From the Ganga to the Taj!!

Since Pondicherry, it's been non-stop travel and excitement. We got on a 40 hour train from Chennai to Benares (Varanasi), which is Shiva's city. It is situated on the bank of the holy river of Ganga (the Ganges), and ghats (steps leading into the river) line the entirety of the west bank of the river. What an incredible yet bizarre place to be. There are two "burning ghats" in the city which is the location of public cremation ceremonies that occur 24-7, and have been for around 5000 years continuously! Apparantly the flame beneath one of the temples from which they light a torch to then light the bodies has been ever-burning for hundreds of years. I observed how a dead body wrapped in white cloth would be brought to the river in a procession held by 4 men, dipped in the Ganga, and then laid on a pre-stacked wood pile. Spices, sandalwood powder, flowers, and scents would be sprinkled on the body before lighting the fire. The oldest family member of the deceased would wield the fire stick (would tend to the fire and especially the body in case any body parts would detach and roll away - it is common with heads - so that everything is properly burned). However, though I observed slight natural mourning, grief was not present in any of the family members present. In fact, there is a 10 - 14 day celebration of the life of the individual after the cremation. A Catholic monk from San Fransisco named Robert explained to me that Hindus really understand that the opposite of death is not life, but birth. Thus, as birth is a part of life, so it death, and it is silly to an Indian to grieve for too long. Other than the ghats, there were plenty of neat tiny roads around old Varanasi which I grew to love, some great bakeries, and music shops where I took a 2 hour tabla lesson and 1 hour sitar lesson. I also got to watch Pujas (holy men) do a little dance near the ghats in the evening as they ceremonially played with fire and smoke, as well as watch a community cricket match on a platform near the river. Also, taking boats on the Ganges early in the morning to watch the sunrise and the pilgrims bathing (with clothes on) from the ghats was a memorable experience.

We visited Saranath, which in an area outside of Varanasi where Buddha was said to have given his first sermon under a certain tree. We visited this exact site, and were surprised to discover that though the same tree had died thousands of years ago, seedlings from the original tree have been continually planted in the same site. In other words, the tree that we visited is a great great great grandfather of the original tree (give or take a few greats)! Aside from that, there were tibetan, chinese, indian buddhist temples within a short walk away, each differing in style of building and the specific figurines that were chosen to share the worship stage along with Buddha. There was also an 80-foot high ancient stupa. A stupa is a solid semi-sherical clump of brick that is otherwise astonishingly void of form. It was the first site of worship for Buddhists who didn't consider Buddha one to be worshipped (Buddha never asked for such treatment). Rather it was anti-figurative to symbolize an earnest search for truth instead of worshipping a deity, which was the custom of Hinduism at the time. I left my bag in the tibetan temple and went back to get it an hour later, and they were very kind to give it back.

A train took us from Varanasi to Jhansi, where we visited a palace nearby, in which I dressed in my best green and gold silk tunic. There was a great tour of it, along with a nice little touristy village and a river where the monkeys almost attacked us. Basically I was taking photos when one glared his teeth (which, if it has ever happened to you, you know that it scares the bageebees out of you) and followed us a little. Later, we had dinner at the palace (I know, it sounds hot) where a little ensemble of a harmonia (like an accordian) and tablas were accompanying a transvesdite dancer. What!?, you may ask. Well, this person was dressed like a lady, and was bellydancing, but had a veil over his face the whole time. Except, his belly was straight, not curved like a woman's, and one time he lifted his veil and smiled at one of the girls. She gives testimony to the fact that the dancer was male, and I must say it was more than slightly uncomfortable to watch the awesome moves he was making on that dance floor.

We took a bus to a series of temples called Kujaraho. These are unique in India because they are the only temples that display explicit sexual stances and activity alongside all the religious deities and depictions of the ancient texts that are commonplace (Ramanyana and Mahabharatra). Most of the temples were Shiva temples, though there were carvings of Parvati, Vishnu, Brahman, and Ganesh. When I say Shiva temple, I mean it had a shiva lingam inside the central chamber, which is incidently also supposed to be a phallic symbol (perhaps the association with sexual carvings lies therein). My overall thought of the temples was that only about 5% of the carvings were sexual in nature, yet because it is the only one, all the postcards hone in on these like the other 95% don't exist. One interpretation I offer is that this is an example of amplification of an obscure topic in the name of tourism and capital gain. Or simply an obsession of sex in a sexually repressive and perhaps deprived culture. Or both.

On the way to Agra, we came across a traffic jam that lasted 2 hours, and that had started 5 hours before we got there. We were in Rajasthan, and apparantly an accident had occured where the family members of the victims barricaded the street demanding immediate action against the perpetrator (perhaps the driver was drunk?). This tells me that Rajasthan's people have a strong social will to them, and also that their provincial judicial system may not be up to par. Anyways, there were litterally 200 locals surrounding our bus for hours, beggining with kind and excited conversations (in which I left the bus and talked with them outside) but ended in opening our windows and asking for things, as well as actually harrassing some of the girls on our trip. I switched seats with a friend of mine so that I was on window side, and the next time they opened the curtain, they saw my face, and the look on their face of astonishment/surprise was pretty hilarious. Unfortunately I was too upset to enjoy the situation, as I was yelling things in Hindi and English that expressed my frustration. Eventually, flowers, garbage, and even little pebbles were being thrown in through the windows (they were really hard to keep closed with no locking device). I was quite happy to start driving away.

But we made it to Agra!!! Thank goodness because it was unbelievable. Almost everything I've seen up to date has not fully reached my expectations (if I were to be honest with myself) compared to the hype that is involved. However, the hype attached with the Taj Mahal is world-wide and the great expectations I entered with were met with a magnificent marble structure at the height of the potential of things made by man. Maybe it is too high an appraisal, but I was taken aback by its beauty. In other perspectives, it is also a symbol of a misuse of wealth because it was made by the sweat of hard working poor people, in a land where the poverty was rampid. This could be viewed as a good provider of jobs, or as an exploitation of human capital. To add insult to injury, in many cases it was this grandeous manner in which the rich lived that kept the poor in their poverty. Of course, there can be an infinite perspective on all things, so I give only a few. Alas, instead of the overused expression, "You have to see it to believe it", I say, "You have to see it to perceive it".