Varanasi, city of dreams and grim reality. (Varanasi)

Member Name: GillMN

Product:	Varanasi
Date:	08/10/08 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The mix of people, the layers of history.

Disadvantages: Having to leave.

Varanasi, Benares or Kashi.
The fact that this city of 1,500,000 souls has at least three names is indicative of the extraordinary mix and layers that the place presents you with.

Varanasis' whole life is closely associated with the River Ganges and the river's religious importance. It has been a cultural and religious centre in northern India for thousands of years. Legend has it that it was brought into being by the Goddess Shiva 5,000 years ago.

It is situated in the middle of the Utar Pradesh region of India.
It sits on the Holy river Ganges, or Ganje Ma as it is known to the locals. Mother Ganges.

I was there during the festival of Holi and witnessed everyone being liberally plastered, showered, daubed and generally immersed in powders of the brightest colours imaginable. If you stood still long enough (and even if you dodged about!)somebody gleefully threw a shower of this powder at you and you got coloured. Not a good idea to go out in anything you ever wanted to wear again!

At noon everyone calmed down and went off to visit family members and bring them treats. We walked down to the Ghats and saw the brightest coloured dogs, goats and cows we had ever seen before in our lives. Seeing a multicoloured cow is quite an experience! The cows seemed unmoved by being brilliant green and purple, or vermillion and blue.

The Ghats (steps) down to the Ganges are built of stone and extend for a mile or so along the waterfront. I seem to remember that there are about 100 of them. Life is lived on them in various ways. Street vendors sell, mums bring the kids and clothes down to be washed, prayers are said, exercises led, music is made, deals are brokered and all the while the majestic Ganges makes her unhurried way to the sea.

The most famous Ghats in Varanasi are the burning Ghats. Where reverent Hindus come from all over the world to give the last rites to their loved ones. To be cremated on the side of the Ganges and for your ashes to be liberated into her waters is believed to bring the ultimate spiritual attainment for the devout Hindu.

The smell around the Burning Ghats is indescribable. It's a stunning odour of sandalwood and burnt flesh. One of our party, a retired fireman, almost fainted and had to be taken away because the recollections that the smell brought overpowered him. For us Westerners it was a grim but moving place to be.

Our guide took us through the reasons and rituals of the cremations and whilst I was fascinated I felt like a clumsy interloper intruding upon the grief and joy of the various bereaved family. Amazingly no resentment was shown to us and we were even invited back to a home for a funeral meal. Our guide would not let us go because he wanted to keep to the timetable. He had already lost me nce in the jungle and wasn't going to risk it again. (See my Corbetts review.)

My experience has been similar wherever I was in India, the love and hospitality that the poorest people offered to me was astonishing and humbling.

We decided to walk the whole length of the Ghats back to our hotel, we stopped because sat on the middle of one of the steps was the biggest toad I had ever seen. It had managed to avoid the ministrations of Holi and was it's own pinky green colour. It sat there being admired and great pains were taken by the busy people around to avoid damaging it. A young man came down from a nearby youth hostel to play it a tune on a didgeridoo and nobody thought it was the least bit odd.

I swear you could live your life on the ghats and never be short of something amazing to see. Unfortunately we ran out of time and our guide kept rubbing his tummy and telling us we were hungry so we had to leave.

The city of Varanasi is huge. The shops sell a mixture of handcrafted items and is justifiably famous for its Sarees. Every colour of the rainbow and then some more were available. A Saree measures 8 metres long usually and saree lengths of pure silk were on sale for around £3 to £30! After a while it became impossible to take in any more richness and a cool interior was found to sit and drink Lassi, a refreshing yoghourt drink.

The sights and sounds of an Indian city are like no other, what stays with me about Varanas was the explosions of colour and noise contrasted to the absolute serenity of the Budhist and Hindu temples. It is a city of polarities.

On our last morning we rose before dawn to take a boat trip on the Ganges and watch the sun rise. Many others were doing the same thing but all was quiet. As we sat in our little boat we were given candles made in sections of egg trays, after the Sadhu (holy man) blessed the lights and us, we floated them on the slow moving water. It was an extraordinary experience to see hundred of little candle flames bobbing about whilst the rising sun slowly revealed the lines of the riverbanks and city.

I didn't want to leave Varanasi. I wanted more time to explore and immerse myself in the place. It is said to be the oldest city in India and everywhere my eye alighted there was another bit of history waiting to be told.

Ancient buildings jostled new ones for space, animals wandered at home, people smiled and stared or blessed the visitor.
Many students from one of the cities three universities bustled by with books under their arms. The brass makers worked on the narrow streets adding their noise and heat to the mixture.

Life and death were acted out unselfconsciously in this timeless place.

Like I say, I want to go back. Part of me never really came home.

Summary: It is not possible to summarise.