Varanasi

Well, I suppose it's time I post a more substantial update here.

I am still in Varanasi having a very nice time, despite the unrelenting heat. Hot Walla Walla summers can be endured thanks to expensive conveniences like air conditioning. But I have yet to find such lovely luxury devices here in Varanasi!

Varanasi is a very ancient city, with centuries-old buildings all crammed up against each other. A network of narrow alleyways weaves this way and that throughout the old city, each somehow connecting to another and another that eventually takes you either to the main road or to the ghats (bathing steps on the banks of the River Ganges). If you've read my India blogs before then you'll have already heard more than enough about the layout and history of Varanasi. It's enough for newcomers here to share that Varanasi is the holiest site in India for Hindu pilgrims. Traditionally it is believed that dying in Varanasi achieves for the deceased automatic release from the oppressive cycle of rebirth. I am staying on the rooftop of Shanti (Peace) Guesthouse, a short step from Manikarnika Ghat (the main cremation site in Varanasi). Here the dead are wrapped in linen and garlands and doused with river water before they are burned in full public view. I am often interrupted in my goings through the streets by a family entourage bearing the body of someone destined for Manikarnika, and I can almost always catch the scent of burning ash in the air. Cremations at Manikarnika happen 24 hours a day. Occasionally I can also see corpses floating down the river unburned (animals, children under 13, pregnant women, sadhus, lepers, and those killed by cobra bites are not cremated for various reasons having to do with purification). Certainly no one can have any illusions about death in this city!

I've met lots of interesting people in Varanasi already-- tourists from Poland, Finland, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Sweden, and the U.K. One Dutch girl staying in my dorm road her bicycle from The Netherlands all the way to Kathmandu and then bought a motorbike and toured Rajasthan before returning to Kathmandu and cycling down to Varanasi. Now she is trying to find a man with a little boat who will take her all the way to Kolkata (a two week journey down the Ganges). I was tempted to join her until I asked around and learned that some notorious guerrilla groups camp along the shore line in Bihar. I figured I'd best think of something fun to do that is not also potentially deadly. The Dutch girl is also now faltering on the idea and is looking into cycling to Kolkata. You can check out her amazing blog at: www.cyclingdutchgirl.waarbenjij.nu

Even if taking the boat was possible, I probably wouldn't have time. I've been busy here in Varanasi learning tabla and teaching some guitar to my tabla teacher's son. They are a wonderful family-- Lala, Biba, and their two boys. I met Lala through some other tourists when I was in Dharamsala (my first trip to India), and took a few tabla lessons then. Now he and his wife have opened their (minuscule) home to me. They invite me for meals and conversation all the time and they continue to expand my understanding of Hindu culture. Lala's father was a professional Brahmin priest by trade, and the family is very devout. Next week Biba has determined to dress me up like a real Indian woman-- bangles, braids, oiled hair, sari, vermilion powder and all. This will be fun!

Soon I will also start going more regularly to Sarnath, where Amistad sponsors a free school for street children. I'll mostly be interviewing people and writing articles for Amistad's newsletter. I'm lucky in that I'll get some pay for this-- I'm trying to buy some more scarves to sell for school money in the States! Lala helped me locate a silk wholesaler, so that will be extremely helpful.