Varanasi

Varanasi

At the hotel reception met Y who offered to take me on an evening trip to the Ghats, the famous steps that lead down to the Ganges. After exploring Kolkata and Darjeeling on my own I was quite happy to let someone else show me around. We got a tuk tuk (auto rickshaw) for most of the way through crowds, traffic and cows and then walked through a market area to Dashashwamedh Ghat where the nightly Ganga Aarti takes place at 6pm.  Yes, I have finally made it to the Ganges! Being the dry season, the river is very low with what appears to be a sand bar or beach on the opposite bank. Lots of young boys flying kites. Since we were quite early, we walked along the river as far as the Ghat where cremations were being held. There were seven funeral pyres and far fewer mourners than I would have expected. Difficult to see such a public spectacle as the inevitable but sad end of someone's life. Apparently for certain deaths, eg pregnant women, people who die of snakebite,  there is no cremation but their body is just sunk in the river. Only men take part in the funeral ritual, bringing the body down to the river, anointing it with holy Ganges water and then placing it on the funeral pyre. It takes over 300kg of wood and three hours to cremate a body. Later I learnt that people come from all over India to be cremated here, coming to Varanasi and staying in hospices,  when they know they they don’t have much time left.  

We left the funeral pyres behind and returned to Dashashwamedh Ghat  to grab a seat for the Ganga Aarti where seven young priests venerate the gods every day using fire incense and lots of noise. The music was surprisingly cheerful with everyone clapping along and a master of ceremonies encouraging the clapping. The moment the ceremony finished, Y leapt up and almost dragged me away so that we could escape ahead of the tidal wave of humanity heading away from the Ghat. After making our way through the market area we got a man-powered cycle rickshaw back.

Cremations at one of the "Burning" Ghats

Varanasi Waterfront in the Evening

Varanasi Waterfront in the Evening

Preparation for the Ganga Aarti

 The Ganga Aarti

 The Ganga Aarti

 The Ganga Aarti

The hotel is more Fawlty Towers than Best Exotic Marigold. I asked reception to send up a laundry bag and list since all there was in the room was a printed list of prices. But the guy just brought me a copy of the same price list. So the only option was to get all my stuff out and count the items in front of him and make my own list. Everywhere in the hotel, in the room, on the room key card, on the Fire Escape Plan there are warnings not to leave valuables in the room. But when I took a small parcel containing my valuables down to Reception the guy was totally nonplussed. Eventually they found a cabinet in a tiny room filled with electrical wires and asked me if I had a padlock I could use to lock it. When I told them I didn't, they eventually found one and gave me the key. Not a great start to the morning. Later when I came to check out, the key didn’t open the padlock. Several members of staff all tried and failed and it was only when the maintenance man was there with his hacksaw that someone with the "knack" managed to open the lock.

Day Two in Varanasi

Had some breakfast and met up with Y for our morning boat ride. Another cycle rickshaw and walk to the Ghats and then into a rowing boat. The boat ride was pleasant and relaxing and presented a view of the Ghats from a different perspective. Amazed at the number of people totally immersing themselves in the filthy water polluted with cremated ashes, un-cremated corpses, industrial chemicals and,  I suspect, raw sewage. Mostly men but I saw a few women go in too. Even a few groups of obviously non-Indians as well. I find it very hard to understand Westerner’s fascination and enthusiasm for a philosophy that appears to have led to a society that forces its poor, old and disabled to beg in the streets. I have  more sympathy for the gullible characters who were seduced by Stalin's Soviet Union; at least they could point to the Moscow Metro.  Saw lots of young boys flying kites along the river.

Downtown Varanasi

Temple sinking into the Ganges

 

Varanasi Waterfront in the Morning

Into the Ganges

Varanasi Waterfront

Varanasi Waterfront

Then visited the Muslim quarter where every tiny, dimly lit, house had one or more looms clattering away. They ranged from totally hand operated ones to Jacquard machine looms controlled with punch cards. And across the road we saw the man making the cards. One of the technologies that led to the 20th Century digital age. 

Punch Cards in Action

And the Man Making Them

Then, of course, came the shop! But it was fairly relaxed and provided some light, easy to carry, Christmas presents. 

Holy Men, or Resting Actors? 

Women and Westerners too

Neat Trick

Goats in Coats

Had dinner at the Shri Annapurna restaurant near the hotel and as I came back, I was amazed to see about a dozen people with electric chandeliers on their heads. It turned out to be a wedding party which involved not only a procession of chandeliers but the making of much loud noise. Given the decibel level of horns in India I suspect most young people are already suffering serious hearing loss by the time they get married. Just as it is said that "Nature abhors a vacuum", a silly statement since most of the universe is a vacuum, so I believe that India abhors silence. Y told me that this is the wedding season and weddings usually take place at night. Later I heard the fireworks going off. 

