Librería Samer Atenea
Librería Aciertas (Toledo)
Kálamo Books
Librería Perelló (Valencia)
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Donde los libros
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
’...mummy and I were always fighting about her obsession with faith and ritual...Onour yaatras, she would show such deep faith and perform such fevered rituals that thewhole exercise would leave me exhausted. Every time I told myself I’d never go with heragain. And every time I went. Again and again.’For as long as the author can remember, he’s been a willing companion tohis intrepid and devout mother on their countless journeys to sacred sitesalong the Ganga. As a young man, he travels to these on his own-sevenkey destinations from the snow-capped Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal-exploring the faith of not only millions of fellow pilgrims but also his own.In Gangotri, he meets renunciant babas who are glad to share with him theirstories, along with their meagre food. In Kedarnath, a sadhu tells him howthe Shiva temple miraculously survived the devastating floods of 2013. AtBadrinath, he attends the wedding ceremony of a family friend to Vishnu, toundo a defect in her horoscope. In Rishikesh, he walks with the kanwariyas,and at the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, immerses himself in the shadowy worldof the Naga sadhus. Varanasi, the city of light, offers diverse experiences,from a bhang-induced revelry on Mahashivratri to conversations withAghoris, who tell him why they sometimes drink blood. He also reflects onthe ever changing cityscape of Varanasi-from ancient times to Aurangzeb tothe present-and the politics behind it. He ends his journey with a loop backto Ganga Sagar, where the Ganga finally meets the sea.An introspective memoir by a questioning Hindu, Tripping Down the Ganga issimultaneously a captivating account of a sacred river and her devotees. It isan ode to the mighty Ganga-sometimes turbulent and at others serene-which has nestled in her life-giving embrace for millennia believer and nonbelieveralike.
