14-16 October 2010
We landed at the airport of Varanasi in the afternoon, and here was waiting for the local assistant to the new driver.
They acconpagnato hotel near the Assi ghat, and we arranged to meet for the 18.
Our room occupies 2piani (narrow) and a balcony.
and is situated at the apex of the hotel and here you can enjoy a breathtaking view .. mmm ... or maybe they were all breathtaking stairs to get there.
At 18, the driver accompanied us closer to the "ghat" parent (the ghats are stairs that descend to the banks of the Ganges, the faithful here dive into the water to purify the spirit but also to wash ... but forget the vision of crystal waters and the scent of roses ...) where he was waiting for the guide. To reach the ghat
have to cross a street full of people, all taken to do something ... the street, from time to time, we felt the loud music coming from various improvised but well kept, the temples of Durga.
The guide told us that we were going to the place where every day, around 19 is celebrated the evening prayer. A rite
heard in Varanasi, where the Brahmins, with a long series of operations, pay homage to the Ganges and the thousands of pilgrims make offerings to the river (giving up its water flowers and candles).
... but our guide did not end even to explain and fled, heading towards the ghat.Noi chase him a little disoriented.
Fortunately we had realized that he was wearing a beige shirt, and then we could track him through the crowd.
The problem looming on the road came when the veditore of necklaces
(uuuuh 10rupie belle-ke-oh no no no-thanks-5rupie:)-5necklaces 2rupie-uuuuu .. well .. I almost drove the guide ...
shirt sand, sand shirt framed target .. ... .. goodbye necklaces corriii) or remain enchanted by the Indian food stalls.
capture our senses with all their smells and the way they difare, totally different from our concepts of the kitchen.
Then it happened that while we were driving .. to finally reach the eye falls on an Indian clothing store, not that there was nothing on display in other shops that had not already seen it, but here in the middle the shop front of the counter was ... a cow! Yes, right in the store, great expanse, as if waiting for his turn to try something in the dressing room.
The ceremony ...
mystical atmosphere ... very impressive ..! To celebrate the prayer were well 6ragazzi, Brahmins!
predisposed to a side by side, each of them to arrangements which had a sort of platform of white marble about 2mq. They wore
a suit of pale pink and shiny.
At their feet were placed various items needed for the function. How
musical accompaniment to the prayers, located behind the six priests, there were two men who played a kind of "pan" and 2 others with a drum that was played by swinging left and right so the ball attached thereto beat against the skin and play.
Every object, every gesture, every sound, every single element that was present in that function had its own particular role and significance that we unfortunately tourists often take for granted. We
the ceremony we enjoyed from the terrace are arranged as a kind of bar with lots of chairs in the front row, others preferred to watch her sitting on the boats moored to the shore, and others just sit on the steps of the ghat.
After the ceremony we went back to dive again among the thousands of people thronging the streets. Then dinner in the hotel with live music and then to bed.
Varanasi is INDIA!
Day 2 Varanasi
our second day in Varanasi started very early, in fact, our alarm was triggered at 4:30 AM and with the guidance we returned to the main Ghat, where we rented a rowboat . 3
our rowers have brought us to see the various ghats of the city, which were often covered by a huge pile of mud brought from the river during the floods of the monsoon period. Here so many people, despite being only 5 am, Imerge is in the waters of the Ganges, who
to purify themselves, just to wash those ...
Women, men, children and old people, but there are some foreign face, gave us a strange sight to see someone going beyond that and tries his luck immersing himself in that muddy river, where a drop of water continental countless germs ...
here was something strong and sacred magic.
our boat trip is continued until Ghat where the bodies are burned for thousands of Hindu faithful.
Every aspect of the life of faith is accompanied by an Indian rituals and beliefs, by karma, but everything is connected with death, not as the INTED us, not with the loss of the soul, but with the release of
it. Life is seen as a step as a continuous cycle.
Death is a release and every Hindu hopes to break free from the cycle of reincarnation and hopes to reach Nirvana.
but perhaps this is a matter not just within our reach, but we liked the feeling that you forward this strong faith, this total acceptance of a scripted destiny and to endure.
... m'beh ... we continue our visit ...
off the boat and paid 150 rupees, nothing when you consider the effort that made the three rowers, we are immersed in the alleys tangled in the old town, we approached the temple with gold, but here despite the many safeguards in custody and after leaving everything we had with us in a shop we could not enter the temple, and so after ten minutes of wandering the crowd we have entered a shop selling essential oils, the "doctor" has made us try a number of species that had different functions, from relaxing to one against the headache for colds than for massages etc. . etc..
after spending 500 rupees for a tiny bottle of oil against a headache, Federica asked how to get a henna tattoo done and now the "doctor" has set up an appointment with his daughter at his house for the afternoon.
after another intense walk through the alleys labyrinth of the old town we went back to the hotel to make colazione.L 'Meet your guide at noon and was so taken advantage federica it to rest and we fled down the streets of Varanasi to do what we love to walk ... and this in the stade alleys, with all 5sensi well prepared to capture every detail of daily life.
