Varanasi | GRRRL TRAVELER

How do you know when you really like a place?

Filed under India, Inspiration by Christine Ka'aloa on October 17, 2010 at 4:25 pm {4 comments}

: www.christinekaaloa.com

Dostana (Hindi: दोस्ताना, translation: Friendship)

Did you ever like a place enough to return to it?
This weekend I was doing my fall file cleaning and came across some India photographs that I thought I’d share. Every so often, I revisit old photographs to see if they still resonate with me the way they did when I first took them. This particular series, Dostana (meaning Friendship in Hindi) is brief and came about simply when I met some children who lived in the neighboring backstreets of Varanasi’s ghats. This series wasn’t an immediate favorite of mine (reason: some have technical flaws); it took a while for me to realize why I kept wanting to come back to it, despite its imperfections. I figured out later- what captivated me was the resolute and truthful expressions on the faces of the children in them and how it conveyed the hardened lifestyle they lead.

In fact, it was two years (and a week) ago that India had accidentally turned into my crash course as a solo traveler in a (more…)

Video: On the Ganges (Varanasi, India)

Filed under Photo Essays, Religious by Christine Ka'aloa on July 5, 2009 at 10:23 am {no comments}

Each year, there are thousands of pilgrimages to the holy city of Varanasi. At sunrise taking a boat tour along the river is a great way to see the ghats…a dip in the Ganges River is considered to be both, holy and purifying. In the evening, Varanasi holds a glorious puja ceremony- the Ganga aarti.

Video: Varanasi’s Ganga Aarti

Filed under Photo Essays, Religious by Christine Ka'aloa on July 5, 2009 at 10:22 am {no comments}

“The Ganga Aarti” (Varanasi, India)
Read blog article: Varanasi’s Stains

Grrrl Traveler’s Postcard Diaries presents “The Ganga Aarti” (Varanasi, India). The evening Ganga Aarti is an hour long ritual performed daily at the bank of the main ghat.

Video: “Sunrise on the Ganges”, Varanasi

Filed under Photo Essays, Religious by Christine Ka'aloa on June 10, 2009 at 5:03 pm {no comments}

GrrrlTraveler’s Postcard Diaries: Sunrise on the Ganges, Varanasi, India
(2min video)

…My boat cruise down the ganges at 6A felt beautifully special …and not, with reason that at least a 100 of other tourist boats were out on the waters racing to make the length of the Ganges before sunrise! By boat is the only way to see the overall bathing ghat life, morning sun salutations, chanting, meditations, yoga postures and people washing their clothes on Ganges. Man, woman and child are there- a dip in the Ganga water is considered holy and purifying, so many lather up and take a baths in it too! Most are so devout and absorbed in their water ritual, they can be nonchalant about the 100+ tourists boats observing and photographing their every move.
[Excerpt from "Varanasi's Humorous Underbelly"-- Click here for actual blog...]

Lessons of a first-time Solo Traveler in India

Filed under I Survived!, India by Christine Ka'aloa on October 7, 2008 at 11:59 am {no comments}

Tuesday, Oct 7, 2008: Delhi

Back in the U.S., when I was on the road for MTV, I had a GPS, Hertz rental car, a mobile phone with internet access, a 4-5 star hotel with meal stipends and a support office back home working 24/7 for my minute travel questions. Safe to say, I’ve been spoiled a bit.

Here in India, I’m completely on my own– being far from familiar faces, I’ve no tour guides for help; no shoulder to cry on when things go wrong.

When you’re on your own for the first time in a developing country and you don’t have all the conveniences and safe glass bubble partitions protecting you from the outside world, what do you do?

1. Allowing yourself to trust strangers when you travel.

Your mom probably told you to never trust strangers. Well, when you’re alone, often, a stranger is all you have.

Traveling solo is the quickest way to learn how to make friends out of strangers as locals and fellow travelers are your only option for conversation and advice. While this can feel scary and a dangerous gamble, being a foreigner in foreign country, I am reliant upon them. What alternate choice am I given? In these cases I realize, I also have to utilize good street smarts and rely on my intuition to tell me when something isn’t feeling right. (more…)