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VARANASI
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After collecting our bags from the airport with unexpected ease we made our way through the front doors into the waiting jaws of the hundreds of touts, Rickshaw drivers and general public all barking orders, ideas and sales patter at us. We did what we always do, ignore them, push our way through, stand back to get our bearings and if all that fails push as hard as they do and start shouting!!
There was no need for the latter as we headed to the pre-paid rickshaw table who of course are on our side and will provide a fair price taxi ... Well that's in theory, this time they asked the rickshaw driver how much he wanted to charge and then added half on again ... Now you know you're being ripped off when the locals gasp with horror at the quoted price but we've been in India long enough now and our response was not one I could write.
So let battle commence!!! We asked, bartered, refused, got frustrated and finally found a taxi who would take us for a fair price to the place we were booked into (although according to the other drivers who make commission from accommodation, Our hotel was full, closed, burnt down and rat infested we heard them all :0). The driver explained that we had to wait a while because he had a very important customer who was sharing our ride. We were fine with it and too busy watching all the faces and hands circling our bags and observing every move we made to worry. He explained that we had arrived on the most popular date to get married in Varanasi and that all the cars and drivers were booked to accommodate this. "Whatever" we thought.
The VIP passenger finally arrived flanked by security personnel it turned out we were giving a lift to the pilot who had just flown us from Delhi.
The airport is a fair way out of town and it was pitch black as we sped down narrow lanes, the taxi lights flashing up people, cows and dogs now and again. It was about fifteen minutes before we reached any true sign of life and then it was back to crazy town. It turns out the driver was telling the truth about the weddings and every hundred yards or so we got stuck in traffic as the road was blocked, music was blaring, entrances highly decorated with garlands, flowers and lights were filled with guests milling about, dancing, playing instruments and basking in the frivolity while others were still sat at the rows of tables enjoying the banquet. Hindu's know how to throw a wedding party ... It's amazing and instantly makes you smile and want to join in!!!
We finally made our way through to the magnificent hotel where the Pilot was residing and after having the car checked by armed security we pulled up outside the grand front entrance and dropped him off. We must of been a sight for sore eyes as all we could do was drool down the windows and dream.
We made our way past the mix of modern high spec superstores and restaurants and fast food joints (including Mcdonalds "The Golden Arches") in what we presumed was the center of town. As we tried, failed and became stuck attempting a roundabout (Indian's do not get the concept of a roundabout as flowing in one direction, they go the wrong way on the wrong side of the road and cut each other up) the policeman who had been directing the traffic (badly) pulled us over and the driver wound the window down. After a heated exchange of words we were driving off again leaving the policeman in the middle of the road shouting and waving ... Apparently they had asked the driver to pay a backhander just because they had seen him carrying tourists and he had refused and drove off ... Only in India!!!
Finally after chugging our way through town and a series of villages and then another town all equally as congested and polluted with varying levels of dust and dirt we arrived in Shivala Ghat ... Right ... now we just had to find our guest house. The driver didn't know where it was and neither did the numerous locals we stopped to ask on the way. We knew it was somewhere near a bakery and on a wing and a prayer we found the general direction we had to head, although the rickshaw couldn't actually get us there so we had to walk, in the dark, avoiding Buffalo, cows and piles of poo, along narrow back alleys, which made up a Labyrinth from the main road to the Ganga. We eventually found our way to Maa Vishnu Guest House only to be told there was no room at the Inn, even though we had booked and paid online. Of course being in India there are no problems only solutions so we were escorted to a brother from another mother's Guest house for the evening and would be collected the following day to check into our original choice.
After a good's night sleep we retraced out steps and as promised checked into our Room at Maa Vishnu. It was a large room with two double beds, it was clean and colourful with Indian wall hangings and a tiny bathroom with no toilet seat but clean and everything else in working order. We tried the bed and we didn't sink comfortably into it we hit the deck with a thud!!! The matress was paper thin and we were left sleeping on a wooden board AGAIN .. haha we thought double up it's got to be good so we dragged the mattress from the other bed AND ... it was the same wooden board with a double paper thin mattress oh well at least it was cheap!!!
We headed to the rooftop for our first daylight view of "Mother Ganga" (or the Ganges as the English call it). It was stunning. We couldn't actually see much of the Ganga as it was low due to lack of monsoon but it was a whole new world up there. There was as much activity on the rooftops as there was in the alleys below.
