Sacred Varanasi

Asia » India » Uttar Pradesh » Varanasi
February 25th 2017

Published: March 27th 2017

Edit Blog Post

Delek Delek

Darbhanga & Manshi Ghats

Two of Varanasi's more beautiful ghats.

Even the poorest women you see on the streets of India wear the most beautiful, colourful saris. That was the main thing I noticed as I sat in my Uber, having underestimated Kolkata's traffic, which was a pretty stupid thing to do. Watching the local women in their saris, I was starting to get a little nervous about making my train but it all turned out well in the end. And lucky it did because for once, my train was actually on time!

Perhaps surprisingly, this was only my second overnight train in two-and-a-half months in India. I've kinda been avoiding them - also, they are often booked out - and taking buses where possible because I get paranoid about where to leave my stuff.
As I look to dump my stuff and settle into my sleeper, a local girl who spoke very good English asks if we could swap berths so she could be with her family - her berth was in another carriage. I agreed to do it because my carriage looked pretty packed. As it turned out, her carriage was pretty quiet and I could stuff my backpack under one of the seats. Rather than an upper

I See Fire

Fire plays an important role by the River Ganges in Varanasi, from burning bodies to lighting up floating candles offered as aartis on the water.

berth like I had originally, I had the lower side berth this time meaning I had my own window and space. I could also stuff my rucksack underneath my seat too, chaining it with my bike lock to the seat. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
But unlike my last overnight train, they weren't renting out sheets and pillows this time. My window wouldn't shut properly meaning I had a cold draft to contend with all night and it was freezing. I can't sleep when I'm cold so I only got about five hours, all of it interrupted. Lucky I had my blow up travel pillow - I bought it along with the bike lock when I was back in London and they have both proved to be valuable!

During the journey, a legless beggar passed through the carriage. I didn't give him any money and was looked at with disappointment by my otherwise-friendly cabin mates. You just don't know where your money is going though and if I give to one beggar, I feel I would have to give to all of them. There is also the impracticality of having to get your wallet out and then you don't know

Narrow Alleys Of Varanasi

The narrow streets just behind the ghats resemble the maze-like medinas of Morocco.

if they'll ask for more.
Transgender beggars - mostly men who have chosen to be women - tend to just stick out their hand asking for money. Some of them stroke your cheek in an effort to seduce you, which is a little uncomfortable. The local men simply laugh them off; the transgenders do however, seem to be accepted by the majority of Indian society for what they are, much like fa'afafines in Samoa.

Varanasi is supposed to be intense; well the traffic sure was, even by Indian standards as my tuk-tuk driver weaved his way through to my drop-off point. From there I had to continue by foot into the warren of narrow alleys where the tuk-tuks couldn't go, behind the ghats (man-made, stepped, embankments that lead into the river) on the riverfront, which evoked the medinas of Morocco with call to prayers resonating in the air. And if I thought Kolkata was the dirtiest place I've seen in India...I then discovered Varanasi. Jesus Christ. It is probably because of all the cows and goats roaming the narrow alleyways, literally leaving their shit everywhere; I've never seen so much cowshit outside of a farm before!

Varanasi however, is a special

Kedar Ghat

This was probably the busiest ghat I saw in terms of people queuing up to worship.

place, and I got to experience its unique atmosphere down by the ghats - yet another different kind of experience here in India.
The city is considered the most holy of the seven sacred cities of Hinduism and Jainism, the River Ganges considered the most sacred of rivers. Thus thousands of pilgrims flock to Varanasi every year to bathe in its water, perform cleansing rituals and to cremate their dead. The nightly Ganga Aarti fire ceremony was cool to see although it did get a bit boring after forty-five minutes. The local pilgrims were pretty into it though and there was even an a middle aged man acting as a cheerleader.

Visiting the burning ghats of Manikarnika and Harishchandra was a pretty intense experience, I won't lie. Dead bodies of loved ones are carried on bamboo stretchers, covered by wonderfully coloured silks, and taken down to the Ganges and soaked in the water. Piles of wood sit by, each pile of wood being of a different type, each type set at a different price. Sandalwood is the most expensive. It is tricky working out just how much wood you need to incinerate the body while making sure you don't

Burning Body

A body is cremated in full public view at the Manikarnika Ghat on the banks of the Ganges.

buy too much. The bodies are then placed in one of many furnaces on the riverbank where they are then set on fire. They are still wrapped in silks but you can see the heads of the bodies and their bare feet as they go up in flames. By having your body cremated in Varanasi and having your ashes thrown into the Ganges, it is believed that you are released from the cycle of reincarnation and thus will reach salvation. As the relatives watch on, you realise the spiritual significance of what you're witnessing. The smoke gets up your nostrils and in your eyes but you still can't help but watch for twenty minutes. The whole thing isn't as chaotic as I thought it might be, but it certainly is intense. Yet another side to this fascinating country.

There is a lot of hard selling in Varanasi and I've lost count of the number of times I've been offered hash. To be honest, it makes me feel relieved that this is my last stop in 'real India'. There are lots of beggars too; many pilgrims believe they'll get good karma by giving to beggars and thus people are more

Spiritual & General Activity

The ghats are alive in the morning with groups partaking in spiritual activities such as prayers and others involved in other activities such as er, playing cricket.

generally more generous here than in other places. The result is the sad sight of many desperate families out on the streets and on the ghats.

