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Published: February 11th 2008
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We are now in India.
The flight from Singapore was quite bad. As we were boarding the rain came down, and for those of you who have never been in tropical climates, the rain came down in a torrential downpour that lasted a long time. The flight took on a very bumpy ride and continued to last for over an hour. Even the pilots were surprised by the turbulence and lightning flashing around us. Kristyn almost got to the stage of giving herself the last rites, and along with my dead arm (from her hands gripping around it) I too had a few far off thoughts of the plane's wings coming off, what the brace position was and many more ideas - probably not as many as Kristyn though!
You could say that this was the travel curse again!!
Into Kolkata airport where the immigration fella took a liking to my passport photo and couldn't see the resemblence between me standing in front of him and the picture held in his hand.
The baggage carosel didn't start so we waited for 50 minutes for our luggage to finally come. Pre-paid taxi into the city which took about
an hour along with the compulsory horn for every man and his dog to hear within 50 kilometres. The rules for driving in India seem to be that you as a driver are able to swerve at any stage as long as no-one beside you or behind crashes into you. Back seat of the taxi was broken, but fixed with what felt like a couple of pieces of wood... and with little suspension, made for a hard journey.
Found a hotel and pretty much crashed for the night. Next day we went for a wander around our surrounding area. This took us through the Maiden (large park) where numerous cricket matches were being played alongside goats and sheep grazing, men sleeping, ice cream being sold and horse rides taking place. From there we wandered apon the Victoria Memorial (something from the Bristish era) then checked out some of the local cafes.
In the days following we visited Motherhouse which is where Mother Teresa set up and housed her nurses that were working alongside her in the slums of Kolkata. Her tomb is housed there and was a great experience to see it and the information documenting her life
in India. On our way to Motherhouse we saw a real glimpse of daily life in the city with many people washing and bathing in the cities gutters - yet all very happy.
There have been the usual incidents of local price and tourist price. Going to buy a shirt the other day we saw it was Rs 185 so said to the guys OK, sounds good, I'll buy it, only to get to the register and asked for Rs 300. Needless to say we looked at each other and turned and walked out the door amidst cries of "What, what is wrong my friend?" Needless to say we bought up large at a shop where nice Indian men made us pay the correct price.
We jumped on a train from Kolkata to Varanasi. It was a 3 tier sleeper cabin that was able to hold 6 people at once. Every man and his dog and their luggage fills every space available and normal voice levels seemed to above 100 decibals in conversation. We got parked right next to the entry and exit point of the carriage which was always filled with the sweet scent of Indian toilets,
Rickshaws
The ones pulled by little old men. Kolkata is the only city in the world that still has human rickshaws. It is said that 1 million people survive off the income of these. not a really a smell that sends you off to sleep with happy dreams. The train seemed to hurtle along for most of the night and I woke often with violent swaying of the carriage and thinking similar thoughts as to that of our flight to India. The journey took a little over 14 hours, but we did manage to get a few hours sleep, amidst putting towels, jackets in fact anything over ourselves to stop from freezing. Not too well prepared.
We arrived in Varansai which is one of India's 7 holy cities as it is flanked by the Ganges. Thinking the worst of getting mobbed by rickshaw drivers with deals of "cheap accomodation" we were gladly meet by a representative from "Hotel Buddha." Checked in, went a for a wander and effectively crashed at 6pm that night.
Early start the night morning at 5:30am as we were taken down to the Ganges, chucked on a boat and paddled up and down the Ganges, past various Ghats where people were doing 'Puja' or prayers to God at the rising of the sun. It was quite misty so gave a mysterious feel to the morning. Mostly men were
Sleeper Carriage
Kolkata to Varanasi - before it got cold swimming in the Ganges as part of this ritual, but it wasn't long until we saw dead cow carcasses float only metres away from us. One dead cow was the anchor of a boat! Through our guide we discovered that all children, animals and holy men (when they pass away) are not burned at one of two burning ghats here like the remainder of the population, but are taken out into the Ganges, and weighed down with rocks to the bottom of the river. We were however reassured by our boat driver that "Although it looks black and dirty, if you pick it up in your hands it is very clean. It is holy water." We were not quite believing his story, but can understand the power that this river has over Hindu and other religious faiths that come here to wash away their sins.
From the river we visited a few temples that were to us slightly disappointing especially after seeing "Akshardham" in Delhi last time we were here. Then to the compulsory (yet they say it is optional) stop at one of the fabric places - where we did end up getting Kris a Sari and a
beautifil silk beadspread.
Following day we headed down to the Ghats to explore by foot. After turning down numerous offers of body messages, some old guy comes to me and asks if I want a shave for the bargin price of 7 Rupees (about 20c NZ). Now alarm bells were ringing in my head at this stage as it sounded too good to be true. Kris convinced me that it was for an old man so have a heart. He sat me down, then basically told me to "wait", then took off and brought back another younger guy. He shaves me, and I think Ok, pretty good, I'll give you a bit more for your troubles, then begins to massage my head, into my shoulders, down my arms, cracks my fingers, lays me out on my front.... then effectively jumps on top of me and begins to rub my back, my legs, ...... my arse!! By now I giving Kristyn the evils as this was her doing and can deal with the negotiations at the end of this event whre a number of Indian eyes were on me, being massaged in a very public place.
"You enjoys sir,
During the humiliation
A very public massage - Varanasi you pay me good price!" he announces at the end of my public humiliation.
"Oh yes my friend?" I reply, "and how much would that be?"
"250 Rupees my friend!" (we are all friends here). This is where I give Kristyn the eyes to come and fix her doing, and we both have a crack at him (very politely) saying it is not nice to take advantage of foreigners like this, you need to be honest etc etc so in the end give him Rs 100 (about $3 NZ). He smiles, accepts and walks off a happy man.
We wandered the Ghats for the remaining part of the day. It was very busy as it turned out to be a festival day, so the streets near the Ghats where blocked off to traffic. It was great to see the everyday goings on, on the edge of the Ganges, and the colourful Saris that the women wear makes it a beautiful sight.
Towards the end of the day we went to Manikarnika Ghat, which is the main burning Ghat in Varanasi. We were told that over 250 bodies are burned here every day, and the fires go for 24
hours. The bodies are ceremoniously wrapped, then taken to the Ganges and soaked, before being placed on burning logs, then covered with more burning logs. It takes approximately 3 hours for a body to burn down to ashes. It was quite an unusual sight, and they were very strict in that no photos were allowed to be taken (not that we wanted to). The Ghat is divided into three or four different tiers to allow for the different castes
Well that is about all for the moment from Kolkata and Varanasi. We head to Agra next to obviously see the Taj Mahl, then onto Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and finally Mumbai where we fly back to Singapore.
Hope all is well in everyones world.
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