Varanasi : the holy city of life and death

I thought I will start my travel post with the most recent trip. Varanasi, also known as Kasi/Banaras previously. I’ve always wanted to write a post on India. Of the various places I’ve visited and would love to visit. Those who know me well will know my soft spot for India as I have been travelling there at least once a year (mostly twice) for the last 5 years. India is not an easy country to visit let alone live. Don't think i'll ever be able to describe it in a word. its beautiful yet filthy, lively yet noisy (all the cars constantly honking especially!) and so much more! That said, I love it. I love the culture, character, the liveliness even the lack of cleanliness (that’s what makes India India quite honestly) the life is just very different, in an interesting sort of way surely..

So back to Varanasi, we, as in the family have been planning a visit to perform prayers for my mum for the last few years and only this year it happened. It was for her 4th year prayers. The prayers went well. Varanasi, an ancient city of life & death as they call it was quite something. colorful, chaotic and indiscreet (just like any other parts of India) where the Hindu pilgrims come to wash away their sins in the holy river of Ganges or cremate their loved ones. Some of the older people migrate year after certain age in the hope of dying here someday. We obviously didn’t get to spread mum’s ashes there as we hindus do not keep the ashes at home. would have had to come right away to do that.. that said, i'm glad we got the chnace to perform this prayer for her.

Varanasi just like all of India, is a city of people. Crowded and chaotic. The only difference is that here, a huge number of them are pilgrims or those who have migrated. It is also supposedly the world's oldest inhabited city. If felt a bit like in one of the Greek islands with the alleys leading to the river/sea. Only here, the time kind of stood still at some point taking you back in time where you feel you are in somewhat of a feudal era. gave the real 3rd world feeling. The whole place chants some kind of a religious aura. It’s almost impossible to be unaffected by the feel. It is indeed considered the most holy place for the Hindu. People come from all over just to bathe in the holy river of Mother Ganga. The life of the city is pretty much around the holy river. So anyway.. here are some of the shots taken there to illustrate our experience in Varanasi.

Everywhere you see, people are praying, bathing, kids playing, people being cremated, dhobi walas hard at work, washing the cloths while others just stood there taking in the whole thing.. The scenes were breathtakingly beautiful despite the heavy fog which is very common during the winter months. in fact the fogs kin dof made it even more spectacular.

A prayer/ aarthi pooja is performed for the holy river every evening, one of the highlights which all tourists/pilgrims make it a point to attend. Its an elaborate ceremony with bells, incense, chanting and singing of holy songs that somewhat made the river come alive as thousands of people stood there watching or from row boats along the banks. We did both, we took a boat to see the first half and then walked over to the ghats for a closer view..

Some (we did as well) were lighingt floating candles surrounded by flower petals down the river, making wishes while creating a beautiful sight.

My imagination of Varanasi/Banaras has always been people bathing in the holy river on the ghats (the large stone stairs leading into the river or water in case you didnt know).. or the view of the river amidst heavy fog. Images I picked from movies and magazines and always wanted to see it for myself. and see I did. the breath taking view! even if it was while i was half shivering in the cold!

My first impression of the river was how so calm it was. Despite the crowd and the fact that everything was happening around of in it, the river bank was so peaceful and serene to look at..

The infamous burning Ghats was something I heard so much about before even going there. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn’t get to see anything that I’ll be remembering for the rest of my life. I read somewhere that its not for the faint hearted. Sometime I think I am, so good. But we did see from a distance the final rituals performed for an old man.

We were told that’s about 300 cremations occur in varanasi every day. sun or rain, cold ot hot. We just cruised thru the burning ghat place but didn’t stop. The tour guide was a bit late in telling me that photos were not allowed. I managed to take one from a distance. Apparently childrens, pregnant women and the holy men who are believed to be pure will not be burned but just dumped/left to float on the river. This used to happened anywhere in the ghats but has been restricted to one of the farther ghats where not much tourists or pilgrims venture

While I have experienced so many different things about india in the last 8 trips over, this trip gave me and the whole family a totally new experience. winter in India and just how poorly the cope with it. very poor. the temp were between 1 and 6/7 for most of the time were were there. mornings were extremely cold. none of the indoors have heating. people started campfire every couple of feet to keep them warm. even the cows and dogs sat around to warm up. A very strange way in this day and age to cope with the cold, but hey, whatever that works rite!?

to be continued...