varanasi

hi readers. i have been missing in action. but lucky for you, i have major posting to catch up on, so lots of updates for you!

two weeks ago, my friend tracy and i went to varanasi. varanasi is known for its ganges boat rides, you know, the hindu holy river. we hopped on a (very expensive) plane and flew to varanasi on an early thursday morning.

when we arrived in varanasi, a rickshaw driver (they call them tuk-tuk drivers in northern india) picked us up from the airport and took us to our homestay. it took about an hour to get there, starting off in more rural parts, and ending up in the windy alleyways of varanasi. it was like a video game, dodging cows, dogs, humans, squeezing through six feet alleys in a rickshaw. when we finally got to our homestay, tracy and i had no idea how we would be able to navigate through the maze of varanasi on our own without getting lost. after settling in, we walked around the alleys and main streets and explored. we found this cute little bookstore and it had harry potter in hindi! and they had my most favorite harry potter book (half blood prince) so i had to get it.

varanasi streets

then we took a bicycle rickshaw to the dasaswamedh ghat, one of the oldest ghats of the ganges. at night, it hosts aarti which is a holy hindu ritual, which includes prayers, singing.

our little cycle rickshaw

dasaswamedh ghat during the day

after sitting at the ghat for a little bit, we walked back to our homestay. we did it! it wasn't as confusing as we thought. it was the hottest part of the day, so we took a nap. when we woke up, we went back to the ganges to check out aarti. it starts around 7, but we got there around 5:30 so it wasn't as crowded. we saw people getting in boats, lighting candles, and then aarti: full of incense, music, praying, and lights.

ganges at dusk (see the glowing candles?)

aarti from afar

 we stumbled upon this cute little japanese restaurant, and we ate there for dinner. then we found our way back to our homestay and fell asleep early in order for a good night's sleep for our busy day we had planned for friday.

friday morning, we woke up at 5 am to catch our 5:45 ganges boat ride. our tour guide/boat rower dude was so awesome. he picked us up from our homestay and everything. while on the boat, he told us lots of interesting facts about the ganges. so, the ganges is for the bodies of hindus only. usually, people are cremated and then their ashes are scattered in the river (george harrison's ashes were scattered in the ganges!). bodies are burned at the burning ghat, and if they don't have enough money, there is an electric crematorium right by the river as well. there are 7 types of bodies that are not allowed to be burned:

1. babies

2. anyone under 16 years

3. pregnant women

4. lepers

5. smallpox

6. snakebites

7. religious leaders

what they do with these bodies, is tie them to a big rock so their bodies sink to the bottom. sometimes though, there bodies might come untied in the water and a body will float to the top.  tracy and i actually saw one. it wasn't as gross as it sounds. the body was face down, so nothing grotesque.

our boat guy also told us that if a person dies without any family, they will tie their body to a rock and throw them in. it's pretty nice of them i think. since we were in the ganges during the dry season, there was a huge beach on the opposite side of us. during rainy season, the ganges gets really really high with a fast current and it covers most of that beach. when the river starts to go down after rainy season, bodies are sometimes washed up on that beach. people of lower castes throw the bodies back in, or wild dogs eat them. you can also see some bones too. during our boat tour, all the boat guy had to do was row, but during rainy season, you have to use at least two rowers or a boat with a motor. right now, the ganges is about 25 meters deep in the middle. i can only imagine what it is like in rainy season.

while on our boat tour, we saw the sun rise. while it was still dark, tracy and lit two candles each for good karma (you send good karma for whomever you send the candle for). it was insane to see people brushing their teeth, washing their clothes, washing themselves, drinking the ganges water--the same water where bodies and ashes have been thrown into for centuries.

our candles

sending good karma

sunrise!

dead body

people praying/bathing

we got done with our boat tour around 7:45 and then went and had breakfast at this little outdoors cafe by a temple. after breakfast, we found a rickshaw driver to take us temple hopping.

