Varanassi

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  Varanassi, Madhya Pradesh, India
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Twenty million people use the Indian railways every day. We know this as most of them were on our overnight sleeper train. A disturbed night of sleep took us to Allahabad. Here we visited the former house of Indias first Prime Minister Nehru. Very nice gardens with the house kept as it was in the 1940's. Pictures of Nehru and Gandhi decorate the walls.
Then onwards towards the holy River Ganga.
Here we took small boats along the river, spending a night under the stars on the sandy shoreline. Wasn't that relaxing as Delhi-belly has caught up with us. Dave spends most of the night digging holes in the sand!!
Morning brings a return of the stifling heat, the complete lack of a breeze means we spend the morning laid out on the boats like emperial royalty, fanning ourselves while the crew row us for three hours straight.
We then take 4x4s's through the countryside on the way to Varanassi. The rural poor seem to have an even harder life than those in the cities.  The sights leave an impression on everyone. Every wooden hut houses a large family, several dogs, a herd of goats and as many cows as will fit. The cows at least provide cow-pat 'bricks', used for everything from fuel to flooring.
Varanassi looms large over the River Ganga. It is the holiest of cities for the Hindus. Everywhere there are people using the river; they wash in it, they fish from it, they bury their dead in it and they drink from it! The sight at dawn of the congregation washing and taking morning prayers on the ghats, or banks, show that their faith encompasses every aspect of their lives.
In the evening we watch a cremation ceremony, the bodies of the dead burnt on huge bonfires at the side of the river and then the remains sent to their final resting place in the river. It's very sobering to sit there and watch, the feeling that we tourists are invading the grief of the families.
Varanassi is a city of narrow roadways, congested with rickshaws and bikes fighting for space with the hundreds of cows and stray dogs.
We take a walk, looking for the shops that sell bangles and hankies. After an hour and a half we decide that we must be lost and give up. A rickshaw ride  returns us to  known surroundings.
Tonight we are taking a boat ride to watch the evning prayers, and then a 5 o'clock start tomorrow to make our way to the Nepalese border. Nine hours in jeeps awaits us!

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