delhi, comprised of somewhere between 15 and 20 million heat-crazed souls is the largest city i've ever seen. it is not so much the chaos that astonishes me... i've seen chaos before. but it is the sheer volume of people and the fact that there is pure unadulterated chaos EVERYWHERE you look. you cannot escape it. before leaving the guesthouse i have to close my eyes and take a few deep, meditative breaths. (it doesn't surprise me that this is the country that invented meditation). the moment you step outside you're instantly hit in the face with a wall of olfactory confusion. the number and intensity of smells that come from every direction is truly amazing. walking down the street you must be on high-alert every second. you cannot relax for an instant. there is no place to hide from the people, bicycles, motorcyles, rickshaws, tuk-tuks, cows, goats, taxis, carts, jumping and dodging every-which-way all day and all night. stop for 10 seconds and you're surrounded by three rickshaw drivers trying to take you somewhere. it sounds unpleasant, and if you don't have a seriously strong sense of humor, it can be. but it's also the most indescribably colorful experience of my life. it's simply beautiful.
everywhere you turn you see robed and bearded holy men hobbling down the street with wild-painted face and crazy-eyes. huge cows sleep in the middle of interstate highways blinking stupidly while traffic snarls around them. armless, legless, faceless beggars confront you everywhere you turn. people sleep on rooftops, cartops, and if they can't find a somewhat sheltered spot they sleep on the filth of the street itself. street vendors sell everything from samosas and japati to toy boats and talcum powder.
the only place i've ever been that is comparable is the middle east. especially the sordid soukh's of marakesh and fez. but morrocco lacks the overpopulation that gives delhi such fierce intensity.
everywhere you turn you see robed and bearded holy men hobbling down the street with wild-painted face and crazy-eyes. huge cows sleep in the middle of interstate highways blinking stupidly while traffic snarls around them. armless, legless, faceless beggars confront you everywhere you turn. people sleep on rooftops, cartops, and if they can't find a somewhat sheltered spot they sleep on the filth of the street itself. street vendors sell everything from samosas and japati to toy boats and talcum powder.
the only place i've ever been that is comparable is the middle east. especially the sordid soukh's of marakesh and fez. but morrocco lacks the overpopulation that gives delhi such fierce intensity.
after two days of wandering through delhi's old city i hopped an overnight train for varanassi - the holiest city in india. "hopping" the train was not nearly as easy as it sounds i reserved my ticket a few hours in advance and made it to the train station early to avoid the legendary chaos of the indian trains. no such luck. as the train pulled into the station, people jumped for the doors and held on while the train was still moving. other people jumped on those people so that as the train slowed to a stop, all of the doors were covered with big knots of fighting people desperately trying to be first in line. i wonder why, since most of the seats are reserved anyway? i figure if everyone is rushing there must be a reason, so rather than wait for the fighting to subside, i push my way in as soon as the doors open along with everyone else. my seat is in the middle of coach S3. i find the coach marked 'S3' and fight my way in. there are people going in both directions and the train is seriously overloaded. there is simply not enough room. i think i killed a few children and knocked over an old lady or two while getting to my seat. it was unnavoidable. so i finally find my seat only to find someone sitting there. "that's my seat" i say and show him my ticket. "this coach is S6" he says. shit. i fight my way back out and double-check. the coach still says S3 so i ask a police officer where i should go. he points me to a coach three cars down marked S6 and says "that's S3". of course. makes perfect sense, right? whatever. the train ride is actually very comfortable once we get going. all night long vendors go up and down the aisles peddling 'chai garam' (hot tea). all night long.
varanassi is an incredibly old and beautiful city. somewhere between 3 and 4 thousand years old, it is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. the whole city is built on the west bank of the huge ganges river and all along the banks itself are 'ghats' - stairways down into the water where various holy rites (bathing, drinking, creamation, etc) are perfomed. it is an extremely holy city. it's also extremely hot. the streets of the old city are tangled and narrow and all of the buildings go up at least 5 or 6 stories on either side. these streets are too narrow for cars. to beat the heat, anyone who can spends the evenings on the rooftops and from the cafe at my guesthouse i can watch kite-flyers, cricket-players, and meditators - to name a few - staying cool in the evening. the other occupants are wild monkeys. every morning and evening hundreds of wild monkeys overrun the rooftops and i soon noticed that anyone relaxing on thier rooftop has a 'monkey stick' close at hand. the monkeys are not friendly and are known for attacking people, stealing everything, and shitting everywhere. but they are beautiful and fun to watch. my room has a big window overlooking the roof of the restaurant and every evening a few monkeys come and press their faces against the glass and roll around and screetch and fight... it's endlessly fun to watch.
