Varanasi

Date arrived: 23rd February 2024

Date Departed: 26th February 2024 

Favourite sight: Ghats

Average Cost: £28.70 PPPD

Varanasi  is one of India's most famous cities, sitting as it does on the Ganges river, the 'Cradle of life'. Hindu practices relatin to death and rebirth are centred on "Ma Ganges" and are very visible as you walk down the side of the holy river.

23rd February 2024

We arrived at the nearby railway station of Upadhyahya, some 15 KM from Varanasi itself, and had some fun and games trying to find a ride into town. We did have a train option if all else failed, but that was late and expensive, so we would much prefer to get a taxi or Tuk-tuk. Taxis seemed disinclined to take us, wanting silly money, and then trying to palm us off onto unlicensed cars, so we turned to the Tuk-tuks. This was a better bet, with a sensible price quoted straight out, but then the driver was unable to start his engine! A quick switch to another driver and tuk-tuk, for the same price, and we were finally on the way or the 45 minute drive.

Getting into the old part of Varanasi, the roads got pretty narrow, and the tuk-tuk ultimately had to drop us about 500M from our hotel. In fairness we had deliberately chosen a hotel that was right on the river, with a balcony overlooking the Ganges. The last half kilometre on foot wasn't too bad, although the very narrow (max 1.5M wide) streets still had mopeds and motorbikes flying along them, horns blaring as they dodged people, dogs and cows.

The hotel was very  welcoming and our room compact, but nice, and well equipped. The balcony over looking the river allowed us to see the bright full moon hovering over the water, and the remains of a fire ceremony burning on the Ghat directly below. This was a special ceremony for the full moon, so we were quite lucky to see it!

Having dumped our stuff and had a quick look at the view from the balcony, we headed straight out for dinner, and managed to find a lovely simple meal at a pure Veg restaurant within about 200M of the hotel.

24th February

With breakfast on the roof booked in at 9, we ate overlooking the craziness of the Ganges, watching myriad boats floating down and across it, and the busy sights of both pilgrims and ordinady citizens going about their day. We spent our morning walking north up the river, past the various Ghats and Palaces, lines full of washing and pilgrims bathing in the river. It was busy, but actually fairly navigable. After a time we came to the larger of the two burning Ghats - Manikarnika Ghat. We didn't get too close, but sat and watched as we saw different stages of several cremations over the half hour we watched.

First of all, teams of men bring the body down to the river, wrapped in saffron,and carried on a bamboo stretcher, for want of a better word. This all seemed very ad-hoc, and looked almost like they were carrying a parce, rather than a recently vacated body. First the stretcher is placed by the river, and then it's carried out into the water where the deceased is given one final bath in the Ganges. It then sits at the side of the river for a time, before being stripped of the saffron cover and any adornments. Then, wrapped in a simple white shroud, the body is placed onto the bier, which is then lit.

The bier burns for some time - perhaps a couple of hours - and then any remains are either put to the river (intact bones) or collected as ash for the family to do with as they will. For us it feels strange to see all of this happening so publically - but that's just how it's done here!

We didn't take pictures here as our reading suggested not to, but I do have a few piccies of the wider scenes along the river.

After some lunch and a (now familiar) brief rest in the hottest part of the day, I briefly headed up into the newer part of town to get some more credit for the "Hind-i phone."   Mission accomplished, we headed souh down the Ghats towards Assi Ghat, which is one of the largest and best known. There is a large and very well choreographed fire ceremony here each night, which we watched for a time, before finding some dinner, and turning in!

25th February

Today we had arranged a walking tour of the town, with the hope of learning a little bit more about what was happening here, and the religious significance of the place. We had a leisurely breakfast, and a relaxed start, walking south back down to Assi Ghat and exploring that area once more in daylight.

We had some lunch at an excellent cafe just behinf the Ghat, and then set out to meet Pappu, our guide for the afternoon, at 2PM. Pappu told us a lot about the city, including explaining quite how far up the river comes during the Monsoon season. I think it's pretty difficult to visualise, but historically the Ganges in spate would rise to cover pretty much all of the Ghats areas, and also a large part of the city would have been flooded, necessitating up to 20,000 people to have to move elsewhere for the three months of Monsoon!

