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