VARANASI

VARANASI Long day getting to Varanasi on Saturday. Our flight didn't leave till about 2:30 p.m.  from Khajuraho , so one of those hurry up and wait days. Robin and I went for a short walk in the morning, but you are constantly hastled by touts trying to sell their wares or by tuk tuk drivers.  Varanasi is said to be one of the oldest living cities in the world, and boy talk about chaos here...thought we has seen it all, but there is absolutely no order in this city which now has a population in excess of 3.5million.   The city is steeped in Hindu mythology and the Ganges (they call it the Ganga) flows right through the city. The City is also about 60% Hindu and 40% Muslim. Will  be in Varanasi for two nights, but really only one day as we arrived quite late in the afternoon and simply visited a small weaving enterprise. They still weave any silk material by hand. The weavers only weave about 5 cm. per day and only weave for about 4 to 5 hours per day due to the strain on their hands and eyes. Those that machine weave can work an 8 hour day. Quite extraordinary work! The next morning we went to visit the small village of Sarnath. This town is where Buddha travelled shortly after his enlightenment and gave his first sermon to five disciples revealing his eightfold plan which would lead to nirvana......I will go no further so you don't think I/we have been enlightened! There is a temple and museum in his honour and this is a pilgrimage site for those practicing Buddhism.  Also visited the large Dhamek Stupa said to be built in 249 B.C.   Spent the afternoon relaxing and around 5 headed down to The Ghats (steps - hundreds of them) to view the evening ceremony. Just a little background regarding Varanasi. A lot of Hindu's come here to die if they can afford to do so.  All  the great Maharajah built palaces here along the Ganges so that their ashes could be strewn in the Ganges (Mother God) once their bodies had been cremated. The four of us, rented a rowboat so that we could view the ceremony from the river.  The man who rowed  the boat has been doing this for seventeen years, rowing tourists and locals for both the morning ceremony at sunrise and for the evening ceremony. He first took us to the Ghats where the dead are being prepared for cremation. The relatives first wrap their dead, then bring their bodies down to the river and soak them with the water from the sacred Ganges. They then cremate the bodies then spread the ashes in the river. You also see hundreds of people bathing in the river as it is holy water. We then moved to a further set of ghats to view the ceremony. On the steps were five buddhist monks who chanted, played drums, rang bells, dispersed incense and chanted in praise of the Holy Ganga. It was incredible to see all the people on the steps, many of them locals and visiting Hindus and hundreds of tourists both on the steps and in small boats viewing from the river.  The boats were tied together an bobbing up and down with the movement of the river, so some of our pictures a little blurred.  Each one of the four of us placed a a small floral blessing in the Ganges, a very moving evening.  Suzanne and I always get a chuckle out of watching the so called traffic police. They stand in a round structure in the middle of busy intersections and wave their hands to get the traffic moving, but usually just an exercise in futility as the drivers, motorcycles, tuk tuks,  bikes, people just do as they want, creating utter chaos. Last night coming back from the ceremony the traffic police had on gloves with reflective strips so that drivers could see them better...what a laugh...even more so when we noticed that the gloves appeared to be rubber gloves that one would use to wash dishes, with reflective strips placed on them.   Across the places we have visited, the local shops, restaurants, etc. all seem to have a problem with any rupee bills in 500 and 1,000 rupee denominations. This is the equivalent of $10 and $20. We are told that this is due to rampant counterfeiting . So they prefer to get 50 rupee notes, which is one dollar. At times, we have simply insisted that they take what we have as far as denominations are concerned and at times unable to buy what we wanted such as water or snacks. Not a problem in the hotels fortunately.  It is now Monday and we flew back to Delhi this afternoon from Varanasi. Off to Kathmandu, Nepal tomorrow afternoon, to begin the second leg of our journey. Suzanne and Colin will be spending an additional week in the north of India. We have enjoyed our three weeks  in India. It has been wonderful, exotic, chaotic, frustrating and stimulating. Would not have missed it.  It was also great to spend time with Suzanne and Colin.