Wedding Procession

Wedding Procession

Day Three in Varanasi

For the second morning there was no hot water for shower.

Walked down to  and along the Ghats and through the maze of alley ways behind them. Varanasi is the first place where I have come face to face with India’s cows. It’s only when meeting a bovine in an alleyway wide enough for a motorbike but not much more that you realise how bloody big they are. Last time I was this close to cows was when they invaded our garden when I was a child. Not only do they wander round the streets but there appear to be small farmyards with maybe a dozen of them, tucked away among the alleys. According to Y all the cows belong to people since they can be milked but the bulls have no value and just fend for themselves. No one seem worried that bulls might be aggressive. Along the Ghats not only were there cows but a herd of water buffalo relaxing in the sacred water of the Ganges.

Water buffalo Relaxing in the Ganges

Urban Farmyard

A Cow who Knows Her Place in the World

Two Young Girls who wanted to Pose

Downtown Varanasi.
Why bury a pipe when you can just run it along the road?

Downtown Varanasi.  LED Alley

Downtown Varanasi

Downtown Varanasi. Art Deco

Downtown Varanasi. Fast Food

All Dressed Up

Palace; now a Luxury Hotel

Ganga Mahal Palace

Needs a Little Attention

Stopped at the Everest Cafe overlooking the Ghats for a delicious lassi. Great for people watching. There was a beautiful, young European woman with long blonde hair in dreadlocks and vivacious, piercing grey eyes, sharing a smoke with two young guys. Not sure whether it was the influence of whatever they were smoking but she  was flying way higher than any of the kites belonging to the kids below.

Late on I came across Cafe Guleria, where I overdosed on chocolate brownie and a cappuccino. It’s part of Hotel Guleria which looks beautiful, and later found out how much it cost, way beyond my price range,  When I tried to get out into the street on the opposite side from the river I was told that there was no street access. As if to confirm this I saw some guests with luggage arriving by boat. All along the Ghats are magnificent buildings, many of which I believe were built as palaces for Maharajahs during the period of the Maratha Empire. Some like the Guleria have been turned into luxury hotels but sadly, many look semi derelict. Walked back to Manikarnika Ghat and then started walking up one of the little alleyways, naively expecting it to lead me to a proper road with tuk tuks. It didn't take me long to realise I was totally lost in the maze. The Romans, Americans, Incas and even the prehistoric Indus Valley civilisation all laid out their cities on some sort of geometrical grid but evidently not the founders of Varanasi. The alleys go in all directions, some of them having dead ends. Thanks to Google Maps I managed to find my way out of the maze, otherwise I think I would have been there for the night.

Guleria Cafe and Hotel

Later in the evening I got a tuk tuk, which proved harder than expected, to the Ramada where their restaurant, the Palate, gets top rating on TA. Much further out than I expected and next to a modern shopping mall. Inside, the Ramada is five star luxury but service at the restaurant wouldn't win any awards. Whether it was because I wasn't staying in the hotel, because I didn't want the buffet or because I was on my own I got the feeling they didn't really want my business. Got put on a small table at the side despite several larger, better placed tables being free. "We are expecting a party" they told me but the party never came. On the plus side, the food was excellent with generous portions and I enjoyed my first Kingfisher beer since Kolkata.

Last Day in Varanasi

Had my usual breakfast in the hotel. Obtaining a single slice of toast appears impossible. Every time I ask for one slice and I get either two or three. Arranged transport to Mughal Sarai for  8pm this evening which seems ridiculously early but Y reckons it will be very slow. Checked out and got tuk tuk to the Ramada Mall where I had expected to find some eating and relaxing options. Come back Starbucks all is forgiven!  The small mall is mostly clothes shops with only a McD, Baskin Robbins and a Coffee Day. It doesn't look very busy; going to the mall obviously hasn't caught on here. Outside there were quite a few upmarket hotels in the area, called Varanasi Cantonment. Looked into the Raddisson but there wasn’t much food on offer so went to the coffee shop of another place and got a Penne Alfredo and a Coke. Got a tuk tuk back to the hotel but halfway there encountered a massive traffic jam. Absolutely no movement for more than 15 minutes. The driver blamed it on the chief minister coming to town. Eventually I gave him his money,  got out and started walking. The police had stopped all traffic across a junction and virtually cleared the streets. Once I had fought my way through the densely packed tuk tuks and motorbikes at the closed off junction it was a pleasant walk along traffic free streets, kept that way by  dozens and dozens of policemen. Eventually a motorcade of vehicles with blue flashing lights came roaring through. Can't help feeling the politicians are part of the problem rather than the solution.