and into the heat

lakshman jhula (bridge) in rishikesh. the ganga divides the city with two footbridges only connecting the two halves. due to the huge number of people (the kumbh mela taking place an hour away in haridwar), the military/police had made one bridge (ram jhula) one way, while the other remained two-way but hence had a huge queue:orange-yellow-crimson-magenta-chartreuse is the new black:
waiting to cross the bridge (indians are really good at carrying things on their heads):
i finally ventured out (it was also about 105F)
the ganga:

next day, went to haridwar for the kumbh mela.
offerings to the ganga:people bathing:

surprisingly cold!

wandering the streets:i had been expecting to see huge crowds of crazy babas/sadhus, but i think they were mostly hiding out in their tent camps unfortunately, but i did get some crazy eyes, big beards, and whorls of dreads.