Godawari and The Ganga Aarti

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Adrian has now flown home to the UK. It was very strange to say goodbye to him yesterday at the airport. Especially as they would not let me inside, security. It was pouring with rain and the taxi was waiting for me. Plus there were a lot of Nepalis looking on. Not very romantic, or maybe?

I am now in Godawari, where I will be staying for the next 8 weeks. It is about half an hour outside Kathmandu, but hundreds of miles away in atmosphere. I feel like I am in Nepal now. It is a beautiful place, in the hills, very lush and green. I walked up the road a way earlier, but the monsoon got the better of my trouser legs. I will be working here, teaching sculpture, more of that tomorrow.

I now insert a retrospective entry from India.

1st July Haridwar

The Ganga Arti was just the same 3 years on, this ancient ritual of bringing fire to the river at dusk, crammed on the ghat with many other pilgrims, cajoled by the attendants to give donations for the upkeep of the ghats. Then as the sun begins to sink the God of that day is bought out from their temple and the music starts to build, people raise their arms in the air, Jai, they shout. Then the sacred flames are bought down to the river bank and all the bells in all the temples in the town start to ring. For a few brief moments all is noise and light. Then the flame is bought amongst the crowds and people sale their banana leaf boats of flowers and flames down the river.

This, like many rituals seems to get better every time that you see it. It is so theatrical, the building of tension, the attendants working the crowd, the anticipation. People travel from all over India for this ceremony and you are sucked in by their enthusiasm for it.

Walking back through the crowded bazaar, great vats of bubbling Keer (sloppy rice pudding) and sweet stalls line the route. Every night this happens, the excitement of the crowd, the exhilaration after the ceremony. Eventually you reach the quite dark streets where ancient ornate Ashrams loom from the river banks. Peering in through their gateways it is a bit like peering into the quads of Oxford colleges, except that you see small shrines and the river beyond and the sound of prayers lifts on the night air.

Haridwar is a fascinating place, a mixture of spiritual and end of the peer.

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Photos

Flower Offerings
Woman prepares flower offerings for the Ganga Aarti later that evening.