Haridwar as a tourist
Haridwar (Door to Hari, Lord Vishnu), there is something familiar about this city where the abundant northern plains meet the giant Himalayas. The city has always been there, not as mystifying as Banaras, or as touristy as Agra, or as religious as Shirdi, but all those features combined together in one neighborhood. I’ve always been through (yes, through) Haridwar, touched it on the surface many a times. Be it for last rites of a neighbor or relative, or on the way to my college in the hills of Garhwal, or just to take a dip in Ganga. All these peripheral trips were way before the realization that travel is not about source and destination. It was way before the joy of sitting through an entire sunset dawned upon me. It was way way before that I wouldn’t call those trips, travel anymore. A marriage ceremony, a dying airline and a spring- summer school break gave a chance to feel the city in my new normal, slow and easy way. Witnessed the famous Ganga Arti a few times in different posit