The Chromatic backdrop was a perfect canvas for each purposeful rooftop. Ladies washing and drying their rich, colourful sari's and family laundry, kids flying brightly coloured kites, Monkey's spying their next victim to pinch some fruit or get up to mischief, rows of buffalo and cow dung being dried out to use as fuel, the pigeon fanciers shouting and calling giving their birds a daily run (well fly) ... (we joined in as we though it was some kind of feel good exercise like laughing yoga) and lots of tourists eating breakfast, watching the world go by it was fantastic.
There were a few other travellers enjoying the morning sun and we chatted for a while until we heard the familiar tones of another Englishman. We have met a great deal of people on our travels and they have been lovely and we have enjoyed their company but it was a great feeling to hear an English accent .... not just English ... Northern!! Hello Tom from Liverpool!!
What a great guy, we exchanged stories and northern humour and felt instantly comfortable. Tom had made his way over land from Liverpool through Europe into Turkey, through Iran and Pakistan and into North India! Fair play what an amazing trip!
We decided we would go and explore the Ghats together as Tom is a keen photographer like Rod.
We made our way out onto Shivala Ghat full of excitement and anticipation and we were not disappointed. As you enter the ghats of Varanasi, the door to a different world of divinity and spiritualism is opened to you
The first sight that greeted us were the steps full of buffalo being taken for their morning bath in the Ganga. The Buffalo are worshiped and sacred as they are from similar breeding to cows and they are often better fed than the family as they provide dairy products, dung for fertiliser and fuel as well as being workable animals. They are huge imposing beasts and would easily trample us, so we watched from afar as they basked in the sun and played in the water. It was fantastic!
At the next turn there was washing galore. The clothes are soaked in the Ganga, then scrubbed with soap powder and rolled up and beaten hard against a rock or with a wooden bat, then rinsed out and the process begins again. They are then laid out on the banks of the Ghats to dry. It is incredible to watch and the range of intense colour that jumps out from in between the large white sheets is phenomenal. Everyone plays a part in this process and it is a family activity.
The Rivers edge was lined with pilgrims bathing in the holy waters. Taking a bath in the Ganga is believed to wash away and free you from your life sins and brings liberation from the cycle of life and death achieving Nirvana. Hundreds of people bathe here every day and this becomes thousands and more on the festivals and auspicious occasions.
On entering the main Ghat (or one of them) Dasaswamedh Ghat we were completely blown away and overwhelmed by the volume of the crowds and the vivid spectrum of colour that erupted in front of our eyes like someone had lit the blue touch paper in a fireworks factory. It was life in 10D technicolour and we sat back and let it wash over us for some time.
The Ghat was filled with the newlyweds from the day before all coming to the river for a final blessing of their marriage and for photos. They walked along tied together at the wrist, the brides head covered with a veil. Their wedding outfits embellished in jewels, sequins, beads, and crystals, again with multicoloured fabulousness. Their family also in their finery showering them with gifts and well wishes. The elation in the atmosphere was spine tingling and made you beam from ear to ear. Between the wedding parties were other pilgrims, hawkers, food stalls, beggars and Sadhus.
The Sadhus are a familiar sight along the Ghats and have been part of Indian history for hundreds of years. Sadhus are holy men who live their life away from society to achieve complete spiritual enlightenment in the practice of yoga, chanting and meditation. There are approximately 4-5 million Sadhus in India today and they are widely respected and sometimes feared for their curses and ability to bring Karma although these views are changing in todays urban India. This is perhaps due to the impostors who declare themselves a Sadhu wearing the clothes and looking the part but not following the practices. They very often use this as a guise to beg for money (as true Sadhus rely on donations to survive) and although the smoking of Charas (cannabis) is a trait of all Sadhus but the impostors make this a life's work.
The most shocking but moving and mesmerising Ghat was The burning Ghats. There are 2 burning Ghats but there is a main one that is in action 24 hours a day. Many people come to Varanasi to die so they can be cremated at the rivers edge as again it is believed to offer Moshka "liberation from the cycle of life and death."
The families have to pay for the wood and the wealth of the family depends on the size of the fire and the quality of the wood used. If the family has no money they are sometimes cremated for free but if the wood runs out before the body is fully reduced to ashes they can often be seen floating down the river, other times the body is kept until the family has raised enough money. The wood is kept in huge piles and bartered for before the fires are constructed on the Ghat. The bodies, mummified in white cloth and finished in gold and ochre silk material adorned with flower garlands are carried through the streets by the outcasts who live on the edge of the city and followed by the family chanting and singing. They are bought to the waters edge and soaked in the Ganges (or water is tipped into the mouth) "to wash away life sins" then they are put into the fire topped with more wood and left to burn openly (up to 3-4 hours) as the mourning family, other pilgrims, children, families that live on the Ghats and tourists look on. This is not seen as a sad occasion to many as being cremated here in this way is considered fortunate and a celebration of life. Engulfed in smoke as the cloth burns away you are left watching the skeleton sometimes able to see a head and more likely the feet protruding from the fire. It is a very surreal experience which is hard to compute, we couldn't believe what we were seeing yet we were transfixed into the flames.
There are groups of people who are not allowed to be cremated in this way and they have a water burial in the Ganges. Pregnant ladies, Children under a certain age, lepperacy sufferers and snake bite victims are a few of these examples and they are bound in cloth with rocks tied weighting them down and submerged into the river until they have sunk to the bottom. These unfortunately have been known to wash up on the river banks with the tide.
Life on the Ghats seems to change with every passing hour. Every Ghat had different things to see, sense and taste. The atmosphere is intense, spiritual, dark, enlightening and emotional and our journey along them evoked a distinctive mental picture that we will never forget.
As the sun set we ventured onto the Ganges in a small rickety rowing boat (which Tom put his foot through) to watch the evening rituals and experience Aarti (puja) a ceremony that takes place daily on the main Ghat as well as smaller more intimate versions on other Ghats.We nervously took to the water alongside many other boats and tried to relax as we were taken along the river. We quickly became immersed in the atmosphere and it was a great experience, we lit our candle and let it float delicately across the water bobbing up and down carrying our prayer to "Mother Ganga" we felt an overwhelming sense of serenity and peace. We came to rest at Dasaswamedh Ghat hypnotised by the five white robed priests moving in syncronised harmony worshiping the river goddess with fire, camphor, flowers incense and earthenware lamps to the chants and claps of the onlookers. It was an awesome sight.
The calm was destroyed as the ceremony came to an end and the hundred or so boats that had gathered to watch all tried to disperse at the same time. We were brought back to reality as one boat after another crashed into the side of us as the rules on the road (or lack of) are transferred to the river, with a driver shouting and waving one side and one apologising the other, we had to laugh even in the holiest place no organisation results in utter chaos. We eventually became free and enjoyed our sail (well row) back to Shore. Tom showed us a restaurant "The Pizzeria" he had found the previous night and we all enjoyed Fresh Pizza as the night life continued on Assi Ghat.
The next day we were up at 5am (feeling really unwell as the flu had taken hold again) to experience "Puja" the morning ritual of praise to the rising sun, again on a rowing boat down the Ganga.
We couldn't believe how many people were already milling about along the alleyways of the warren leading to the Ghats. The place was filled with the hustle bustle of devotees rushing to take a bath, saying their prayers, practicing yoga and meditation and releasing their offerings of flowers and rope and tea lights onto the Ganga in little bowls made from leaves, with the Chanting of Sanskrit mantras by the Sadhus making the ambiance even more mesmerising.
As we floated along guided by the boatman who gave us a history of the Ghats and how many Maharajah's had visited each one and the Hindu meanings behind the names we were again overcome with the atmosphere. The sun seemed to tease us in its unhurried prolonged rise but when it finally crept up over the horizon we weren't disappointed and it rose in splendor as if to say i'm here and i'm worth all your worship casting an orange glow that instantly warmed up the air, hearts and faces of the onlookers. It was definitely worth the early rise.
As Rod took the helm and rowed back we sat in companionable silence letting the experience wash over us and observing the activity of the day bursting into life.
One thing we couldn't understand (not being normal early risers) is surely the washing could wait for another couple of hours at least???
We had booked a temple tour with Christopher the owner of the Guest house so we headed back, had breakfast (the strangest tasting but moreish porridge) and all three of us then huddled into the back of an autorick and driven to the Banaras Hindu University. There are many temples in Varanasi but foreigners are only allowed to visit four and enter just two. This is since the terrorist bomb attacks on Varanasi that shook the city and still pose a threat today.
The University is set on a huge site that is like entering yet another world. Leaving the dusty streets behind we drove along clean, tree lined roads across campus until we pulled up outside "The New Vishwanath Temple."