As many of you know, I'm really not a fan of getting up early but in Varanasi, it is absolutely worth it. Not only is the sunrise beautiful and not only does the sun perfectly light up the riverfront buildings, but the whole place is alive in the morning with people bathing in the Ganges, offering pujas, washing clothes, playing cricket and er, burning corpses. Even the massive flotilla of tourists boats - including mine - and the gulls flapping about the river all add to the atmosphere. But at its core, Varanasi is a spiritual place and the fanatical devotion, chanting and rituals by the river are what really make it. There is just no place like it. And touring by boat gives you such a different perspective and some amazing angles for photographs.
The only thing that tainted what was an amazing morning was a guy who rowed over to my boat and gave me flowers on a tray with a candle in the middle of it, for me to cast

Chet Singh Palace

Beautiful old palace sitting on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi.

into the river, a tradition here in Varanasi. I was a bit caught up in the moment however, despite having been in India long enough to know that he was probably going to ask for something. I had got an unexpected free chai as part of the boat trip so I assumed that maybe I would get this included too. No chance. But he wanted ₹200! F*ck off. He then settles for ₹50...but I only have a ₹100 note...and he says he doesn't have change. "It's good karma" he says. Bullshit. You're going to get bad karma from ripping me off. I probably should have refused to pay him and I did tell him he should have told me the price first, but I relented in the end. I was still fuming though.
On a more amusing note, I saw more than the odd white foreigner meditating along the banks of the Ganges during my morning walk along the southern ghats and realised that I only ever see white people doing yoga or meditating and never any locals; it made me think whether this whole meditation and yoga thing is just a sham invented by some Indian guru that got

Bathing In The Ganges

By bathing in the Ganges, pilgrims believe that they will be cleansed of all their sins.

him and many others really rich?

My hostel was pretty decent and was perfectly located a few minutes walk away from the biggest and busiest Ghat, the Dashashwamedh Ghat. With a rooftop restaurant serving free chai every day at sunset, it was one of the more social hostels I've been to in India too. The young, Western-educated owner Sidd, was a really switched-on and helpful chap and he took us on an amazing food tour of Varanasi's best joints on my last day in the city.
The first place we went to served chaats, which are small tapas-like dishes to share. They were heavenly. Most of the chaats were basically savoury tomato-based sauces mixed with yoghurt and packed with herbs and spices, with a few chickpeas added for solidity. They had a sweetness to them too, like you'd find in a sweet and sour sauce, but mostly they were just exploding with flavour. We then hit a restaurant for some dhal - India's most boring curry - which was jazzed up with garlic, tomato and caramelised onions, as well as a scrumptious cashew curry that was even better. Perhaps the best discovery of the day was melayo - a

The Ganga Aarti

Varanasi's nightly fire ceremony is in full swing - literally.

fluffy, saffron-flavoured foam with milk at the bottom. It was a like a saffron ile flottante but with the custard replaced by saffron milk and the meringue lighter and fluffier. Having thought that Kolkata's mishti doi was the best dessert I'd had in India, I think I may have found a new winner.

After the tour, we were all digesting our food with some free chai on the hostel rooftop when a group of Indian musicians who were staying at the hostel, started jamming away. One guy was on a drum, another guy was on a wooden flute, and another guy was singing. They were so into it and it was great to witness. Indian music has such different tones, intonation, beats and melodies compared to conventional music.
The musical theme continued that night as we went to a music festival just above Tulsi Ghat, in the south of the old city. There was a group of four people on stage; an older man playing the same riff over and over again on an Indian style viola, while the other three banged their drums to a slightly complicated beat. Then the guy in the middle started rapping in Hindi! Indian

Body Being Cleansed In The Ganges

At the Manikarnika Burning Ghat, a body is being cleansed in the Ganges before it is cremated.

Eminem was incredible! He may quite possibly be the fastest rapper I've ever heard live and would love to know what his words-per-minute rate was. But better was yet to come - his drumming cohorts then joined in and they were all rapping at the same speed, perfectly in time, in unison. It reminded me of Kriss Kross!

I don't know if they really had an effect, but the reason I may have found the 'rappers' so mind-blowing might've been down to the free bhang lassis the hostel served us. They were a little disappointing - I never felt high at any stage until after I'd had a couple of Kingfisher Strongs and they certainly weren't anywhere near as potent as the bhang lassis I had in Udaipur, which rendered me almost comatose.

On my way out of Varanasi, I had one last dose of Indian traffic chaos thanks to the celebration of deity Shiva's wedding anniversary, meaning there were shitloads of people in town. I also got ripped off one last time by paying a cheap tuk-tuk fare for a ride to the train station in a golf buggy that I only realised later was a shared

Sunrise Over The Ganges

The sun rises over one of many canoe boats out on the water.

taxi that should have cost about 20% of what I paid. The driver even had the cheek to ask for more because he had to go a little further than normal thanks to a traffic detour. I told him to go f*ck himself. At that particular moment in time, I had had enough of India and was looking forward to relative calm of Nepal. Despite all the amazingly fascinating things that I have seen, eaten and experienced, India is a tough place to travel and I felt like I had had my fill. Thus it was time for another change of scenery; mountains and the cold in Nepal!

बाद में मिलेंगे । (baadh mem milengae),
Derek

Additional photos below

Photos: 25, Displayed: 25