On The Ganges

I can feel the city breathin’, chest heavin’, against the flesh of the evenin. Black Star ft. Common, Respiration

I visited India to see Devin and go to Varanasi, the religious heart of the country. The river Ganges is extremely holy to all Hindus and Varanasi is the helm.

I realized that something was wrong en route to Varanasi from Delhi. The man seated next to me had overdone the cologne and it began to make me extremely nauseous. By the time I got in my taxi, I thought I was going to faint. The people on the sides of the roads looked miserable. Kids were covered in dirt and flies were buzzing around them. I was dropped off far from the hotel. And began my search for an internet cafe.

Devin had set me up with a friend of a friend who works for the Varanasi tourism board. Sure enough, I had a hotel waiting for me at Ajay Guesthouse. I started my walk in the direction of the river. I was gulping down as much water as I could, but it didn’t seem to help. I was covered in sweat, and was constantly blacking out. I kept sitting down trying to catch my breath, but it didn’t help. I trudged on looking for my hotel. Soon enough I was followed by a flock of scammers all trying to get me to go to different hotels. “Where are you going?” they would ask. Each person gave me different directions to the guesthouse, or tried to offer me better digs. My entourage grew by the minute. They wanted a commission any way they could get it. They would stop and wait for me while I would try to ditch them, but they wouldn’t back off. “Go away” meant nothing to them.

I kept stopping to catch my breath and would almost vomit on the side of the road. I had stepped in so many random piles of shit that I could smell it and it made me gag. I knew I caught whatever Devin had. At that point it seemed like food poisoning mixed with heat exhaustion and dehydration. After two hours or so, I found the guesthouse thanks to a family of tourists. My entourage of scammers followed me to the desk and begged for a commission. I checked in and slept for a few hours.

I woke up to a man offering to clean my room. I had only been there for an hour or two, so I was surprised. When he was finished he told me that I needed to tip him. I started feeling very defensive again. I hadn’t eaten all day and had no appetite at all. I wandered the riverfront in amazement. For the first time everything seemed to come together.

At first glance the city is an amalgamation of flies, cows, lizards, monkeys, and goats and people, people, and more people. Everyone was celebrating now. Music was playing and you could feel the religion. I thought that I had stumbled upon a special festival, but I was wrong. What I was seeing happened every night. The river was lit with lotus candles floating downstream and everyone was smiling. A man asked me if I wanted to take a yoga class. I told him I would and followed him to his home and studio.

He educated me on yoga, and promised to heal my stomach. I was of course skeptical. He asked me questions I couldn’t answer about energy, nature, soul, and life-force. He explained what Aum was.

In short Aum or Aaaaaaaaa-Uuuuuuuu-Mmmmm is the sound you make during meditation. “A” is the beginning of life, “U” is the middle, and “M” is death. It all seemed simple enough. After a brief explanation he rubbed my stomach and had me perform some stretches while meditating. He claimed that he had given me his good energy and taken my bad. I’m not sure what he did, but for the rest of the night my stomach was fine. When I returned to my hotel, I slept plenty and even ate half a piece of toast.

The next morning greeted me with the usual sickness, but I decided not to let that affect me. I just started walking along the river taking photos. Various guys tried to take me to their restaurants, deal me hash and pot, and tried to sell me scarves. I decided to get out of the main area and walked along the narrow avenues avoiding cow shit and thieving monkeys. A man invited me into his gym and made me take photos for more than an hour. I was happy to do it, but it began to get overwhelming. Everyone was posing and lifting weights for the camera. The gym owner took off all of his clothes and asked me to take some photos, I respectfully declined and tried to leave.

He wasn’t about to let the camera man go. He took me down countless avenues searching for a computer to print my photos and even into his home, stopping constantly to have me document his every step. I tried to explain how to use a computer and he didn’t seem to understand, but as promised the pictures are up now.

I finally recovered and spent the last few days enjoying the city.I visited one of the infamous burning ghats where you can view a cremation. Its tough to watch a body burn, but it was explained to me as only being sad when the deceased is a young person. The death of a person who has lived a full life is something that is celebrated rather than mourned. floating your ashes in the Ganges river is a way to give you rest, and break the cycle of reincarnation. The families are very happy to celebrate to next step for their loved ones.

On the last night, I took a boat ride down the river and watched the festival from the water. It’s something truly amazing. I hadn’t felt an energy like that before. Everyone was so happy and in touch with themselves. As cheesy as it sounds, India beat me down pretty hard, but finally revealed itself to me. At that point I understood the relevancy of Aum. I’ll be back in Varanasi soon enough.