Varansi - the holiest city in India!
Working out where to spend one's first year anniversary while still on one's honeymoon is an interesting and unusual decision to make. From the start of our travels, we knew that we would have to make this decision and that it would be somewhere in India...we just didn't know where.
As it turned out, it was to be in the final days of our Indian adventure, so we planned to spend a little more than our usual daily budget and splurge out on a nice hotel and dinner while we were spending time in India's holiest city - Varanasi.
It's also incredible how one's plans can change so quickly!
Looking back on our Varanasi experience, I can recall the opening words to Dickens' classic, a Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
We arrived in a town called Mughalsarai (MGS), about twelve kilometres south of Varanasi, just after nightfall. As the East-West express trains go through here, rather than Varanasi, this usually ends up being the fastest way to make your way to Varanasi from Delhi. It was also the only train on which we were able to get tickets without having to go through the waiting list procedure.
After going through the usual hassle of finding a cab, bargaining the fare down and translating where we wanted to go, we hopped into the ancient rustbucket of a car - an infamous "Ambassador" for those who have been to India before - and were on our very bumpy way (shocks hadn't been replaced since the care was manufactured...in 1932) to Varanasi in the middle of a typical monsoon downpour.
We crossed the bridge over to town and the cab driver dropped us off outside a servo, in the pouring rain, indicating that our hotel was just around the corner. We skeptically peered out through the sheets of water running down the sides of the cab and wondered what we should do. It isn't unusual for the taxi to be unable to drop you off at your hotel as many streets in Varanasi, particularly the alleys closest to the river and the ghats (stairs that run down to the water on the river bank) , are not passable by vehicles.
Against our better judgement, we decided to put our trust in human nature and get out of the cab - I mean how far could we be?
The answer: 9 kilometres.
9 K's in the pissing down rain and dark of night, with our huge packs on, tired and hungry from being on a train all day and completely lost in this confusing city. What a great way to celebrate your one year anniversary by putting your relationship to a test that rivals anything the Amazing Race can throw at you!
We knew that our hotel was basically sitting on "Meer Ghat" and we constantly asked locals directions to this, the answer being always the same - a definite point, with a broad smile, in the direction that we were travelling. The one consolation was not being hassled by rickshaw drivers because there simply weren't any on these narrow roads!
An hour and a half later we turned up at our hotel, the Hotel Alka, to be told that they had given our room away as we were so late. Thanks. A lot.
After well and truly losing it with the poor bastard at reception, we found a hotel next door and paid twice the price for a room half as big as the alternative room that they offered us at Hotel Alka. What a shambolic turn of events!
We had dinner and a few Fosters that night and calmed ourselves down...these things are sent to try us, no?
The next day was September 22nd, our actual one year anniversary and we celebrated by sleeping in until about 10:00am.
Afterwards, we walked around the corner to the German Bakery and were ordering breakfast when Adam (the Englishman we met in Jaipur) poked his head around the corner to say "Hi!". What an amazing coincidence!
Steph, Adam and Corinne.
We joined him and his partner, Corinne, for the remainder of our breakfast, shared respective stories of how we got completely conned by the Varanasi taxi drivers, then set out together to explore the city and ghats of this amazing city.
A holy man on the banks of the Ganges
Varanasi is the epicentre of the Hindu religion, in turn making it the cultural heart of this deeply religious country. It is believed that if one dies in Varanasi, and promptly cremated on the shores of the Ganges, then one's soul is liberated from the cycle of re-birth and nirvana is achieved.
The ghats along the Ganges.
Hosing down the silt from the ghats, left from when the river was in flood.
Only certain ghats are designated as "burning ghats", which is where bodies are burnt and the ashes then swept into the river Ganges - these ghats operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to deal with the volume of bodies for cremation.
Out of respect, photography is prohibited at these ghats, however locals are only too happy to talk to you about what is happening and show you around, in exchange for an exorbitant "donation" to pay for wood for poorer families' cremations. According to LP, the donation should be given as you see fit, however at a more reasonable level (i.e, instead of 4,000 rupees, something more like 100-400 rupees is sufficient).
The ghat that we visited was Manikarnika Ghat - the main burning ghat and most auspicious place for a Hindu to be cremated. Bodies are brought here (as for all funerals) solely by members of a particular caste - the dajits - where their expert eye determines exactly how much wood is needed to burn a particular sized body.
