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

I'm clueless about the Ashram where Julia Roberts' character lived during her stay being very similar to an average Ashram.

It's confusing as she's going on about turbans and langar, which is the term used in Sikhism or in Punjab for community kitchen and eating. Can't see the relevance of those who need to know what an ashram is, to finding J. Might as well say he's sitting under a tree in the forest. Which tree, where? Doesn't matter the species does it?

No, Peak is right, I'm quite sure graphics in sigs were done away with here, for reasons of spam or just plain intrusiveness (giant signatures), indeed.

According to one account, he seemed extremely distraught about getting kicked out of one of those places for apparently not eating properly.

I get the feeling that pointed questions about 'spiritual life' is not something that is openly entertained &/or appreciated - that's fine - therefore any information at all that helps we layman better understand the relative society that Jonathan (& others) suddenly went AWOL from .. can't really be a bad thing one would think.

Knowledge is power, ignorance bliss as they say.

Most useful would be the suggestion to get this on the front page.

Yes - maybe nadreg could address this. I'm fine either way ... but let's hear the executive decision & either quickly increase volume to this all important thread .... or find an alternative solution towards maximum exposure.

Peak, Nick,

I will give this some thought tonight about the best way to do this and get back to you guys shortly.

You keep saying that & i keep pointing out that it was a guest house not a Ashram, surely even a layman who goes 5***** knows the difference between the two??
KK

Unless it's a Bo tree of course! KK

And I keep asking what kind of a 'guesthouse' monitors & throws their patrons out for not eating properly? Making loud animal noises or suddenly leaping about into the air, I might understand ... but from lack of eating? Surely that must be an odd stipulation ... even by Rishikesh standards?

Especially given the fact that he wasn't prone to stay overly long at any one given location, was by all accounts quiet, kept to himself & in a region that is not unaccustomed to encouraging fasting routines.

Surely that would light some kind of a within the spiritual brainers.

A comment I had made before, but it got probably rightfully removed since Peak and I were getting into one another's hairs a little too much and in the same breath, is that certainly at the budget end, to get kicked out of a guesthouse wouldn't be common, but it happens.

It's happened to me on my last visit two years ago, where I'd haggled down a room some, then obviously they'd found the better-paying customer for it. So now all of a sudden you're informed that room has been "pre-booked" all along, and would you vacate the premises asap, please.

(It happens or certainly in this bracket not just in India, btw. Oh, when you called you said you wanted the room for three nights? Gee, we'd completely not heard that, even though apparently all our other communications went fine.

Of course you have no downpayments or nothing, that's the name of the game here, so they are indeed essentially free to do as they please. Just as you might never show up after calling if you did, and indeed too many never do, without further notice. You might storm off and complain to the cops, but who wants the hassle, and likely incredulous hours of it, and besides you wouldn't want to stay there anymore anyway not even if they were forced to, right.)

If you were to go and enquire there about me after, of course they might come up with any excuse for it, generally blaming it on you. Like indeed when you get angry about it then-and-there, there is of course something wrong with you, not with them.

It's happened to me in India before, essentially because of absurdly cheap rooms involving you'd better go on a safari that they can't stop nagging you about all day long. You don't take the safari, guess what, that room has again suddenly been "pre-booked" by an attractively large family at 6AM after a few days.

It tends to leave one in a foul mood of course when it happens. Now you can go a-scouting for a room again with your bags in tow and when you thought you were more-or-less comfortably settled in and unpacked and with your laundry out to dry and no matter how primitive, etc.

(It's also happened to me btw you've just been heartily welcomed by the desk clerk and gone through all the paperwork and are just settling in and unpacking your things and thinking you can relax for a few days, then the manager storms in to agitatedly ask you to leave again. These places will not have a permit to let foreigners stay, the C Form that has been discussed before.)

(Another possible explanation for frequent guesthouse moving btw: Maybe you are in a foul mood, and find yourself in some real dumps, and keep searching for somewhere where you may feel a little at home. But maybe you've come into this habit of thinking it should never cost more than X Rupees, now giving yourself a hard time since that turns out hard to find, and you're cold all the time since at that rate there's no heating, the staff as well as fellow guests keep knocking on your door all day and night for unclear reasons and no one speaks much of any English, etc.)

StefRuth had commented just previously that:

That would seem like a plausible explanation to me, and no matter what reason they may have given Jonathan or anyone else.

ps

No, I think all here in the know are willing and open to answering questions about it -- and so it doesn't support any notions of "secrecy" --, but maybe less so if they're of a highly suggestive nature, and if they keep piling up before you can answer them, and the one more wildly suggestive than the other.

if i were an owner of a guesthouse,
and had a guest who is not eating for days
and as extreme as not eating until 10 days
i will probably kick that guest out
in fear of the guest might died of hunger
and as a guesthouse owner, i don't want that kind of trouble

Speak for yourself. The intangible/uncertainty here is what's suggestive, what's intrusive, what's offensive, & what's just plain common sense/practical?

Unfortunately there can be a very fine line when questioning/interrogating the spiritual world. How dare you even suggest that? is often the typical & guarded response. That's unfortunate.

I personally find the 'don't worry he's in a cave meditating but which cave is it' theory getting older by the day & potentially misleading & handcuffing given the circumstances & dubious details known to date.

Putting all one's eggs all in one's basket has never been the wisest human method of choice ..... best not to continue down that path too far.


Well then he should have filed a report with police by now ... because surely he would have recognized Jonathan in the posters distributed. Or would an accommodation owner be too 'scared' to report to police about evicting a patron who is now AWOL & thus opt to remain silent - even though that information might be detrimental to the search? In other words what's the cover-your-ass first ..... as opposed to provide information-at-all-costs ratio in that town?

Can an Indian in/near the hospitality industry answer that question, please?

David has put a question mark after "not eating", so the reason is not confirmed. It's useless to discuss whether this is possible, as there could be another reason, too.

I thought the same when it was first mentioned,but didn't want to use the D word. Indian G/H owners do have funny ways of thinking when it comes to avoiding any contact/trouble with the authorities.KK

I never thought i'd hear myself using the next sentence Peak, but you've forced me;
"Mach is right!!!"

Spiritual, can have many different meanings for many people & you are generalising. Haven't you read some of the "off your rocker" stuff i say in the Spiritual threads? No secrets here,if i think there's something relevant to say i'll say it.KK