Climbing the Himalayas has been a dream of mine for years—maybe even since childhood. So when I was planning my travels in India, the only place I knew I had to visit was Rishikesh—not for yoga, but for the mountains. Everything else was negotiable.
But life loves a plot twist. Of all the places I visited in India, Rishikesh turned out to be the one I liked the least. I found it overwhelmingly commercial—soulless, even—despite the endless list of yoga schools, ashrams, and cafes. A friend of mine called it the “McDonald’s of Yoga,” and I couldn’t agree more. It’s the fast food of the yoga world.
Add to that a stubborn chest infection, getting tangled in someone else’s drama, and the suffocating heat, and that pretty much sums up how I felt for most of my time there.
But the moment I started feeling better, I booked a hiking trip to the Himalayas. No hesitation. The four days I spent hiking were hands down the happiest I felt during my entire three-week stay in Rishikesh.
That’s despite the extreme car sickness on the way up—seven hours of winding mountain roads. If you ever plan to go, travel on an empty stomach. The return trip was a lot easier.
I’m not used to mountain hikes, so the 14km and 10km treks—especially the latter, which took us up to 4,000m—were intense. I questioned everything: Would I give up? Could I even do it? And most of all—why did I want this so badly in the first place?
I got my answer at the top of Chandrashila peak, on our second hike. We started at 3:30 AM to catch the sunrise. Standing there—so close to the sun, so far from all the noise—looking out over the snow-capped peaks and clouds below, I felt a deep sense of awe, peace, and exhilaration.
And it became crystal clear: I will do this again, no matter how hard it is.
For the first time, I understood why the mountains are considered the abode of Shiva—the embodiment of pure consciousness and divine love. The stillness and the oneness can be felt with every sense: in the vast, raw beauty of the landscape, the sharp freshness of the air, the heat of the rising sun, and the total, majestic silence.
Huge thank you to @child_of_himalayas for being the best mountain guide and photographer. I’ll be back.