Very Nice - Varanasi!

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Mar 26 - Apr 5

So, I'm still quite a bit behind updating the blog. At least I think I should wrap up the India part of the blog and share a few stories from my last stop - Varanasi.

I honestly didn't have high expectations of Varanasi, but I was pleasantly proven wrong by this wonderful city! The city is ancient, the people are lovely, the streets are narrow and filled with an assortment of aromas - some delicious, like the perfumes, incense, and bidis (you know, those cheap cigarettes wrapped with leaves instead of paper), or the deep fried street food treats; some not so delicious aromas, like the nauseating smell of ghee (clarified butter) and curd being made on the street side, or burning garbage and funk of the Ganga river. There were gigantic cows swarming with flies everywhere, as well as goats and dogs running around. The narrow cobblestone pathways were covered in cow shit, trash, and splotches of red where people would spit out their disgusting paan (chewing tabacco with red supari and spices) on the ground. You wouldn't call this place clean, but the city was still magnificent. I got a very peaceful feeling from it. At times it seemed like going back in time, like the city hadn't changed at all in centuries.

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The Holy Ganga

One morning I woke up at 5 to see the morning pujas (offerings) on the ghats along the Ganga river. The city was so alive just before sunrise as crowds gathered at the main ghat.

But the Ganga was the dirtiest river I'd ever seen, and perhaps it was even dirtier than usual as the water levels were extremely low at this time. In Varanasi, they not only burn their dead and dump the ashes in the river, they also put their other dead into the river whole, tied with stone. That is, those who don't have the right to a proper burning ritual, such as pregnant woment, sadhus (holy men), people who die of snake bites, etc. They also dump raw sewage into the river. But the river is also used for laundry, bathing, and making offerings to the gods -- coconuts, flowers, floating candles on offering bowls made from dried leaves.

I rented a boat for an hour in the early morning before sunrise. (...'Madam Boat...' they kept calling me, how could I resist?) The boat man took me up as far as the main burning ghat, no photos allowed. I even saw some Japanese tourists coming out of the Ganga after taking a morning dip in the funky holy river (I know, when in Rome.... but that takes guts! I guess I wasn't that courageous).

They also do ceremonies at night along the river, crowds gathered around - these were quite a beautiful sight - bells ringing and 5 priests on platforms on the ghats making their special ritual. The city was full of ritual everywhere you turned, and the people seemed deeply spiritual.

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The Burning Ghat

One hot afternoon I wandered through the market and eventually found the main burning ghat, where they do most of their cremations by the river. That was a shocking experience. There was an 'observation deck' of sorts where tourists were requested to stand so as not to disturb the mourning families, and of course, out of respect no photos are to be taken. And I think like most of the tourists standing there, I meant no disrespect - it is just such a curious ritual, and a very different way of looking at death.

I watched as male family members carried bodies on wooden wicker stretchers down to the Ganga. The bodies were all wrapped in red, orange and yellow fabric or gold lamee and adorned with orange flowers. I could smell the smoke coming up from the funeral pyres. I wondered how people tended these fires all day.

One body was brought down the ghat to the water to cleanse one last time in this holy river before cremation. The body was then laid down on the ground to dry next to the other bodies on stretchers. At the time I was there, there were about 6 bodies drying by the river and 3 or 4 pyres burning. The men started to build additional pyres. After drying the men brought the body next to the pyre. Once the pyre was half-way built, the body was unwrapped partly and last rites performed. Oddly, I think it can be a less somber occasion. I saw the men gather around the body to take a photo. The body was laid on the pyre and the final layers of wood were stacked above.

Some local guy gave me some spiel how he was a volunteer working for the burning ghat and the various homes surrounding where old people 'come to die.' Actually, as I heard, many people come to this holy city to die and to have funeral rites performed by the Ganga. It is a holy place - and very important to their religion (at least in northern India).

The Indian 'guide' told me that a family member then takes the fire from the Shiva temple flame that has been burning for over 2000 years. (not sure I totally believe that). The family member performing the funeral ritual I was watching then took the flame and rotated clockwise around the pyre several times, tapping the fire at the head and then the feet of the pyre. He lit the fire. Each family member took a turn blessing the pyre, shaking powder on the fire - I think sandal wood - one guy threw in the plastic bag even...

I was surprised at the quick turn over of funeral pyres. One fire had just ended, was quickly cleaned, some of the unused wood taken into another pyre built right next to it. The 'guide' said it takes about 3 hours for it to burn completely. He said that this main burning ghat operates round the clock and that there are about 100 pyres a day, 300 in the hotter months as more of the frail elderly pass away when the temperatures soar to over 100F.

It was also interesting to see the men with pans standing in the Ganga just off shore, panning for jewelry. The wealthy families adorn their loved one's body with gold jewelry. The panners fish the jewelry out of the piles of ash in the water and sell it back to the markets. It's a form of charity and good karma for the wealthy who can afford it. Still, the thought of that turned my stomach, I have to admit.

