KELLY ZIFF 

        The next day, our group took a long, garrulous stroll out of town on the North road alongside the downward flowing Ganga River, past the priest at the Ganesha Temple where a few of us received morning blessings and past oxen, vendors, a yoga shala, monkeys, and a rafting camp on the opposite bank. We meandered down to Ma Ganga to revel in her majesty before we continued further, past a small village temple and up a path alongside a creek into a verdant, deep, forest sanctuary with a Ganesha waterfall—a rock formation with the side view of an elephant’s head. Not just any elephant: it really looks like Ganesha, the clearer of obstacles and archetype to invoke at the beginning of a literal or metaphysical journey. The sun was streaming in from above the fern and moss-covered rocks, which made the spray of water droplets sparkle like crystals and diamonds all around.