We both had a much better sleep last night and just as well, we had a 5:30 pick-up this morning. So it was a 5am wake-up call followed closely by a room service cup of coffee and tea, with pastries.
We were down in the foyer at 5:30 and were soon on our way back to Mother Ganges for a sunrise river boat ride.
Thankfully the streets were almost empty on the way there, and what took us over an hour last night we did in less than 20 mins this morning. Again we had a 300m walk to the river, it was just us, and several hundred other tourists and cows and dogs and some locals. We made our way down the steps of a ghat to the waters edge and our awaiting boat. It was a fairly large boat with about 15 other passengers on board by the time we “sailed”. The options were for powered boat, or a row boat. With the river still in flood (it is still 300m wide, where normally it should have been around 200m at this time of year), and was running very quickly, so the row boats were having a hard time of it.
The ride took us upstream to the most upstream cremation ghat, passed a series of other ghats where the locals were doing their morning ablutions, others were praying or carrying out rituals for the rising sun. The sun was a fierce looking red ball as it rose over the far bank of Mother Ganges, a sight to see.
Once up at the upstream pyre ghat (which wasn’t in operation at this time) we drifted back downstream with the current to the main cremation ghat, the Manikarnika Ghat. This ghat operates 24/7, as we passed by, there were about 5 cremations taking place. 200-300 cremations a day take place along the river in Varanasi. They now mainly use Mango tree wood for the cremation fires that get sprinkled with sandlewood powder to cover the smell of the burning bodies. Each cremation can take from 2 to 4 hours depending on the size of the individual and the amount of wood used. The cremations are carried out by the Doms (the Untouchable Class guardian of the cremation process), who help facilitate the final release from the reincarnation cycle for those “lucky enough” to have died in this city.
After the boat ride we got ashore just downriver from the cremation point, and walked back up stream passed the area. You couldn’t see too much going on, other than walls of timber waiting to be used. From there we kept walking through the labyrinth of narrow laneways and passages of the waterfront to the Golden Temple (Vishwanatha Gali), so called because it is adorned with about 850kg of gold. This place has been the subject of many attacks over the years and is now under the control of the armed forces, and there are gun toting guards everywhere, you even have to pass through a metal detector and frisk search to get in to have a glimpse of the temple. The young girl who frisked Deb apparently had a nice “grope” while she was at it, all with a smile and a laugh!!!
From there we went for a drive through the largest University in Varanasi, Banaras Hindu University (our guide Shashank, or Baba to his friends, mother lectures at the University), it covers about 40 hectares. It is enormous and has some very inpressive Faculty names. Apparently India now produces so many university graduates that you need at least a Masters in something to get an entry level job in some sectors.
After that we went back to our Hotel/Palace for breakfast. After breakfast we took a stroll around the back gardens, we sat in the Baradari and imagined ourselves having a magificent and very indulgent “dining experience” there. Oh, and we took a few selfies as well. 🙂
We then walked over and had a look at the Maharaja’s horse drawn carriage, as we were looking the carriage driver came over with his horse and offered to take us around the estate grounds, which we absolutely took up. While his English was hard to understand through his very thick accent (but it was so much better than our Hindi!), he did manage to give us a very enjoyable and informative tour of the grounds. He told us that the job of carriage driver to the Maharaja was that of his father and grandfather, so he was over the moon to be able to be carrying on the tradition. On the ride we saw little squirrel type animals, a row of 27 peacock shaped hedges, eagles soaring over head and even their resident monkey. They keep the monkey chained within the grounds to stop other monkeys coming in and causing problems, apparently monkeys are very territorial. After the tour we went up to our room and while we were getting ready to go out on tour again I tried to activate our Internet SIM, but the operator couldn’t understand my accent or I hers, so she eventually hung up on me, TWICE!!
