Rishikesh, Haridwar, and the ancient practice of "Seva"

Rishikesh is a great city. Besides being on the bank of the river Ganges, and being the cool place where the Beatles went to "discover their inner peace and yoga", there is something really magical about this place.

During my first trip to India, Rishikesh was the starting point of my 6 month backpacking journey. Armed with my two best friends, Cristina and Patrizia, we flew through a journey that would change our life forever. Upon arriving to Rishikesh, after an all-nighter on a local bus, we were absolutely too tired to even argue a hotel price! It took two full days to recuperate the energy we lost on that bus!

At 5:00 am we were awakened by the ringing of bells: many, many temple bells ringing as the sun was slowly waking up, rising above the holy river. The sunkissed water glistened in the morning sun and it felt like we were in paradise. I think this was the exact moment we realized: OMG!! We are in India!!!

The days passed, we took yoga and meditation classes, we met a lot of travellers, and chanted on the Ganges river bank like there was not tomorrow. It was magical. We noticed there were so many ashrams. We were told that many of these ashrams welcome pilgrims, travelling from one temple to the next, from one Holy city to the next, for free.  We thought this was really eye-opening and heart-warming.This gave us an idea.

We receive so much. Why not give back a little? 

The next day we stopped dreaming and starting ACTING. Be the change you wish to see in the world, right?

Here are a few pictures of the meals we sponsored, for 3 days. Nothing we had ever received felt as good as those three days of feeding the hungry pilgrims.