Varanasi is one of the most important cities for Hindu people (if not the most).. with the sacred river Ganges passing by the city and thousands of people praying continously everyday... Old people even come to Varanasi to die hoping to be cremated and have their ashes sent to the Ganges River.
We didn't know what to expect from Varanasi, in one way we watched documentaries on TV, talked to people, searched on Internet so the expectations were high.. on the other way Kika was really doubtful about seeing the cremation of the corpses and about the rumours of dying people laying on the street and Pedro, mostly due to the "bad" experience in Khajuraho, was with a feeling that we wouldn't like Varanasi that much...
When we arrived, the tuk-tuk guy was already waiting for us, we started our journey to the hotel and we immediately realized that this was a very busy city... comparable to Delhi. A lot of cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, tuk-tuks, people, horns, etc.. we rode for 15/20min and suddenly the tuk-tuk stopped... the guy said we needed to walk the rest of the path, he would guide us through the very narrow streets... while walking (+- 5min) we started to feel the strong smell of garbage, a lot of flies and other bugs, dogs and cows and obviously their poop all over the street.. we both looked at each other thinking "Where the hell are we?!?". We checked in at the guesthouse and negotiated the room rate, with time we are getting better and better.. the hotel manager seemed a very nice guy, we could definitely trust him.. so we asked him if he could help us booking the bus tickets from Delhi to Manali and agreed we would do it next day in the morning.. with the conversation he ended up recommending us a nice and cheap Indian restaurant for lunch.
On our way to the restaurant we started to explore the city.. our guest house was very close from the Chaustti Ghat, a couple of Ghats south from Dasashwameth Ghat (main ghat). As we walked, there were also a lot of boats aligned through the river and immediately the boat drivers approached us for boat rides. Saying "no" or "nahi" all the time and observed people bathing in the Ganges River or praying next to it. In the main street we saw more and more garbage, cows also dogs searching for food in the piles of garbage. We also noticed that the city was full of homeless people begging for money in line... the restaurant was nice but now we only wanted to explore the city, we realized that people in Varanasi are much more "stressed" than on other cities, there's a lot of commerce everywhere but everything is a bit messy. In the evening (6:30) we watched the daily ceremony in the main ghat, man dressed in orange praying and singing for the river accompanied by hundreds of people seated along the stairs. During the prayers they also danced holding instruments on fire and with incense.
We were a bit hesitant about the cremation ghats, the hotel manager explained us that there were two ghats where the bodies are cremated, one is in the traditional way with wood and fire and the other one is more recent, bodies are cremated in ovens. As we didn't want to have a big culture shock on the first day we decided to visit the cremation ghats on the second day. As we woke up and got ready to visit the cremation ghats we could both see that we were nervous and a bit hesitant, we walked towards the traditional cremation ghat without knowing what to expect. Suddenly, we saw huge piles of wood and some smoke.. we had arrived. Our steps became shorter and slow, we were curious and afraid. We shyly took some pictures but two guys came to us and shouted at us in an aggressive way. We were lucky that our hotel manager had explained us that those guys do that to tourist trying to make us feel bad and making us give "donations". We moved way and climbed some stairs and watched from far but the view wasn't the best. We met an Indian lawyer from bangalore, he explained us some facts about the ceremony and took us to the top of an unfinished building where we can totally see what is happening downstairs. As we saw the burning firewoods with the bodies inside, the silence between us became more and more real. The three of us were shocked, it was also his first time watching... we tried to share some words but our minds and hearts were in another place.. more and more bodies were coming and with it, the fires were becoming stronger. The smoke, the ashes and the smell were consuming us. With a big knot on our throats and Kika trying to hold the tears we all thought about how short is our life and how something so important as our life can end and simply disappear with the fire. At one point we all decided that it was enough, the guy kindly invited us for lunch but as we stepped way and walked through the narrow and crowded streets with bodies being carried to the fire right next to us Kika needed space and time to reflect, some tears were falling from her face and having social lunch wasn't something she could do at that time. We sincerely apologized the guy and left. The second day was strongly marked by the morning events, we walked a bit but we were both very silent, sometimes we shared some thoughts about what we saw but we didn't have the energy to explore a lot. It was mostly a reflection day were we thought about what and who is important for us. At the end of the day we decided to put one small basket with flowers and a candle in the Ganges River for good karma for us and our family and friends.
On our third day, we finally said yes to the boat ride.. we wanted to have another perspective from the city. The boat ride was nice, we could see all the ghats including the cremation ones from far.. distance makes it easier.. while going down the river, Pedro tried to paddle but he was not very successful.. he was basicaly able to put the boat in circles... but according to him, the boat wasn't not made for a person his size... in the afternoon we explored the south side of varanasi, as we walked we noticed that groups of women were making some prayers/rituals. They got together in circles praying/singing while drawing on the floor and prepared basked with fruits and rice and lightened candles. The more we walked the more people we saw.. in the last ghat there was so much people that we couldn't believe in all the amazing colors from the stunning sarees that we were seeing, it was really beautiful. We tried to walk along the street from the crowded ghat but it was impossible... there were thousands of people, cars, motorbikes, bycicles, buffalos, cows, dogs... it was so crowded that it would be hard for a needle to cross. As we walked back to the main ghat in order to have dinner we realized that the streets were very empty comparing to the previous days. As we approached the ghat an Indian guy told us not to go to the main street.. unsure about what he said, probably we didn't understand we kept going but more and more Indians told us not to go and that it would be dangerous. We went a bit closer and we understood that some violent riots were happening. All the stores and restaurants were closed.. we even saw fire burning in the middle of the street. We could feel the tention in the air... Finally one guy explained us that it was protests against the police due to religious issues. According to them, the government forbidden people of throwing the Ganesh statue to the Ganges River in one of the most important festivals of the year (see udaipur post) and this year the police killed one of the religious men that tried to do it. Upset with that men's death, people organized the protest for that day. Later we aknowledge that six police cars got on fire and several people got hurt. There were rumours of a few deaths but they were not confirmed.. We got a bit concerned and at one point we thought we wouldn't be able to have dinner but due to the kindness of some Indian people that helped us finding a restaurant we were able to get a proper meal. One thing that really touched us was the concern of the people with our safety, several people stopped and told us to go home to be safe. The police had blocked the entire street and the government imposed a curfew, a lots of people slept by the ghats because they weren't able to go back home... we were lucky our hotel was by the ghats.. all the ghats were ok.
On our last day in Varanasi we were curious about how everything would be after the protests.. we left the hotel and it was like nothing has happened... we decided to walk through the narrow bazaars/markets.. and get a few things we needed like flip-flops and shampoo. The streets are so narrow that a motorbike ruined Kika's bag... again, the kind hotel manager saved us and sent one of the employees to a Taylor shop... if foreigners go to Taylor shops they charge a lot while if it is a local it becomes very very cheap.
At the end, we both liked Varanasi.. it is a city full of energy and faith.. messy and dirty but beautiful and colorful at the same time. It gave us a new perspective about life and death that we will never forget...
Recomendations:
- Shivakashi guesthouse - great hotel manager, he helps with everything we need;
- Shree restaurant - good and cheap Indian food;
- Madhur Milan - authentic Indian restaurant, good food and price but it doesn't look that great from the outside.
- Ayyar's - great food and prices where we were able to try several different things. The manager and employees are not the kindest people but it's worth for the food and price.
