Holy cow! It's Varanasi

We left Delhi as quickly as possible and took a 16hr train journey to Varanasi for the Diwali celebrations. The journey was very pleasant as we made friends with the Indian family from London and another couple from Lucknow (about 100km west of Varanasi). Talked politics, children, health, life in India, Malaysia (the father was Indo-malay) and the UK while drinking chai and eating cake and bananas. We were in 3 AC, which is air conditioned with 6 bunks per block. It's ok but the smell of feet and urine (being trodden across the floors from the toilets) was getting a bit ripe by the time we got to Varanasi.

As India's holiest Hindu city, we were all very excited about what was to come, especially as so many of our friends and fellow travellers recommended it. Are you all mad? I'm having a little trouble finding divinity here as we suffocate on the smog, plagues of insects and the filthy cesspit that is the Ganges.

We found a nice hotel in the Cantonment area (because lets face it, we're not 19yr old students trying to survive on a shoestring, and why should we?). It's well away from the original flea and mossie pit I booked down by the river. I was immediately struck by how dirty the place is (not in the Cantonment which is comparatively spotless). More so than anywhere we've been (except Agra - but don't even get me started on that tourist hellhole). Piles of burning rubbish and dense spluttering traffic everywhere churn out thick polluted smoke into the densely smoggy sky. Asthmatics beware - bring plenty of steroids!

It was Diwali eve, so we took a rickshaw to the market and got totally lost in the narrow crammed alleyways. A very unpleasant and unnerving experience for us all (and several men got punched or elbowed for what would be classed as assault back in UK). We finally resurfaced on the main road leading to the river. Went down to the 'Ganga' for a quiet stroll - no such luck. While Lee enjoyed a vigourous neck and shoulder massage, the children and I were besieged by touts and beggars. So far on our journey, travelling as a family has been a blessing. We have earned greater respect and friendliness - families are universal after all. But here (and to some extent in Agra) the children are targeted by the touts too, especially the child touts. Tevo and Roisin are really sick of it, and after much pawing and grabbing, I took my best assertive stance and demanded they lay off (I can say several useful phrases in Hindi now). I couldn't even see the Ganges through the crowd we had drawn. I bought a silk shawl to hide behind (and matches my salweer kameez {Indian long top and loose trouser suit} I have been living in for the last few days). The children lit 'puja' candles and set them adrift on the river.

Pilgrims flock to this place for puja and it is said, those who are cremated here are released from the cycle of birth and death and that the river washes away all your sins. I thought I'd probably have to immerse myself for redemption from my past, but settled for bathing my hands and forehead. BAD idea - I have had explosive diaorreah since! The Ganges is so polluted there is no oxygen left and nothing lives in this basin area apart from the rubbish, excretia and burnt human remains. It may be holy to Hindus but it's a foul cesspit and a major public health hazard. Water bourne diseases are rife along the basin and because of the current plague of insects, many people (including travellers) are getting very sick here.

We bumped into our Japanese friend, Tij, who we did some excursions with in McLeod Ganj. He's having a love/hate time here too. But he recommended a great cafe, where the children have been dragging us back for masala dosas ona regular basis. This is not a bad thing since the hotel food is not great.

The next morning, we took a dawn boat trip along the river, lighting puja candles and watching Diwali morning ablutions along the river. The sun took hours to break through the smog and as we floated through the untreated sewage, it was hard to understand how such a holy place can be allowed to reach such degradation. Hindus think the british are a bit odd, the way we tames nature in our gardens with flowerbeds and lawns, and believe nature should be allowed to take its own path. So how can it be okay to poison nature in this way? Furthermore, after a long chat with a waiter from Kolkatta, it appears that the government show little concern for this. Instead they are much happier to spend billions of dollors on US-Indo war schemes. Meanwhile this beautiful country is rotting from the outside in. What a strange country this is. A developing country no doubt, like a cross between our Victorian times (with dangerous forms of child labour, extreme poverty and severe lack of basic public health needs like sewage systems) and a rigid class (caste) system, bound in the opiated effects of religion that Marx so famously believed controlled people to accept their fate and position in life, and at the same time an influx of modernism and capaitalism that further poisons the land and encases the poor in a poverty trap with no escape. Tourists are the cash cow, so to speak, the only chance many people get to make a living beyond their basic food and shelter needs.

Quick example - our rickshaw driver, Patel, on a good day makes 500 rupees of which he gets to keep about 150 after he has paid his boss (the rickshaw owner) and the numerous fees and taxes that are everywhere. This is about 2 pounds. He cannot save any money or buy anything that is beyond the basic needs of his family. He lives in a hut in the country just outside Varanasi with family. Does he like it here? A definite no. He says he will never get a chance to make a difference to his life or his family. I have asked this of several locals and migrant workers and they all say the same thing. A few people 'own' all the businesses and the masses get a pittance for working from dawn til dusk and are trapped in this dirty polluted place. No wonder the poor souls want to be released from the cycle of birth and death.

Back to our trip - we took a short tour of some of the temples, but the holiest of them was a dirty as the river, so we gave up and went back to the hotel for brekkie and a swim in their brand new pool with stunning waterfall.

On Diwali night, the sky lit up with the most extraordinary fireworks. the kind that would never make it into the UK. Like small bombs going off, buildings shook and more smoke filled the already gloomy sky. The hotel gave us a fine display, almost setting fire to some of the waiters with unruly catherine wheels and exploding rockets.

After a day or two's rest (and severe wheezing on my part), we have decided on a few things. Firstly, the tourist trail of mid Northern India is horrible. After the laid back Himalaya, we have decided this is not what we came for. The Taj Mahal was wholly disappointing and Varanasi is just, well, very messy! The dust, heat and touts we can expect in Rajasthan sound a little too much, so we have abandoned this plan and have now booked ourselves an extraordinarily long train journey (26hrs) to Mumbai, then onto Goa (another 10 hrs) for some birthday shindigs for me. After this, we plan to spend more time in Karnataka and Kerala. Rumour has it, its cleaner down there and the people are more gentle and laid back. Here's hoping!

Last night, after more masala dosas and thali at our favourite cafe, we went to see evening puja at the river. A fine display a lights, ceremonial brahmin bell ringing and incense burning. Some cows joined us to watch, then promptly pooped and peed all over people. But since they are so holy, even when they started getting a bit frisky and kicking out, everyone just makes way for the cow.

This afternoon, we are off to Sarnath where Buddha found enlightenment. I'm very excited. I can't wait for the company of gentle lamas (monks), beautiful stupas and hopefully some tout free time.

Jackie xx