Varanasi

The original plan had been to check into the hotel after our flight and have the 'afternoon free for independent activities' then have an evening pick up for the first tour. HA! It's such a laugh this 'free time' as we never seem to get it.  The 6 of us had been planning a few quiet G&T's to recover from the early morning pick up and delayed flight so we had been travelling all day even tho it was only an hours flight from New Delhi to Varanasi. We were quite looking forward to it as we settled into the mini bus that picked us up from the airport.  It was a long drive in, maybe 1hr and I remarked to Jon how much quieter it seemed here and very clean compared to what we had seen.  I spoke too soon. Finally when the bus stopped, it wasn't outside a hotel, the guide jumped in and said we would be driving into the city where we would then be piled onto rickshaws and cycled the rest of the way to start the tour.  We exchanged startled looks, but what about our G&T's??  No time for that, so on the bus went and by now the traffic was so crazy that we were wishing for the streets of New Delhi which seemed quieter by comparison. It was even worse when we arrived at the rickshaws.  Our guide said there were 4 which was plenty to fit all 7 of us.  I eyed up the width of the seat and thought there was no way we could all fit.  Maybe a couple of skinny Indians but we were over-size, especially one of our party who was rather large.  Jon & I managed to squeeze onto one but not successfully and definitely very uncomfortably.  Our large lady, as predicted, was lucky and got one on her own, her husband had to share with the guide and off we went.  I had to close my eyes several times as I thought I was going to die, it was just crazy with vehicles coming towards us then missing by centimetres, vehicles overtaking and again missing by even less, horns were screaming all around making the tinkle of the bicycle bell seem a bit pathetic and the smell..... Oh god the smell was appalling, it was like being in a huge urinal which indeed was where we were.  Not sure if I've mentioned this before but there are men everywhere, not many women but lots and lots of men and each one of these millions of men like to just piss where ever there is a spare space, doesn't matter where or who see's them.  We even passed a proper urinal that was just open in the street.  Then there is the smelly cow shit.  I really don't get it, I know that the cow is scared but why does that mean they can just roam the streets at leisure and kill the odd tourist.  The day we were in Jaipur, a New Zealand guy was gourde to death by a bull in the city centre.  He was with his fiancee, wedding planned for next month and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Surely if every other country managers to keep cows off city streets, why can't India?  Anyway, I digress, did I mention the noise?  It is so loud and so maniac and on the rickshaw was just an assault on all the senses.

We finally arrived to where they dropped us off after at least another 3/4 hr ride, then we had to walk down a street with beautiful sari shops on either side with mostly other pedestrians but sometimes motorbikes would come hooning down and the road was quite broken with the usual cow patties lying in wait for you to step in the moment you took your eyes off the road. There seemed to be a lot of other tourists all streaming down the same street to reach the Dashashwamedh Ghat where they have this nightly ceremony at 17.30. The ceremony is called Agni Pooja (worship of fire) where they make a dedication to Lord Shiva, river Ganges, Surya (sun), Agni (fire) and the universe.  I think now it's more of a tourist attraction rather than anything else.

There are steep stairs that lead on down to the river Ganges and a number of platforms in a row over the steps near the river. Over each platform was an arch with bells and above that an umbrella of lights. On each platform a priest will stand and chant Sansktrit mantras and worship the river with flowers, incense, sandalwood, milk and vermilion. As if this place isn't noisy enough, while this is going on people will be pulling on the strings of the bells making them clang & crash & I think there were a few drums to add to the mix.  Before this happened however, we were ushered to a boat and floated down the Ganges to see the various Ghats or riverfront steps.  There are 88 of them, most are used for bathing but two of them, the Manikarnika & Haishchandra are used for the cremations.  They are some distance apart from each other so we went to the main one first that did most of the burning.  It averages around 80 people per day.  We saw at least 10 fires & each one takes about three hours. Also on these steps were dogs, cows and goats, our guide tried to tell us they were there to eat the flowers but I suspect they were after something a bit more than that, especially the dogs. Only men of the families were allowed to bring the body down of their dear departed after the women said their final goodbyes somewhere else.  The reason the guide gave for this was it is a serene area and women were too emotional.  Guess they didn't want all that wailing going on while they were trying to quietly burn away.  To make them roast a little hotter they smothered the body with ghee.  It was very interesting and incredibly amazing to witness this happening but I must admit I was feeling a little nauseated despite my interest and curiosity. There was no smell tho which seemed strange, apparently they use sandlewood to help cover the smell.  There were piles of wood at this Ghat and surrounding it in the streets as well as boat loads in front.  In fact wherever we went seemed to be piles of wood, all much the same size stacked up very neatly.

