Varanasi – senses in overload!

January 20-something.

As I edit and write this on February third, it has become apparent that the rate of traveling and the rate of writing is disparate. We are typically staying two or three nights in one town separated by a travel day or, more favourably, an overnight sleeper train. I have a feeling the blog will become a little less 'linear' with regard to dates and activities! We are honoured to have so many faithful readers.

This morning I am in heaven. We arrived late and in the dark last night to our hotel in a small town near the Bandhavgarh tiger reserve, after a very long day of bus travel. I am sitting alone, outside on our duplex 'cabins' porch, at a table and chair. The sky is blue, the ground is a fine beige sand being littered sporadically by falling leaves while an orchestra of twittering and chirping birds is randomly punctuated by the sound of monkeys. The manager had asked if we'd like morning tea, and one of the kitchen staff just delivered chai in 'English' porcelain tea cups. Lovely! Lovely to be in nature again, with little traffic noise. Sorry reader....this is just a tease..... back to the beginning- Varanasi..........

One afternoon we were strolling the narrow, windy stone streets of Old Varanasi looking for a recommended restaurant to eat in before the daily 6:30 Hindu ceremony performed on the banks of the Ganga (Ganges) at one of the the ghats. We saw a long line of Hindu worshipers and tourists entering through a metal detector gate . The Hindus were barefoot and carrying offerings such as marigold garlands, candles and small clay cups of milk and spices. My curiosity was instantly aroused. Where are these people going? What are they doing? We were told it was Vishwanath, the Golden Temple. I wanted to go in immediately, worried we may never find it again in this maze of streets. Sensible Heath (with a gps map on his phone) decided we wouldn't have time for the temple, dinner and the show so we vowed to return the next day.

It seemed a fairly complicated process, as cameras were not allowed inside. The adjacent shops all had cubbie lockers for renting. The next day we found it fairly easily, arriving without valuables and cameras. The temple was crazy busy because of a national Indian holiday. The line of barefoot worshipers was super long, and at first we were directed past the first gate to a second, then told non-Hindus were not allowed to enter the second gate. We went back to the first, where we were refused entry because we didn't have our passports on us. India has rigorous standards with regards to information collection, but not information dis-pension!

We vowed to return the next day. Golden Temple -third time lucky! Through the metal detector, on to a physical search where a ball point pen was confiscated from my pocket by a female guard. Our passport information was taken by another set of officials. We entered into the inner temple, the spire of which is covered by 920 kilos of gold. We were met and rushed through the temple in our bare feet by an enthusiastic Hindu. He must have been a temple apprentice. He ushered us past the locals, stopped at a fountain or pond surrounding a Shivas lingam, where he pulled out garlands that other worshipers had placed into it. The fountain was full of blessed milk and Ganga water, and he wrapped the dripping marigold leis around our necks, then scurried us to a honoured statue of Ganesh (the elephant-headed child of Shiva or god of destruction), where he rubbed his finger in the tikkas (red powder) that others had rubbed on Ganesh then dotted our foreheads with red while chanting prayers. He explained who the statues were quickly and with a thick accent, while leading us onwards to another enclave to repeat the process with another deity.

On route, a woman cried out as a mischievous monkey swooped down and stole a plastic bag out of her hand, then jumped out of reach. She made a bit of a scene as the monkey started going through her bag. I handed her one of my leis because the monkey had stolen her offerings. Little did I realize she was mostly upset because her wallet was in the bag! Luckily it was of no use to the monkey and he threw it down in favour of eating the marigolds!

We continued on our speed tour, into another little statue enclave, more tikkas and prayers from the idol of Shiva where another man or temple apprentice hit us up for donations. We wanted to give him R100, but he was asking for R1000 ($20)! The first man said- “Give whatever makes you happy” (R100 makes us happy) We left him and entered another enclave to repeat the process. (More tikkas, prayers and another demand of donations!) It seemed like our tour was over in a flash. He bid us farewell, asked for more money and sent us on our way. I would have enjoyed a few more minutes to look at some of the carvings in greater detail. The guidebook we have dates from 2005, where it states Non-Hindus cannot enter the temple. The rules have been recently changed, I'm guessing as tourists are seen as a revenue stream!

Varanasi goats in coats. 
Goats must be of thinner skin than Nepalese goats, because they dress them in used clothes here

The rhesus macaques monkeys are annoyances in Indian cities, parallel to our white tailed deer. I am not sure which animal pest is worse- the kind that eats the bounty arising from the hard labour spent in your garden, or the ones that swing from your power and internet lines and steal your laundry. Many times we have been told the internet doesn't work because the monkeys have disconnected the wires. We watched a humorous scene from our roof top restaurant. One monkey reached down and pulled a red shirt off of someone's line, tossed it around a bit then ran with it off their veranda, where he played with it some more on an adjacent roof top. The owner of the shirt spotted this and in pursuit, climbed up onto the roof and chased the monkey across the roof to a tree where the monkey must have dropped the shirt, as the man returned triumphantly brandishing his possession. I think they like the red colour, as this wasn't the first time I have seen a monkey fool around with stolen red clothing.