Varanasi – a transition from tourist, to guest, to god, to family.
After a tiring day of traveling, I was having serious doubts if whether I could handle 2 full months of people pushing and encroaching on my personal space. The hooting and frightening bus and car trips. Some days I can handle it, some days I can’t. I was feeling too much like a tourist, seeing and observing, rather than feeling and being.
On my first morning in the holy city of Varanasi, I was walking to my room from breakfast wondering where I should explore for the day. I bumped into two wonderful women that soon became fast friends, taking Indian warmth to another level and so much more. Shikha, an Indian/Australia, and her Mum, Rekah, from Delhi asked if I wanted to join them on their tour for the day. So I joined them on a magical day of sightseeing with a local twist.
We met our guide, Aman, who was kind, knowledgeable and so relaxed, jumping into an auto rickshaw we headed to the Banaras Hindu University. It wasn’t really on my list to go there, but what a treat. Shikha and Rikha are both yoga teachers, Rikha, a Guru, in her own right. Their teachers had studied Sanskrit, Hindi and much more at this University, established in 1916. We visited the Central library, an iconic building on the campus. We actually weren’t allowed inside as tourists, but Shikha put on her charm about their teachers, and soon enough, we were inside A magnificent building with age old books. For me the highlight was that we passed the Department head’s office, where Shikha noticed that he is a Jain and casually asked if we could pop in to ask some questions. (Earlier we had had a conversation about a book I had read about Jain monks, and we had some questions about some customs). So just like that he pulled out a whole powerpoint presentation on Jainism, and educated us on this fascinating religion. You know, just sitting in the Temple of Knowledge gathering information, as a Hummingbird does.
Little snippets of joyful Indian hospitality included Rekha just deciding we all needed water and coconut water, and bought some for all of us. I insisted on paying her, but she just gave me a hug and said “You are our guest in our country. Guests are like Gods”, although I like to think that by the end of the day, I was considered family.
We then made our way to a wonderful Hindu temple, which I cannot for the life of me remember the name. It was so busy with pilgrims and I was just taken in and included; Taking off our shoes, we entered this vast array of happenings. What I love about Hinduism, is that there is a sense of freedom within the religion, you choose which of the Gods/Diety’s you which to follow, all, some, none. No judgement. You could even have your own rituals and customs while inside the temple, touching the walls, outlining words with fingers, do what feels right for you. Some customs are more common; we each bought some cooked sweets (Prasad)- to the cost that suited us. We then stood in a queue for our offering to be blessed, while having someone in mind that we wished to “pray for”, “send love to”. A little water in our right hand, to sip and then place on top of our heads (Shikha insisted I don’t sip the water, she doesn’t either). As we walked around the temple, Rekah blessed us all with an orange paste on our foreheads (third eye). We then sat on the floor chanting along with the Satsang that was happening. Thereafter feeding each other a little bit of our blessed Prasad. We then took the blessed parcel, tied it with string, to take with us. Some people take it home, to families, but we gave ours to some less fortunate people outside the temple, who could not afford to buy some themselves. What a truly memorable and sacred experience.
The day wasn’t over, we had a delicious lunch of various vegetarian dishes – I just went with what was ordered, its the best way to get all the yummy things I would never know about.We sat overlooking the mighty Ganges, watching pilgrims wash in the sacred river, and for me, just getting my mind blown with knowledge and information, from the history of Varanasi, to various cultural and religious discussions.
We wandered through narrow alleyways past little temples and houses, all built harmoniously around each other. Sadly a lot of old houses in the old town have been demolished, to make space for the thousands of pilgrims that visit certain temples (a controversial subject), but the remaining walls of the old town is still whispering wisdom collected over thousands of years. Shikha and Rekah needed to do some Sari shopping, so I just tagged along absorbing everything. We were seated in a wholesaler’s shop, and they proceeded to bring out fabric after fabric, color after color, design after design. Varanasi is known for it’s locally woven silk and cotton, a lot of it hand woven – some of the top notch fabrics can take up to 6 months to make. My eyes shone and my fingers tingled with the magnificence of the beauty. Most of the shopping and negotiating was done by Rekah in Hindi (she knows her fabric qualities by sight and feel), Shikha kindly translated every now and then, to keep me in the loop. I just enjoyed absorbing the scene unfolding while sipping on masala chai. Happiness.
Our day wasn’t over, our final event, we strolled over to the nearby Ghat (descending stairway to a river-The Ganges) and hopped on a little wooden boat. Taking a sunset trip up the Ganges, ending to watch one of the many Ganga Aarti being performed on the Dashashwamedh Ghat. The ghat was crowded with tourists, pilgrims and Shiva devotees on land as well as on boats. I loved that I was on a boat, surrounded by other boats, with only locals tourists. I felt so grateful and so comfortable. The Aarti went on, rituals of fire, candles and incense, chanting and offerings. At first there was lots of chattering and picture taking, as the Aarti went on, Rekah, Shikha and I grew more silent, just watching, absorbing, and appreciating the energy around us, while behind us, the post full moon rose up in a brilliant orange over the mighty Ganges River. All in one day, what wonderful memories made.