I was there for an hour or so - The bodies kept arriving. One woman told me that only male family members are allowed at this ritual because it is believed the women would be too emotional in grieving for their loved one. This, it is believed, will prevent the soul from leaving the body, which as I was told only happens once the skull breaks open (somewhat of a gruesome thought). In the same vein, the male family members who express too much emotion at the cremation ceremony are escorted away. This was very heavy to witness, but it is a very different view of death I had to realize. In fact, in the ealry morning the day that I took the boat ride, I was surprised to hear some inappropriately lively DJ music with hoppin bass beat blasting over the main burning ghat.


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Amit

The first night in Varanasi, I met a local business man named Amit. He was a dark guy in his mid 30s who ran a textile wholesaling company. He helped us find a lot of things in Varanasi, of course we did buy some fabric from him at very reasonable prices. We also took a few cooking classes with his wife, Dolly. That was an interesting experience. The kitchen was sprawled out on the cement floor in the 2nd floor of their home - that is, cooking was done on the floor. There were two burners attached to a red tank of gas in the corner. the mother in law was there along with their 1 year old baby girl Tia. She was so cute (Tia, that is). We were invited one night to dinner at their house. We ate with Amit in the living room while Dolly and the mother in law hung out, chatted with us, but didn't eat. After dinner, we looked at their entire wedding album, and they had 3 wedding celebrations. Dolly looked so beautiful as a young bride in her early 20s, dressed in a beautiful red sari, adorned with gorgeous jewelry...

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Hindi

We also decided to take a few Hindi classes during our stay here. We found this great teacher named Raju, and I learned a fair bit in a week - at least enough to form basic sentences, phonetically at least - I'm still illiterate in Hindi... It was funny to walk to class sometimes through the maze of streets. One day walking to class it was the day of the full moon. There were many people gathered around the various streetside shrines on the way to class - we had to remove our shoes just to walk down the street... four times! These unexpected obstacles are kinda funny...


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Calm as Hindu Cows

My last night in Varanasi we went out to a roof top restaurant a little ways down the river from where we were staying. Although it wasn't too far away, the city was a little eerie after dark. This was partially because at night, like many other Indian cities we'd visited, the dogs run the town. On the previous nights, falling asleep in my room over the ghats, you'd hear the dogs howling and viciously fighting outside. The dogs usually don't bother people, but with all these strays, I'd rather just keep away from them... On the walk over to the rooftop restaurant, the dogs were running around as we walked along the ghats. It was a HOT night so many men were sleeping outside on the ghats. Lots of guys were hanging out in the streets as well, standing around fires they build in the alleyways. The streets were dark at night and the power frequently cut out, but we were getting used to that at this point. I was glad not to be walking around alone. But all in all, I think it really wasn't dangerous, just a bit strange.

We meandered up the alley past the Ganesh (elephant god) shrine to the rooftop restaurant. It seemed dead from outside the locked gate, but after they let us in, there were quite a few people on the roof. The view was beautiful on this sweltering hot evening. There was a huge party of Israeli backpackers playing some kind of musical chairs on the upper level of the roof top deck. We hung out overlooking the river. The owners had a little white puppy named Chumba, who ran around with a little red tikka on his fur. Marc had an unappetizing dinnner of dal and chapati (sounds exotic, but it's just lentils and flatbread). We were all unpleasantly surprised to see Marc's dinner again when little Chumba had an accident next to our table. The owners called over the 13 year old boy working there to clean it up with a bucket of water and squegee. Poor guy - he was then called over to clean up the mess after one of the Israelis got sick in the bathroom.

We stayed there for a bit - on the way home through the city, we crossed through an alley way where there were about 20 cows sleeping. The cows really do have it made in this town. They are huge - very well fed and about as peaceful (and lucky) as any cow could be.


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Leaving India

I got my night train to Delhi, splurging for AC luxury. As I boarded the train and found my compartment, some strange white guy in a bright orange hare krishna looking get up, made some comment to me about too much training in the army as I flung my heavy backpack up onto the upper bunk. (Perhaps my army green Old Navy train pants threw him off). In my compartment was also a very strange family - some pastey French guy, I think married to an Indian woman with the entire extended family of loud kids and aunties, etc. (UGH! Just trying to sleep in my AC luxury, though I woke up to find a few suspicious looking bug bites... let's not say... bed bugs). All this luxury and 5 hours late into New Delhi. But I eventually made it there and checked into a hotel near the station. And just my luck, it was dry day in Delhi due to the elections the next day. Well, seeing as I wasn't planning on voting, I managed to find a restaurant to get a couple beers with my friend Rajat later that night.

The next morning, I woke up at 4:30 to catch my taxi to the airport. I think this will be the last time I'll hear 'madam, which country? which country?' for quite a while. I will miss that question and the many answers I gave in my 12 weeks in India - Hong Kong, Lichtenstein, Brazil, Bandra (Mumbai), Berlin, Alaska, Tokyo, Vatican City... New York! (Actually I think Lichtenstein threw them off the most as most people there had no idea where that is).

The taxi driver drove like a maniac, so I got to the airport early. I was off to Australia - a bit of a detour on the way to south east Asia... Yes, there are more stories coming very soon...

I miss everyone back home!!! Keep sending me your emails and messages!!

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Photos

Dolly
Cooking classes with Amit's wife, Dolly.

Sleeping Cows
A few obstacles on the way home as we stumbled across 20 cows chillin in the street.

Yes, we are less dirty...
Now that's some great advertising!