Pappu tells us that a recent initiative to reroute some of the Ganges floodwater upstrea of Varanasi made a massive difference, and that 2023s Monsoon was the first time that this evacuation was not necessary.

Pappu showed us a few key viewpoints over the Ghats and the riverside, and also took us to the city's stepwell - something we hadn't known about. It was very impressive. He told us a little of it's history, and also the tradition that those who came here to bathe must discard whatever they were wearing, and change into new clothes afterwards, He also pointed out the lage quantities of clothes hanging up to dry by the stepwell, apparently collected and ready to be redistributed to those who needed them.

Pappu took us back down to the Ghats, and also to the smaller of the two burning Ghats, Harishchandra Ghat. This is smaller than Manikarnika, and used more for ordinary people than the wealthy. Pappu explained that the reason why many people are told not to take pictures of the cermonies is that it is not uncommon for tourists to be taken aside to an upper room with a "better view", where they are told they can take pictures freely, but then pressured to contribut often large sums of money to the costs of the wood used in the ceremonies. On his say so (and with no comment or reaction from anybody around we proceeded to take a few pictures of the activities at Harishchandra Ghat.

Above, top left: A municipal "chimney", very similar to an english crematorium, can be seen in the bckground. This is where the bodies of the poor or destitute are cremated for free by the state, to try and minimise corpses being cast whole into the Ganges. In the foregroud, timber for the pyres is being precisely weighted out using large scales.

Above, bottom left: Neatly stacked timber, ready to be weighed out for pyres.

Above, right: Two cremations in the foreground at different stages. On the left, the white-wrapped corpse has beeen placed atop the pyre which is about to be lit;on the right, the pyre has almost burned out. In the background you can see a round space which is used for pyres for richer people or VIPs.

Below: A cremation in full swing. You can see various discarded saffron robes, used to wrap the bodies when bringing them through the streets to the Ghats, but discarded before the cremation.

From the burning ghat we explored more of the old town, learning about the ambitious plans that are in place to enhance the apparance of the town. Now that the flooding has been reduced, the plan is to embed the myriad trailing electrical and comms wires underground, to massively clean up the streets. This  will improve the appearance of the town, and allow owners to better maintain their properties, as it's difficult to clean, paint and repair your property if you have to lean on or move a myriad unknown, and potentially lethal wires to do so.

It will also significantly improve the reliability of power and comms in the city, as the underground wires will be less prone to interference from weather, animals, building work, etc. The scheme is unpopular, however, as it is quite common for residents in Varanasi to obtain power illegally by simply running a cable to the mains wires that pass outside their windows. Pappu believes that as much as 75% of electrical consumption in the city goes this way!

From the winding narrow alleys of the old town, we emerged into the new commercial district of Varanasi, where we were deafened by the noise and flabbergasted by the sheer qantity of traffic wrestling its way down the streets. Fighting through this for a few hundred metres, we visited Varanasi's "Hidden" temple, Kashi Raj Kali. This temple is a small enclave of calm, hidden just back from the road through an archway. The temple is around 200 years old and was built by the King as a private worship place for the royal family, but is an incredible example of Indian stonemasonry - it is small but perfectly formed.

This was the end of our very informative walking tour, so we headed back to our accommodation, via a cafe for a quick drink, before heading out once more to get some dinner, and turning in.

26th February

Today we left Varanasi for the 500KM journey to Kajuraho, which involved a long day of travel including two trains, two tuk-tuks, and a taxi. After another nice breakfast on the roof of our hotel in Varanasi, we walked up through the winding alleys of the old town to reach a main road, where we flagged down a tuk-tuk to take us to the railway station. Here we were catching a train to Prayagraj - a City midway to our destination. This three hour train was a little late, but not significantly, and when we reached Prayagaj we needed to cross town to get to a different station - a journey of some 14KM.

Prayagraj Cheoki Station, which we arrived into, was pretty quiet, and we had our pick of several tuk-tuk drivers who were almost fighting for our business. The journey through this big and busy town was quite painful as traffic was snarled up, but we did eventually get dropped at the enormous Prayagraj Junction station with 20 minutes to spare for our next 5 1/2 hour journey. Finding the right platform, and place on the platform, was a challenge - but we managed!