Holi celebrations, life and death on the Ganges
Trip Start
Feb 27, 2006
1
8
13
Trip End
Mar 29, 2006
Varanasi,
India
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
I can't describe how luxurious it felt to be taking a flight to Varanasi, instead of the bumpy 5 hour bus journey and 8 hour train journey after that! This was definitely a flight with tourists in mind as it was pretty expensive but less than an hour later we were touching down in Varanasi - the home and heart of India and the holiest place for all Hindus. Most Hindus try to make a pilgrimage to Varanasi (Benares) to dip in the Ganges or drink the river water at least once in their lives and it is especially auspicious to be cremated here and have your ashes scattered in the Ganga.
Some tout took us and a Slovenian guy in an Ambassador car to our hotel, which we hadn't booked and from which he was hoping to get some commission! As it turned out after a 15 minute walk down the narrow back winding alleyways of the old city, sidestepping cow dung, human excrement, cows, beggars, piles of wood for that evening's bonfires, shopkeepers sweeping their rubbish half a metre down the street - we arrived at the hotel to find it was fully booked as it was the festival of Holi.
A morning boatride
We got a little worried at this point as dusk was falling and Holi celebrations were about to start. We lost the annoying tout and walked down onto the Ghats on the river and some Israeli guy stopped us anxious that we find a hotel quickly. With his help we found the Luxmi Hotel, a basic 6 storey building, with acceptable rooms overlooking Dasavamedha Ghat, one of the main ones. It gave us a great, if not noisy vantage point over the main street and the river so we could observe Holi from the safety of the rooftop (our hotel manager locked us all into the hotel for 15 hours).... Holi is the festival of colours, celebrated by all Indian religions, something to do with brotherhood and Krishna and good triumphing over evil. Indians all over the country indulge in throwing coloured powders on each other (and their animals), consuming alcohol, canabis and paan, crazy dancing and blaring music.We had dinner on the roof and watched the monkeys playing on the roofs and the little oil lamps carrying prayers and floating along the Gnages under the full moon. That evening and the subsequent two nights, my room felt like a night club with Indian pop music battling it out across the city for who could put the volume the highest!
The next day we got up to watch the sunrise, only to find it was overcast and raining (again totally unseasonal), but this made for a good day for the locals to play Holi targetting family members with coloured water and powders in water guns! People were dancing in the streets, boys were flying hundreds of kites from the rooftops and all across India on the News, we saw scenes of even madder celebrations.
Around 2pm, we forced our hotel manager to let us out and wandered down to the ghats which were spattered with many colours.
Bathing in the Ganges
Boys were scrubbing themselves down in the river and even the geese needed a bath as they'd been sprayed with powder too! The cows and water buffaloes just ignored all of this activity and the dogs lazed around. We reached one of the burning ghats where it is most prestigious to be cremeted. Even on this joyous day there was a stream of bodies being brought out and immersed int he Ganges before being positioned on the carefully built wood - each pyre weighed a paid for to achieve a compete cremation. Then the chief mourner (usually oldest son) with shaved head would circle the pyre five times and then light the pyre. Everybody stood by for two hours as the body burned, then they'd take the ashes and put them in the holy Ganges. It was quite a leveller to see so many funeral pyres, yet very serene - the rawness of it contrasted with the goats, cows and children passing by like it was just a very normal think to witness - to them it was. No photos were allowed of course. I just met a guy who said he'd seen two dogs eating a child's corpse - some children are not cremated if they've had smallpox, something to do with the gods and reincarnation.... some adults are thrown whole into the river also apparently because there is no family to pay for the cremation wood. Makes you shiver but it's a whole other culture.Most things were closed as it was a holiday but we stopped for a snack to watch the party goers in the street now scrubbed and in fresh clothes. We finished the day with a boat ride down towards the southern ghats as dusk fell - pilgrims were taking boat rides, men and women were washing and doing their washing, drinking the water, meditating.
Even the geese get sprayed
Justine then took her train to Amritsar and I was alone again with the loud music!I got up early again to watch the sunrise over the misty Ganga. Even at 6am there were crowds of people going down to the river to do their puja, accompanied by bells, singing Hare Krishna. I wandered along the Ghats for about 2km and took in all the sights and smells. Pilgrims gathered around gurus and sadhus who were preaching. Men and women with shaved heads immersed themselves in the river. Men and children squatted at the side of the river to empty their bowels! People were sweeping dust and excrement to nowhere in particular. It was very peaceful and in the sunshine, a bit like a walk down a seaside pier - just with odd sights.
I stopped for breakfast at Bread of Life charity restaurant and had brown bread and cakes! For lunch I had the best thali I'd ever had in India and in the afternoon I took a cycle rickshaw and then a tempo to Sarnath - a Bhuddist site, where Bhudda gave his first sermon. As it was still a holiday, the area was teeming with Indieans on a day out (not visiting the site). Families picniced on the grass (remarkably litter free), young men walked around hand in hand - like lovers on a romantic stroll - but actually it's just a common sign of friendship! Children played cricket and everyone took an immense interest in what I was doing - coming right up to where I sat and squatting in groups to quite literally stare. I chased them away with a growl or a hand gesture or a mocking laugh!
Today is my final day in Varanasi and I started it with a dawn boat ride down the Ganges with a beautiful light cast on the activities of the pilgrims doing their morning rituals. Really wonderful! So now I've got the rest of the day to relax before taking my 19 hour train to Orissa.
Before I sign off here are a few tips to surviving India - just a few of many!
1) Never try to apply logic in India - rationale is a whole other ball game!
2) Have immense patience
3) Never get angry or use sarcasm - it's wasted
4) Once in a while escape to somewhere a bit posh
5) Don't bother trying to walk on the pavement - it either doesn't exist or it's obstructed by a living thing or a pile of rubbish - stick to the road.
6) Once you start crossing the road, keep going - as a living being any of the vehicles, cycles, rickshaws will work around you, except for cars - they always have right of way.
7) Personal space does not exist in India - just accept this!
8) Every hotel room has about 15 light switches, there are only 3 or so lights, so don't get frustrated working out which one is the right one (it's a mystery what the others are for) and don't push the black button if there is one - it's for the kitchen!
