Delhi + Varanasi

Delhi was less bad then I expected. I have to admit though that I didn't see too much in the 2 and a half days I stayed there. I explored Parah Ganj, the part where most of tourists stay, and went to Lal Qila, the red fort of Delhi, which wasn't really fascinating. I got a train ticket to Varanasi and left on Monday afternoon. After all Delhi seems like a nice place for shopping and experiencing India. Being much cleaner then Jaipur and Chennai you are able to get a taste of a huge city with many millions of inhabitants quite nicely here.

Parah Ganj street scene


Beggar I encountered in the deserted back alleys


Parah Ganj Main Bazaar


View from my hotel rooftop




Just yesterday all Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists were glad to celebrate the Diwali festival, to remember when Lord Ram returned after 14 years of meditating in the forest. It is best compared to Christian Christmas, since presents are bought, etc. But it's also called 'The Festival of Lights' so everywhere are candles being lit. Another event connected with it, is the birth of goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune. There are traditional sweets and decoration sold everywhere, as well as terrifying fireworks assembled in some shady backyard which deafen many people every year. Most of them just are two pieces of clay with loads of black powder inside. In the narrow alley-ways of Varanasi these bastards really induce a nice big fat tinnitus. So everywhere in town were people buying sweets, decoration and fireworks. Here are some pics I took on the way to the red fort.

Family in front of a stand with cheesy statues



Flowers




I boarded the train and headed off for Varanasi (13 hrs). Until it got dark I was standing at the (always open) door of my coach and taking some pictures of the city passing by, when we stopped at a small station in the Delhi outskirts. After the train set off to leave I saw a man with a suitcase running along trying to get in. He decided to go for our door. An Indian guy and myself were ready to catch the suitcase but when he threw it he messed up, stumbled and fell over it. We couldn't see it, but assuming the looks and shouts of the people on the platform I thought: 'Fuck, he fell between the train and the platform and will be dead and the train will stop and police will interrogate me and the Indian guy.' But luckily nothing happened even though he got his leg between the platform and the train. Some people helped him stand up and he even made it in the train.

Some pictures from the ride









I my compartment, there was a couple from Belgium and they arrived just some days ago and he proposed to her at the Taj Mahal. Anyway it was their first long train ride in India. Since the train arrived at 5:50 in the morning at they wanted to set an alarm I asked them to wake me up. In the early morning, they did as I told them. While packing my things I looked out of the window and noticed that the train had already stopped already. I ask them if this is Varanasi, which they told me it was. My brain clicked instantly and I left half of my stuff (water, food, etc.) in the train, grabbed my backpack and ran for the exit. When I reached it at the other end of the coach the train was already leaving the station with about 20km/h. I couldn't blame the Belgians since they couldn't know that the train only stops for aboiut 2 minutes at every station. So I jumped out of the train which immediately induced a police guard on the platform to scream at me that one is not allowed to leave a driving train. The Belgians didn't make it, I don't know where they have gone. All this in the early morning after a night of bad sleep set me in a weary mood. I got a rickshaw to the first hotel the wallah wanted to drop me off and went to sleep for another couple of hours.

So I was in Varanasi. My earplugs helped me a lot with sleeping since the fireworks go on for days.
The next day I wandered through the small streets and along the ghats of the Ganga, watched a funeral pyre burn at the (smaller of the two burning ghats) called 'Harishchandra ghat', where everyday about 15-20 corpses are burnt. It's an open, public space, next to the pavement where everybody walks. The ceremony is difficult and takes long. Within 3 hours after the death the corpse has to be brought to the site. A pyre has to be built, using at least 300kg of holy wood. One member of the family has to get completely shaved and perform many rituals, cleanings with sandalwood and other expensive oils and herbs to fight the smell of burning flesh. And some of the disgustingly dirty water of the Ganga, where the remains of the body after at least 3 hrs of burning are put. At the other (bigger) ghat up to 50 people are burnt daily and their ashes and bones put in the river.
Since Varanasi is one of the holiest places for Hindus and being burnt there and sunk in the Ganga is very good karma, many old people come here to die.
Sometimes you feel a little strange, seeing all the people wash and pray and swim in the murky green water, ashes of the dead flowing everywhere.
Today I took a dawn boat ride and a tour to the important temples of the city afterwards. The new Vishwanath Temple, the Durga temple aka 'Monkey Temple', the Brhamin temple and another small one. (Photography prohibited in every case) There are countless temples and shrines everywhere.

Afterwards I was taken to a small factory producing precious silk saris, and a shop, which Varanasi is famous for.

Shiva shrine, where the holy fire for burning the pyres is supposed to burn since 45 centuries...


burning pyre


street scenes




boat trip






silk weaving


Varanasi is a place where you can actually feel the devotion of the people and their belief roaming through the streets, being held in every small shrine. Along with all the old people waiting for death everywhere it is indeed a fascinating experience.
Btw: Goan police wanted no papers and nothing except 100Rps. for letting me pass.