P E R S O N A L M O M E N T S enchantingtravels.com/blog 42 Sometimes it’s best to let things happen. Not to search for the next thing, but to pull back a little, and let the next thing come to you. Guest John Schmor, from Oregon, USA, traveled to India with Enchanting Travels for the first time last year. He shares his favorite moment. GUEST TRAVELOGUE I’d had a wonderful day in Rishikesh and had visited a mountaintop temple. The plan for my last evening was to drive to Haridwar to see the Ganga Aarti (prayers) there. I was near the end of my first trip to India. My room had a dreamy view of the cold, green River Ganges and the natural foothills of the Himalayas. I didn't feel like taking the car to attend the aarti. Instead, I decided to take a walk along the riverside promenade where the locals hold their own Ganga Aarti. The sun was just beginning to set. Ahead of me, in the far distance, where the river bends into a deep pool, I saw the silhouette of a large elephant, a “tusker,” standing in the sunlight, with the cliff behind him. I picked up my pace – I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I scrambled out onto the rocks just across from the pool – there were only a few other people around. No elephant. I decided I was just making it up as I’d really wanted to see an elephant in its native habitat, a free elephant, on this first trip to India. Suddenly, up from the water appeared a trunk, a huge forehead, a back, and then the beautiful creature rolled, sending out a wave. I stood there, with the other people, watching the elephant play and bathe for an hour. We watched silently as the elephant climbed out of the water to dust himself off with sand, a ghost at the edge of the forest, as the sun set. On my way back to the hotel, a peacock came out of the forest to drink at the river’s edge. It called out two times. Twice blessed. The elephant and the peacock. The next day would be a long but rewarding trip back to Delhi, my last day before flying home. I didn’t miss Haridwar – my dear driver, Dev Singh, made sure of that. I witnessed such color and exuberance in the morning, watching hundreds take their ritual bath in the river. Mr. Singh collected holy Ganga water for his family in Delhi. He also stopped along the way so I could visit a small family-run jaggery farm. En route to Delhi we stopped at a roadside truck-stop for vegetable pakoras, and so that I could taste my first fresh sugar cane juice. All that night and on the two plane trips home, I couldn’t forget the elephant slowly bathing in the Ganges river. The peacock calling in the dark. Ten days later I decided to book another trip to India with Enchanting Travels. Six months later I reminded myself to let things happen, which often requires going slow or even standing still. GO SLOW 43 CONTINUE READING JOHN’S ADVENTURES enchantingtravels.com/blog