1 day before leaving India, I am having mix feelings about it. One thing for sure, I am happy to be leaving for Thailand. I have started reading on Thailand, in a lonely planet guide, and I am very excited about it. I think my time and travel in India have prepared me for Thailand.
Varanasi, city of God, kites, dogs, cows, goats, many tourists, and of course Indians, hard to put in a few wards. I experienced in a very profound way, probably the fact that I have been in India for the last three months contributed to the way I was able to appreciate all of its aspects. It seems everything up to now has contributed to my experience in this city. I was ok with all the solicitations, the begging, the “cheating”, the temples, the burning bodies by the Gange. I have seen men and women wash themselves in the river every morning (mostly men). I have seen a human body be turned on a pile of burning wood the same way we do with the top log so it starts to burn on its other side. I have ringed one of the bells during a spiritual ceremony in a temple. I have negotiated for food, rickshaw rides, and gifts. I had a one on one good yoga class on the roof of my hotel in the morning sun. I have seen a beautiful “puja” (ceremony of blessings) by the Gange at sunset. I have feel in love with India even more, its culture, and its spirituality.
Jeffrey was meeting with one of his good friend and we were going to meet here. I arrived on the 30th, they were arriving the next day. Becky, Jeffrey’s friend, has been living in India for the last 6 years or so, she is married to an Indian man, Silil. Two beautiful people, it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to spend time with them with Jeffrey for three days.
I have also did a lot of walking with Jeffrey in Varanasi, being two guys we were a bit more adventurous. We have walked in part of Varanasi where not much tourists would go, in small streets where poor people live, where kids play outside and have to be creative to make up games and toys. Many kids in Varanasi fly small kites that go very high with little wind, it is beautiful to watch. The older ones play cricket in the open fields with minimum equipment.
As for the rest, it is hard to put in words the experience of Varanasi, beautiful city, an amazing spiritual place, filled with life that coexists with death. I have taken many pictures of Varanasi, I will upload my favorites, as soon as possible, but internet connections are to slow to upload all that I would want to share.
Then Jeffrey and I made our way, by train, freezing, to Agra, the city where the Taj Mahal is. Again, heartfelt gratitude for the fact that I have visited this city later in my Indian’s travel, it was amazing to not do the tourist route. We had a room in a non touristic area, we walked over 7 kilometers to reach the Taj Mahal, and the red fort, going through “very local” streets, talking with kids, feeling like we were walking in a documentary scene. People living on the street, in mini “houses” made out of nothing, having blankets as walls, and metal sheets as a roof. Many people sitting by a fire, burning anything, from wood to plastic, to rubber. On the street, in there “house”, even in the entrance of our hotel, and I am not talking about a fire place, it was more like a metal wok, in the middle of the place. It is cold, around 5 degrees at night, people have no heater, so they use fire, anyway they can, to stay warm. So you can imagine that it was could in the room, ceramic floors, windows that let lots of air come in, no heater. I was in my sleeping bag, with a big wool blanket, and a large scarf around my face, neck and head. Appreciate the luxury and comfort of our modern homes, with good heating systems!
Agra was also a very beautiful city, some parts really poor, and then the Taj Mahal is there. It was of course beautiful, I took so many pictures it’s crazy. It is not only beautiful, it is perfectly situated against the horizon, by a river, surrounded by three hug gates on the West, Est and South, which is the main gate. Inside we can only visit the first floor, and that too is something of course. There is a no pictures allowed sign in the middle part, where the tombs are, yet people are clicking away, with flash and all, and security is doing nothing.
Jeffrey and I have walked, and walked the streets of Agra, getting lost in a maze of small streets, in early evening when it was dark, we didn’t feel like we shouldn’t have been there, yet it was definitely not a tourist part. It was mini homes, lid by candle light or fire mad of anything that can burn. People working out of the similar mini apartments, making some of the things we saw in the market the same day. It was again like being in a documentary, walking right through it, live. Then next morning Jeff left at 5am and spent the day walking again. I walked across the bridge, to see the other side of the city, where there is “the Baby Taj”, a similar architecture, yet much smaller. Then I walked through a very poor part of town, leading to a park where I could see the Taj Mahal from across the river, with the sun setting in the back. I didn’t make it to that park, but I sat by the river where I could see the sun setting across it and the Taj on my left. I didn’t want to wait until it was to dark since I would have to pass in the “slums” areas on my path, and didn’t want to take a rickshaw. Not that I was afraid, it was actually beautiful. Kids playing in the streets and in dusty fields where rows of improvised mini homes were aligned, women washing close and putting them on the ground, by the roads, for them to dry. Mini shops everywhere, full restaurant on a four by three foot table on wheels, by the side of the streets. Barbershop on the street, a chair facing a wall on which a mirror is hanging, by the chair a mini table to hold the tools for shaving or cutting hair, including head massage and face clean.
Train ride from Agra, beautiful Agra, to Allahabad, it was somewhere around 4-5 degrees that night, when I got to the train station for my 9:40 train. For those of you who don’t picture a big Indian train station, or railway station as they call it, it means waiting for your train on an outside cement deck, covered but no walls, with a few food booths here and there. The main platform has inside waiting rooms, where it is not much warmer but at least has four walls. But when you have to carry your luggage to the 4th platform, and your train is delayed by sloughs of 40 minutes, for over two hours, you just stay on platform number four and freeze! So at 11:50 I got on my train, which was as cold as the platform. I had my sleeping bag, a scarf around my neck, a pajmina (large and long scarf) around my head, face and neck, and a mini blanket over my shoulders. It was cold!!! But I have to say I slept well on my mini bed, not even long as me, made of fake leather which was also freezing when I first sat on it! My train ride that was supposed to be 7 hours was 12:30 hours because of think fog which impacted the traffic, there are many trains always on the go here. Even if I was freezing, it was another beautiful Indian experience. Seeing women and children snuggling together, under huge blankets, on the platform, when waiting for the train. Men get paired up together in mini beds for heat on the train, four or five people sitting closely side by sides on the mini beds to get heat, it was something to see. I wandered if we would dare do the same under the same conditions in the west.
Allahabad is one of a few cities of pilgrimage for the Indians, it is the meeting point of three holy rivers, the Gange, the Yamuna, and the ancient Sarasvati River, which is believed to flow underground. This meeting point is believed to have spiritual powers, it would have power to wash away your sins and bad karma. The legend says that Bramhan, the creator, has come to this city after having creating earth. The ashes of Gandi were scattered in this river. At the point where they meet they all become part of the Gange until it reaches the Bangal Bay. It was an amazing walk by the river, more than one kilometer of white sand to get to the river, then at least two-three kilometers of beach. Beautiful spot, very quiet, I had a beautiful spiritual moment, I spent at least one hour just walking by the river, it was worth my train ride! lol
Allahabad to Kolcata was not as cold as the two previous ones, but it was four hour late and lasted 22 hours instead of 12! I slept well again, read a whole book, waited, and waited to get there. So I arrived in Kocata at 11pm, and finally got a hotel with a room available by 12. Today I have walk many hours in this beautiful city, 13 million people yet not as noisy, cleaner and definitely my favorite big city. I can’t believe that I am leaving tomorrow, such a beautiful country, such amazing moments. I know I am going to love Thailand, yet today I am feeling the sense of departure, even though I know it is just a new beginning.
So next time I write I will be in Thailand, Bangkok for two days, then 12 hour train ride to Chang Mai to meet my teacher and start a 10 day training, five hours a day, one on one! I can’t wait!!!
Lots of Metta your way,
I love you!
Charles, happy resident of the this beautiful planet!
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