Written on October 7, 2008 at 11:57 am by Christine Ka'aloa

Ghat Life in Varanasi

Filed under Religious, SOLO TRAVEL, Varanasi {no comments}

Tues, Oct 7, 2008: Varanasi

Today is my Rest day

It is my last day in Varanasi. NO “have to’s – should see’s or do’s”…

I WILL NOT REGRET

… NO pushing myself to activity.

I will let the Spirit of Varanasi guide me to where she wants and I humbly obey. Hopefully, she’s a bit more seductive and a little less buffeting this time.

First, the Spirit tells me to laze in the clean sheets of my ahhhhh AC palace. I enjoy time off from the heat, the stink, the cows and the scams. I hang out to the cafe patio, have some Thali and spend time on the internet booking my hotel in Delhi. Finally, I “prepare” myself to go out & explore my satanic temptress– get lost in her winding streets, search her for burfis, jalebis and samosa snacks, shop her and check out the life on her ghats!

High security and no footwear at the Golden Temple

Due to the recent bomb scares around India & Delhi, Varanasi has been under high security this week of Durga Puja and Ramlila festivities. The Vishwanath Temple (aka the Golden Temple) is near my guest house and is the only tourist attraction I’m remotely curious about (churches & temples are my weakness). Its entrance has over a dozen policemen guarding it. NO cellphones, NO cameras, NO electronics… and NO shoes!

I am an armed artillery factory as far as these rules go with DSLR, video camera, mobile phones, etc.., but it’s really the effort of going back to my guesthouse to dismantle myself AND the “NO Shoes” rule kind of kills it for me.

Thus, NO Golden Temple.

BROWN is an easy color to be in India

Pollution, noise, poverty and dirt are unavoidable in India and I can’t un-choose them. In L.A., it can take a week for a good layer of dust to cover your car enough to finger the words “Wash Me” on it. In India, I imagine it takes one day! There has not been a day gone by that my nails haven’t looked like I’ve been mining the fields and the color of my bra and underwear after a day or two of wearing, changes drastic shades!

The heat and humidity at this time of year, post-monsoon, is another annoying factor. I’m undergoing water-weight loss and despite my vigilant wearing of 30 – 50 proof sunscreens, within a day, the brown in my Pacific Islander genes calls to surface the “Hawaiian tan” I’ve been avoiding all my life!

Thanks India.

On Priesthood: some go willingly, some…wailing

On the main ghat outside the Shiva temple, I see a group of young men looking on as a barber shaves one of their friends’ heads. A little ways down, I see mothers holding their crying babies as another barber shaves their hair as well. I take this is one of the rituals going into priesthood. For some, this calling is an honor and it is a choice and then for others, I suppose they don’t really get to have a say in matters…

My case of mistaken Tikka identity

At the main Shiva temple I saw from the boat on my first day, I buy a garland of marigolds for offerings and enter the temple (I took my shoes off and walked with cupped feet, again!) The temple is home to at least 3 or 4 different deities of Shiva, each with its own altar. A priest resides at each altar to give you prasad and that dieties’ corresponding tikka (red dot marking between one’s eyebrows).

Varanasi is a city devoted to the Hindu worship of Lord Shiva. While there are temples devoted to others gods (i.e. Durga or Hanuman, etc..) here in the city, the number of Shiva temples are the most prolific. But Shiva comes in many forms and thus, so do the tikkas! Much like code here in Varanasi, you can tell a person’s god by their dotted marking; I paid homage to the wrong dot! Naively, I placed my flower offering at the first altar I saw, only to discover several more around the corner– my favorite Ganesh was just a few steps away.

How was I supposed to know?

The tikka I got was a huge round dot the size of a boil- not a cute tiny sliver or neat, tiny pimple like others I had admired. I wiped it off. It was huge and I’m convinced, the same that I was given on my Humorous Underbelly Tour. Whatever my karma is with Shiva, I keep accidentally running into that personality which keeps chasing me to wear his huge round dots!