“You will never want to miss Varanasi, ” is the comment we have heard from so many people. I was not sure that I would want to experience the Ganges River scene with all the stories I had heard. The polluted river, the burning of bodies, the bathing rituals all seemed a bit barbaric. Yet, there is a certain sense of curiosity.

Driving into the center of Varanasi was certainly exciting with every form of transportation crowding into narrow streets,speeding around cows in the middle of the road, and braking at the last minute as  motorcycles with a family of four or five riding on it,cuts in front of our van, quarter inches from the bumper,  Streets so narrow that we had to walk the last couple blocks to get to our hotel. As in many other countries, the streets are dug up leaving large holes, animal excrement, old debris, trash and other indescribable objects littered along the way. One must hop out of the way as a scooter swerves to miss you, one false step and you may or may not be on the ground. Having been this route other times I knew when we finally got to the hotel it would open up to a beautiful courtyard and lovely rooms. We were not disappointed.

Varanasi was in the throes of a festival, one I could hardly spell here. It is the time when people come to the Ganges to ask for a blessing for their sons. Gifts of flowers, sugar cane and candles in tin pie plates are sold or brought to the Ganges and floated there or lite on shore. Thousands of people come to embrace this tradition and stay until after sunset. Then tomorrow they will come back to bring an offering to the sunrise. We photographed all of this and will tomorrow morning too.

After experiencing this outside our hotel,we headed for a boat and began a trip down the Ganges to the cremation sites.  This was rather an interesting scene as it looked like something out of the movie “Apocalypse .”  But the ritual does not seem any more bizarre than out burial rituals. In many ways cremation in this form is more intimate than our way of cremating. And the traditions have stories that are comforting to loved ones.

I felt that we were lucky to experience this holiday,the cremation and the holy site where pilgrim come to cleanse themselves in the River Ganges.