Varanasi

Hi,

We have spent the last few days being tourists in Varanasi - a holy city on the Ganges river. Quite beautiful in it's own way but a city that raises the concept of filth to new levels. In the old section near the river the streets are very narrow which thankfully keeps the cars and motor rickshaws out but they still have their mandatory densely packed population of cows, goats, dogs and urinating humans. It makes for quite a smell!

The river is something else again. Each day thousands go down to bathe, brush teeth, wash clothes, swim and pray in this holy location. They also burn bodies on wood fueled pyres at the rate of 150 a day. Children run with kites between the pyres and the unburned remnants - usually pelvises and ribs are thrown into the river. If the body was that of a holy man, pregnant woman, child or snake bite victim (and a couple of other categories) it is not burned but weighed down with rocks and dropped into the river whole. Sometimes the body breaks free and floats to the surface along with the occasional dead cow floating by.
As it is currently the dry season the river is very low and barely flowing. This means there are thousands of burned and unburned bodies building up metres from where people are immersing themselves in the river. A little downstream people are fishing with nets. Further down is the water intake that supplies the city. I think you get the picture!