Varanasi

I know I owe readers a post about Delhi and Agra. But I want to write about my morning in Varanasi while it’s still fresh.

I got here yesterday via train. Caught the train at 6 AM in Agra, and got off at 3 PM in Varanasi. Sleep was impossible because people watch videos with the sound on on their phones, even in “executive class.” This happens on the NY subway too.

Varanasi is a holy city for Hindus, and it’s been a continuous settlement for 5,000 years. I had come here to see the ritual cremations on the Ganges river, of which my mom had spoken with mixed appreciation and revulsion recalling her own trip here in the 80s. I am fresh back from a 6 AM boat ride down the Ganges to see this rite performed, and let me tell you: I didn’t see much.

Yes, there are stacks of wood, and people are burning something. But what that something is is very unclear:

Not that I came here purely to gawk at a ritual from a different culture. Later today I plan to go to a museum and actually learn about the history of the place. But the boat ride was underwhelming.

My captain stopped the boat to pick up a fish that had gotten snared on a hook overnight. He then proceeded to spend 10 minutes trying to remove the line from the fish’s mouth, only to decide his catch was no good and throw it back in the water. Here’s a picture of the fish floating away:

He also got tired of rowing at some point and we just drifted, until I offered to row. It was hard work. On the one hand, that made me feel like his commission was well-earned. On the other, the fish break and my own rowing made me think a tip, perhaps, wasn’t necessary.

I polished things off with a cup of Masala chai (10 cents, though one thing they don’t tell you abroad is that the cups are very, very small) and am now back at the homestay where I’m lodging until I head to Jaipur tomorrow.

The homestay, by the way, seems really nice: the older couple who run it seem educated, the place is clean and tastefully decorated, and I’m excited for the breakfast I’m going to share with them in 20 minutes.

Toodles for now.