Bridge over the river high



The bridge is so busy, its wobbly boards flexing slightly as the noticeable gaps between the planks pay homage to the turbulent tide below.

We were walking across it, when a couple of monkeys appeared beside us, grasping the cables with their tiny dextrous hands, occasionally looking for handouts from the passing tourists and locals alike. Behind us the horn of motorbikes blare, as we move sideways on the 4 foot planks in order to let them pass. The fruit cart in front of us takes up almost all of the width of the bridge but oncoming motorbikes somehow get by anyhow.

As we arrive on the other side of the bridge, nerves slightly frazzled, two monkeys toy with a street vendor selling nuts, distracting from one side, while the other monkey grabs some nuts from the other side and jumps back up the stone wall, laughing as he eats them. The vendor yelling and shooshing them away.
As we approached the market, there was a young Tamal man selling sugar cane juice, and Soan really wanted to try it. Surprising, since she has been extremely careful with her intake since being here in India. What the heck…I was game, and we ordered two juices. It tasted really good, similar to a cream soda, and we drank it fast. Sonia had a taste but that was it. This is ‘foreshadowing’. 🙂

A little further down the street the market starts. Here in Rishikesh, the prices seem to be more NON negotiable. Nonetheless well all picked up a few more vibrant items for no more than a toonie each. The flavour of the market was very multi cultural as we heard German, French, English, Chinese, Tamil and Hindi being spoken. When I wanted a snack to go with my bottled water (sealed tightly), I asked a young Hindu couple if the ‘cheesie like’ snacks were good. In broken English, he said yes, but very spicy. So, I bought some Masala Cheesies basically, and yes, they are delicious. My big water bottle and snack cost 55 rupees (1 dollar) – he didn’t have the whole 45 rupee change so he gave me two twenties and a package of mints for the 5 rupees. Who knows, maybe he thought that I needed them. 🙂

We stopped to by some bangles on the way out of the market. They are so beautiful and colourful. The shop owner was very friendly and I continue to ask for new sayings, much to Sonia’s embarassment. She is getting very good at rolling her eyes at me, since she has come to know that I do love to chat. Who knew that she liked the Ashram’s silence policy…especially before her morning coffee. When the shop owner was placing my bangles into the bag (I bought 4 sets for 200 rupees <4 $>), I practiced my new words of the day on him, saying, “Coop Sunder” (beautiful), Sonia had a good laugh, since she thought that I was directing it at him while his wife stood beside him. They all laughed at my faux pas. As we left, he taught me, “Fere me Lengay” – see ya later.

We shopped in the market for an hour or so and then we were heading back when Soan decided that she had to go back and get one of the many things that she had ‘almost’ bought, but hadn’t. So, she told us to walk slowly and she would catch up. For two bucks, these were BIG decisions!! (LOL) Sonia and I stopped at another cart and bought a few more souvenirs (bookmarks and rings) for next to nothing – 25 cents or so. Soan never did catch up, or she passed us, and we ended back at the Ashram at the same time, just in time for a bit of rest and some Masala Cheesies.

Share This:

This entry was posted in Amazing India 2011 and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Bridge over the river high

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *