Varanasi

Sorry for the delay in updates! A lot has happened since we last spoke to you...

From Allahabad we got the train to Varanasi. This is the holiest city in Hindu religion, with the Ganges running through it. This river is the centre of the city, with life revolving around it. Many millions of pilgrims visit every year, to take a dip, collect water for home or even, the most auspicious of all, die. If you die in Varanasi and are cremated along the river at one of the many ghats you are believed to end the eternal cycle of reincarnation and move on to the afterlife.

When we arrived in Varanasi it turned out the Ganges (or Ganga as it is locally known) had come to meet us! There was a lot of rain and the river had burst its banks, making it hard to navigate the streets.

This in turn meant that our experience was different to the norm. The river doesn't flood every year and the amount of rain was a lot more than previous years. The river had come inland and covered a lot of the ghats. These are used for cremation, bathing and clothes washing and religious ceremonies. Normally you can walk the length of the river along all the ghats and experience many different things but we couldn't.

We had to walk in the old town away from the river, which does mean that we missed a lot. We got to see a religious ceremony, Ganga Aarti, it happens every night, and is a salute to the river and the Gods. It was beautiful if a little touristy. No locals were around, I think they had gone to their own ceremonies, whereas this was for show. We were led through side streets and flooding by a young girl, about 16, called Deepa. She hovered around until we were finished and then flogged us her postcards. I admit I took a warming to her, and yes I bought the postcards which turned out to be made of crappy cheap cardboard! There is no way they would have lasted the journey halfway across the world! Oh well...

Because of the flooding and the heavy rain, and maybe low season? the city didn't feel as busy as we'd been warned it would be. Apparently it is supposed to be the most intense experience in India but that didn't tally with us. In terms of busyness it just felt like any city with the usual touts, beeping and shouting.

There is a kind of morbid facination with the burning ghats, and both of us wanted to go and experience it but yet again due to rain (and probably lack of knowledge on our part) we couldn't find one. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I suppose I'm not too disappointed, it's a private affair dealing with the dead of your family but on the other hand, creamtions are done in public and they are a known tourist attraction.

I think that I would like to experience the "real" Varanasi, without the flooding and rain, with more shouting, intensity and the overwhelming-ness we were promised.