Few weeks into teaching, the other ELT’s and I
agreed that is was much needed to take a break. Thus, we decided to book a trip
to Varanasi , aka the
'holiest' city in India.
Varanasi was
AH-MAZING!!! We visited several 'ghats,' they are steps that lead to the Ganges. The Ganges, known to Hindus as the 'Great Mother,' is regarded as a river of salvation. People come to her 'ghats' to pay respect, offer prayer, and cleanse themselves of sin.
We got the chance to visit the Manikarnika ghat,
aka the
burning ghat. That's where people from all over India come to burn/put their
loved ones to rest. From the looks of it, that water did not look too pleasing
to the eye (in my opinion). Interestingly enough, they have the burning
ceremony every single morning (4-6AM). After choosing some wood to carry the
deceased, the family wraps the deceased in a cloth/pay their final respects,
the priests does his rituals (varies for each caste) and they burn the body.
After that (for the rest of the day), people literally bathe in the same water
as a way to relinquish their sins.
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| Mother bathing her child |
Unfortunately/fortunately
(varies per person), I was not allowed to take any pictures of the funeral
process.
Varanasi is
a holy place for several religions; many of them have temples there. We visited
the Tibetan temple for the Dali Lama, the Jainism temple, etc. We also visited
the stupa where Buddha has his first sermon and we hiked up the place where
Buddha met his first disciples. This place was super-hot but not as humid as
Kolkata.
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| I definitely broke that rule... |
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| Buddha's Stupa--we climbed it!! |
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| The view from the top |
In Varanasi, I re-realized
that getting lost is part of the experience. The three of us visited several
ghats. From the steep flights of steps to the actual town area, you will notice
several narrow alleys too narrow for traffic but perfectly sized for a human
being and a cow to roam or just stay put. At random we walked through several
alleys. Each turn you take through these alleys leads you a live corner filled
with people, chai (tea) wallahs (sellers), shop keepers, various smells, and
one or two cows. We never felt unsafe because we knew with the help of a few
friendly strangers we would be lead back safely.
On our last
night, we participated in a beautiful ceremony called Aarti. Every night the
people of the city meet at this one place. People sit in canoes or on the steps
along the water watching these 7 priests performing religious rituals. This
ritual is about preserving life and always keeping God at the center of all
that you do. Our activities and daily life revolves around God. Everyone
usually buys a candle in a cup with flowers. During the ceremony we're supposed
to pray for longevity for our loved ones/friends and then release the candle in
the water to flow on the holy water. It's a beautiful sight when you see all
the burning candles flowing on the water. It’s is very interesting to see how
these people value the circle of life by celebrating death early in the
morning, cleansing of sins, then life throughout the day until night.
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| My AMAZING dinner that night :) SO GOOD!!! |
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| Great time with the girls! Carolina (left) and Kara (right) |
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| Putting a candle down to bless my family and friends |
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| Several thousands of people were out in the water for this ceremony |
Before I forget---I
DROVE a rickshaw!!! One of the great pros to living here in India is the skill
of bargaining. Unlike any typical tourist who would take up any price taxi
drivers throw at them, my friends and I don’t play. Especially when we know how
much cheaper it is for a local to get a ride to and from the same place. Rather
than take a taxi (super expensive) we decided to take a rickshaw to the airport
(1hr+ drive). Our driver did not know any English at all but during the ride to
the airport he stopped to the side and said to each of us, "1 km for you,
1 km for you, and 1 km for you," lol, I seriously thought he was joking. We
realized he was serious when he drove to the side and scooted over for us to
drive. Never in my life did I plan for this to
happen but for a minute I thought YOLO—you only live once— and I decide to go first. This man really taught
me how to drive the rickshaw. When I got the hang of it he took his hands off
mine and let me drive. It was CRAZY but SO MUCH FUN!!
because
of a random holiday India celebrates to honor brothers and sisters). In the
class I did not really do much, I just wanted to let the students get to know
me. Rather than spit out my bio and have them stare at me, I wrote out 7
truths/7 lies about me and they (as a class) had to decide which was
true/false. It was funny to see their reactions about which were true/false. After
that, I gave them their first assignment, which was to write me an
introduction letter. 
