Kashi
May 1st, 2006 | Published in dispatch | 12 Comments
Varanasi is a holy place - I apologize for having paired a certain word next to it in my previous post - it’s the holiest city in Hinduism. People come to Varanasi to die. Literally. If they’re cremated at the Ganges, at Varanasi itself, it’s literally the stairway to heaven. We happen to be living next to the ghat where that cremation happens. Strangely, we haven’t been that disturbed by the thought, even after seeing bodies from a distance. The whole process doesn’t even smell that badly.
That said, Varanasi city itself is a dump. A charmless dump. I like the old city and the ghats enough - it has some charm. That is, if you remember to step over the cow dung (so many shapes and sizes: I suspect by the time I get to Mumbai I’ll chuckle silently at the thought of Chowpatty), step over the sleeping dogs, try not to get run over by the bicycle and motorcycles behind you, all the while trying to navigate the maze-like Old City. The guidebooks say the Old City quarters are “narrow” and “cramped”. It’s really more: Harry Potter and the Tri-Wizard Tournament maze. Except that there’s no portkey.
This is India at its rawest. After a 19 hour train ride through the poorest states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh - whilst insulated in air-conditioning, and surrounded by doctors and businessmen and their offspring, Varanasi hits you hard. Especially if one comes through the railhead at Mughal Sarai, 12 km away. 12 km is supposed to be no big deal. It is if you land at Mughal Sarai. Thankfully we learn from past experiences and the Koh Kong crossing at the Cambo-Thai border had already hardened me to rickshaw mobs. This one was no sweat. Two hundred? Did you think I was born yesterday? One hundred? Maybe we can talk. Everyone else stop touching me. Bhenchod.
Yesterday evening, while walking back to our ghat from the main ghat, Krishna (boatman/masseuse/burning ghat assistant) followed us. He was trying to persuade me to let him have the “one chance” to make me “feel good” and “enjoy”. What that means, I’m glad to never will find out. He was joined by Mowgli (at least that’s what I call him), a boy of about 15. He wanted me to ride in his boat for free, because I was his best friend, and he likes me. Ravi (soft-spoken, balding weirdo), came along later. What did they want? They didn’t want to sell me anything: they mob the American tourists for that.
All of them: Krishna, Mowgli, Ravi, followed us to… ask me for a kiss. What the fuck is that? Krishna didn’t take no for an answer. He took it upon himself to move his hand where it shouldn’t be. I slapped it and moved it away. Apparently I have a way with Indian men. Who knew?
Tomorrow we leave for another part of Uttar Pradesh. Except that that place will have the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri to its name. Then we hop out very quickly for Jaipur.
I’m so HOT and there is nothing I want more right now than CHICKEN and five minutes of air-conditioning. One wonders why then, that I’m headed for Rajasthan at the height of summer, for a week or more. Sometimes I don’t understand myself either.
I’m starting to like the word bhenchod very much. India is the country of the NO (according to Suketu Mehta anyway). I think it’s time I appropriated it for myself. NO saris NO I don’t want to buy silk NO postcards NO NO NO kiss.
May 1st, 2006 at 7:32 pm (#)
Hi Adri !
Well,UP is india to its raw best. I remeber some of my North easter NCC mates, going to the Ghat to have a fuck, after a gruelling day of rolling in the hot roads of the camp, and little bit of gliding.
If you didnot know Mughal-Sarai is one of the biggest railway station in india, probably also in Asia. Although the city isnt tht big.
Anyway, thats Banaras. DId u visit that buddha thingy there ? it is interesting, totally opposite to what Varanasi is outside.
Well, i hope you have a very nice time around the upper regions. Well “bhenchod” is a good start before you acually go up to the one which begins with “m……”.
india is great and it attracts ! well try the pan in the station before you leave ??
take care
bir
May 1st, 2006 at 7:38 pm (#)
Yup I’ve seen Sarnath. It was alright.. I think i make a very bad tourist. I hate sightseeing.
When I go up to the one that starts with “M” , I’d be saying “pinchud” instead of “bhenchod”.
India is great. BTW, what is “India Pagal”? My rickshaw wallah kept saying that.
May 1st, 2006 at 7:46 pm (#)
very nice description. ive been to haridwar (another bank of the ganges). reading ur post brought all those memories back to life. :)
May 1st, 2006 at 8:57 pm (#)
Pagal means “mad”… what the rickshaw wala was implying, I don’t know.
May 1st, 2006 at 9:01 pm (#)
Hah! India Pagal. Well pagal means ‘mad’ and I’d have to assume that by India Pagal, he meant mad about india. Sounds fit doesn’t it, to describe someone like you? I’m only speculating though, from what I read. When you visit Taj Mahal, make sure you round up all the way to the other side of the monument, from where you can see the river Yamuna (though I’m not sure at this time of the year how much water it holds). It is BY FAR the closest you can get to a sense of peace. It’s so serene and cool, in the literal way, as if everything around you becomes microscopic. Have fun!
May 1st, 2006 at 9:30 pm (#)
You’re really brave. :) I’m interested in photography, but India sounds too wild. I salute you though! I love your blog.
May 2nd, 2006 at 3:29 am (#)
i see that you’re experiencing india thoroughly.. hope u enjoy rajasthan…anyway ur fever/diarrhea all ok i hope?
May 2nd, 2006 at 8:01 am (#)
I almost lost my mind in Varanesi…. I know the feeling well. But still, it was in many ways the most amazing place I’ve ever been. The funeral processions speeding down those narrow alleyways, past lost, diseased cows. I stayed near the burning ghat, too. I took all of the photos for that section of the trip from the hotel because I was scared to take the camera into the street, and they’re still absolutely amazing. Have you encountered those monkeys that climb up onto the hotel balcony and try to get your stuff? We used to call them very smart rats with opposable thumbs. Who ever thought that monkeys would seem so commonplace that they became a nuisance?
I stayed in Varanesi for a week–it was my seventh week in eastern India–and then headed straight for the Nepali border. Completely unplanned sidetrip, but at that point I just had to get out of India. It was just what I needed. Uncrowded, clean air, just calm. I guess that’s out these days, with the political situation there. It’s too bad.
May 2nd, 2006 at 2:37 pm (#)
amazing! I’m sure you can take care of yourself though.. I figure it is quite hot thru the plains - and of course, Rajasthan will be nice and hot too :)
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:16 pm (#)
You’re making me all nostalgic. I was in Very Nasty at about the same time of year when it was a record heat wave. The ghats were very busy. Shortly afterwards, I spent 24 hours in the luggage rack of a third class train to Bombay.
I was never as happy to leave a place as I was to leave India. But there’s no other place I’ve wanted to go back to as much.The sublime and the obscene, side by side, always.
May 2nd, 2006 at 7:40 pm (#)
You should read Dennison Burwick’s book ‘A Walk by the Ganges’ — his account of a trek from the Hooghly right up to Manasa Gangotri. His account of the stay at Varanasi is very interesting. Don’t know if the book is out of print.
May 4th, 2006 at 4:56 pm (#)
I think if I had to add ’sexual harrassment’ to the (long) list of other annoyances that you get over here in India, it may well be the final straw and I’d look for somewhere else to travel. Fair play to you for dealing with it so well.
What’s the temperature like in UP now? You must be sweltering! I’m up in the hills, myself, fortunately.
Your post about getting the room at The Aliment made me laugh - that must’ve been a bit of a shock! I thought I’d told you Pratima was keeping you a room, I must admit. But I have a mind like a sieve at the best of times … Hope you enjoyed staying there, anyhow, dysentery notwithstanding …
This is a great blog, btw.
Cheers,
Jamie.