Varanasi

A view of the Ganges from the train

Tarp dwellings next to the Ganges

A rice paddy with women working viewed from the train

We took an overnight train from Khajuraho to get to Varanasi. That was an experience since we were on the train for about 14 hours. The sleeping berths were 3 tall and 6 beds to a compartment. It proved to be a good way to see the countryside. It is amazing how people are present all along the countryside. Sometimes we would see a guy standing out in the middle of a field and wonder what he was doing there since he was obviously not working. The people seen working most often were the women. I saw many groups of women huddled in a circle, probably eating. The landscape was littered with litter, rice paddies and other crops such as sugar cane and corn, and slum dwellings.

Jon and I took a boat ride on the Ganges at sunrise and sunset to see the worshipers going to the ghats to bath in the Ganges. The night was much busier since it was the beginning of another festival. After the ride in the morning, Jon and I took a walk through town near the ghats with our guide. We walked up to one of the two cremation sites where a couple of bodies were burning. Even at a place where one would think there is respect for the dead there were con artists. A couple of men approached us to ask for money to buy wood for the poor who came there to be cremated. We were suckered since it seemed like they were official. Our guide took us to the silk factory owned by his family after the tour. Indians are great entrepreneurs. They come up with many angles in order to sell things. I think our guide was pretty effective since we bought a few things and we liked him.

Hindus believe that to die in Varanasi means to end the cycle of rebirth and death, and bathing in the Ganges washes away sin. We saw people washing clothes, taking baths, filling containers of water, holy men sitting under umbrellas praying, tourists gawking (me included), a few sadhus (men who have renounced all of the pleasures of life to focus on spirituality), and people there for the festival dressed in orange. There are homes or hotels where old people come to die so they can be cremated and their remains put into the Ganges. Jon's Indian colleagues gave him a bit of a hard time saying that he was probably going to Varanasi for that reason.