During our walk we were at a confectioner, clean and full of people who bought dolci.Anche we did our shopping, a nice box of assorted sweets.
at noon we went with the guide to Sarnath, about 10km from Varanasi.Questa area is known for being the site of the first preaching of the Buddha and is formed by a series of buildings of historical and religious, including the stupa and the archaeological museum where
costoditi parts of a column commemorating the sermon of the Buddha, representing four lions which support the wheel of Dharma, which is currently used as an emblem of India, and a famous statue of Buddha with the particular position of the hands, and it means that detangles dell'gnoranza!
We went to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that served alcohol and where I (Anthony) I had my umpteenth clash with coriander, a spice, but the appearance is similar to parsley
flavor similar to that leave bedbugs "culifetole" when schiacciate.Dopo lunch we returned to the hotel and we went down there just in a shop crammed with souvenir items where we bought some little thought to bring to Italy ...
4 pm a young man, well dressed and very friendly we have come to take us to the hotel and reported, with a tuc-tuc, center, here in the maze of alleys of the old town we entered the house of the "doctor" we met here in the morning and her daughter immediately began to color the hands of Faith
with henna.
The whole procedure lasted a couple of hours and we were able to enjoy true Indian hospitality;
We have been offered everything from fruit to sweets to the water purified, and we we looked around a bit and then you describe this beautiful home a little Indian
has a square shape and 3-level, open the center with the inner courtyard, is a very big house where live about a dozen people, the doctor, his four daughters and his wife, mother-in-law, brother and nephew ... these are the ones we've seen us ...
The entrance is on the ground floor where the three live cows beautiful family.
the first floor is the living room where, before you get in there off his shoes.
we settled down in the living room was covered in part by low mats on which the family spent most of the day.
You eat, sleep, chat, watch tv .. and in our case painted hands to Federica.
This part of the house was very cold and windy, there were some very lush vines that gave the house a touch of green, nature of life ...
To animate the days of the family there was a bird, No I have no idea what kind it was, which emitted a strange
verso.Spesso someone went around teasing, imitating his verse, so he put in motion an endless repartee made of strange ways.
It was a real pleasure being hosted for a while by an Indian family.
After the high-precision work of painting the hands of Federica, we said goodbye to his family, but We brought with us a piece of "real India" that will remain forever in our memory, then after the greetings of the doctor's nephew has picked up on the Ghat main and from there we walked among the crowd, towards the hotel.
We had a very pleasant walk of 2-3 miles, and although at one point went off the light and started to rain we were not demoralized and we have given in to the offerings of the tuc-tuc drivers.
In Hotel Cris has finally had the joy of opening his packet full of colorful Indian sweets, they had the taste of cheese, almonds and some were just jelly, but she was still happy to have tasted another piece of India. ..
Around 21 are off the street looking for an internet point to publish some of the blog, and aside from this little piece of technology, everything was closed, the light had not come back on the road and my path was illuminated only by the headlights of tuc tuc-I went to 2cm ... Having published a blog I came in the room and after watching the final part of "UP" the "cartoon" we went to bed ... ah .. on our beds we found some chocolate bars and wafers ...
goodnight ...
Day 3 Varanasi / Benares
we woke up early and then after breakfast we took to the streets willing to give us a short walk from the ghat, but ... There has been better, in fact how we got into the street we meet him a boy whom I had met the night before, which was offered spontaneously-insistently to guide us ...
was a walk through places where the guides take tourists between the houses and places of Varanasi who live there or there survives among children intrigued by our presence and the ladies all intent on crushing and dry the poop cow, after having collected on the street.
... was a last taste of "real India" that is fixed indelibly in the minds and hearts ...
around 11 we introduced ourselves by our driver who took us to the airport and from there we took the flight to Delhi.
Delhi
The plane landed in Delhi at 5 pm and here we have contacted us that Jordan has been given some advice on places we could go 3-4 in our last hours of wandering Indian.
So we decided to go to visit Delhi Haat, a mix of restaurants and shops of the various regions of India, who sell their local products are often the work of nonprofits operating in India for the protection of disabled people and other disadvantaged categories.
after our intense and fast dive Indian crafts, we returned to our hotel and here, after having cooled a bit, we met with Jordan, Samuel and Antonio (Which is not an employee of the Sardinian Shambhoo but a nice 50in that after spending so much time in India as a hippie in the 70 now comes to work, and more specifically to export antiques from India please ...)
Giordana + + + bravissimissima is just always smiling and having a real love of India and disillusioned, he looks like a good person, clever and intelligent who can help but at the same time not be intimidated by anyone. Samuel
we had known when we arrived in Delhi, well he is a factory of adventures, was everywhere in India is mainly engaged in the south and the discovery of new routes to be offered to more adventurous ...
Manish we have not met in person but we felt close to because almost every night we called by phone to see if all was well.
Laxman was polite and helpful and the first night we also prepared an excellent Indian dinner!
our Driver Shyam was very good when tornereno in India we hope to meet again.
Our trip to India is complete, we hope that you will be interested in this great country and we hope that you too will soon go to India to make change "at least a little" Life!
Good Life in All Vol ..
and bon voyage! eh continue to travel with us.
PS. if you go to India with Shambhoo do not regret it will be an unforgettable experience!
http://www.shambhoo.com/