Piles of wood surround the burning ghats.
The wood, which is stacked up in huge piles around the ghat, is extremely expensive compared to what the average Indian family earns, ranging from sandlewood (the most expensive) to other types, such as beech or pine or many other varieties. You can also buy saw dust and sandlewood shavings if you can't afford actual sandlewood. Really poor families may be forced to use coals left over from another cremation in order to have enough wood to burn their recently departed relatives.
There are specific conditions about the way in which someone dies for them to be burnt here - among other things, the person must have died within 24 hours of cremation (hence the importance of one dying in Varanasi) they mustn't have died by disease, under 16, badly mutilated and, strangely, some particular high caste Brahmin ascetics may also not be burned. For these bodies, as well as the bodies of animals, they simply have a piece of slate tied to them as a weight, are rowed out to the middle of the river and dropped in the middle of the current.
All in all, despite your own cultural filters and beliefs that you may apply over this practice, it was an amazing insight into one of the key aspects of the Hindu culture. One of the most fundamental and insightful practices of any religion is how they treat their dead and the Hindu practice has to be one of the most unusual.
Varanasi attracts tenfold more Indian visitors then foreigners.
Afterwards, we wandered up and down the ghats taking in the sights, including a Nepali temple, some more Hindu temples and the never-ending ghats. All the while, we were constantly surrounded by crowds of people and the frenetic activity of Indian pilgrims, going about their business.
The Nepali Temple, 20 rupee admission - they tell you that it's locked up and you can't go in AFTER you buy the ticket.
One of the biggest ghats, Dasaswamedh Ghat, was full of colour and life as huge amounts of Indians were bathing and taking sips from the river as part of their daily ablutions, just downstream from where herds of buffalo and cattle were swimming and crapping in the river as well.
This happens upstream...
...from all of the people bathing in the Ganges.
As you can imagine, swimming in, let alone drinking of, Ganges river water is an extremely dangerous activity. According to Corinne, who works in labs, Ganges river water sampled at Varanasi, along the ghats, has an average faecal coliform level (that's basically human and animal poo) of 60,000 per 100mls (downstream from the ghats, where the sewer channels run into the river it tops out at over 1.5 million per 100mls). To put this in context, safe drinking water should be 1 or less and safe for bathing should not exceed 500 per 100mls. It's just amazing that something as precious and holy as the Ganges is treated in this way! There are several programs setup to try and save the Ganges, however they've got a huge job ahead of them.
That water doesn't look so good...that's 'cause it's mostly poo.
We had a leisurely and fairly late lunch (given our late breakfast) then, as dusk started to gather, we made the second change to our anniversary plans. Instead of trying to find a dreaded taxi and get to the flash restaurant where we had made reservations for dinner, we opted instead to hire a row boat and take a tour of the ghats from the water.
This change in perspective gives the ghats a whole different appearance and it's well worth doing at either sunrise or sunset, bathing the whole stretch of Varanasi in a beautiful light.
Taking a tour by boat at twilight.
We went down to the second most important burning ghat, Harishchandra, where two large "ovens" had been setup next to the ghat, in addition to the traditional pyres. Unfortunately, these are yet to become popular - the ovens are hugely better for the environment by making burning more efficient, thereby drastically reducing the amount of wood required to burn so many bodies.
A cremation at the burning ghat - our guide said photos from the river were OK.
Rowing back up to the pujah at twilight...
...Adam had a go...
...and we both found out it's harder than it looks!
...Adam had a go...
...and we both found out it's harder than it looks!
From there we rowed back up to Dasaswamedh Ghat, where the nightly pujah (prayer) was just starting. It is an amazing spectacle - young high caste Brahmins lead the ceremony with much waving of flame, smoke and artifacts. There was a tremenous amount of noise and percussive music as well as the hoardes of faithful participating in the prayer.
Getting ready to start the pujah.
There were two pujahs happening right next to each other on different ghats - we got a great view of both of them!
The crowds sitting in boats, watching the ceremony from the river.
We parked our row boat and climbed on to the roof of one of the docked ferries (much to the consternation of the ferry owner). We got completely wrapped up in the colour and the sound of the pujah.
Firing up the candelabras - my favourite part!
An offering - basically flowers and a little candle wax.
