11/02/2026
Rishikesh, India: Things got really weird and then India redeemed Herself. My American/Indian friend and guide got angry and left me in Varanasi. I travelled on to Rishikesh alone to stay at Parmarth Niketan Ashram, a 1000 room spiritual center on the Ganges River. I hate traveling alone and was feeling depleted and drained. I’ve never been in a place so culturally foreign, or felt so far out of my depth for this long. All of it caught up with me today, sitting on top of the unexpectedly loss of my guide to their own emotional drama. I spent 1/2 the day resting in my institutional dorm room.
I decided to ask chat gpt some questions about Indian culture and got really great answers about how Americans misinterpret bargaining for aggression and how business is a relational dance rather than purely a transaction here. Chat even gave specific tips on how to bargain with merchants.
When I take big trips, I like to make one large purchase. I gathered my strength, ate some daal and rice, and entered the most beautiful and expensive looking store on the street. The owner, Sunil, gave me the best price I had found on a Nataranja, or dancing Shiva, the item I had decided to bring home. He asked me if I wanted tea and his son began to show me all of the beautiful, handmade objects in the store. I decided to go with this idea that business is a relationship and be openhearted rather than defensive. Sunil said he was a chakra healer and could tell that I was depleted and showed me these beautiful handmade Tibetan singing bowls. He invited me back in the afternoon for an energy healing, perhaps the only true sound healing I have experienced. I did some research and was able to bargain a very fair price for one of these incredible, healing singing bowls that he had placed on my head, heart and pelvis. I have a small bell at home, but this is a Tibetan masterpiece and I felt truly cared for and re-energized by this lovely, Indian merchant.
