Varanasi

Varanasi

OK, I know I said that I was not going to talk traffic any more, but I have to mention this.   We arrived in Varanasi today.  We drove through to the hotel, passing through what I believe must be the center of the city.  It was bedlam!  Imagine if you will, two columns of ants, moving in opposite directions, with other columns intersecting them at right angles.  The ants don’t stop, regardless of what is in the way.  That’s Varanasi traffic.  Or, if you prefer another analogy, it’s like a massive game of chicken, played by cars, trucks, bicycles, rickshaws, and cattle all the time.  Sometimes our driver won. sometimes the other guy.  Needless to say, the cattle always won.  All they had to do was lie down in the street.  It was like nothing I have ever experienced before, and  I have been in some bad driving situations before, in Naples, in China, in Egypt, and elsewhere in India.  It’s a symphony of a thousand horns, all playing a different tune, but all with same message - “comin’ thru!”

Street food!

Day 2 in Varanasi

There are flower vendors close to any shrine or temple so that people can make an offering of flowers.

Last night we went to a Hindu prayer ceremony.  All along the Ganges there are so-called “ghats.  These are stairs going down the steep bank of the river to the water.  The stairs are yards wide.  Evening ceremonies are performed at almost all of the ghats and many people attend.  This is considered special because the Ganges is considered a holy river.  At this particular ceremony there must have been over 1000 people.  This ceremony has the distinction of being one of the more colourful.  The priests’ platforms are decorated with flowers.  They sing, chant and wave incense around, ring bells and beat drums, often all at the same time and to different rhythms.  The result is a cacophony.  The chanting is broadcast on a loud speaker set to maximum.  After a few minutes I was bored, but we stayed, although not to the bitter end.  

The crowd is starting to form on the steps of the ghat leading to the Ganges. The ceremony takes place nightly.

The cows arrive early to get a good spot.

This is the crowd on their way down to the Ganges. Maybe some of them are shopping as well.

This morning early we took a boat ride on the river.  The river serves as a bath for devout Hindus.  Never mind that it is heavily polluted.  So all along the way we saw men and women bathing themselves.  The women dunked themselves fully dressed, but the men stripped to their skivvies.  The river is also the local laundromat, where people wash clothes, and in one place it seemed like they were washing hotel sheets.  There were far too many sheets to belong to a single family.

Our 6:00 am boat ride down the Ganges.

Women bathing fully dressed!

The river is also the site of the local crematorium. We saw a funeral pyre, with a body on top.  The fire had just started, so what we could see of the body looked intact.  This was within 20 yards of the laundromat.  Another 50 or so yards down the river was a body, fully clothed, and headless, but unattended.  When people are too poor to afford the cremation fees they are simply dumped into the river.  Apparently in some cases the head is removed first, and thrown in the water as well.  The head, of course sinks, whereas the body does not, at least not initially.  That must have some religious significance.  The worst was that there was a dog dining on the remains, eating at the head end.  Lucky dog, got to sit at the head of the table (bad joke)!  

This is a short movie taken early in he morning. Not sure it's going to work!

There are so many stray dogs here.  Everywhere you go they are around, lying asleep in the middle of the road, rooting through garbage, etc.  Apart from being a traffic hazard they do not seen to be aggressive, and people leave them in peace.  

Coming back from the boat ride this morning we walked through some of the narrow alleyways just back from the river.  They are filthy and smelly, and you are in constant danger of putting your foot into fresh cow turd.  Yes, cows inhabit these alleyways as well.  It is weird to see cows so far from grass.

India is crowded.  There are more than 1.2 billon people in india, and it feels every one of them passed us or were passed by us, some more than once.  I don’t think I have ever been in a place that is so busy with humanity, so crowded and so bustling.  It is not pleasant.  You are constantly avoiding oncoming traffic, pedestrians and various animals.  Progress is slow, and it takes much longer than expected to get anywhere (an hour to do less than 30 km this morning).  

This man is selling some sort of leaf in which he includes betel nut and a few other things. This is a mild narcotic and he was doing a bang up business.

The monuments in Varanasi are not much to write home about, so I won’t.  However, it seems that Varanasi is a mecca for a certain type of caucasian tourist, who is looking for spiritual enlightenment.  There were any number of young women wearing Indian style clothing.  I saw some with an Indian man dressed in religious garb, presumably their guru.  There were also a few men seeking enlightenment, dressed Indian style, but much fewer than women.  I guess we males are either already enlightened, or too thick to realize how unenlightened we are.  

