Today, we are joining the millions who make their way to Varanasi, at the banks of the holy Ganges river. The long drive back, stopping at a Temple for a quick pic:
an ashram further out from Agra:
Random highway shot with me hanging out the window:
ended at the Delhi international airport, where we said goodbye to Rishi and boarded a plane to our next stop. I am not feeling well at all, so tonight I will reach for the aid of pharmaceuticals to set me right again.
Picked up at the airport by our new driver, we wind our way to town, hop into a small, long, wooden and shallow boat and ride for about 10 minutes to our hotel.
I can’t believe I’m riding on the Ganges. All along the banks are stone steps down to the river, ghats (temples), guest houses, billboards, people at the edge and in the water, kites flitting in the sky above it all, being flown from the steps and rooftops (thinking of the kite runner), and ghat cricket. Such a vibrant and varied scene. Even a large cow walking down the steps!
We arrive at the hotel, exit the boat, and walk up the steps through an ongoing cricket game into our hotel,
which is like an oasis, separate from the hubbub outside. The center court is open to the sky, with rooms along the periphery. Only about nine rooms, a rooftop terrace, and everyone smiling and greeting us with palms together in front of their hearts and proffering the customary “namaste”. Aaaaah.
We check in and unload in our room
and then we hustle off with our guide through incredibly noisy, busy, crowded, colorful streets filled with pilgrims, hucksters, beggars, shoppers and even the occasional white face. Of course, also the quacking “ducks” of rickshaw bikes, motorbikes and cars.
Women lining path to ceremony:
We arrive at the Ganges in time for the nightly Brahmin ceremony of blessing the Ganges and seeking salvation for ALL people. Six Brahmin priests-in-training (their fathers are priests) conduct the ceremony of waving incense, ghee-powered candles (owing to its purity), and metal sculptures, while clanging bells and chanting all the while. The bank all behind them is filled with pilgrims, who stay in guests houses paid for by wealthy individuals to obtain good karma, and beggars. There is a bevy of the long, narrow flat boats in the river in front of the priests (who face out to the river for most of the ceremony), filled mostly with tourists. We clap and chant along with the priests and here I am thinking of the Beatles and all the images I have held in my head for all these years of being in India and starting to create new pictures and stories. What a moment. I whip out my new camera and get a panoramic picture of the whole scene that actually captures the moment so well.
The priests bring an offering down to the river:
and then proceed back to their platforms under the lights
to bless everyone with several iterations of incense. First in a pot, then something that looks like a long pipe, then something that looks like a christmas tree – all very heavy:
Pictures and ceremony finished, we walk back to the hotel, where we decide to eat our vegetarian meal out in the courtyard. They pull a little open, metal box filled with red-hot burning coals over by me and I stay toasty warm throughout the meal. Off to the room where I do a little “laundry”, take a sleeping pill to take care of myself for tomorrow’s adventures, and head off to sleep.