This bull has been chilling in this garment store for 8 years!
Poppy seed shake...weird!!!Our first activity in Varanasi was a sunset boat ride up the Ganges River. We boarded into an old wooden boat and putted up the river towards the burning yards. This is where Hindus are cremated when they come to holy Varanasi to die. Three fires were set a blaze when we road up and many people were surrounding them, watching. Our guide kindly told us not to take a picture out of respect, so we put away our cameras. As we got closer, young boys dressed only in their underwear, began jumping off the ledges of buildings into the river, right next to the burning yards. They were having a great time. Someone pointed out, that that seemed pretty disrespectful, right? Actually, Hindus look at death more as a part of life and so for the boys who live their, it is a part of their lives. Though it was weird, I could understand how this could be the case in a country like India. Anyhow, after making our way back down the river, woman in saris handed us beautiful floating candles with pink and orange flowers placed on them. We were told to light the candle, make a wish and float the candles off into the river. They were so lovely that I wanted to keep mine… but, I wanted my wish to come true more!
After our boat ride, we followed Shakti through the hectic market and suddenly, we were at a wide open area in front of the river, only it was packed with thousands of people. There was a stage set up next to the river, and people sat surrounding it on all sides; they were even sitting packed into boats, waiting for something special, I was sure. We walked down and found seats on the boats, just in time. Soon enough, beautiful Indian music and drums started playing, and 6 Hindu monks took their place on the stage. For the next hour, they put on a incredible ceremony, which they apparently do every day of the year. They chanted, sang, danced, and banged drums all the way through. It was amazing! By the end of the ceremony, all of the people were clapping and chanting a long. For us outsiders, it was both exhilarating and eerie to see this mass of people all smiling and singing so passionately about something that we could not understand.
The next morning was yet another early, early morning. At 5 a.m. we headed back to the river boats, but this time we would be seeing a completely different side to river life. The morning was filled with much more life on the river. Priests set up shop on the many stone steps for people to come pray with them. Men, women and children formed groups and got into the Ganges river to bath. As we road up the river, I found it hard not to feel intrusive, but Shakti assured us that they don’t mind or they wouldn’t do it in the open. Still, I was still too shy to take any photos.
We went back to sleep after the boat ride and then took an excursion outside of the city to Saranath, where Buddha gave his first sermon. It was a little disappointing that it turned out to be nothing but a pile of rocks, but it was still really cool to be there. We still had one more day in Varanasi, before heading back to Delhi for the end of the trip, so my plan was to take it easy and do the last of my shopping (I had a lot more on my list of things to buy!). But little did I know, that there would be a big wrench thrown into my plans. Stay tuned…
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