Holy Crap

............
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This place is unreal!!!

The arrival was marred by a sleepless night on the boats, and a couple of my companions being hit with a mystery stomach bug (so far I have managed to avoid all traces of these), but after a couple of hours rest and I nice hot shower I headed off to see the sights! Madness!!!

You have to see Varanasi to understand it......or begin to. It has a vibe that cant really be put into words. There are Sudu's (holy men who have given up all possessions and identity in the world in persuit of a higher status with the hindu gods) everywhere, although i am not sure they are all genuine as as far as I could tell there were a fair few crazy men drugged to the eyeballs..........

Not just holy men flock to Varanasi
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Wandering along the Ghats you see dead bodies wrapped in what appears to be tinfoil either waiting to be cremated or waiting to be set afloat in the Ganges. Normally only children, lepers, and Sudu's are left to flaot down the gnages...the rest are cremated. The cremations take place on the shores in special "burning Ghats" - fitting name. Apparently the wood is wieghed out precisely so as to just burn the body before the fire runs out of fuel - I am nto sure whtehr this is because there is a lack of firewood???

The Sadhu posed for photo's
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As you walk along there are streams of water running accross the footpath (sloping) towards the Ganges. After an hour or so of observation I realised they were streams of urine - charming. There were also open sewers running straight into the river. Hard for a westerner to understand how baring the knees is considered disrespectful, but dumping raw sewage is OK!???

An evening was spent in a sunset flower ceremony on a boat on the Ganges with a citar player and a drummer, rather romantic (if you ignore the drummer boy checking his cell phone every 2 mintues). We each released about 50 candles onto the gnages and made a wish as they floated away (I decided on the many candle, one wish tactic, I will let you know how I get on!!!). I am not sure those who dropped their candles so they didn't have to lean over the edge and subsequently put the candle out will have their wishes granted!

The locals like to display their curtains for everyone to see....
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The next morning was a sunrise boatride! BEAUTIFUL! Varanasi is a stunning place, and sitting on a boat witnessing morning ablutions and the general hustle bustle was well worth the early rise!

A particular highlight was a conversation with a young boy who had kindly allowed one of my friends to have a "moment" in his household toilet. We were walking past a temple that had sunk and was submerged a couple of meters into the river, I was of course interested in the structure and the foundations. He asked if I knew why it had sunk, and proceeded to tell me a story of how the muslims had been dancing round the temple making too much noise and "shiva" had been angry and struck out, knocking the temple over and killing 500 men! SO SIMPLE.........unfortunately my practical brain was rather stupidly nowhere near the ballpark!

Indian umbrellas are built for function
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I left Varanasi awed! Having spent too little time there, but aware that any more time would not serve in unlocking any of the mystery.....although by the look of some of the longer term westerners it may have unlocked my mind on another level!