After sitting there for awhile contemplating life and death, we went back to the main Ghat as the ceremony was about to start. There was much wailing and ringing of bells until Jon said to me out of the side of his mouth, well this is a load of shit. He put up with it a little longer until we all decided we had had enough of that. Just as we were leaving the candles came out, swinging in these large candelabra type things carried by several people. Thank goodness the others felt the same and wanted to move on, we were still thinking about the gin. Another terrifying and squashed ride back on the rickshaws, this time in the dark, through the back allies back to the bus then an hours bus ride to the hotel we were finally free to have our drinks and a bit of dinner. One of the most unusual days I've ever had.

Bright and early the next morning ( I mean up at 4 to be picked up by 5am) we were back on the bus, sans breakfast to repeat the night before. This time we were on the boat to watch the sunrise over the Ganges and witness the pilgrims bathing in the holy waters (bloody freezing waters if you ask me, it was only 11 deg that morning) and to pay homage to the sun god. Admittedly it was rather beautiful with the rising sun glowing orange and casting a reflection across the water as the devotees were splashing around, people were doing their morning clothes wash, hotel sheets were washed then laid out on the banks to dry (all this downstream from the cremations ghat) souvenir boats were plying their trade, other tourist boats were cruising up and down and we could see monkeys jumping around the roofs of the buildings. We pulled in just passed the burning ghat, only one fire going this morning and piles of ash were at the edge of the river ready to be swept into it.  As we walked up the stairs we had to walk passed a body all wrapped up and laying on a block of ice on a platform waiting his turn for the fire. It looked rather peaceful with the sun shining down in the cool of the morning.

Doing the morning wash of the sheets

The next treat was walking around the alleys and lanes of the old quarter and the forests of more wood stacked up and ready to be weighted. Our brochure said 'maze of back lanes that exude the smells & sounds of the holy city with a tempting bouquet of spices....' and so on.  Well the reality is, it was rat infested narrow dirty lanes with the smell of cardamon mixed up with the smell of diarrhoea from either a cow or person. One of the women started gagging as she held her scarf in front of her nose and side stepped the running mess. After some performance of having to leave all our electronic gear including digital watches, phones, cameras etc in a shop we were taken to see the golden roof of a temple. We had to pass guards, get frisked and lead down a crowded lane then peer above this wall to see the tip of the golden roof. I think we were meant to go inside but for some reason didn't and that was it. Maybe I'm a bit jaded but for all the performance I would have wanted to see more than just a bloody roof, gold or not.  I also suspect it was a bit of a con as we were then lead back to this shop where they proceeded to show us all the oils they sold.  Apparently it was a 7th generation shop.  The oils were nice and also cheap in comparison to here so I admit I did buy a bottle or two.

We were allowed back to the hotel for breakfast and a rest before being picked up again early afternoon to go and see Sarnath.  This is where Buddha reputedly stood and preached his first sermon and set in motion the Wheel of Law.  200 years later in 3rd century BC an Emperor who followed the Buddha teachings built massive stupas, viharas and monasteries making it the centre of the Buddha world.  He also purportedly gathered the ashes of Buddha from the various places and put them all at the bottom of one of the solid stupa.  Many centuries later the meaning of this place was lost and they wanted to use the bricks to build a palace.  They knocked down one of these stupas, unfortunately the one with the ashes, found the ashes and thought it must be a hindu's ashes so they released them into the river thinking they had done a good thing.  One huge stupa still stands and it doesn't look too bad for being over 2000 years old.  There is also a small museum on site that holds statues and remnants excavated from the site. 

'Smelling' Budha

  

The last stop was to a silk weaving shop to see how they weave the cloth and of course the usual 'no pressure but pressure buy our products' presentation.  Then back to the hotel. Just these two things took up all the afternoon and into the evening as the traffic is so bad it takes hours just to go a few kms.  We sat in that bus longer than we did going from city to city on a 7hr drive.  What a nightmare city to live in but one that can't be missed if you ever were to visit India.

That night there was a huge wedding just outside our hotel.  All the guests and bridal party were staying here so we saw all the preparations and the gorgeous outfits of everyone as they darted along the corridors.  We got talking to one of the guests who was a lovely girl.  She told us the couple were geeks, both scientists of some sort and most were from Delhi but there is a special temple here that they wanted to get married in.  She did invite us to join the wedding but as we had no proper attire we declined politely but we did exchange details just in case we could come to the next one.  There were fireworks in the streets and much noise, of course, with drums and trumpets and whirling lights before the guests were ushered into the venue which was right outside our window. We fell asleep to the sound of the music  and laughter thinking what a contrast this place is, from the richest and lavish of weddings to the poverty and rat invested lanes just outside.  As they say, Incredible India.