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rishikesh

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Uttarakhand is a state in Northern India and one of the few to border Nepal. It sells itself as a state for adventure, for hiking, for pilgrims, Yoga, for becoming one with nature and an epicentre of Hinduism. Rocking up on the Yoga express from Delhi, an overnight trundle through a slice of the north, I was excited. We had come to Uttarakhand not for adventure, but for some time to wind down, to immerse ourselves in culture, in the mountains and to spend our days lazing around and enjoying life. The reality was different. I have been to many, if not most States in India and I have never experienced such dishonesty, such blatant scams and such disgusting, dirty, potholed streets anywhere else. Haridwar has to be in for one of the dirtiest cities in the entire sub-continent. Litter strewn streets flowing over into a brown, septic looking Ganges.…