Posting today's and last post together (right below).

Last post I told you about how I didn't make it to Haridwar on the 12th and missed the sadhus. Yesterday we went back to Haridwar and found their camps and got some great shots.

When we took their shots, many of them requested to have a copy of their pictures and of their leaders (of whom they only had some old photographs). In fact, one sadhu wouldn't let me take a picture unless I gave him a copy right there and then - my explanations of how that wasn't quite possible didn't really matter much to him.

We went to the main town after this and had the prints made. They were even able to crop their leader out of a small photo, enlarge that and make a 8x10 print of that - right there on the spot.

Here's one:




We went back to the camp and ran into two police men (there is a lot of military and cops around due to Kumbh). These two guys figured they can make some money from us since we were sort of far away from everything - so we got harassed. They wanted our ID, wrote down everything, and then the guy pulled out one of those old (very old) Nokia phones and took our pictures - all in an attempt to scare us and make some money off of us. My cousin Anjul had left already for Muzaffarnagar so it was just me and my other cousin Sumit (who was named after me). This dumbass asked at least 15 times how two people can have the same name. After having his mugshot taken, my cousin being a smartass remarked - "Did it come out alright?" Needless to say, we weren't scared and he didn't have anything on us, so eventually they let us go and we went our way, dropped off the pictures to the sadhus and made it back to Rishikesh.

At another police checking we got off quickly because they figured we were the media - people here often think we are the media, since there are usually two or three of us and we are carrying a huge camera. This obviously has its benefits to the point that once I get to Delhi I am going to have a "Press Pass" made.

There are many great things about India and I have never written anything negative, but I guess I should write everything. The other negative aspect is that most of these sadhu's are getting high off weed (ganja, hash) and other drugs. Them being the sadhu's gives them full freedom to abuse drugs and they are immune from the law due to their status. I wonder how many are in it for that very reason. There were a lot of foreigners who were in these areas mainly to get high with the Sadhu's.

Lastly, there is massive racism in certain areas that cater to foreigners - like Rishikesh and Mcleod Ganj (where I was last time). They won't give rooms to Indians and will tell them no availability, etc. Usually I have to go in there when my cousins cannot get a room and speak to them in English and that usually works. This seems to be a horrible trend in certain regions in India.

We are now headed back to Muzaffarnagar to join up with Anjul and then to Delhi. Sorry for the unedited post, wrote it quickly because not sure when will be able to write again. Keep the comments coming.