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Published: April 15th 2010
Namasteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
This is the second time I have written this post because the internet died the first time around but I will TRY to recapture everything I had initially typed up... I am happily, HAPPILY in the holy city of Varanasi right now with my VERY dear friend Miss Tessa Fleming and am so thrilled about it!! And guess how I got here? On a MOTORCYCLE!!! An Enfield Bullet to be exact, the most badass-est bike in all of INDIA and it was SO much fun and here is how it all happened:
I was in Bundi, this little, beautiful blue-painted town in the desert where it was hot hot HOT and I somehow managed to get a head cold. I have no idea how I managed that in a place where it was 45 degrees but it happened... so sad! I had arrived at like 4 in the morning (such a silly time, again, I know) and a rickshaw had taken me to this random guesthouse where a kind older lady opened the door right up for me and said "Please come", and I just collapsed on the bed and stayed there for 2 days. I finally dragged my very sorry self out of bed after eating plain toast and drinking loads of water and climbed up a big mountain overrun with scary monkeys to explore an old, abandoned castle rambling down the hillside, all overgrown with weeds... it was the stuff of a Narnia book and to be up there at sunset was particularly atmospheric... the town itself was gorgeous, all pretty quaint doorways and I used up the last of my memory card taking pictures of the pretty town. The best part about it was that it was so NON-touristy, no touts or people selling stuff so it was really refreshing. I wish I'd had longer there (like I feel after every place I leave here!) but it was time to move on, and I did...
To a place called Pushkar, which was exactly the OPPOSITE! Pushkar was a holy city; the god Brahma apparently dropped a lotus flower here and this holy lake appeared, and millions of Brahma-worshippers used to come to bathe in the sacred waters. Unfortunately for Pushkar, though, someone decided putting a statue in the middle of the lake would be a good idea and did so. Fine, except the lead paint hadn't dried yet and it leached out into the lake, killing all lake life and leaving a GIANT pile of rotting fish floating on top. So Pushkar contracted the lowest-bidding company to clean the lake; they had planned to put sandbags in half the lake, drain it, and refill it. But the sandbags broke, spilling sand everywhere and leaving a poisoned pile of sandy water. The company tried to dig out the sand but dug too deep and removed the clay layer at the bottom of the lake, meaning that any water added doesn't stay and immediately gets absorbed into the ground.
Long story short, there is now a big empty hole in the middle of this holy town. Bad for the pilgrims, but fine for dozy Israelis and aging hippies who enjoy snorting cheap ketamine and buying camel leather, who seem to make up the general profile of Pushkar's visitors these days. Since I fit into neither of the above categories, I was kind of bored and put off by Pushkar until I followed the sound of wild drumming one evening and found myself with an old man playing nagaram, these incredible Indian drums. He was playing at sunset next to the empty lake in an effort to pray to the gods to bring back the water. I was so mesmerized and subsequently honoured when he asked me to sit and taught me to play with him, which I did for the next 3 evenings and it was (obviously, like everything here) amaaaaaazing! Ahhh if only I could afford a set to bring home I would have in a SECOND! I miss playing instruments so much so I was lucky and so glad to have the opportunity in Pushkar.
The day after I first played drums I was in much higher spirits and was exploring all the little shops along the street trying to find a wicked knife to buy my brother Adam as a souvenir (sorry I still haven't been able to but I am still looking!) and terrifying shopkeepers by my miming of stabbing someone and saying "No, not a knife for COOKING, a knife for KILLING someone, you know? Like STABBING!". I gave up after a while and wandered into a bookshop where I screwed up a bartering session for this guy Sam (a drum teacher from the UK) and Niels (a guy from Holland who HITCHHIKED OVERLAND from home to India - SO COOL!), but they forgave me and invited me to their hotel for a swim which was most welcome as Pushkar was almost as hot as Bundi... I met another friend they were traveling with, Ilya (an Israeli who just got out of 6 years in the military and is EXACTLY like Maarty from the grad lounge so I obviously loved him - someone please tell Maarty that I miss him!!), and got their story - they had all met in the south of India and had decided to buy Enfield motorcycles together and drive up to the north of the country, which they were in the midst of doing.
So we all made friends and Sam took me for a BIG ride out into the desert the following day, where we climbed up a mountain to this secluded temple that looks out over the deserts of Rajasthan. Being up there in complete solitude, away from any people or sounds and watching dust storms move along in the distance was incredible, and again another experience I am not likely to ever forget, ever...
I mentioned to the boys that I was planning on heading to Varanasi and Sam mentioned that he wanted to get there as well and one thing leading to another, he offered to take me on the back of his bike!! Obviouslyyyyyyyyyy, I accepted because what better way to see the country! The four of us went together as far as Agra since they all hadn't yet seen the Taj Mahal and it was on the way and then Ilya and Niels started north and Sam and I (on a VERY overloaded bike) kept on heading east, stopping at roadside chai stalls where we attracted tons of attention as usual (the entire town turned out to see the foreigners on the motorbikes!) and got rehydrated for the drive ahead. We actually wound up having to sleep in the storage room of a chai stall one night due to the lack of roadside motels along the motorways so we rolled out our yoga mats and I woke up with a MOUSE IN MY HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That all being said... I know I have talked up train travel on here but seeing India on the back of a bike with the wind in my hair and the sun on my skin was just... I mean you FEEL so much more! We barely spoke a word but the kilometres slipped by so quickly, and being able to sense when there's water underground through the cooling of the air was really cool and not something I'd ever get on a bus or a train. I LOVE motorcycles, LOVE LOVE them (don't worry I bought a helmet!) and navigating the Indian traffic (tractors overtaking garishly-painted parked trucks in the middle of the dark night driving the wrong way on a two-lane road, for one example) takes on a whole new dimension on a bike...
We made it to Varanasi on the afternoon of the third day relatively unscathed, except for one small instance where a rickshaw drove over Sam's foot and a sunburn on my shoulders. Varanasi IS India. I will write about it later once I have moved on because I am still absorbing everything about this place but I fell in love with it as soon as I got here and getting to be here with Tessa, who is one of the reasons I am here in India, is something really special. So again, I still feel like the luckiest girl EVER and I am so happy to be here. I spend every day with love in my heart and a big smile on my face.
I hope everyone at home is having a fantastic April, I will be home in a few weeks and can't wait to wrap my arms around each and every one of you! MUCH LOVE from the holy city!!!!!!!!!!
xo Shannon
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Thomas Nietmann
non-member comment
Wow, again
I loved all of it! Thank you soooo much for your postings.