Varanasi

We just relaxed our last day in Agra. We found a café which would hold our backpacks and we played cards, watched movies and talked with other travelers. Our train to Varanasi wasn’t due to leave until 11:30 pm so we had plenty of time to kill. We left for the train station at about 10pm and found our platform. Our train was delayed by one hour and by 12:30am we were ready to crash. We found our birth and settled in, it’s fairly comfortable; you have a small bed, sheets, pillow, etc. We were due to arrive in Varanasi at 12:30pm the next day as it was an 11 hour train. We woke up around 11am thinking we were almost there only to find out that we were still over 8 hours away from our destination (which ended up being over 12 hours once all was said and done). We arrived in Varanasi at 11pm exhausted and hungry; the total train ride being 23 hours. Thankfully our driver was there waiting to take us to our hotel but unfortunately no restaurants were open.

We woke up and took a nice walk along the Ganges River today; Varanasi is a very colorful place. Along the river there are herds of water buffalo, children selling flowers for puja, boats and holy men. There are ghats, burning and bathing, all along the river and they really are a site to see. For someone who hasn’t witnessed a burning ghat, or conducted a cremation, it can be a shock. Wealthier families cremate their loved ones with wood close to the river and lower castes cremate via electricity above the river. The body is set atop a pile of burning wood about 4 feet in height and burned until the majority of the body is in ash and the remnants are brought into the river. One can see the process first hand and it’s an enlightening experience. There are three major burning ghats, one which operates all day and two that hold ceremonies in the evening around 6:30pm. People during the evening ceremony light candles in bowls with flowers and push them into the river for prayer. Keep in mind this is up stream, so whatever remains slawly makes its way down the river to the washing and bathing ghats…What’s truly amazing is that the Ganges river is one of the most heavily polluted in the world; however, most parasites like cholera only live for minutes in the water but for weeks in normal drinking water. Matt’s going for a swim tomorrow with the locals…

Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities in the world, a city which, since it is both an exalted place of pilgrimage and an idealize centre of faith, has been likened to Jerusalem and Mecca.According to the historians, the city was founded some ten centuries before the birth of Christ. The city is mentioned in Holy Scriptures like 'Vamana Purana', Buddhist texts and in the epic 'Mahabharata'.Mark Twain,the English author and literature,who was enthralled by the legend and sanctity of Banaras,once wrote:"Banaras is older than history,older than tradition,older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together."This is a great place to spend our last week in India.