varanasi. if you spent your days around the ghats you might think this is a small and spiritual place and a close community as you meet the same people every day. just like pushkar. however, when you actually head out into the city you are back in reality and you will not forget for a single minute that Varanasi has about 1,5 million inhabitants. as all major cities: crowded, crazy busy, traffic is unbelievable, the roads ever so bad, the smells (stench, really) breathtaking and the noises deafening.
despite all this i quite like the city. this morning we woke up to an amazing thunderstorm- lightening, thunder and loads of rain. went on for about 30 minutes, wild! manu, tzur and ricky (another woman from israel we met here in varanasi)left today for nepal and it was that the weather was changing accordingly as everything else was about to change.
i have not quite realized yet that i am on my own again, after being with tzur and manu for almost a month and a half. long time in india. traveling is so intense and you spent so much time together that 45 days are rather like knowing someone for 1 year. it is going to be interesting for the next few days to see how i cope with doing everything on my own again. bought a good book as tonight i am enbarking on my journey to the south. varanasi to chennai. train ride for (attenion, attention!) 40 hours (!!!). from chennai i am either going to a small village called manallapuram or pondicherry. i guess i make up my mind while being on the way or really take whatever bus shows up first. after pondicherry i have a few places that i want to see but not yet a fixed idea where to head next. just go with the flow!
a truely magical experience was the boat ride on the ganges at sunrise. very peaceful and the light was amazing! watching the pilgrims bathe, praying, doing yoga, washing their clothes, children swimming in the water...
at night there are big ceremonies going on at the main ghats after sunset: hundreds of people gather to watch it or participate. either on the ghats or from the water. there are several priests praying, bringing candles, burning incense...drums are being played, mantras sung...flowers, food, sweets, etc...are offered to the gods.
last night on the water i saw two skulls floating by.
for dogs this seems to be a particularly terrible place to be. nowhere in india yet have i seen the dogs in a worse condition than here ( i do not know how they manage to stay alive!). i hope that they too enter the nirvana if they die in varanasi! skinny dogs you see all over india but this... the poor creatures suffered enough for serveral life times. there seems to be a skin disease that many of the puppies have, meaning there is basically no fur left! nb: yes, i do care about the humans, a lot and many times a day your heart just skips a beat because of the suffering! however, the dogs are kicked and ill-treated by everyone!!! they are the lowest creatures here and so i feel that someone has to feel pity for them too!
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