Back out on the road, along with the rest of the population of Varanasi, we went out to the Sarnath ruins, an archeological site where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon to 5 deciples. From little things big things grow. It was interesting finding out the history of Buddism, and how it has strayed from his first teachings and principles (like so many other religions/faiths). There was a huge Stupa there undergoing restoration. Apparently the Japanese have a habit of putting gold-leaf on it when they visit, and there are signs in English (not Japanese) asking them not to do it, but for some reason thay don’t get it!!We then went to a Silk fabric facility where they used hand looms to make some very intricate high quality silk fabibrics for both decoration and particularly very intricate Wedding Saris. They are down to their last Loom Master, an old guy who had all the intricate designs in his head, and controlled the actions of the loom while the weaver did the more mundane work below. There used to be many Loom Masters in the company, the tradition was that they passed on the designs they had memorised to their sons and their sons did the same, but this generation has no interest in it and so, the tradition and craft will die out. Some of the designs are so complex that it may take up to 8 months to produce a single metre of fabric. (After the tour, we were taken to a room and given the hard sell to buy some of their wares, I don’t like this part of tours, needless to say we didn’t buy anything.) Even so one of the guys helped me with the SIM verification process. With his help and a bit of frustration in the language and process difficulties we got it sorted, thankfully. So we now have mobile internet for the rest of our holiday, depending on coverage of course.
From there we went to the “Famous” Bhurat Mata Mandir Temple, I guess I really don’t have to say any more, as you are all so familiar with this famous temple dedicated to Mother India. What’s that you say, lol. This place was established by Mahatma Gandhi, and houses a huge relief map of the Indian subcontinent and tibetan plateau. Apparently pilgrims circumambulate the map when they visit here (yes, they walk around it), and you sometimes can view it from an upper gallery, but this was closed off when we were there.
And that was the end of our tour with Baba, we were dropped back at our Palace to have the remainder of the day to ourselves and enjoy our surroundings.
I went out for a walk around the grounds with my camera, exploring all that was to be seen, from the horse and carriage to the old Tiger enclosure and the 5 hole golf course, this place really is a world of its own sitting in a time of its own.
While we were at dinner a group of 3 couples went and had the very indulgent Maharajah dining experience out in the Baradari. They were blessed by the in house holy man as they walked to it along a pathway marked by candles. Not long after they sat down, there was a short fireworks display followed by a group of dancers and a band to entertain them. Such a life. We were lucky enough to be able to enjoy the fireworks too.
Deb here, Varanasi was the place in India I was looking forward to the most and it didn’t disappoint. At home our lives play out behind closed doors, here it seems that life is happening out on the streets. Everyone seems to have a role to play. I have loved taking in the sights, sounds and much to my surprise, even the smells. It is not possible for me to do Varanasi justice with my words or photos, but driving along the crazy streets, observing life and a boat ride on the ganges will stay in my heart forever, feel so lucky we came to Varanasi!
Some interesting facts we have discovered so far
Population of India 1.2 billion
Population of Delhi 18 million in 2011
Population of Varanasi 3 million it is the oldest living city in the world, over 3000 years old 5million pilgrims come each year and 500,000 tourists
Many people here still prefer to have a boy and will stop at one child if they have a boy first
Their cold and flu medication has caffeine in it, and they just take out however many tablets you want out of the packet and they are very cheap $2 for 20 tablets!
They grow lentils in Varanasi, which grow on a small bush who knew!!
Ravi Shankar was born in Varanasi, worlds greatest sitar player and a composer, he played with George Harrison, Norah Jones, Yehudi Menuhin
A cow eats at home in the morning, then it is milked, then it is allowed to wander, it always goes back home in the evening
Cow dung is used for fire, urine to fix skin complaints, especially calf urine.
The monsoon rains destroy the roads – totally gone in some places, making it bumpy and dusty, every year they have to replace the road
If someone bumps into your car, abuse them and that is the end of it
Wages
In hospitality earn approx $400 AUD per month, when you are starting out you work for free for 3-4 years first – this explains why there are so many staff working in the hotels, they are not being paid! And why tips are so important to them
Teachers $1000.00 per month
Petrol is $1.50 per litre
Most other things are much cheaper, except in expensive hotels and then they are the same price
Mortgage rates around 8% and you can earn 7% on your money in the bank – think we need to transfer our savings to India!
This one is for you Dante! You only eat with your right hand, your left hand is for wiping your bottom, so you would never eat with your left hand!!
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I’m so pleased that Varanasi is lived up to your hopes mum!
I’m enjoying learning about India.