Studying Hindi at Nolunna

As you know, I came to India to study Hindi for five weeks at a place called Nolunna above Uttarkashi which is about two-thirds of the way from Rishikesh to Gangotri near the mouth of the Ganges. As you also know, my stay there was truncated, but I had a great time and now I am going to tell you about it.

A couple of years ago my friend Ben Teller found this place called Himalaya Hindi House on the Internet. It seemed too remote for him, but to me it seemed perfect. It is located on the banks of the Upper Ganges and is taught by Yogendra Yadev, who teaches at the Australian National University in Canberra. He owns this property called Nolunna. Unfortunately, this is probably the last year he will teach there as his program is now accredited through ANU and he will teach in a more accessible location that can accommodate more students. I feel very fortunate to have been there.

The drive up was long and winding. Anna, the other student, became ill the night before we left Rishikesh to head up the mountains, but she bravely decided to come with us. We started a little before 11 in the morning and arrived at Nolunna just after 6 p.m. having traveled a little more than 90 miles or not quite 15 miles an hour. Because the monsoons are here, landslides are frequent in the mountains. We had to take a detour to go around one, and two days after we arrived there was a bad one just down the road from us in which the driver of a vehicle was badly injured. Coming down the mountain, we passed a bus that he slipped off the round in a bad patch and plunged into the river with only two survivors.

Although we were very tired by the time we reached Nolunna, I knew at once I had come to the right place. The buildings are about 200 feet from the river and the roar is constantly in our ears. The grounds are filled with a great garden filled with flowers, vegetables and fruit trees. Nolunna is small, sandwiched between the river and the road. The road is the only way up to the mouth of the Ganges so as I sat at the dining table I could see the tops of the heads of saddhus going up and down the road. The far side of the river is a hill that goes straight up for a few hundred feet. It is covered with ferns and low bushes and tall conifers that only have branches at the top. The river is not wide here but very fast and when it is not raining, it is a cloudy grey as it comes from a glacier. When it rains, the river turns a muddy brown. I can see the river from the veranda of my room. The valley we are in is so steep it doesn't get much direct sun, so I spend most of the day an the veranda, studying Hindi and swatting flies.

The first three days it rained almost constantly and clothes were taking two days to dry but after that we had only intermittent rain and some days when it was actually sunny for an hour or two.

I quickly settled into a schedule. I woke about 5, meditated for half an hour and then tea arrived at 6. After tea, I usually took a walk unless the rain was too bad. Mostly we walked the road because the one time I walked the path in the hills, I got a leech. We kept waiting for dry weather dry weather so we could walk the hills, but it never came. I had already had another leech find me when I was studying in the garden. Both times I didn't find the leech until it was full and fell off. The first time it fell into my sandal and I thought it was a big bug, but Anna recognized it immediately being an experienced mountain woman who has lived in Colorado for 20 years although she grew up in England. Leeches are painless and carry no diseases but they are repulsive and messy. After they fall off the wound bleeds for quite a while.

By the time I came back from my walk and the hot water had arrived in a bucket. I washed myself and then my clothes, and then we had breakfast at 7:45. Breakfast was either a whole wheat version of cream of wheat or semolina with hot milk and tea. I usually had a banana with my second bowl. Then I had an hour class from 8:30 to 9:30 and two half-hour sessions, one at 11:00 and another at 12:00. In between I did my homework and then we had lunch at 12:30. Lunch was rice, roti, dal and a vegetable. Most of the garden vegetables weren't ready but the green beans were delicious. We also had ferns and tree mushrooms gathered from the forest. Both were great. We frequently had ferns, but the mushrooms were harder to find and there never seemed to be enough of them.

At 1:00 it was nap time. Then after my nap it was more study until 3:45 when I had an hour conversation practice with Anil, one of the staff. By this time I was usually tired and I loafed until supper and 6:45. We hung out together and Devindra, the head of staff and main cook, sometimes played the harmonium and sang Garwalhi songs accompanied by Anil on a drum. The only woman on the staff, a girl of 14 sometimes also sang. Then about 8 I headed down to my room and was asleep before 9.

I really liked the routine and sleeping with the sound of the river in my ears. At night, beneath the roar, I could hear a low, thundering sounds which was made by rocks pounding against each other as they were carried along in the stream.

I promised my son to keep each blog to about 800 words so I will stop here, but I have more to say about Nolunna.