There are no words to describe Varanasi, India

I have heard people say… “there are no words to describe this experience”… and I have always thought ... “of course there is, just try harder.”  Well, today I met my match.  There are TRULY no words to accurately describe Varanasi, India and our experiences here. It has been a shocking and disturbing and totally thought-provoking visit. Varanasi tested opinions and beliefs that I did not even know I had. 

Photo: Leah Rothfeld and myself walking down to the Ganges right as we arrived in Varanasi.  This is a PRE-seeing-the-horrors-of-this-city shot.

Varanasi is a city built directly on the Ganges River (a sacred river) and is considered one of the holiest places for Hindus, especially those who are sick or in need of spiritual cleansing.

Consequently...there are holy men everywhere (all of whom want to be tipped in honor of their holiness)

Most importantly, it is considered the most sacred place for Hindus to die (not your average Chamber of Commerce advertising highlight).  Hindus come from all over India to ritually bathe in the river (which is obscenely polluted) or to die here so they can be cremated on the banks of the Ganges and their ashes swept into the river.  For that reason, the city is eternally clouded by smoke from the open fire burning of bodies. Cremations happen 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.  I know that it is just my western values that make blatant burning of the deceased abhorrent (and I told myself that all day), but it is downright shocking to walk along the river and see dozens of bodies laid out on wood pyres and set on fire.  

Photo: Every fire you see here is an openly burning body. 

Since Hindus believe in reincarnation, once a person dies and their soul is released, the human carcass holds little significance.  If you want to really test your ability to be disturbed , come to Varanasi. Bodies are shrouded in colorful clothes and carried through the streets and down to the water’s edge.  The bodies are then unwrapped and the Ganges water is splashed onto the body and into the corpse’s mouth.  The body is laid out on a mound of sticks and burned for 3-4 hours before the ashes and whatever remains have not burned (often rib cages and pelvic bones) are unceremoniously swept into the river. This all occurs in the open and with hundreds of observers.  You cannot  photograph a cremation, but trust me when I say that walking by an open fire with a body in it, is an experience unlike any other.  These photos  - from afar – are of us watching a body being washed in the river and then burned … I think our body language and faces say it all and convey our discomfort with something so foreign - in every way - to our way of life.  Not judgment.  Just complete discomfort.

 And it only got worse.  During our sunrise boat ride on the second morning, we were admiring one of the most expensive houses on the river (which is now a hotel). If you look in the water between the red and yellow boat, there is a floating dead body.  Hindus do not cremate pregnant women (as well as children, holy men, lepers or people who died from smallpox or snake bites...  no idea who made up these rules, but those are the rules).  Those bodies are just thrown into the river, usually weighted down with stones. This pregnant woman's body obviously floated away from its weights and there she was... right next to our boat. It is hard to express how this made me feel.  I totally respect their religion and belief system.  But it's rough to confront such a radically different process up close and personal. And it made me really think about my own views. I am not religious.  I do not have any strong beliefs about funerals or burials or rituals of death.  Yet Varanasi was very troubling for me. And yet, it was also amazingly beautiful... like sunrise on the water with the boats rowing quietly up and down.

Or our sunset boat ride on the Ganges.... Or the evening ceremony we attended (complete with chanting and clapping) along with 10,000 of our closest friends.  We also lit the traditional tin cups filled with flowers and a small candle and floated them down the river.

You can feel that there is real spirituality here. Something special. So much of Varanasi life is linked with the river (washing, bathing, boating) and the colors of India are everywhere

The fact that people actually bathe, wash and drink from the river – when it is so full of feces and bodily remains and pollution that it is almost viscous – is a real testament to the laws of natural selection.  The people who interact with this river … and don't die from exposure to the Ganges  … obviously have antibodies unknown to the western world. For example, this woman is ceremoniously pouring the river water over her head and into her mouth... when just 2 feet away is the bloated, rotting carcass of a dead dog

And children bathe within feet of buffalo lounging – and liberally pooping – in the water.

Even the colors of the market place take your breathe away just from wide variety of vibrant sari fabrics.

All of India is a juxtaposition of poverty and dirt and color and beauty... but in no place is that so obvious as Varanasi.  The age, the architecture, the character of the city.

Photo:  This made me laugh since there is not a square inch of Varanasi that is actually clean

Varanasi has always been on my bucket list and I can honestly say I will never forget my visit.