Rishikesh

The rapids churn white beneath the suspension bridge. Above, a sadhu sits cross-legged on the boulder, draped in marigold garlands, eyes closed. Rishikesh exists at the collision point of adrenaline and transcendence — the same river that produces class IV rapids also receives the evening aarti fire ceremony.

Rishikesh in Uttarakhand sits where the Ganges emerges from the Himalayan foothills, a transition zone between mountain and plain that has drawn spiritual seekers for millennia. The town divides into distinct zones: the ashram area around Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula, where yoga centres and meditation retreats cluster above the river; and the adventure zone upstream, where commercial whitewater rafting operations run 16-kilometre and 26-kilometre routes through class III-IV rapids. The Beatles Ashram — where the band studied Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968 — sits crumbling in the Rajaji Tiger Reserve, its walls covered in graffiti art that has become an attraction in its own right. The evening Ganga Aarti at Triveni Ghat draws hundreds nightly, with fire ceremonies reflected in the river's surface.