India Rewind: Varanasi(Benares)

Roxy and I have been finally getting around to uploading our huge backlog of pictures and so now feel obliged to tell you about the adventures those pictures correspond to.

This India Rewind takes us back to September 24-27th while Roxy was at her meditation retreat and I was living over at my friends place. We made a spur of the moment decision to go to Varanasi which is also known as Benares.

We got in Friday night after a crazy adventure on the trains. We had wait-listed tickets for a comfy, sleeper car on evening Thursday, we were pretty low on the list and so weren't too worried about not getting on. When we got to the train station we asked at the information window whether we had seats or not, the guy said "yes" and so we got on the train. As the train was pulling out of the station the ticket agent checked our tickets and informed us that we, in fact, did not have seats.

So got off the train at the next stop and decided, what the hell, let's keep trying for Varanasi. In that spirit we got the only tickets that we could, general seating for Varanasi. After waiting at the station for about three hours our train came. We forced ourselves in; I say "in" but what I really mean is "hanging out of." I spent the first three hours of the ride hanging out the door of a completely packed car. Ever chair had three people in it, every four person bench had 10-12 people crammed on.

I wish you could get more of a feel for how crowded it was from this picture. Every person you see here was standing and that fellow sitting above everyone was perched on the top of the open door and braced against the opposite wall. He had no headroom and he stayed in that position for at least three hours.

After a few hours we hit a station and enough people moved around for me to get a spot sitting cross legged on the floor, which I did for two hours, after which I got a third of a chair for another two hours. My break came when a few people got off the train and I was able to move around some luggage enough to fit on the overhead storage rack and get a few hours of sleep.

When I woke up we had been on the train for about 10 hours and I was informed by Bree that we were on the wrong train. Damn. (We found out later that our ticket was not to a particular train but a pass on any train to our destination and the ticket agent only told us the first train that we would have to ride) but we met some people who were going to Varanasi and so we got off the train with them.

After two more hours in the terminal where I almost got in a fight with a cripple, we set off once again on a new, less crowded train. As you can see were were able to get some much needed sleep. We had at that point been traveling for about 18 hours, but this train was only supposed to be a three hour one, so our spirits were lifted by the nearness of our arrival. Eight hours later we arrived in Varanasi.

Varanasi was an amazing city. We got in late, crashed and then the next morning went out to explore. We wandered down to the burning Ghat where a guy took us around and explained what was going on, who was being burned, what the rules and traditions for burning were. He then took us to see the sacred fire, a flame that has been burning for thousands of years and is tended to by its own order of priests. After that we took a boat ride out on the Ganges.
This is the best photo of the burning ghat I have as photos were not allowed on the ghat itself.


After dinner we met up with another group of Americans and wound up going out with some of them to the huge festival called the "Durga Puja" that was just hitting its climax the days that we were there. Durga is the goddess of female power, is a protective warrior and is the patron goddess of India and "Puja" loosely translates to respect. We were led around by a street kid for, like, four hours.
This is one of the many tableaux of Mata Ji (Durga) slaying the shape-shifting buffalo demon that was contracted for the festival. These are dancers at one of the many ceremonies.

The next day we came wandered a bit more and explored the city and watched people bathing in the Ganges. Fun Fact: Indians believe that water from the Ganges has healing properties, and if you swim in or drink it you will be healed. This is especially true in the holy city of Benares, which is why over 60,000 people take a dip at the ghats there every day. In actuality the Ganges at Varanasi is likely to make you ill. According to the Lonely Planet India guide, the Ganges at Varanasi is septic and has 3000 times the safe amount of feces in it than is safe for bathing. I've had two friends get hives just from from dipping their arms in the Varanasi water.

Then it was back to Delhi in comfort, the day after that Roxy came back home and the next day Caleb got into India.