Varanasi....experienced.

         Is it my imagination, or are Indian railways starting to let me down? The last couple of trains have been

either late departing, or mysteriously held up en route resulting in late arrival times…alright, this is not a great crisis for this tourist with all the time to spend, but for this my first month of riding the Indian rails, I have been greatly impressed with the punctuality of the worlds largest rail system. This morning the 7.45 am train to Varanasi had not arrived at platform #2 from Lucknow by 8.45am, the anxious and expectant crowds stacking up on the platforms---and when I say crowds, I mean crowds, Indian style---a massive crush of business men, grandmothers, babies, ladies with massive baskets of (vegetables?) balanced on their heads all anxious/desperate to secure passage in “unreserved”. At 9.15 am, first in Hindi, then in a sort of broken English, it was announced over the loudspeakers that the awaited train would now be arriving at platform #6. I don’t think that I have ever seen 10,000+/- move so fast, with one accord, up the stairs, across the connecting bridge and down the stairs to the new platform. One reads/sees in the media how, 500 people are crushed to death falling down stairs---well to see/experience it, is to believe. Just imagine what real life ‘in the raw’ experiences those Western packaged tour folks who take the glossy brochure tours, miss!

              My hotel ‘Sariya’, is approx. 5 kms. north of the central Varanasi city area, a little less frenetic and in the sector with perhaps more international appeal, being complete with McDonald's, Pizza Hut et al. Important to understand that my medium pizza supper probably cost the equivalent of  ½ a weeks wages for Mr. Average in these parts.

          The ‘ghats’, or access points to the river (Ganges), are the main points of interest in Varanasi, a city where devout Hindus believe that to be immersed in the muddy brown soup of the River Ganges, moves them a step closer to heaven. A cremation with ashes carried downstream assures passage to a higher level (of  Kama?). Not being a guided tour type I decided to take an auto rickshaw to the southern most ghat and attempt to walk back towards the city. The passage was of course convoluted with barriers to my progress frequently appearing in the form of deep sewage ditches that I felt too dangerous  & foul to attempt to leap and several times was forced back to the ‘main’ road in order to progress northward. In the maze of narrow streets I did stumble upon Mother Teresa’s Missionary Shelter. Curious, I entered, was warmly welcomed and offered a tour. Absolutely spotless! The ‘clients’, imacculately clean, seemed to me be mostly mentally challenged. Unfortunately, they had a strict ‘no photography’ policy as far as the Sisters were involved. Again, the advantages of getting oneself lost in the maze of side streets.

                 The water front area of Varanasi, rated as a national/Hindu shrine in India, is, I am sorry to report, an absolute slum, an open sewer. Very photogenic are the rotting and semi-derelict buildings that tower up and over the river-bank. My walking route along the ghats brought me to the first of the smoke shrouded major cremation areas. These areas certainly did not have the hushed reverence of church cremations in the West. In fact, there were groups of young boys surreally playing soccer not 20 yards away. It all seemed to me more like a work yard, where gangs of men were setting fire and fanning the flames of piles of logs. Chatting to a local, I was informed that even this smaller ghat can handle 250 cremations per day, that tears from mourners not allowed as this impedes the passing of the spirit of the deceased to a higher level, and lastly that aromatic (expensive) sandal wood is considered more auspicious than cheaper regular wood as a burning medium.

                Exhausted in the heat from climbing and carefully descending all the flights of stone steps up and down to the ghats, I beat a retreat to find a restorative ‘chai’ shop  on the main-street.

            Back to the hotel, a siesta and a relaxing dip in the swimming pool. The good life, (for a lucky few) in Varanasi.

        A 5.00am (tomorrow) three hour dawn trip booked back to the ghats, hopefully to witness the multitudes of faithful take their obligatory dip in the River Ganges.