Varanasi
INDIA
City of Ghats
By AARON
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Real Estate agents are masters of words. With a few quick choice phrases and carefully inserted words, they can transform an absolute dump into something that sounds like “A great fixer-upper!”, or “This one’s got charm and a unique personality all its own!”.
Lonely Planet seems to be written by real estate agents at times because even they have trouble selling certain cities. For example, one city in India is described as “suffers from overcrowding, traffic turmoil and pollution, and persistent touts can wear down your enthusiasm. But give this disheveled romantic town time to weave her magic and the appreciative guest will be tickled pink.” Wow, sign me up.
So when Varanasi was described as a maze of winding streets scented by incense, roses and sewers, I was interested to see what we would find in the town some call “Very Nasti”.
After a rousing night spent in Gorkaphur, we boarded a 7am bus to Varanasi and arrived around 3pm. A nice autorickshaw driver took us to our pre-researched hotel and despite the glowing reports about the place, it was an absolute dump, so after about an hour of searching, we treated ourselves and found a nice, air-conditioned room near the Assi Ghat.
Now Varanasi is known for its Ghats (pronounced “gots”) that run along the famed river Ganges. The river Ganges is the holiest of rivers in all of India and people come from all over the country to, well, to die. The Hindu religion states that anyone that bathes in the river Ganges will be absolved of their sins, and anyone who dies in the city is cremated and has their ashes spread over the Mother Ganges will receive instant salvation.
So at sunrise, all along the riverbank, you can see people bathing in the river and receiving forgiveness for all their sins. At night, you can take a boat out on the water and see bonfires dotted along the riverside where families and friends have taken loved ones to be cremated right there on the river front, in order for their ashes to be spread across the holiest of rivers.
There’s just one problem. River Ganges is polluted. And I don’t mean it’s dirty… at the end of Varanasi, the water in the river has been labeled septic, meaning there is no dissolved oxygen whatsoever in the water – fish can’t survive. All along the river and even sometimes next to certain ghats are sewage pipes that will dump sewage directly into the river. Steps have been taken to fix this problem, and some of the pipes have been shut down, while water purification systems have been put in their place, but add in all the trash that the locals will throw into and around the river as well and you have a holy, bacterial infested river.
Yet with all of this going on, Hindus from all over the country still regard this river as the holiest of holies and continue to bathe in its waters daily. Now that is commitment to your religion.
I must say, aside from touring the ghats and taking a boat on the river, Varanasi seemed to be just a big city. There were some temples that we visited, the monkey temple probably being the most popular and rightfully so, as monkeys pretty much own the place and mix and intermingle with all the humans that enter its walls. Nothing like watching in reverence at a father and son say their holy prayers while two monkeys do it three feet to the right of them. Sorry, no pictures are allowed inside the temples.
The boat tour we did at night was definitely the highlight and Pradeep, our guide, was great as he answered all of our questions and gave us insight to the different ghats, the city and the cremations that were taking place as we slowly drifted by on the river. The night was finished at the main ghat (whose name escapes me) where we watched an elaborate ceremony performed by four holy men who chanted, sang and even did some little dances much to the enjoyment of all the onlookers there that evening.
Our final day in Varanasi was a bit of a let-down as Lyndi woke up at sunrise to view the Ganges but was only greeted by rain, so we were slaves to our hotel room as it poured all day, and then our hotel decided to charge us a ½ day for staying there 3 hours after the checkout time, even though I asked if it was okay and was approved with enthusiastic nods and head-waggles.
Apparently I was approved to stay there at the charge of ½ day, not for free as I had asked. So with an unfortunate ending to our stay in Varanasi, we were anxious to get on our first train and begin our long sabbatical from buses as we headed towards the town of Agra – home to the famous Taj Mahal.
