This was one I didn't see coming

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Dear loved ones,

We finally made it to Varanasi.

Imagine.....Imagine you are on a street that is roughly 8 feet wide. On both sides are little stores that sell various things...tea (called chai here) , beads, sweets, cooking utensils, or maybe some touristy little things. Each store is about 6 feet wide and is in the middle of about 15 or so other stores all trying to get your business at the same time. They might say, "hello" or " please come" or Yes...Please looking my shop." and "very good quality". Now imagine that while you are dealing with that barrage of new info and trying to think about what to buy... imagine that a water buffalo brushes up behind you and "moos" this blood bloodcurdling-ly loud sound that sounds almost sounds human to you...but completely foreign. Now imagine that as you are trying to take that in and reset your reality mechanism, a motorbike flies by beeping so loudly you have to put your fingers in your ears. It drives between you and the buffalo at a speed that makes you cringe. It barely misses you but the driver doesn't flinch, and nor do the 2 passengers on the bike... nor does the buffalo. You look around searching for the disapproval and disbelief on the faces of the people around you. You expect at least a look to share in the feeling of " Oh My God" and there is none: not even a twinge. This is just normal to all. To cope with this all, you sit down at the nearest bench (only about 8 inches wide and 4 feet long) and have a chai in a little disposable clay pottery cup. You watch the buffalo walk away as a bull cow strolls towards you in the opposite direction. As you sit in utter amazement a group of men draw closer carrying something on their shoulders. As they get closer you see what they are carrying (oh God...) It's a dead body wrapped in shiny orange cloth. And a second one right behind the first...and you can see the fat wobbling on this one as he or she goes by. It isn't acting. This isn't a made for tv movie with a commercial coming in 7 minutes. This is real life. This is Varanasi.

This place makes even the most "secure" person question what reality "really" is. And after 2 days, seeing goats and monkeys pick at the piles of garbage in the streets and children asking you to take their picture for money and having no idea about what things cost...this seems pretty normal for a casual neighborhood stroll.

Tonight Lela and I took an after-dark boat ride on the Ganga and placed little floating candle-boats filled with flowers in the river for all of you, our friends and relatives as prayers for good luck and well-being. We had a 12 year old girl as our assistant lighting them for us and a 11 year old boy rowing for us (not without a couple bumps against other boats. They were so happy for our business...and of course, in Varanasi style, asked us for double what we agreed on in the beginning. This is Varanasi.

I know that as soon as I leave the city and bask in the relief of being out of here, I will miss it and think, " i could have spent a few more days or weeks there." It has started to, in a strange way, grow on me.

Lela and I have been totally enjoying ourselves here and depending on the comradery that we have with one another. All our patterns have been coming to the surface here...feeling like failures....feeling incompetant...and feeling the total impermanence of everything - it hits you in the face.

What an adventure. After all the time we've been in India and Sri Lanka, we didn't see this one coming. We both didn't realize how different, how chaotic, how foreign, how other-worldly India can be. We're both very grateful for the experience.

On that note I go to bed. We leave for Delhi tomorrow and then for Zurich the day after.
Thank you for all the addresses. If you haven't sent it yet, please do.

Lots of love,

Dave and Lela

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