Holy Men, Holy Cows, Holy River...

Each time we venture into the streets of Varanasi, I become more and more convinced that there is absolutely no other place like this in the World...
For those who don’t know, Varanasi is on the River Ganges which is considered a holy river by the Hindi people. Its considered a crossroad between physical and spiritual life. People come here to die and we see little shops displaying photos of how you can be “done up” for your cremation. Along the river are “ghats” which are used for bathing, washing the water buffalos, swimming, and several ghats are used for cremating people in a public ritual. So, that being said, you can imagine there is a lot to see around here! We walk along the ghats and see people bathing and rinsing their mouths with the Ganges water. Its so brown you can’t see any part of the body under the water. There are 30 sewage drains polluting the river and it has become uninhabitable for life due to no oxygen. Just past some swimmers we see a dead goat floating amongst all the garbage. We see funeral processions everyday- the deceased is carried on a stretcher and is wrapped in white cloth, over the cloth is an elaborate red and gold fabric and then some type of glittery garland decorating it. There are men carrying the body but they don’t go slow and they don’t seem to worry about going smooth. The body bounces around as they half run - avoiding cows, motorbikes, and people in the narrow street. The streets are only as wide as sidewalks...they also chant and there is a mass of people (assumed to be family) following the stretcher. We had a good laugh today after Steve pointed out how the chanting got quiet and all eyes were on me when the procession trotted by. Stay focused people. The staring and gawking is obvious here- and we caught one guy taking my picture on his cell phone. Other men are really obvious and use cameras. So I take their photo too. But we are sticking together and taking it all in stride- the men usually just talk to Steve. We are offered drugs numerous times every day. Hash, opium...The children scratch at my arms or try to grab my hands but I don’t let them, I just smile and say hello or namaste. We are loving the food. We have yet to work up the courage to eat the street food. Once while on the street (remember its a side walk) we had to jump out of the path of two massive running bulls- it was very scary. There are also packs of dogs running around and we have seen them fight other dogs. That is scary too. But then we also saw puppies in a wagon cart- they weren’t moving and I think they were nearly dead. With all the garbage, dogs, cows, and goats, and men peeing, the streets are filthy and stink and there are flies everywhere.
We watched a Pooja ceremony which was interesting and took a boat down the Ganges. I was worried that the oar would splash me with ganges water. We had the option to cross the Ganges and walk the shore. We did not go to the other shore because it is littered with decaying bodies and skeletons. Not everyone who goes in to the Ganges is cremated. If you are a holy man, a pregnant woman, young child, missing any body parts, or have died from a snake bite you are tied to a rock and thrown into the middle where its 30m deep. Sometimes the bodies float up, so if a body makes it to the Ghat side of the river it is retied to a rock and tossed again, if it goes to the other side of the river, the dogs and eagles eat it and the monsoon cleans the leftovers. Now lets talk cremation. The main burning ghat (which is a 1 min walk from out hotel) burns 200 bodies every day! Its a 24 hour operation. There are wood dealers around the ghat and they have giant scales to measure out the wood. It costs 5-7 rps/kg and take 300-350 kg for one cremation. We walk by the ghat and see the silhouettes of bodies on the fires, this is more than enough for us and we never go close enough to see detail. The smoke is always around, when we are eating on the balcony, walking in the street, and we know its not a wiener roast down there... so its a little creepy. This is all so far from our culture I don’t think we will ever understand. I am particularly dumbfounded with the fact that the ‘holy river’ is a giant sewer that people bathe in.
We are getting into the flow of chaos...are chilling out a bit more...and I've only had a couple minor outbursts...there is a sweeper at the hotel and I was standing at the sink brushing my teeth. Unknowingly I was also standing on a small drain that the sweeper puts all the dust in. So, instead of asking me to move or waiting for me to finish, he sweeps the dirt onto my feet! ARGH!