The guidebooks tell you,
photography shows you but you will never know until you visit. It's its own
world - separated from the rest of India driven by the flow of the Ganges,
living in its historical belief system with immense strength and dignity.
Though its much more complex than that.
Varanasi sits in a blaze
of heat from about 9am, a walk along the Ghats is an excellent way to begin
understanding the lifestyle here: bathing in the Ganges, washing clothes, as
children play and cows cool down. Debris of the previous night’s light ceremony
drive in the water, and flower petals decorate the edges. A haze forms on the
other side as the sun increases its mighty strength.
Become exposed to the
holy ritual of burning dead bodies on the shoreline, three hours of burning and
the body is reduced to ashes then scattered into the river. Bodies of children,
the sick, and pregnant mothers are strapped to an almighty stone and dropped in
the middle of the river.
The hospice here supports
all of those ready to die and widows waiting for life to be taken from them.
From here, get lost in
the maze of the Old City. The Labyrinth. There's no easy way around nor easy way
out. Here is the place to buy your goods, and to haggle hard. But the journey
to escape into familiar territory or that documented in guide books can only
occur once you have once again reached the river - good luck with that! But let
the Ghats guide you!
Varanasi s not a clean
place, it maybe holy and it has some excellent photo opportunities - read more
on Varanasi - Holi Festival.
