"If thou hast the weekend, get out of town."
-Arjun Kariyal

Rishikesh; I swear you don't have to look too hard and you will find Heaven not too far from Delhi. 270 kilometres north of Delhi is Neelkanth temple, through Rajaji National Park.

After a good beer session at TGIF and later tanking up the Santro, Sameer and I crashed at his Vasant Kunj flat. We left Delhi at 4 a.m. and reached Swarg Ashram, Rishikesh at 10 : 30 a.m. Rooms are available for Rs. 475 for three nights (as on October 2003). The campus is situated right next to the Ganges and Ram Jhoola and has single room apartments with a kitchen and loo. After checking in we left for Neelkanth Mahadev temple. It's a good 12 kilometre trek through Rajaji National Park but since we were on a very tight weekend trip, we drove up. On the way we saw snakes lying around on the road and a mongoose darting across with a prey. Tourist bikers on Bullets made me envious (I'll envy anyone on a Bullet). After our prayers and offerings, had lunch outside the temple where you must absolutely order Daal Fry at the Dhabas here. we came back to Swarg Ashram and at 5 pm walked around the very alive market. We crossed Ram Jhoola and took a boat ride on the way back.

The river bank of the Ganges here is the one of the best spots I've spent time doing nothing. One can buy small leaf boats for 5- 10 rupees with flowers and a lamp in it. Set these off in the river and worry not of how far it goes, although we did!
We had dinner at "Green" Italian restaurant and from the market I bought a yellow "bam-bam-bhole" t-shirt and some chooran.

Crashed at 11 p.m.. Left the next day at 7 a.m. and headed back for Delhi. Modinagar traffic greeted us with great aplomb. Amongst those who gave us company were a newly wed followed by a cavalcade of drunk relatives! We reached Delhi at 1:30 .pm.. Do try to get out of Rishikesh at 4-5 a.m., if possible. But then, you can't!! (Route: Delhi - Gaziabad - Modinagar - Meerut - Moradnagar - Muzafarnagar - Roorkie - Haridwar - Beraj - Rishikesh - Neelkanth).