Steph bought an offering from a passing vendor, a little bowl and candle filled with flowers that you light and set afloat on the ganges in hopes of good wishes, health or longevity. Considering it was our anniversary, we made an offering to our marriage and set it off down the river - we couldn't think of a better way to mark our first year as a married couple!
Sending our offering down the Ganga.
Afterwards, we had a great dinner at the same place we had lunch, in large part due to the huge variety of cuisine on the menu - I had a brilliant moussaka and Steph had Thai red curry. We reflected on a great day - one of the best we've had in our travels - and it more than made up for the poor introduction we had to the city.
We said a fond farewell to Corinne and Adam who were heading up to Darjeeling and then Nepal to do some trekking, whereas we were making our final leg back to Mumbai on the longest train trip we had to date - 27 hours.
The next day we got our packs and walked out to the main road - literally 200 metres away, curse that cabby - and easily found a rickshaw to take us back to MGS station.
The Ganges at sunrise has a magical quality
Given the length of the trip we splashed out and went for first class, having our own individual cabin for the long trip back to Mumbai. It was a great chance to catch up on some journalling, reading, played some travel scrabble and even did some of our much behind blogging as the cabin came with powerpoints to plug in our laptop.
The luxury of first class - exxy, isolated, but very relaxing.
We arrived into Mumbai's CST (formerly Victoria Terminus) at around 11:00am, eager to drop off our bags and see a few of the sites before we had to take off in the wee hours tomorrow morning.
We had booked into a cheapie hotel, the New Bengal about 10 minutes walk from CST, which takes the prize for being the smallest hotel room that we had experienced to date. We forgot to take a picture however there was only room enough to place the twin beds end-to-end! However, as we were only going to be staying in the room for a matter of hours, we decided to take it and head out.
Mumbai is India's commercial capital - a huge sprawling city of 16.4 million people, representing India's push for the future. It also manifests many of the challenges that India is facing, with more than half of the city's population living in slums.
We did a bit of a whirlwind tour of India's major sites, dropping by Victoria Terminus again for a few photos, then down to Colaba for lunch and a few more sites.
Officially re-named "Chhatrapari Shivaji Terminus"...not surprisingly, the locals still call it "Victoria Terminus" as well.
The restaurant we went to was called "Laxmi Villas" - Steph had the biggest dosa we had ever seen and we both enjoyed one of the best, biggest and cheapest meals that we had eaten all year (and after seven weeks in India, that's definitely saying something).
Laxmi Villas - home of the best dosas! With food this good, it's no wonder the waiters are rushing around!
We dropped by the Taj Palace hotel, an amazing hotel with beautifully restored heritage wings and the feeling of opulence everywhere - definitely beat the Imperial in Delhi, hands down! We also visited the Gateway of India, which was undergoing some renovations, but still impressive.
The Taj Palace Hotel - so impressive!
We spent the rest of the afternoon with a bit of shopping and a beer in Leopold's, a Mumbai institution that features prominently in the book "Shantaram" - written by an Australian felon and based on his experiences while on the lamb, having spent most of his fugitive years in Mumbai. It was actually the first place that Steph and I saw beef on the menu in India!
We ended our afternoon by sitting back on Chowpatty beach and watching the sunset while reflecting on our amazing 7 week experience in India. We had seen so much of this country - the crisp rugged beauty of the Himalayas, the searing sands of Rajasthan and the cultural wonders of Varanasi - yet still barely scratched the surface. We hadn't ventured south of Mumbai and, with the exception of our two day visit to Varanasi, had pretty much restricted ourselves to the north-eastern corner of this vast country.
Watching the sunset on Chowpatty Beach.
Without a doubt, we'll definitely have to come back to see more of the sights and wonders that makes India such an amazing country to travel through.
We topped off our last night in India with a new Bollywood flick called "Rock On". No subtitles and mainly in Hindi, however we could keep track of what was going on by the odd, random lines in English the actors would blurt out from time to time.
We then returned to our cell of a hotel room for a total of two and half hours sleep before prising ourselves out of bed at 2am for our 4:30am flight to Bangkok (I have no issue at all with Sydney airport's curfew from 11pm - 6am).
Onwards to South-east Asia, where we were looking forward to freely available beer, some time in the sun and putting to bed our Thai food cravings once and for all!
