Day 22: Varanasi

Trip Start Sep 21, 2006
1
23
228
Trip End Jun 01, 2007


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Friday, October 13, 2006

Another pre-dawn wake-up, to see the ghats from the best vantage point - the river. Assi ghat is already noisy and bustling at 5.15am, with temple bells, pujas (prayers), boats and bathers. Laundrymen are slapping wet garments against their slabs. Our pan-chomping oarsman rows us on quietly, a distance from the steps. As we approach the secondary burning ghat, two cremations are underway. Ashes tumble into the Ganges with golden cloths and marigolds. Some inconsiderate tourists sit right up beside the pyre and stare. Lenses probe a widow's head-shaving ritual.
Even adrift we're not spared hawkers as a sale boat butts up against us to offer bead necklaces and figurines of Hindu gods.
Back ashore, and it's the day I leave the group. As they catch a train to Kolkata, I'm heading to Nepal. Travelling in a group's been a stress-free way of negotiating the confusions and delays of India's public transport system. We've shared bizarre encounters and pills and gradually become cynics, worn down by constant beggars and hawkers harassing us. It's been fun, but it's time to move on.
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