Phat Ghats - Varanasi

So after struggling a little with the whole India thing for the first couple of weeks we arrived in Varanasi, which changed everything! It was as though all the crowds, noise and chaos that had been troubling us had finally come together to form the most amazing place, which really showed the truly amazing side of India that everyone loves.
.

Enough said!

Sunrise Puja

.

Having said this we did have a great deal of luck as unbeknownst to us, we conicidently visited on Kite Festival day, which resulted in far more people on the streets and down at the Ganges. But then again you've got have good fortune sometimes!

.
So anyways, the first morning we headed straight down to the ghats at sunrise, found a boat and witnessed what must be just about the most amazing spectacle either of us has ever seen - the morning bathing in the Ganges. It really is something which cannot be overstated (although of course we'll try :), such a huge seething mass of humanity, such an amazing blaze of colour and sea of movemnent. People ranging from the solemn to the exuberant, from meditative to playful.

.

People!

.

Masses at the main ghat

.

To give some indication of the scale of the event, we took in excess of 500 photos in 2 days, without even realising it. Though of course none of the photos even go close to doing the scene justice!

.

The first morning we spent a good couple of hours rowing up and down the line of ghats which form the western bank of the Ganges as the scene never seemed to diminish. The floatilla of boats taking tourists up and down and the devotees from one side of the river to the other formed a mini spectacle of it's own. Particularly the massive tour rowing boats with something like 20 tourists on board and yet still only one little dude rowing. We fortunately ended up with a pretty good boat rower who got us into some good spots and didn't try to sell us too many things.

.

Refreshments - chick peas in leaf bowls

.

Prayers

Sometimes it all gets a bit too much!

Although we did have an unscheduled stop at a burning ghat where devout Hindus get cremated. We were met by one of our rower's mates who showed us around and then demanded a 'donation'. It was a very strange sort of uncomfortable feeling walking around as massive piles of wood (sandalwood for the rich) were stacked up and bodies were buring right in front of you. Even more so knowing that all the surrounding buildings are full of people waiting to die so that they can be cremated next to the Ganges.

Fortunately we didn't fall into the water, despite some over excited people swimming out to try and climb into our boat, as the water reportedly has a faecal coliform count which is 3,000 times higher than that which is considered safe for swimming. Didn't seem to be stopping anyone though!

The action goes on...

and on...

The extent of our good fortune with our choice of time to visit became evident the following day when we decided to have another shot at the spectacle. Again hiring a boat and covering much of the same territory, there was but a fraction of the people from the previous day and nothing like the carnival atmosphere. Although, having said this it gave a differnt feel to the event there was still a very nice feeling in the air, but a much more peaceful one compared with the day before.

We also checked out the ghat action in the evening which again had it's own feel. Absent was the mass of colour and movement, replaced by a more solemn feel as small groups listened to holy men preaching, a few bathers washed, and lots of massage touts offerred their services. Many of the towns other inhabitants also made an appearance as cows, goats and dogs picked through the rubbish left over from the morning's action.

and on...

Our boatman

The town itself (the old town anyways) is just as endearing as the chaotic events on the ghats. It truly sets a new standard for confusing rabbit warrened laneways. Despite having some experience negotiating such mazes from Vietnam, after 3 days we still couldn't confidently find our way back to our guesthouse! Fortunately after a bit of wandering around in the vague vicinty we could usually find it, or a ghat which at least gave us a starting point.

The calm before the storm

Sari drying

The laneways of the old town are a really vibrant scene, full of shops selling absolutely everything, people, motorbikes and the ever present cows. The combination of cows and very narrow laneways cause a fair bit of congestion as they decide to take a sleep wherever they like, and the presence of a number of large horned bulls makes it unlikely people are going to dispute their choice. As a result you don't want to be trying to get anywhere in a particular hurry!

The cows also result in a large quantity of cow shit all over the lanes, which proved a little hard to avoid at times, although fortunately it somewhat camouflages the human variety which is also everywhere... The mess and smell does take a little getting used to, as there doesn't seem to be any garbage collection, which is at least good for the cows as garbage seems to form the majority of the 'Bovine Diet' in these parts. The experience is topped off by loads of monkeys running everywhere and scaring the shit out of you as they bound from corrugated iron rooftops and try to break into your room to get at your food!

Kite flying

There's a snake in there...

In addition to the extra people on the ghats in the morning, the Kite festival also involved (unsurprisingly) a lot of kites. Kids of both the big and small varieties were all getting into the action. The town was full of children running around clutching big armfuls of kites and the kite sellers seemed to be the only people doing any business. From the trooftop of our guesthouse, which was just about the highest in town, you could see a mass of kites being flown in every direction, looking like an endless sea of confetti.

In fact the big kids were getting into it more than the little kids, on many of the adjacent rooftops you could see kids clamouring to have a go while dad ignored them while trying to get the kite higher and higher (of course there were no women or girls allowed). In between flights all manner of contraptions were being constructed in attempts to recover downed kites from powerlines and rooftops.

Some of our gun toting friends

Hobbes' new sadhu friend

In addition to the kite, something else we've never seen so much of is guns! The town is apparently about 50% Hindu and 50% Muslim and as a result of some deaths at a religious ceremony and retalitory mosque burning a few years ago there is a bit of simmering tension. As a result there are what appear to be random dudes wandering amongst the tiny laneways with rifles slung across their shoulders. Apparently they are army, but most of the real army looking types were carrying much more substantial machine guns, so who knows? Anyways, the number of temples amongst the laneways would make a messy scene if anything were to occur, guess it's lucky they've got metal detectors at SOME of the entrances. Although, it goes to show how accustomed you can become when it seemed almost normal(ish).

Woolly jumper, ha!

Depite all the guns we didn't get a feel for the shady side of Varanasi which had slightly concerned us before arriving there. The guidebooks and online forums warn of foriegn tourists dissappearing there and of dodgy underworld elements, but we didn't feel anything like that at all?

Finally, it seems the times are a changing here in India, as on the way to the train station our autorickshaw driver stopped at what he proudly informed us was the first petrol station in Varanasi with female staff... what next? Women working in restaurants??

Come on, lets make a party of it!

Fruitman