A QUICK OBSERVATION FROM SUZ
Day 3: Varanasi
I can't tell you how much Ryan and I have been looking forward to visiting Varanasi--the holiest place in Hinduism. They say Varanasi is quintessential India.Sometimes, spirituality seems best described by pictures and not words...
But, in this case, I'll let Mark Twain's words describe just one part of Varanasi's wonder. It's one of the oldest continually populated cities in the world.
"Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together."
Varanasi has so many faces: the early morning bathers--men and women alike bathing naked in the Varanasi at sunrise and dusk. Yogi's meditating on their perch. Lit candles released to float along the river early and late in the day illuminate the darkness. There are the many children running alongside you trying to get you to visit their guesthouse, buy their bindis and postcards; boatmen trying to get you to come with them for a quick ride. There are countless cows that line the narrow sometimes cramped alleys, the cowshit that is everywhere you walk.
One Indian gentleman said to us, "You are so fortunate to be here. Fate brought you here." And he took off running into the water.
Yes, they are a very spiritual folk, folk who come here and dunk their heads in the so-called river of life and death, the river that 60,000 visit every day, the river that is also festering in fecal form, raw sewage, and ashes of all the cremated. So spiritual, they'll wash their clothes here, wash their face and bodies, and then proceed to brush their teeth.
Don't know how to even describe the intensity, the magnmanity, the significance of the experience. But, I'll make it as simple as this:
SIGHTS: so many people on the river as early as 6am bathing, cleasing, spirtually renewing themselves; the sadhus with their ash covered forheads donning bright orange or yellow robes, the marigolds adorning the water and the vendors's stands. Just a few feet away, raging fires as hundreds of bodies are cremated, piles and piles of wood reaching up to the sky--wood ready collected from every place, all day for the endless spiritual ritual.
SOUNDS: so much chanting, singing, gongs, bells.... boatmen shouting out "boat?, boat" (as in get a boatride along the Varanasi), little kids and their opening line: "You know Goldie Hawn--famous American actor?" the monkeys screeching; at times it's the pyres that are burning, the sound of flames raging--cremations well underway even late into the evening; in the evening, it's the sound of the kids laughing and screaming as they stop hawing their wares and instead pick up their kites.
Video link to young Brahmin priests and puja: http://vimeo.com/10128008
SMELLS: the river doesn't actually smell as bad as one would expect, but you do smell a rawness. The air is often thick with incense or in this case fire and smoke....like a forest fire. Sometimes, it's thick enough to make you want hold your breath. The alleys are filled with so much---be it diesel smell, cow crap smell, or the smell of hot oil from the deep fried foods.
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