Varanasi

January 22, 2010

Another 12 hour bus ride?

I spent the night under two quilts and slept in my sweatshirt, and took sudafed and two Excedrin PM’s to go to sleep, and sleep I did, waking up at 7 feeling much better. There, that’s out of the way.
We met at 10:30 for our bus ride to the airport but Shanker said that our flight was delayed. Hour after hour went by as we waited by the pool, Bay and I in the swing set, playing ping pong, walking around the pool with Saul and Harry, then transferring to the lobby to do some yoga poses, like plank for extended periods of time, and leg raises, and some warrior poses, and then a restful Shivasana for about 30 minutes. By two or so, everyone was about ready to leave on the bus, but Shanker held out hope. “If we pray to God, everything comes out all right in the end.” And so at 2:30 we boarded the bus and headed for the AIRPORT. That was a thrill. We took Air India flight no. 405 to Varanasi, barely getting in before the mist struck there as well. It’s that whole temperature-dew point spread thing for you pilots. Anyway, we were supposed to remove all our batteries from our cameras, no fluids, no food, we could barely carry on anything if we listened to Shanker. Everyone got patted down and poor Susan, with pins in her thigh and hip, had to drop her pants right down to her ankles in the regular room where the passengers waited for the plane with only a blanket held up for privacy - some privacy, those just entering the room could see right over the blanket. Finally we boarded the plane for a smooth 45 minute flight to Varanasi. PTL. For Hindus, Varanasi is their most holy city and is where they come to die, so that their funeral pyre can be on the shore, and their ashes can be thrown in the Ganges, their most holy river.

Festival of Saraswati

Saraswati is a wife of Brahma, and goddess of wisdom and knowledge. Whereas in Jaipur, they hold a kite festival at this time, here each town or neighborhood in this city of 2.5 million builds a float of Saraswati, and then with drums pounding and loud music playing, the young men follow the float down to the Ghats (steps) to the Ganges River, where they take the statue of the goddess they made, put it in a boat and take it out and throw it in the river. It is made of clay and dirt so it supposedly dissolves in the river. We took the bus partway there, then bicycle rickshaw for 5-10 minutes through a sea of humanity and pounding drums and basses, and then walked another 10 minutes to the Ghats. There we were greeted by a old, short holy man in a yellow and red robe or sari who put red on our foreheads and said we would have good luck and long life. He obviously hadn’t observed our journey to get there. If you weren’t run down by a motorcycle or a small taxi, then maybe a steer would gore you because they were present everywhere. We even encountered some trained geese along with the usual puppies, dogs, bicycles, other rickshaws, flamethrowing young men, just bedlam. It was like what I imagine Mardi Gras to be like. Lots of loud music and dancing, and throngs of people, but not wearing masks, just a yellow band around their head and red painting on their foreheads and also cheeks for some. The students all take part in this festival in the hope that it will give them wisdom and knowledge in the coming year. This festival is only held once a year, and Shanker used to participate in them when he was a kid.
And where were the girls? According to Shanker, sometimes the boys drink (no way!) and harass the girls so they usually have a separate party at their school with their parents. That doesn’t sound like much fun at all.


Miscellaneous

Several have asked about the Indian food. We are definitely not the ones to ask. Today I’ve had scrambled eggs, a croissant and a power bar, along with several bottles of water. It’s the ascetic part of my experience. Actually, I don’t want to get sick so normally I have soup for supper, along with naan, their bread which is delicious. They offer us sandwiches at these government-certified shops we visit, usually lettuce, tomato and cucumber. They look refreshing after a tour. Yesterday I even took one off the tray and then put it back. Good thing. One woman in our group was violently ill all night and she thought it was the sandwich. She was treated by a local doctor and is doing much better. So you can never tell. I know most of you would handle this differently, but to us, staying healthy is number one.

And did I tell you why the cow is their most sacred animal? Where does a baby get its milk? From his mother. And where do the adults get their milk? From the cow so it must be the mother of all adults and worthy of great respect.

Bay wants me to set the alarm for 4:15 as we have to leave the hotel at 6 for our boatride down the Ganges - it’s foggy now so I suspect it will be then. When we return, we have a quick breakfast and then leave at 10 to fly to Kathmandu. It’s 10 now so it’ll be another short night.

May you all have good luck and a long life. Namaste. Nat, Dad, Matt, DB, and whatever other names I may have, have had or will ever have. :-)