The Temple was made from white marble and beautifully carved with ornate mouldings. There were many worshipers as this is uncharacteristically open to all castes and religions without discrimination although there was a sign that read "Travelers please leave donation in the box" which made us chuckle. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is a replica of the original Vishwanath temple. Inside the walls are inscribed with verses from Hindu scriptures and there is a Shiva Lingam which is used for personal puja ceremonies and dedications. Outside is a white marble sculpture of "Nandi" who is always featured close to Shiva and our favourite. After a few photos we were taken back inside and given the history in Hinduism of How Ganesh got his elephant head (well one version as there are many) and that the swastika a symbol that is featured heavily in Hinduism and one we have seen all over India is actually a symbol of fortune, luck and well being. This is shown the opposite way to the Swastika we know.
After retrieving our shoes and trying to digest all the information we made our way to the next temple The Durga Temple also known as the "Monkey Temple" on account of the hundreds of monkeys who live on the site.
Durga temple is one of the important temples of Varanasi. This temple is dedicated to Goddess Durga. It was built in the eighteenth century by a Bengali Maharani in Nagara Style (the North Indian style of temple architecture). It is stained red with ochre and has a multi-tiered shikhara (spire). The Durga temple is situated on a rectangular tank, called the Durga Kund. According to the Puranas, Goddess Durga has kept this place for many centuries and protects the holy city, Varanasi, from the South.
According to legends, the present statue of Goddess Durga was not made by man but appeared on its own in the temple. In Hinduism, Durga is represented as the embodiment of shakti or female power, clad in red, riding a tiger and fully armed with Shiva's trident, Vishnu's discus and a sword.
After a rigorous security check which involved having our belongings taken and locked away, no cameras or mobile phones allowed then being frisked and led through a scanner we were allowed to enter the courtyard. We were unable to enter the inner sanctum being a non-Hindu but we walked around appreciating the artwork and the deities and the brief history given by Christopher. We learned that the security was so tight again because of the bomb that was detonated there. Many people died but word has it no monkeys were killed as an hour before the bomb went off all the monkeys left the site. They say animals have a sixth sense and Indians have a vivid imagination.
We were taken to another couple of temples the names of which escape us as again we were not allowed inside or to take photos and were literally whisked around them in minutes so we quickly lost interest and the early morning and flu were beginning to take its toll.
The tour was over at this point but we were given one last treat. We were taken deep into the maze of alleyways and shown the traditional making of the sari's, bedcovers and shawls. It was amazing to watch how the delicate threads were individually woven in and out using a very old loom and how they followed patterns to form the intricate designs. It was astounding how much work and skill went into creating each piece and we could understand why such a high price was demanded for the handmade products as opposed to the ones machine made.
It is said that this is an industry that still uses child labour and this is well known in Varanasi. We did witness children working the looms but we were quickly directed away as we took photos to the old gentleman creating his masterpiece. We saw only a couple of these workshops there are allegedly hundreds.
We spent the rest of our time in Varanasi perusing the Ghats and eating well. We again visited "The Pizzeria" on Assi Ghat and enjoyed a delicious Thali and we devoured the sweet treats at the "Bread of Life Bakery" which is run by a lovely american guy James who sat with us and explained how he had been there for fifteen years and set the charity up to provide schools, homes and jobs for the more unfortunate castes and widows who were not provided for. He had recently had his home and business destroyed by the "Dark side" and was just getting back to building it again slowly but he has a book due out so I will let you read his version of the story.
Varanasi is the most unbelievable place we have visited and one of if not our favourite in India. We are gutted we didn't have more time here but will try and return in the future hopefully to do some voluntary work.
The one thing we would of loved to do but decided it was best not to was bathe in the Ganga. We admire the overwhelming strength of faith among the Hindu people and there must be some truth in their belief as hundreds of people bathe each day and don't get sick, but we were already under the weather and not prepared to take the chance.
Now Holy water this might be but it doesn't excuse the fact that 32 points of raw sewage enter the river, dead bodies and ashes are disposed of, buffalo bathe and excrete in it, people do their washing, the ghats are hosed down to be cleaned every day and all the rubbish, poo (of many varieties) food waste and general nastiness that lurk on the ghats are brushed into the water .... So were sorry but we'll keep our sins and come back as a house cat but we couldn't risk a dip!
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