Varanasi

Varanassi is the most insane place in the world. It is here that we have all had the biggest culture shock since getting to India. Just to give you a bit of background Varanasi is one of the holiest places in India. 60,000 Hindus come here to bathe in the ganges river every day from one of the many ghats at the waters edge. A bit unbelievable when I read that 30 large sewer pipes are constantly discharging along the 7 km of river and it is so polluted the water is septic. Apparently water samples show that there are 1.5 million bacteria per 100ml of water- for water you bathe in the safe level is 500. And we saw people drinking this stuff!

There are also a number of burning ghats where cremations are held 24 hours a day; for a Hindu this is the most desirable place to be cremated and many older people come to the town in their later years to pass away so they are close to the town. There is even an old peoples home right on the water’s edge overlooking the main burning ghat!! The cremations happen in full view of any passers by. The dead bodies are first carried through the narrow streets by their families down to the waters edge (a fair few times we were strolling along minding our own business and the next thing we knew we were diving out of the way of a funeral procession). The corpse is then doused in the ganges and placed on a stack of firewood by the river and burnt. If it is a child or a pregnant women they are not cremated, just placed in the river with something to make them sink to the bottom as they are believed to be holy already.

Watching them felt really weird and we were all shocked but we couldn’t help but look at the same time. Apparently it takes 3 hours to burn a body but the skull is the hardest part so when the rest of the body is done a man would come and bash the skull to make it burn quicker. Also at one point a body was laid on with a foot sticking out and the whole body burnt except this food which was just sticking out of the fire until one of the guys came along and poked it back in again!!! It wasn’t as morbid as I expected though…it actually felt quite routine and there were loads of locals just sitting around and chilling on the viewing platform. Sometimes the families would play music and dance, apparently this means an old person has died and the family do this to show their happiness that they are passing on.

We spent most of our time here just walking along the lake and taking in the sights, trying not to take in the smells and chilling on the roof terrace in our hostel. Which comes highly recommended…for breakfast we had eggs, beans and toast and it was amazing!

Sorry its such a long entry...I do try and keep them short!

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