Today was an interesting day.
I started out by taking the subway to the airport. It was chaotic, as usual. There is a security check, like an airport, and the line-up for the metal detector was a couple of hundred people long. Luckily there was a separate entrance for the airport express, no line-up!! The subway express is about on eighth the cost of a taxi, and its a lot faster.
At the airport the security was not once, but twice, once to get into the departure lounge, and then again at the gate. The one and a half hour flight to Varanasi was pleasant, they even provided lunch.
Varanasi is even more chaotic than Delhi. It is 3000 years old, and I think some of the streets are original. Very narrow lanes, you can touch both sides at the same time.It took me a while to find my hotel, but it is nice; I even have a balcony overlooking the Ganges. As you walk you will meet cows, goats, and a lot of dogs. Cow patties are all over the place.
Varanasi is one of the holiest cities for Hindus, and the belief is that if your funeral is on the Ganges you go directly to Nirvana. Hindus from far away bring the bodies of their loved ones to be burned, and their ashes thrown into the river. There are funeral pyres 24 hours a day. When I visited this afternoon seven funerals were in progress. It takes 350 kg of wood to cremate a body, and wood is expensive. It costs several hundred dollars for mango wood, and goes up to 10 000 dollars for sandalwood. Your social status also dictates how far from the shore you are burned, poor people are farther away.
I found the whole thing bizarre. While the seven bodies were burning, cows, dogs, and goats wander around. Several of the cows actually stood around one of the pyres to warm themselves.
Not everyone has to be burned; children, pregnant women, people who die of snake bites, lepers, and Holy Men are simply wrapped in special clothes, weighed down with rocks, and dropped in the middle of the river. This causes parts of decomposed bodies to occasionally to float to the top, and land on shore.
People wash in the river daily, and drink some of the water. They even collect some in plastic jugs to take home.
I am NOT tempted, even if it helps to get to Nirvana. I am sure contact with that water will speed your arrival at Death's Door significantly.
I started out by taking the subway to the airport. It was chaotic, as usual. There is a security check, like an airport, and the line-up for the metal detector was a couple of hundred people long. Luckily there was a separate entrance for the airport express, no line-up!! The subway express is about on eighth the cost of a taxi, and its a lot faster.
At the airport the security was not once, but twice, once to get into the departure lounge, and then again at the gate. The one and a half hour flight to Varanasi was pleasant, they even provided lunch.
Varanasi is even more chaotic than Delhi. It is 3000 years old, and I think some of the streets are original. Very narrow lanes, you can touch both sides at the same time.It took me a while to find my hotel, but it is nice; I even have a balcony overlooking the Ganges. As you walk you will meet cows, goats, and a lot of dogs. Cow patties are all over the place.
Varanasi is one of the holiest cities for Hindus, and the belief is that if your funeral is on the Ganges you go directly to Nirvana. Hindus from far away bring the bodies of their loved ones to be burned, and their ashes thrown into the river. There are funeral pyres 24 hours a day. When I visited this afternoon seven funerals were in progress. It takes 350 kg of wood to cremate a body, and wood is expensive. It costs several hundred dollars for mango wood, and goes up to 10 000 dollars for sandalwood. Your social status also dictates how far from the shore you are burned, poor people are farther away.
I found the whole thing bizarre. While the seven bodies were burning, cows, dogs, and goats wander around. Several of the cows actually stood around one of the pyres to warm themselves.
Not everyone has to be burned; children, pregnant women, people who die of snake bites, lepers, and Holy Men are simply wrapped in special clothes, weighed down with rocks, and dropped in the middle of the river. This causes parts of decomposed bodies to occasionally to float to the top, and land on shore.
People wash in the river daily, and drink some of the water. They even collect some in plastic jugs to take home.
I am NOT tempted, even if it helps to get to Nirvana. I am sure contact with that water will speed your arrival at Death's Door significantly.
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