Hello... Boat?

We've found ourselves back in the thick of India again, no more cow covered streets, dust covered everything or strange noises all through the night... Hang on a minute, yes there is!!  Varanasi, the ancient holy city of India has it all, including a similarity to village life!

In true Indian city form, Varanasi greeted us with everything all at once, starting from the train station.  After being found by a rickshaw driver (you don't look for them, they find you and always before you're ready) we were whisked away to the hostel we'd been recommended... or so we thought.  Hours later we realised that instead of being at the Shanti Guesthouse, we were actually at the commission paying Shanti Resthouse, hmmm, that old trick.

But it hasn't all been scams and cons.  Wandering along the Ganges through the more than 80 Holy bathing ghats you're reminded just how important religion is to everyone in India.  Everywhere you look there's someone bathing, praying,selling something, playing cricket or going to the toilet! And then you remind yourself that the Ghats are meant to be holy places, but it all seems to make perfect sense (or perhaps we've been in India a little too long?).  The ghats are a great place to see India, its all there right in front and around you.  The smells, the sights, and of course the poo!

The poo doesn't stop on the ghats though, no it heads up the banks and right through all the tiny alley ways that make up the old town area.  We'd heard all about the ghats in Varanasi, but had no idea about the alleys.  Talk about confusion!  They twist and turn their way around until you really have no idea where you are or have come from, but they're full of life! Chai wallahs, food dhabas, bangle shops and all sorts of other strange things.  At night the fog rolled in, the power goes out and then you really have no idea how to get home and you do your best to seek out the river, everyones reliable landmark!

Varanasi really does revolve around the Ganges.  The river is full of business, from the cry of "hello... boat?" coming from the hundreds of boatmen wanting you to accompany them for an hour or two (its always the best time to go out for a trip!), to the barbers chopping away at hair, the gamblers playing cards, that Sadhu's looking for donations and the funeral parties buying their piles of firewood.

Religion does manage to find its part in all the activity however.  Most people are there to bath and offer blessings to the river.  There's the nightly puja (religious ceremony) conducted with the masses of Indian pilgrims and tourists mixed in complete with blaring music, fire and plenty of chanting, which is a pretty incredible sight.  We were even lucky enough to be long the river banks at the time of the lunar eclipse.  Apparently this is a tough time for the Hindu gods, so all the temples close so the gods can focus their attention on bringing back the moon.  Everyone heads to the river and adds their own prays and blessings to the fold and when the moon finally makes it back, its bathing time to celebrate the success.  Then just to make sure the moon doesn't disappear again, most people sleep the night on the ghats, before bathing again (this night the temperature dropped to probably around 5 or 6 degrees and the water is far from warm! talk about committed).

Varanasi is the best city to get the full on India experience, complete with enjoying your lassi to the site of a dead person being carried past you on the way to the burning ghat. A place where the kids play cricket next to a cremation ceremony. Death is a way of life in India, just as religion is, and Varanasi is the place to discover them both.