for hindus, varanassi is THE place to die. being creamated on the banks of the ganges river in varanassi offers hindus the opportunity to escape from the cycle of life-death-rebirth and finally achieve nirvana. that being the case, the old and sick come here to die, and those who don't make it in time have their bodies sent here to be burned. my guesthouse overlooks the ganges river and is a 5 minute walk from the holiest creamatorium (called the 'burning ghat') in india. a short walk down to the burning ghat and you can sit and watch the bodies being burned. carefully prepared bodies are carried through the streets of varanassi by chanting/singing funeral processions atop bamboo stretchers. when they reach the burning ghat, untouchables separate the body from the stretcher and place them on a big funeral pyre consisting of a few hundred kilos of cedarwood. then they set it on fire. all out in the open. you can sit and watch body after body go up in flames. there are other outcastes who's job it is to poke and stir the bodies to make sure they burn completely. a lot of times the head doesn't burn so they have to break it open with their sticks. or they push a foot back into the fire if it was sticking out. any parts of the bodies that don't burn are thrown into the ganges. 15 meters away, children splash and play in the water and pilgrims bathe and drink.
it's all a bit overwhelming, but also incredibly romantic and breathtakingly ancient. it simply has to be seen to be believed. i am loving it.
i am also very sick and very hot. everything comes with a price, i guess. i'll get better and head for the himilayas soon.
email me.
g
varanassi is an incredibly old and beautiful city. somewhere between 3 and 4 thousand years old, it is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. the whole city is built on the west bank of the huge ganges river and all along the banks itself are 'ghats' - stairways down into the water where various holy rites (bathing, drinking, creamation, etc) are perfomed. it is an extremely holy city. it's also extremely hot. the streets of the old city are tangled and narrow and all of the buildings go up at least 5 or 6 stories on either side. these streets are too narrow for cars. to beat the heat, anyone who can spends the evenings on the rooftops and from the cafe at my guesthouse i can watch kite-flyers, cricket-players, and meditators - to name a few - staying cool in the evening. the other occupants are wild monkeys. every morning and evening hundreds of wild monkeys overrun the rooftops and i soon noticed that anyone relaxing on thier rooftop has a 'monkey stick' close at hand. the monkeys are not friendly and are known for attacking people, stealing everything, and shitting everywhere. but they are beautiful and fun to watch. my room has a big window overlooking the roof of the restaurant and every evening a few monkeys come and press their faces against the glass and roll around and screetch and fight... it's endlessly fun to watch.
for hindus, varanassi is THE place to die. being creamated on the banks of the ganges river in varanassi offers hindus the opportunity to escape from the cycle of life-death-rebirth and finally achieve nirvana. that being the case, the old and sick come here to die, and those who don't make it in time have their bodies sent here to be burned. my guesthouse overlooks the ganges river and is a 5 minute walk from the holiest creamatorium (called the 'burning ghat') in india. a short walk down to the burning ghat and you can sit and watch the bodies being burned. carefully prepared bodies are carried through the streets of varanassi by chanting/singing funeral processions atop bamboo stretchers. when they reach the burning ghat, untouchables separate the body from the stretcher and place them on a big funeral pyre consisting of a few hundred kilos of cedarwood. then they set it on fire. all out in the open. you can sit and watch body after body go up in flames. there are other outcastes who's job it is to poke and stir the bodies to make sure they burn completely. a lot of times the head doesn't burn so they have to break it open with their sticks. or they push a foot back into the fire if it was sticking out. any parts of the bodies that don't burn are thrown into the ganges. 15 meters away, children splash and play in the water and pilgrims bathe and drink.
it's all a bit overwhelming, but also incredibly romantic and breathtakingly ancient. it simply has to be seen to be believed. i am loving it.
i am also very sick and very hot. everything comes with a price, i guess. i'll get better and head for the himilayas soon.
email me.
g
