Varanasi Part 2 (2-22)

Sunday morning we awoke early to return to the River Ganga to observe morning washing. After leaving the car to walk to the river, we joined a group of local people going to the ghats. I enjoyed their music and chanting/praying. After several minutes, they turned off to go to a temple to pray before going to the river.

At the river we took a boat to watch the morning washing. We were at the same area where we had watched the ceremony Saturday night. In the morning, foreign tourists were in the boats while Indian tourists joined local people on the river bank.  

Both men and women bathe in the sacred river. 

Women enter fully clothed while men wear a cloth around their waist. 

In addition to bathing, different sections are used for washing clothes. This is done by people whose families have been clothes washers for many generations, as families stay in the same job. Nowadays, however, some young people are leaving their family profession for better jobs where they can make more money.

In addition to observing the washing, it was nice to be able to see the buildings along the river. 

While we were there, the sun rose on the other side of the river. That side has no river bank and is sandy. People go there to swim. In the monsoon season, the river is much wider and higher. 

We exited our boat near the cremation area 

and saw the piles of wood being delivered and stored.

Then we had a quick walk along the narrow lanes of the Old City to get to the street. There was so much to observe that I felt a bit rushed as we hurried along them to get to the street. 

The lanes are lined with small altars. 

Many houses have a sculpture of Ganesha above the door for protection and good luck. There are many altars outside the houses. There was a man with a cobra who wanted money from tourists. There are also many temples. After leaving our bags in a shop to ensure that we couldn’t take photos inside, we went into an old temple that has a gold stupa—about 50 kilograms of gold.

At 8:00 we returned to the hotel for breakfast. The guide informed us that our tour was over and he’d pick us up at 3:00 for the afternoon activity. I was not happy about having seven hours in the hotel, as we had guide services for the day and our itinerary had a morning activity. We had changed the early morning river trip from Friday to Saturday because of our late arrival, but we still should have had the morning activity. I realized that he had combined that with Friday’s plan, probably so he could have some time off to visit his son who was home for a friend’s wedding. But I was still didn’t like being left for seven hours and told him that I was not happy. He then offered to take us to his home in a village. Kasey decided not to go because we had to eat breakfast quickly and then leave and she wanted to rest for a while. So I went with him on his motorcycle. It turned out to be an interesting experience.

At the house I met his wife and sons and the three friends who had gone to the wedding Saturday night. One young man and the guide’s uncle were watching the India-South Africa cricket match of the World Cup for cricket. I learned a little about that game, about which I knew nothing and which is quite popular in India. Matches can take all day—8  hours.

Then the guide said his son would take me around the village. I invited his friend to join us, and one of the women also wanted to go. They were excited to have this special tour because I was there. We went to the Sisters of Charity orphanage, which is affiliated with Mother Theresa. It is an orphanage for handicapped children ages 8 to 18. About 50 children live there. Around 12 are physically handicapped and attend the small school so they will have an education. Another 15 are mildly mentally handicapped and receive job training. The sisters also help them get married and provide a sari for the occasion. The rest of the children are severely mentally handicapped. It looks like the children are well cared for. The place is clean and neat. Children I saw looked happy. When parents abandon the children, they have to register with the police that they are leaving their child at the orphanage. Children who are too young or too old for this orphanage are sent to homes in other cities. Parents who give the children to the orphanage have to sign a paper with the police.

Next we visited the 600-year-old ashram that the family has belonged to for many generations. They follow a guru named Kabir. My hosts talked with one of the men for a long time, as they were quite interested in Kabir’s ideas, some of which they translated for me. Kabir questioned the caste system and believed that it should be eradicated. He believed in equality for all people and all religions. He thought people should focus on life now and not put their energy into being concerned about an afterlife. They also believe that there are 25 elements to understand. The last two are nature and humans. When they understand all 25 elements, they are enlightened.

Kabir’s followers wear a necklace made from string as a symbol of their commitment. Three of the people we saw were teenagers. Like the young Buddhist monks, they may be there so they have food and a good place to live. Later they can stay or leave. The ashram has daily prayer services that people can attend or not as they wish. Many of the followers go around the country preaching their ideas.

We stopped at a temple to see the stages where a special Hindu play is performed every year. The stage on one side is for God; the stage on the other side is for the devil.

The village has a mixture of houses, which probably represent a mixture of socio-economic status, in close proximity. The guide’s house and a few others are quite nice. Others are simpler. 

Dung was drying on the ground 

and on walls.

Another activity was visiting the uncle’s home business making aluminum containers. Amazingly, it takes only two minutes to form and polish a container from the round piece of aluminum. The man who was asked to take me there was a friend who is starting his own travel agency in Delhi. He was in Varanasi for a month to learn more about his home city. Our guide is his mentor.

I was given lunch, and my guide told me what foods go together: rice and lentil dal; bread and potatoes and peas. The woman sitting with me told me that the guide didn’t think I was eating much, but I thought I ate a lot and I was full.

The final activity was visiting another relative’s home. This one is a painter who paints people in a state of meditation. Then we went to say “good-bye” to the friend who got married, as he has a couple weeks of leave before returning to Delhi and work. This was an arranged marriage. Prior to their marriage, the couple had met twice over half a year. They talked on the phone every day for about an hour; so their friends felt that they knew each other well enough to get married. The bride was sitting on the bed wearing her wedding sari. The groom was in casual clothes. The visitors from Delhi were given gifts. Later I learned that it is traditional to give close friends a gift. They received two boxes of sweets, and the woman I’d talked to quite a bit gave me one. It looked like there was also silk in the bags the women were given.

Since they were returning to Delhi on the same train as Kasey and me, they joined us for our afternoon activity and we all went to the train station together in our van. The afternoon activity was visiting Ramnagar Fort. 

Built in the 18^th century, some of its architecture is more European in style than the older forts. 

It is, of course, intricately carved in many places. Some of it is now a museum with displays of old American cars (surprisingly), guns, rifles, and some European vases. The weapons had basic labels, but the other items didn’t. The main item of interest in the museum is a clock that is several hundred years old and is still accurate telling the day, time, horoscope sign, and a few other things.

The fort is on the river bank. There is a floating bridge across the river for bicycles and motorcycles that is taken apart and stored during the monsoon season when the river is higher and wider.

Our final stop was a small temple to the goddess Durga. 

Two of the doors have bells that people reach up and ring for good luck. 

As I was finishing walking around the temple, I heard drumming. The guide called us to go out to the street quickly. A small wedding party had arrived and people were dancing at the base of the temple. The groom was standing in the background. 

Children surrounded Kasey after she shook hands with two of them.

Then we went on to the train station for our overnight train to Delhi. Our new friends took us to our car and made sure we found our beds. This time we had the side beds, the ones parallel to the aisle. They turned out to be OK, as once the curtain was drawn, it was very private.

Random information:

All of our cars had fire hydrants, which I’d not seen before.

Indian calendars have the days down rather than across. That would take some getting used to.