Have you seen Jonathan Spollen? Missing in Rishikesh since February 3rd, 2012

I recall an Indian friend once telling me that Indians don’t often come forward as witnesses or with information as that can lead the police to think they know more than they are saying and then be forced to bribe their way back to innocence. Offering information could put somebody in quite a compromised position, particularly in something a situation as ambiguous as this.
Once in Rishikesh a local pointed out a foreigner to me whom he knew had overstayed his visa by two years and wasn’t much seen in town. I also heard about one western fellow who managed to live illegally in the forrest for 5 years before he came to the attention of the authorities. If Jonathon did drop out and is still in the area he’s with or known by people who keep their guard up.

I mentioned in an earlier post that it might be more productive in the long run to try and 'infiltrate' that seemingly secretive brotherhood. I'd have a 20-something guy show up in Rishikesh & start hanging out with the more 'cool' local-yokals, spend a bit of cash, smoke a few spliffs etc, &, of course have a ruse to find that special guru/cave & disappear from civilization etc. .... all the while keeping notes, taking names/numbers/license plates etc & asking the occasional & strategic pointed questions.

My guess is that you'd gain more info, hear more rumors, get more leads & get closer to the 'right' guides by that route - then by hanging posters & knocking on doors with cops etc.. especially as more & more time elapses.

It just seems to be a method that would go better with the territory & operations of that region.

David & Lynda

I have asked this before, but I don't think I have got a reply.

1. Does Jonathan have an Indian SIM card (I guess one was found with his day pack)?

2. If he has then you would have the number and know the service provider.

3. The service provider would be able to track the coordinates of the phone's location.

If the above has been taken care of and ruled out please let us know since it is bugging me. Yes, I understand that in that terrain the signal strength could be weak and such.

That kidney stone pain could be significant in that he could have been led to believe that a "naturapath" or local "doctor" would cure it and he is recuperating.

Nattusbs

Nattu,

There was David's recent:

And then the earlier by Lynda:

That youtube is not playing for me.

(says An error occurred, please try again later)

Captain,
The contact info from the video is:
Lok Anand Yoga Sadhana Kutir
dhaniram@hotmail.com
Yogi Dhaniram 0940929168, 09412989413

I do appreciate your efforts in making these contacts.

Some off-topic posts have been deleted.

Please keep this discussion on-topic.

wrt kullukid's last post and


Called (second number above. first does not work). Lady told me nobody from that name (or my rough description of J) has been there. They do not keep records, so I have emailed the poster and requested her/Yogi Dhaniram to reply in case it rings a bell.

Thanks, skids ghost, for posting the details.

I zoomed in on the wikimap and found that it showed numerous places and even walking tracks named and indicated. Wikimap has far more place information than the same satellite images on Google Maps. I was able to explore some locations well down the river from the Swiss baba's ashram.

Before now I had been unable to locate on Google Maps the waterfall and stream where Jonathan's belonging were found. Wikimap shows, several hundred metres to the east of the Neelkanth bridge on the Ganges and on the south side of the river, a route or path with a Russian name, дорога к водопаду which translates to road/path to the waterfall.

Even now I am unsure if the watercourse reached by this path contains the waterfall/campsite used by Jonathan although the location matches the information provided in this thread by the searchers in Rishikesh.

I'm afraid this information is just of interest to those of us who have tried to follow the thread without ever having walked in the rough country around Rishikesh.

Coordinates of the campsite would be interesting but perhaps of practical value only if another ground search was made.

Question: would it help increase visibility/hits from travellers in India if all indiamikers reading this changed their signatures, directing people to the first page of this thread?

I have already changed mine.

I am loathe to say anything that would upset David and Lynda, and noticed that David omitted the meeting with Stefan and Dermot on his timeline of events. Given the fact that they had a long interesting chat, they were all irish and had cultural common ground etc, I wonder why it was omitted and questioned whether I should contribute my thoughts any further based on the daily discussion I have with Stefan here at home during dinner. We talk about Jonathan every single day.

One thing I remember Stef saying weeks ago was that unfortunately J looked so thin and unwell, that he hoped the generally friendly Indian people would not react to him in a negative way.
What I find interesting, and more so since Lynda told us about his kidney stones and need for treatment, is how strong this young man must be. He mentioned being sick but there was no complaining in the few hours that they spoke.

(I remember having a nasty kidney infection once and I was passing blood. I fainted regularly and was in immense pain, literally curled up in a ball, I could do nothing except stay in bed for days.)

So, given the fact that J was going through a toughy in terms of his health, by all accounts he seemed to be in good spirits and 'together'

Ruth

sorry i was quoting the first section from one of Julia fs posts. Im still not good at the quotes etc.

Ruth

Hi Ruth, I've fixed your quote .

If you want to quote a post when you are replying, click the red 'quote' button in the bottom right of the post. If you want to quote several posts, click 'quote+' on all of them and then click 'post reply' and all the quotes will be lined up for you.

also fully aware that what i say is second hand info and therefore less accurate. is it better to say nothing than post second hand information?

Most of us are quoting speculation so I think second hand information is likely to be much more valuable so keep going. This is a public forum and anyone can comment and, considering where things are at currently, more is better than less even if it's just to keep this thread alive and active and more likely to be seen by those in or about to travel to India.

NB