No time to blink as the unthinkable can happen - Dehli to Varanassi & almost Allahabad!!!

Just when we thought we had seen it all then another suprise of an almost undescribable magnitude gets thrown in our faces. More of that to come, but first a brief run down of the Capital city, New Dehli.

In my eyes Dehli has to be the most smelly, seedy, sweat soaked (monsoon influenced) & rat infested capital I have ever visited, but naturally it still has its little delights. Our residence was spitting distance from the mayhem of New Dehli train station in the Paharganj Main Bazaar area, reminiscent of Bangkoks Khao San Road, with an ever busy buzz of backpackers & locals making their way to & from the many hotels, craft shops & bars on offer. As ever we made our way around on foot, which at times was a touch on the dirty side with the monsoon in full swing. The shortish walk to Old Dehli brought us down the death alley of Asaf Ali Road where we were greeted by numerous crack heads, smack heads & space cadets alike.....& Mumbai was supposed to be the challenging city. Nevertheless we made it to our first port of call, Red Fort constructed by Shah Jahan but rather disturbingly is very much neglected & a poor mans Taj Mahal. Next stop Dehl'is Jama Masjid mosque which houses up to 25,000 people, but unable to disguise our pale skin at prayer time we were soon ushered out.

The way to Connought Place (Circus), Central Park & Central Dehli was a pleasant surprise as we tackled Dehli's new & deluxe space age Metro system & sniggered at the Indians affraid to travel on the escalators. Central Dehli & the Diplomatic area was somewhat heavenly with lush green grass filling the unpopulated parks & broad pathways on the way up to India Gate. Our final stop was the Gandhi Smriti where one can retrace the great mans final steps & marvel at his life in a fine array of short stories & pictures. However & with what has started to become the norm in India, they still manage to make a mockary of such greatness. On the upper floor of the museum we found a multimedia timeline of Gandhi's life which at times felt more like a Charlie & the Chocolate Factory amusement park cum school science exhibition, which was perhaps not what the great man would have expected.

Five days later full of dirty & grim we headed on towards Varanassi, with one day planned in Allahabad, the city where the Yamuna & Ganges holy rivers are said to meet. However as we stepped out from the train station we found all roads to be flooded knee deep & with Noah & Moses not to be found, best to get back on the train. The only problem here was that all remaining trains were fully booked so once more we rode on the ever reliable government bus.

Expecting road blocks & flooded streets we were but maybe not the surreal event that was about to unfold. About 30 minutes into the journey the bus made one of its usual stops & in came a quite poor looking, most likely slum dwelling, family of five, one of whom was craddling a semi conscious girl in her early 20s. As they took refuge on the back seat there were a few confusing looks from others & ourselves, but its India after all so anything goes. We can only presume the family had not enough money for medical expense so were heading to Varanassi in hope of the alledged cleansing/healing powers of the Ganges River. An hour or so later & with all carrying on seemingly well one of the women broke out into fits of uncontrollable crying & wailing.....the young girl had passed away only a seat behind. Being the compassionate people they are, an Indian passenger then requested she be quiet as to not disturb the others. This was greeted with more crying, now from all members of the family & a Hindi mourning prayer/song......extremely sad but a little too bizarre for us. Not giving in the passenger then summoned the conductor, who had been oblivious to present the situation, & without reason the driver stopped the bus, the family were kicked out (without a fight or word in return) & abandoned in the middle of nowhere & miles from home.....but they were ever so nice as to return their fares in full......heartbreaking stuff. What was hardest to take.....not that someone dying in front of your eyes is easy.....was how not a single other passenger (all Indian of course) made any kind of apologetic gesture or sign of compassion towards the family. Were they as shocked as us or do they see it every day? Anyhow all seemed to be forgotten as we carried on to Varanassi.

Varanassi (or Benares) is the city of Shiva & the holiest in India running along the Ganges River where pilgrims come to wash away their sins & say there final words to lost loved ones by the many Ghats lining it. At times overwhelming but there is always something colourful & charasmatic which maintains your loving for the country. The love was not present however in the first two days. Still in shock from the bus ride we made our way out into the city taking a unfortunate wrong turn, especially just after finishing lunch. As we headed towards the river, right before our eyes was a corpse draped in linen & his/her family sat besides in full vocal mourning. This as it happens was the way to a burning ghat, Harischandra, & the smell was a little to much to handle, so a quick escape we made. Heading towards the Old City we stubbled upon a young 9 year old boy by the name of Siddharta, who was to become our guide for the day. Unlike many other of the streets kids he was brighter than his years with an exquisit talent for languages, & better still, wanting for nothing, never asking for food & declining on more than one occasion offers from Martina & I. In the end he settled for a kilo of apples to take home to his family, a ray of sunshine amongst many sly ones. Our tour brought us to the Brahman evening ceremony at Assi Ghat, a pleasant wander through the bright & colourful backstreets of the city & finally to Marnikarnika ghat. This ghat is unlike any other place in the world as we were brought to a balcony from where we could observe the simultaneous burning of six bodies upon individual pyres. Although clearly disturbing, like most over strange sites it was difficult to look away & not to observe the corpse burning there right before your eyes. The area is a huge death factory with Doms (outcasts) carrying the wood required to create the pyres & keep the burning process going for 24 hours a day. The bodies are brought & dipped into the river for cleansing, cremated, then the ashes returned to the river. What is more disturbing is that pregnant women, children under 10 & Sadhu's (holy men) who die do not get ths honour. Instead they have stones attached to them then they are rowed to the middle of the river & dumped. This being a river that people bath in, it's needless to say that none of my sins were washed away here. Enough was enough & after seeing a head, arm & leg disappear & melt before me, then another corpse brought & placed on top, it was time to go.

On the following day, & with knew found knowledge, it was difficult to see the beauty & holiness of this place. In fact I felt so sick I could not even face eating for the day. These thoughts were enhanced by the filthiness of the city with trash strewn all over the place creating a mixed smell of death, shit & piss (the last 2 of which are often far too prevalent in this country). Keeping as close to beating hearts as possible we wandered the backdoubles some more & around the impressive University & for our last eveninig in India took a sunset boat ride along the river. Argh shit.....more death as we were brought to, & told how lucky we were, Harischandra ghat where there was the small number of four pyres & one corpse being dipped in preparation. From the river though, & putting this too the back of my mind, the cities beauty was enhanced with the differentially coloured & shaped buildings reflecting off the almost green water. The beauty I could just about see, as for the holiness & clensing powers of the river, well I'll have to think about it.

So on we go once more......have now entered Nepal for a well earned holiday.....its pissing down in Pokhara.....but there is steak.....an abundance of beer that doesnt give you the runs......clean crisp fresh water lakes.....snow capped mountain peaks.....& locals that accept no for an answer & possess the power to respond to questions without the shrug of a shoulder or wiggle of the head.

Ps just in case you thought we had it good, a woman passed away in the train station in the arms of her paraletic son (who then had a fight with his wife) bringing the viewed death count to 16.....the train was delayed for the standard 2 hours.....& it took 35 hours to get here!!!!

Happy camping!!!

X.