A religious man. Notice the garbage- it is pervasive- something we could not and would not want to get used to seeing.

As many indicated, Varanasi was a slice of Indian life, that is probably typical of many areas.

Tomorrow we return to Delhi, and head home on Saturday late at night. It has been another travel adventure with a difference.  Not sure I want to come back here in a hurry, but certainly a worthwhile experience.  

Morris and Irene

Our guide told us that Varanasi is the oldest city- 5000 years old. It is really decrepit but one can see how very beautiful it must have been about 100 years ago. It is built along the banks of the Ganges and the shore line curves so you can see for quite a distance. The homes in the old part of the city, where we stayed, are mostly crumbling but the area is slowly being gentrified and has been since the 80’s. 

A view taken from the boat early morning.

The hotel we are in was once a family home. It still is and the family lives in one part of the house which is closed off from the hotel part.  There are at least three levels, each with about 4-6 rooms which lead onto a sitting room as well as several outdoor terraces.  We were about level with the treetops and were able to see the street life below, the Ganges and the shoreline. The house must have belonged to a very wealthy family. I am assuming that it was an extended family and perhaps each floor was occupied by another generation. They are had their own sitting areas as well as common sitting areas and a very large dining room on the main floor. Both nights that we were there, there was entertainment in the evening. I attended about 30 minutes of Suffi singing and playing of instruments on one of the nights. 

Vegetable vendors- the produce is surprisingly nice and fresh looking.

Not sure if I mentioned this before- it always amazes me to see the dirt and dust and then the women in their beautiful and clean looking saris. What a contrast!

Irene

Chandigarh and Shimla

In our guide book, it said that Chandigarh was designed probably in the 50’s or 60’s by Le Corbusier, a famous French architect. I had visions of a small French city. Morris reminded me to include Indians and their mentality in the equation (reference to previous blog- nothing is maintained). There are also motorcycles, rickshaws, carts and horses etc. but in reduced numbers compared to other cities.

Yesterday Morris had to work all day so some of his colleagues kindly invited me to join them in an excursion to a place called Shimla which is in the foothills of the Himalaya mountains. Unfortunately it took 3 1/2 hours to get there and three hours to get back with the most precipitous roads ever. We drove up the mountain with the usual traffic. I haven’t been car sick in years but I was feeling a little queasy. Judy wasn’t so lucky- halfway up we had to stop so that she could upchuck. 

Just because it’s a winding dangerous road didn’t mean that people stopped passing. Just because the road hugs the mountain on the way up with barely enough space on the side for a motorcycle, and there is a retaining wall (joke) of about 30 cm. on the cliff side, didn’t actually mean anything in terms of speed or passing. I have to say it was easily the most dangerous car drive I have ever experienced, and I have been to Thailand, Jamaica and Egypt! When Morris found out from the others how dangerous the road was he said that he was glad not to have know in advance as he would have been worrying. I was so thankful to have arrived back unharmed.

Shimla has its outstanding view to recommend it and thee are loads of tourists who go there to escape the heat. We also saw the viceroy’s summer home- very grand- which was handed over to the Indian government in 1947 when India achieved its independence. It is also famous because Ghandi, among other prominent Indian politicians, was there for the independence ceremony. However, he refused to attend the meetings for the partition of India into India and Pakistan because he didn’t agree with it.

Shimla:  The viceroy's residence

Today we went to Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden- a 25 acre Chandigarh icon.Created by Nek Chand, the “garden” is a curious maze of interlinking courtyards, twisting walkways etc. all fashioned from recycled junk and organic materials. It reminded us of the Gaudi park in Barcelona. What an amazing place! Because Chandigarh is not usually frequented by tourists other than Indians we were a real curiosity and must have been asked by at least 6 groups to have their picture taken with us. Rockstar status! 

Sculptures in the Nek Chand Rock Garden

Our drivers never seem to know where the hotel we are going to is.  So they open the passenger window and bellow across to the vehicle next to them.  Never mind that both vehicles are moving.  This is the Indian version of GPS.  You don’t have to stop to ask for directions

Someone once said of India, when asked how India was different from other places he had been:  Everyone is a doctor and wants to give you free advice.  Every stone is a God, every tree is a temple, and everywhere is a toilet.  It does seem that there are a surprising number of doctors around, doctors of Aryuvedic medicine, homeopathy, and other Indian forms of healing (as well as MD’s who, it seems can advertise).  In addition, there are those physicians with fake degrees, and all those PhD’s, real and fake. 

