it's been a while since i have written. we've been getting used to daily life here in varanasi. finally we've found a place to settle down for a few weeks. what a relief! we really do not suit moving around every few days. the travel here is really stressful and the fact that we carry our musical instruments with us means that we feel bulky when we have to move from place to place. we already sent home 20 kg of extra things that we were carrying!! how ridiculous and still we are not travelling light enough. i forgot to say that we have moved from rainy white misty weather in the far north east to unbearably hot and humid weather here in the lower north east plains of india!!! we've realised ( and remembered from our last trip) that nothing is easy is india!! the weather is so hot and sticky here that i have developed prickly heat rash all over my front and back!!! not enjoyable as it creates the feeling of being pin pricked constantly!! it's a result of sweating profusely!! yuk!! sorry for sharing the details!
so, yes, india is not really ever a holiday, it's quite a struggle sometimes as the streets are so chaotic and stressful. especially here in varanasi. varansi is an ancient city which sits on ther ganges river. the ganga, as the river is called, is considered for hindus the divine mother which washes and purifies. therefore all hindus go down to the river and wash in the early hours of the morning while loud bells and chants are played for the hindu rituals. it's very loud on loud speakers and we hear it daily from our room which is juts out very close to the gahts( the ancient stone steps that lead down to the riverbank). there are about 20 ghats ( or areas of steps) known by different names. it's a lovely walk all along the ghats in the late afternoon when the heat has died down a little. or at least it would be if it wasn't for the constant voices, "hello madam, hello sir. boat?" this usually happens about every two to three minutes, interspersed with."hello madam, you want something? guesthouse? room? tour? my uncle has very beautiful silk shop. you come, you not buy no problem, just looking okay?" no matter how many times we pass the same people they always ask the same questions. they also ask" hello madam. sir. what country?" we've taken to saying a different country and a different name each time. at least it gives a bit of variety. all the kids like using the common excuse of ," you give me coin from your country. i am collecting coins." we convinced one boy that we were from the moon and that they don't use coins there. sorry! and to most giovanni says, you should collect shells at your age not money. the indian population has to be the youngest to learn trickery that's for sure. from such young ages!! they can look you straight in the eye and lie outrightly. unbelievable! i'm so glad that we're not doing business here in india for our market stall. it would really be a nightmare!!
anyway, we're loving varanasi. we found a beautiful and very basic guesthouse here overlooking the ganges. there are power cuts for at least 6-8 of the day which means our ricketty fan does not give us any relief from this heat but at least the two windows give us some fresh breezes in the afternoon. it's bucket showers of delicious cold water in the communal bathroom. i find myself taking three a day just to survive. we are taking music lessons every morning. giovanni is learing snake pipe, which is an extremely loud instrument ( it must be my karma to bear giovanni palying loud instruments!) made from a gourd( like a hard pumpkin shell) in a bottle like shape with a flute part attached below. there is a reed inside that vibrates. it's a very beautiful sound and is used by the babas( holy men) to charm and hypnotise cobras and make them dance!! giovanni has always wanted to learn it after seeing it played alot on the side of the road in india. i'm learing from a beautiful violinist the specail syle of north indian violin. it is played so differently than western classical style and is quite a challenge. i'm practising hard all the new techniques( hard to be motivated to do anything other than breath though in this heat!) the strings are tuned differently from normal so i'm having fun with the new sounds.
our walk along the ghats after our morning coffee takes us to the Paradise music hall that by day is used for lessons and by night for intimate indian classical music concerts. we have been to two already and the musicians are truly masters!! we love this way of making the instruments sing in such ancient rags( melodies) that all have a special time of the day to play. eg there are early moring ragas, late morning, noon, late afternoon, midnight ragas ect. the melodies are about two thousand years old passed down in the very strong indian musical traditions from gurus to students.
varanasi is famous for music. yoga and it's especailly famous for being the place which is auspicious for hindus to be brought to at their death. it is here that bodies are carried thorugh the streets on bamboo stretchers, covered with different coloured shiny cloth dependning on the age and gender of the deceased. for example a red cloth is a young woman, a gold an old man. they are decorated with gold tinsel and yellow strings of marigolds and carried by the men of the family chanting ," Ram, Ram satee......".( meaning the name of Ram, a hindu god, is truth). they then continue down to the burning ghat which is a 24 hour seven days a week area where there are about four or six fires buring. the dead body is placed first by the side of the ganges and the men of the family use a clay pot to collect 'holy' water to pour five times over the body, then the men place the body on the big pile of logs and slowly the body is burnt as the men watch. the woem are not allowed in the area because in the past it was considered an honour for the wife to throw herself also onto the pire. now the women stay in another ghat by the river and weep and cry together. it's all so open this acceptance of death as a daily part of life here. about a thousnad bodies are burnt here daily as the rituals go all throughout the night. there is a particular caste which performs the duties of stirring the fire, weighing the wood to sell to each family as cremation costs, recovering the remains of each burnt body and throwing into the ganga.... these are the untouchables, whose work is necessary for the other castes to reach nirvana( they believe that being cremated by the mother river sends them directly to heaven ( nirvana)), but are considered dirty and unclean and can do no other job in varanasi becasue every one knows that they come from this caste. one man explained to us that he is happy with his lot becasue it is such an important job for the hindu religion, but that other people do not want to touch him because of his close association with death. the caste system seems so unfair and inescapable.
anyway, so we're really loving our time here and we are making friends with so many great people, mostly indian people. it's low season here so there are not so many tourists. we enjoyed a beautiful dinghy boat ride one evening along he river which explains the phots from the water. it was truly a spectacular sight and probably the most relaxing time in india!! with no tourist guides or silk shop offers or kids running up and wanting ruppess ( coins). we sat there and watched the evening puja( hindu offerings and rituals...a bit like a mass for them). they use fire and all sorts of sweets, roses, incensce, peacock feathes, blow a conch and put banana leaf boats with candles onto the river which makes for a very pretty sight indeed. all the while with very loud clanging bells and loud speaker chanting music. quite a sight from the river.
i also got my hands fully done in hennae( a green paste made from a plant which can be applied to hair for a red tint and is also applied to the skin in intricate patterns and left to dry for four hours. it is then washed off and creates a dark red tattoo that lasts for about two weeks. it is usually done on hands, front and back and feet for marriage ceremonies. the bride ghets the full; treatment but also the other women do a litle. it's truly beautiful. i love looking at my hands. it's a work of art!
anyway, i must go as i'm sweating so much and need to take a refreshing bucket shower before going out to eat our daily thali) a silver plate with sections for three veg curries plus rice, chapati9 round flat bread) and we often follow with curd ( fresh yoghurt from the many cows that wander the crowded cobbled streets here. i forgot to say that varansi is like a chaotic, frenzied version of the tiny laneways of venice. it's so easy to get lost and it's truly hard work dodging the big cow pats( everywhere!!), the trollies selling their wares ( vegetables, fruit, knick knacks), the rickshaw bikes( men pedalling seated people taking them to and fro, biclyes laden with big silver milk pots on either sides, stopping by each house and selling milk by the citre scooped out with a silver ladel..... not to mention the beeping honking motorbikes, autorickshaws( like little three wheeler people movers) the throngs of people, the dogs inpacks, the goats and last but not least the holy cows!!
wish us luck getting back to our guesthouse before dark!!
we send all our love!!!
and hope that you are all enjoying yourselves wherever you are
lots of love
jess and giovanni
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