My First Days in India:
Dogs, Bed Bugs and Getting Lost
If landing in India felt like culture shock, the first few days were a full immersion. Between the barking dogs, long walks, mystery bites, aggressive beggars and never-ending honking, I had to adapt fast. But there were also many kind people, calming rituals and a return to discipline.
First Mornings in Tapovan
I was up at 5 a.m., still jet lagged but alert. I made a tea and stood on the balcony watching the sun rise over Tapovan. I stretched and did some burpees just to shake off the travel fog. I’d downloaded a few yoga books to my Kindle before I left, so I started reading God Exists by Swami Sivananda, one of my favorite authors.
By 9 a.m., I knew it was time to go outside and explore. I was nervous but pushed myself.
Out Into the Chaos
My mission for the day was to get a local SIM card. I walked downhill into the maze of shops and noise, trying to remember landmarks. One guy offered to clean out my ears. I declined, but if I see him again, I might take him up on it.
I eventually reached the Ganges and soaked my feet in the water. Two young boys approached selling little flower bowls for river blessings. I told them I only had USD. They said they collect foreign money, so I gave them each a dollar. They asked for a five.
Quick tip: Everyone asks for money especially when they know you’re new. Decide how you’ll handle that early.
After eating some incredible rice and dahl, I continued my SIM card hunt. I took a wrong turn and ended up outside Tapovan, deep into the hills with barely any signs of life. Eventually I found my way back and, ironically, spotted a phone shop I had passed several times without noticing. I finally got the SIM card, 1000 rupees for the month.
I bought some tea and a scented candle and walked back toward the house. The cows, the traffic, the constant horn honking… it all blurs together fast.
I ended up getting lost again, bought a drink and finally found the tiny path back to the house.
That night, I was treated to a full street performance: dogs barking at monkeys, monkeys shrieking from rooftops and people yelling across the alley. The rhythm of this place is noise layered on noise. I still hadn’t seen anyone else in the house besides Dinesh and my neighbor, who just said “Hallo good morning” and vanished.
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Ashtanga, Rain and Startling Realizations
Quick tip: Check your mattress in India. Early.
The next morning, I walked through the rain to my first Ashtanga yoga practice down on the main road. The practice was hard. I hadn’t practiced for a couple of weeks before the trip and the humidity made it worse. After class, I grabbed some bananas and walked home. Dinesh introduced himself and came in to change a light bulb in my room. I didn’t mention that I was getting bit at night.
By this point, I had already been waking up itchy and started suspecting something was off. Later that day, I looked up bed bug images online, checked under my mattress and found eggs that looked exactly like what I saw in the photos.
I called Dinesh and told him. He came right away, removed the mattress, and sprayed the room. I was hoping that would take care of it.
It didn’t. That night, I got mauled and ended up sitting in a chair all night waiting for morning to come so i could talk to Dinesh. The itching was nonstop and the bites were everywhere.
I texted Dinesh the next morning, went to yoga again on zero sleep and showed him my bites after class. He flinched and immediately arranged to have the whole room fumigated again. He also offered me a room downstairs as a temporary fix.
We stood outside and talked for a while. He told me his father had died from a heart attack six months ago, and that because of religious tradition, he couldn’t eat outside food for a year. He also explained that during COVID, most of the yoga schools in Rishikesh became hotels, which is why so much of the town feels under construction now.
Lost in the Mountains
The next day, I set out on what I thought would be a quick walk to Rishikesh. I ended up walking about 20 miles through markets, along highway and into areas where no one spoke English and all the signs were in Hindi.
At some point, I found a path along the Ganges, passed groups of sadhus lounging by the water and wandered into remote areas with no clear direction. I had completely lost my sense of where I was.
Right as I started to worry, two young guys pulled up and asked if I needed a ride. Their names were Paarth and Nikil, recent high school grads visiting from Shimla. They were headed to the Beatles Ashram and invited me to tag along.
They were stoked to meet someone from California. We toured the ashram, took photos and shared a banana pancake at a café. They kept asking about life in L.A. and joked that Paarth was “flexing” with his new American friend.
Later they went to buy whiskey, technically illegal in Rishikesh and brought it back while we waited by the river. A group of guys sat with us, smoked weed and chatted. For a second I thought it might get weird, but it stayed mellow. They dropped me off back in Tapovan and invited me to go with them to Devprayag the next day. I said maybe.
The next day I took it easy. Did my laundry in a bucket in the shower and then hung it out on the patio. Ate at the same spot as before, they remembered me and gave me a discount. I started faking that I was on a phone call when I walked around just so people wouldn’t hassle me.
Then I got sick. Woke up with a cold, used my neti pot, did a modified Wim Hof routine, and pushed through yoga class. I picked up cold medicine from the pharmacy and ate spicy noodles afterward… which the pharmacist told me not to do.
The day after that was the start of my yoga intensive course at Ashtanga Yoga Rishikesh. Our teacher, Sachin Badoni is great. We began with a pooja ceremony. Fire, chanting, herbs tossed into flames and a priest with auctioneer-speed Sanskrit. We rubbed ghee between our eyebrows and asked for no obstacles in our training.
The group is international – South Korea, Israel, Mexico and Italy – and I’m the only guy. After a full day of philosophy, vinyasa breakdowns and mantra chanting, I watched the full moon rise over the mountains.
For the first time, I felt a little grounded…
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