I don’t know about every stone being a God and every tree a temple, although there are more than a million deities in the Hindu pantheon, and many many temples.  However, I can attest that everywhere is a toilet.  It is common to see men peeing against a wall.  We passed a group of pilgrims today.  They were walking more than 200 km to their shrine.  There were many thousands of them, in a column that stretched over more than 10 km.  They carried their food, tents were set up for water, they would sleep at the side of the road, but there were no toilet facilities.  The bush would do. (It was amazing to see this never-ending parade of people spilling onto the road and walking 2-8 abreast. The colourful saris, their red and gold banners and flags, and the music that played through huge loudspeakers at every rest stop made it quite a remarkable sight!)

Pilgrims walking to their shrine more than 200 Km away

When they talk about the scents of India they include incense, but also smells of urine, rotting vegetation and feces as well as BO.  This place is not sanitary!

Indian Laundromat:  Imagine having water buffalo in your washing machine

The monuments, palaces and temples mainly, are spectacular, each more impressive than the next.  In Agra a few days ago we saw the Taj.  It was mind blowing.  The next day we saw the so-called Baby Taj, smaller than the main attraction, but no less spectacular.  (It was Morris' birthday the day we saw the Taj. Our guide illustrated how the center of the Taj is like an echo chamber. So I screamed out, "Happy Birthday Morris!" Not a bad place to spend your birthday.)

Just to prove we were there

Today we visited the Amber Fort in Jaipur.  I hope our pictures do it justice.  It was awe-inspiring.  Then we visited the Pink Palace, also in Jaipur.  Again, my mouth dropped open.  We would go through a door, an in each courtyard something new and different and spectacular.  We visited a site that they call an observatory.  It was constructed by a Maharajah in the 1700’s or 1800’s.  Essentially, he has erected several sundials, the largest of which is accurate to two seconds.  The vane of this sundial is several stories high.  He also built several astrological instruments, the angle of which faced the appropriate sign of the zodiac. Very impressive.  It all looks like a modern large scale sculpture.  

Amber fort, Jaipur

Pink Palace, Jaipur

Also at the Pink Palace

Jaipur, like Agra and old Delhi is a jumble of streets, some paved, some unpaved, and all potholed, with traffic going in every direction, in your driving lane.  It”s just crazy.  However, enough of traffic, I have expressed my feelings, and I won’ mention it again for fear of becoming boring.  

In Jaipur we stayed in yet another hunting lodge.  However, this one was in the center of the city.  nonetheless it was decorated in a manner appropriate to royalty (Maharajahs were and are royalty in India).  The front door was a huge brass door, with a smaller human sized door inset into the bigger one.  It was intricately sculpted.  Inside the wall and ceilings were decorated with intricate frescos.  On the rooftop there was an excellent restaurant.  

The entrance to our hotel, not the Pink Palace

For the most part we have had excellent food wherever we were.  I don’t think we had a bad meal, although some were less impressive than others.  As carnivores we have now added another species to our diet -  goat.   I did not realize what it was, and only found out afterwards.  I think we would have tried it even if we had known.  

Everywhere we go people stare at us.  I do’t think I am anything out of the ordinary, but Irene’s red hair attracts attention.  On occasion while attempting to take photos through the car window she was the recipient of a blown kiss from a passing motor cyclist.  I think it’s the Indian equivalent of a wolf whistle.  

The observatory

Had to do it !

Irene here!  Looks like Morris has covered everything but my aryuvedic massage. I had a hot oil massage for 70 minutes. By the end of it I was so covered in oil that had someone given me a gentle push I would have gone sliding off the table. It was absolutely the best massage I have ever experienced. I will be checking for aryuvedic massage locations in Toronto.

We are now in the airport in Delhi waiting for a connection to Varanasi. I am so looking forward to seeing the sights there. So far we find India to be such a fascinating country with very nice people. The one annoying thing so far is that they jack their prices up for the foreigners to the point where I may as well buy some of the souvenirs at home!

Love,

Irene and Morris