we went to several temples, some of which i can't remember the names. since varanasi is known as a holy place for hindus, there were temples galore. some of the ones we went to were the sankar mochan temple, which had monkeys all over the place and felt like the jungle book; the new vishwanath temple on the campus of benaras hindu university which was beautiful; and the durga temple, where we were "blessed" by this weird indian con artist and then expected us to pay him. we also stopped at the ramnagar fort, which was pretty neat too.

inside a temple i don't know the name of

inside the ramnagar fort

me outside the ramnagar fort

new vishwanath temple

inside the new vishwanath temple

on our way back to our homestay, our rickshaw driver picked up two random people who needed a ride, and turned up his music. it was so funny to me. right as we were picking up a woman with long white hair wearing a saree and traditional indian jewelry, the song blasts "I AM A DISCO DANCER, HEY!"

we took another classic afternoon nap to avoid the heat, and then woke up for dinner at this restaurant with live music. there was a man playing tabla and another man playing the indian flute. after dinner, we went to this swanky hotel for a drink. it is famous for having original drawings of varansi when the british first came. it was really cool, even if the drinks were overpriced. we shared a "strawberry daquiri." who knows what that thing was. it tasted of sweet lime and was lime green. there was a cherry at the bottom, and i looove cherries. worth it. 

the next morning, we got breakfast and then stopped at a really cool shop afterwards. they had jewelry and clothes and they didn't haggle us at all. it was really cool. at 10, we got picked up by a sweet rickshaw driver who we nicknamed magic eye since his left eye was rolled to the back of his head. he took us to sarnath, which is the birthplace of buddhism. buddha gave his first sermon to his five disciples underneath a tree and the ruins of the temple he meditated at are still there. we even stopped at japanese, thai, and chinese buddhist temples. there was even a temple that had artifacts of buddha inside a casket dating to the 3rd century BC. 

ruins of buddha's temple

thai temple

japanese temple

chinese temple

the tree that buddha first preached under is not still there. what they did was find a piece of one that buddha did preach under and replanted it at the spot that he was said to have first preached. so it is from the same tree, but it isn't the original tree he sat under in that exact spot. it is still the oldest religious tree in the world, and there are even plaques in all different languages of his first sermon.

the holy bodhi tree

buddha's first sermon

after sarnath, we headed back to our homestay and took a snack/reading break. then we decided to go shopping in the alleys. we stopped in this silver shop that our homestay man recommended to us and i decided to get my nose pierced. it was SO COOL. for the price of 700 rs (less than $20), i got my nose pierced in INDIA. it was so very cool. the man used a piece of gold wire and sharpened the end, so he pierced my nose with the gold wire and then wrapped the gold wire into a ring. when i was choosing which nostril i wanted it on, the man was trying to tell me to get me to get it pierced in my left nostril because "that's what indian women like" but then i told him that i thought south indian women typically pierced their right nostrils. and he was impressed and told me i was correct. so since i'm studying in south india, my nose ring corresponds to the south indian women! yay. after my nose piercing, tracy and i found some matching toe rings, and walked around the other alleyway stores.

alleyway

at 6, we were picked up by our boat driver from the day before's 17 year old son. it was our original boat driver's day off, so his son took over for the day. he was adorable. he took us to the burning ghat, which was up and burning. he told us that bodies usually take a three hours to burn, with the chest cavity sometimes not even burning all the way through. the people of the lower castes are the ones who burn the bodies and shovel their ashes. the families of the deceased just look on stoically. i asked if people cry during the burning, and he said that crying will send the body bad karma, so if people want to cry, they don't go to the burning. that's why women usually aren't seen at the burning ghat. what is so crazy is that the ganges does not smell, and neither did it smell while we were by the burning ghat. i still wouldn't go in or drink the water :)

we had dinner, and met some korean friends who went to benaras hindu university. they were so cute and wanted to be our facebook friends. which of course we welcomed.

the next morning, we left varanasi and made it back to hyderabad. varanasi was my favorite trip so far. it was full of indian culture and is one of the most ancient civilizations. plus, i have cute little nosering to remember it by.

don't be fooled, my computer camera flip flops like a mirror, i promise it's in my right nostril

your south indian lady,
lauren