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Published: June 30th 2013
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Sunrise on the Ganges
Not pretty, but spectacular Today's entry is written by our guest blogger, Leo Pavliv.
After a really thorough shower removing the parts of the Ganges and Kashi that stuck to us the night before, we woke up at 4:15, well before the crack of dawn, to observe the sunrise rituals. We were ahead of most of the traffic on the roads into Kashi and were dropped off with our guide at the main entrance. As we started our descent back into the winding streets and narrow passages, our guide quickly cautioned us that we would now be seeing it dirty and it might smell a bit. We looked at each other not imaging how it could be much worse than we saw and smelled the evening before. Most of the shops were still closed but a number were starting to open and the guide bought Michelle a small string of pretty tiny flowers that smelled like jasmine. This came in handy several times as she used it to help mask some of the less than pleasant odors we crossed.
We made it through the alleys arriving back at the main Ghat where we watched the amazing ceremonies the night before. We
carefully got back into another seaworthy boat with the oars tied in by weathered pieces of cloth. Somehow the boy taking us out on this morning’s “cruise” skillfully maneuvered the boat from the shore pushing through and against all the other boats tied up in essentially a pile on the river bank. We went up and down the Ganges with the guide explaining where different kings had built their homes or where celebrities like the Beatles stayed when they went through their Hari Krishna stage. There were more people lining the shoreline “washing” themselves in the river and saying their morning prayers to the mother river. It was quite peaceful at sunrise but the humidity was certainly on the rise and quite warm outside. We also paddled past the main area where cremations were already occurring. One of the workers was halfway in the water, straining the area where the ashes were being dumped, looking for what might be salvageable from the ashes. His supervisor was watching, making sure no gold fillings wound up in his pocket. The Dom Raja does very well for the lowest of the castes.
We were guided back to shore and walked back through
the alleys again en-route to the oldest and most central temple to the Hindu religion. On the way we passed more open stores selling a wide variety of goods, sidestepping many “obstacles” which Michelle utilized that flowers given to her earlier that morning to help mask. Yes, it could actually be dirtier than the night before. I forgot to mention that those obstacles were also washed off into the Ganges not far from the people bathing for the morning rituals. We made it to the temple just before the larger morning crowds were entering. This was a secure area, requiring all metal objects being dropped off before entering. The temple itself was rather small but with much made of gold. While the start of Hinduism is here, the original temple was converted into a mosque during one of the reigns of the invading mogul kings. Several hundred years later, the new (many hundreds of years old) temple was built and is still the heart of Hinduism. We took turns viewing the temple and during my turn, Michelle waited in one of the clean stores selling aryuvedic oils, selecting several to bring back.
We ended the morning maneuvering our way through a number of more alleyways until we came out to the central road and found our car waiting. We then took a civilized and air conditioned ride back going through one of the major universities in the cities. It was neat, clean, green, with a large number of academic buildings, not too unlike what we see in the US. It was so incongruous to what we just experienced a short while ago. Our morning ended at yet another shop where we helped support the local economy. We watched the weave intricate brocade fabric. So ended our pretty amazing 24 hours in Varanasi.
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