Varanasi - holy city of cows

There really is no place on earth like Varanasi. I have dubbed it the holy city of cows because I’ve never been to a city so full of them! The tiny little streets are lined with cows which are regarded as holy and not eaten, only used for milk. Varanasi is revered by Hindus as one of the holiest cities and sits on the banks of the River Ganges. Along the river side, there are numerous ghats (stone steps leading down to the water). I have never witnessed cows walking down steps before but here they do and they also spend a lot of time grazing rubbish tips. Walking the streets, you frequently bump into cows and calves, not to mention the buffalo, goats, sheep, chickens, dogs and cute puppies. Suffice to say, the streets are filthy… Aside from all the animals, walking in the Varanasi back streets, you must also watch out for the mopeds zooming around, the rickshaws, the beggars, the touts. It is a crazy place and every turn brings an even more bizarre sight.

Varanasi is best viewed from the river itself by taking a boat ride along the Ganges. In the evening, one of the ghats is host to a daily ceremony of fire, dance and light to worship the river. During the day, especially at dawn, the ghats are used for Hindus to perform their daily ablutions. A few ghats are set aside as cremation ghats (many people choose to come to Varanasi to die so that their ashes end up in the holy Ganges). You frequently pass bodies being carried down through the streets to the cremation ghats. The body is then doused in the Ganges before being cremated at the riverside in full public view. The Ganges must be one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Aside from all the litter, excrement, and ashes, it is not unusual for bodies to be dumped in the river by those who can’t afford the cremation ghat. Not a place to take a swim which makes it even more incredible that the Indian people bathe in it each day and wash their clothes. I am not getting any laundry done here that’s for sure as I know it would be washed in the river!

I am struggling to put into words some of the sights I have witnessed. It is probably a place you need to see for yourself to believe it. Life and death is starkly on public display, along with extreme poverty. On our sunrise boat ride today, people were routing through the cremation ashes looking for items of value. One guy was even in the water sieving ashes presumably trying to find items of value to sell such as jewellery or gold teeth. Varanasi really is a mind boggling place – fascinating and awful all at the same time.

The train ride from Delhi to Varanasi took 17 hours. A couple of hours longer than scheduled but as we were due to arrive at 4.45am, it didn’t really matter that it was later. Indian trains are surprisingly good, depending on which class of travel you opt for. Best is 1AC, then 2AC, 3AC, sleeper and unreserved. Unreserved appears to resemble a cattle truck in that there are no seats. Sleeper is very basic and probably okay for shorter journeys. We took 3AC which is air conditioned carriages with 3 tiers of bunks. Di and I both got one with windows so at least we could see the countryside for the day time section of the journey. We were impressed with the bunks as they had curtains and clean linen was provided, which is more than can be said for the hotels we have been staying in. Essential item number one for travel in India is a sheet sleeping bag as budget hotels either don’t provide any bed linen or it is filthy and you wouldn’t want to sleep on it. Unfortunately, despite the relative comfort of the train, sleep did not come easily mainly due to very noisy passengers and the various food and drink sales people walking up and down the carriages shouting out what they had to sell. I got very tired of hearing “chai, chai, special chai”.

Loved arriving in Varanasi at first light, taking a tuk tuk (auto rickshaw) from the train station across town, watching the city coming to life. The accommodation options are plentiful but finding a suitable room at a suitable price is hard work. Nothing has a fixed price in India so you have to bargain for everything. Even when you are being shown hotel rooms, the manager will show it to you then ask how much you would like to pay, and so the negotiations begin… Apparently our hotel has a view of the Ganges. Well yes, if you stand on the rooftop of the hotel you can just about see the river but I think to describe it as having a Ganges view is stretching it a little. Budget hotels don’t really do clean and often rooms don’t even have a window. Definitely basic, but it’s somewhere to lay your head and take a shower (hot water not guaranteed but India is very hot and humid so that is not a major issue). On the plus side, most hotels do have free and fast wifi, and at around £5 per person per night for a bed you can’t expect luxury.

Tomorrow, a final day in Varanasi and then an overnight train to Agra – home of the Taj Mahal.