Saraswati and Yamuna, which is what makes Allahabad as famous as it is.

On the first day, my family and I set off to start visiting these places. Each space was wonderfully different. Two of the temples were dedicated to Hanuman and while one was a quiet cave inducing calm, the other was an explosion of life, colours, sound and energy. From mandir to mandir we went doing puja and appreciating what each represented. I know we all returned back that evening feeling simply grateful to have seen and felt what we did.

The next day, the four of us and my Bhua who we were staying with in Allahabad set off to visit Bharadwāja’s Ashram. Rāma, Sitā and Lakshmana were offered food, and a place to sleep at the ashram, and spent the night philosophising with the revered sage.

Although, it seems as though its importance has been taken advantage of. People hang around the temple with their hands outstretched asking for money for the maintaince of the space, even though it is clear from the piles of rubbish around that the money probably doesn’t end up where it should. However, blocking out the superficial, we sat, next to a goat would you believe, and did what we had at every other mandir.

Re-reading the Ramayana, it seems surreal to be visiting these places that are of such importance in the book. I am continually amazed at how they are all still seen as immensely important spaces.

The afternoon was spent shopping and also receiving one of those special ‘Indian shaves’ which my description will not do justice. Anyone who has had one will, I hope, know what I mean.

The next day I said goodbye to the rest of my family who were returning home, and feeling grateful that I had been able to see all of the places I needed to with them by side, I waved them off. Thank you for staying with me.

I again was staying in an ashram and its calm seemed to reveal thoughts and feelings which I didn’t know were there, and they were humbling. The Ramayana reads that Rama was happiest when he was staying in ashrams with those closest to him. He had his world with him in Sita and Lakshmana, and knew he needed nothing else.

Maybe it is the fact that you can detach yourself from everything you and those around you think you should be, when staying in these places that makes them special.

I guess the trick is being able to do that wherever you are.

Whilst at the ashram, Rāma also asked the sage where the trio should go next to peacefully live out their fourteen years of exile. Bharadwāja told them they could go to Chitrakoot. This was my next stop, on my own Trail of Rāma.

And so, just as I was ready to stay in Allahabad for a good period of time I was off again, to visit the the magical Chitrakoot.