Varanasi and Agra

‘Now you don’t see that down at Karori mall’ could well be the understatement of the trip so far as we explored the ghats (riverside steps and path) and old town of Varanasi. It could have equally been referring to the naked Naga Sadhu holy man literally hanging to our left, or the body being openly cremated to our right. Varanasi has been quite an eye opener – even after a couple of months in the country.

In fact, it’s felt like all of the quirkiness, craziness, and mystery of this country have been condensed, fed steroids, and wrapped up into this incredibly fascinating holy city. For the kids, the reaction to being here was almost the same as our first couple of days in the country and when topped off by a tuk tuk ride from hell, left them in quite a state of shock after our first day.

From there, the pace has been much more tranquil, entering the extremely well touristed ‘golden triangle’ through Agra to see the truly magnificent Taj Mahal.

Varanasi was busier than usual while we were there. Tens of millions of Hindu had attended the massive Kumbh Mela festival in nearby Prayagraj and were combining Varanasi – one of India’s most holy cities into their travels. There were hundreds of Naga Sadhu also on the pilgrimage who were camping on the ghats. Naga Sadhus are naked, ash smeared Hindu devotees that smoke a lot of weed. They were one time armed defenders of Hindu and traditionally live in the caves and jungle of the foothills of the Himalayas. According to a guide we hired, many of them are ‘fakes’ who are more interested in the drugs than anything holy.

We stayed in Varanasi for three days and visited the ghats on each of them. Dawn was the most peaceful and beautiful time to be there.

At other times, Varanasi seemed like it was on steroids, like this this goat…

Cricket on the ghats. Square cuts usually involved a swim.

…and boat building

One of the smaller cremation ghats – family friendly version…

It was fascinating for us all – especially the kids

After dozens and dozens of Tuk Tuk rides, we went on one that finally took us close to the edge. The traffic in Varanasi takes the usual mayhem of India to another level and when combined with a tuk tuk driver with either a screw loose and/or on some kind of amphetamine, then you end up with something ‘special.’ If I had recorded it, I’m pretty sure I could have sold it to Disney for one of their 3D thrill rides. It was truly insane and was the first time we had to threaten the driver to slow down or we get out without paying. It left the kids quite badly shaken. From then on we only got in electric tuk tuks (below) that move at a relatively sedate pace.

We decided to hire a guide to learn more about this fascinating place. Pryia is apparently the only female official guide for the city. Not only was she knowledgable on her town but she also gave us some real insight into what life is like as a woman in this part of India. It’s certainly not an easy place to be a woman and India has a long long way to go until women are treated equitably. Dowries, for example, – although outlawed in theory for decades – can still make having daughters more or a burden. In Pryia’s culture, women have to massage their husbands on demand and tradition would also be expected to massage the mother and sister in law’s feet.

‘Blue Lassi’ was a fascinating spot to drink a lassi and watch life go by. While we were there, several bodies were rushed through the alley ways to the cremation ghat

Iris took one for the team and tried ‘Fire Paan’ – a flammable version of what the men here chew all day long to give them nastily stained teeth. Delicious apparently. Pryia told us that her uncle was so addicted that he’d stuff some fresh paan in his mouth every time he would wake up at night.

Queueing to make an offering at the Golden Temple. We decided not to queue for several days like some of the people here had.

Varanasi is famous for its silk weavers. It is a Muslim trade and the craft seems to be entirely performed by men.

This ‘Street dentist’ made custom dentures to go

…and if you wanted an implant, you could go to the office down the alley. No anaesthetic is used and apparently they simply glue a tooth of your choice in with normal industrial glue – it usually only stays in for a few weeks, sometimes months, but that’s good for business. They have no qualifications but because they have been around for generations, the poorer locals believe in the superior service of the place. Pryia has a lady who helps her around the house who suffered from a tooth ache and although Pryia offered to pay to take her to a proper dentist, she refused in favour of this ‘trusted’ street operation…

The colourful flower market where the merchandise is used to decorate the bodies about to be cremated. They are all family wholesale businesses and for the past year women have been working in the market as well to moderate and discourage frequent fights between rivalling merchants.

Devotees on the way to temple being blocked by people transporting wood for cremation at the ghats

I looked at him. He looked at me. We had a moment…

Like almost every other building in the city, this building, which holds a Hindi shrine, was in a decrepit state. We were told the beautiful, yet decaying buildings fronting the ghats are often owned by families with money who live in other cities and have little interest in the upkeep of their heritage. Varanasi could be absolutely glorious – but for now it is extremely dirty (the locals according to our guide take offence to a tiny rubbish collection fee and prefer just leave litter in the streets) and crumbling away…

We took to the Ganges at dusk by boat

For a Hindu, being cremated at the holy banks of the Ganga at Varanasi is believed to bring salvation to the soul. Marnikataka Ghat, the main cremation site, is busy with half a dozen pyres burning 24/7.

At the main Dashashwamedh Ghat, we watched a ceremony that takes place every evening to praise the Ganga and involves a perfectly synchronised performance to drumming, bells and incense. It was – in the spirit of the city – very noisy and extremely crowded!

So… we went from that to seeing some lovely sites in Agra. This is the tomb of l’timad-ud-Dulah or ‘baby Taj’

In most other towns that would be the ‘star attraction’, but not in Agra. We got up to watch the sun rise onto the incredible Taj Mahal. So often, the ‘big sites’ we have seen over the years haven’t measured up to the hype. The Taj Mahal is different. The feeling walking through the main gates to this site on a cold and misty morning gave a bit of a lump in the throat. It is truly stunning.

Possibly one of the most photographed angles on the globe…

We stopped by the Keoladeo National Park on our way from Agra to Jaipur and were super impressed at the huge variety of bird life at this time of year. The place was teeming with egrets, cranes, storks, pelicans, ducks turtles and owls.

We saw was a baby python which can grow to over 6 metres long

Chai and samosas – our staple travel snack – on the way to Jaipur