A week ago I arrived in Jaipur. I planned to stay for two nights, but on the second day I got sick and my stay was prolonged with two more nights. I didn't do many touristy things in Jaipur. On the first night I did a long walk from the hostel (yes, there's a nice real hostel in Jaipur called Zostel), but while walking I didn't really see much but crazy traffic, dust and too many people.
After I felt better, I took a ride to the old city and walked around for two hours. I didn't enter any palaces or temples, because I really feel I've had enough of those. The saturation point has been reached.
On the third day I decided that I'm going to Varanasi for a few days. I had already decided against it, but I noticed that I could get a train ticket for the following day. On Saturday morning I arrived in the “city of the dead“, Varanasi. It's one of the oldest, continuously inhabited cities in the world. It's also one of the seven holy Hindu cities that can free a person from the cycle of reincarnation. Some Hindus even believe that dying in Varanasi immediately brings your soul to nirvana and therefore many people come there to die.
The city is located on the bank of the holy river Ganges. There are at least 84 ghats from the city to the river. A ghat is a series of steps coming down from the city to the river bank. Most of them are bathing ghats where religious Hindus wash their sins away with the holy water of the river Ganges. There are also two burning ghats, where bodies are cremated on a pyre of 350 kilos of wood. The ashes are then thrown into Ganges. The bigger burning ghat operates seven days a week 24 hours per day. Only the men of the families of the cremated person are allowed to take part in the ceremony. I was told women were too emotional. Before the body is cremated, the family members carry it down the steps from the city, wash it in the river for the last time and then place it on a pile of wood. The burning ghats are operated by "professional burners", who see to it that all the body parts get cremated properly by adding wood and lifting fallen feet etc back into the funeral pyre. Believe me, it is quite a sight for a westerner not accustomed to see dead people. Photos from Varanasi here.
Now I'm back in New Delhi. Today I picked up my new passport from the embassy and started the process of getting an exit-visa for it. If everything works out like planned, I'll be all set tomorrow, Thursday morning. I really hope so, since my flight is in five days and I need it by Friday the latest. The official in the foreign registry office reassured me by telling me that with "101 percent certainty" I will have all I need by noon tomorrow. I'm still not completely convinced... Keep your fingers crossed.
Oh yeah, one more thing worth telling from my train trip to Delhi. I was really happy when I got a ticket for the fast 12 hr 25 min train from Varanasi to new Delhi a few days ago. However, the train started two hours late and we ended up being 9 hrs 40 mins late of schedule in New Delhi. It ruined my chances of getting the passport yesterday, which otherwise would easily have been possible. I guess I needed one bad train experience from India before leaving as well...
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