Varanasi to Delhi

Well, I'm right back where I started. Same city, same street, same hotel... slightly different girl. Definitely walking the streets more confidently than when I first arrived! Just had lunch at the German Bakery, the resto at which I had my only actual meal at here in 3 days in January. Backtrack...


Saturday night I had my best Indian pizza yet at the nice Hotel Surya resto, a paneer tikka chef's specialty. Brought leftovers back to my room, ate them while watching a movie, then did my night reiki session and went to bed. And in the cool comfort of my room, I finally broke the many days streak of taking 2-3 hours to fall asleep. 


Packed, read and relaxed till 12pm checkout the next day, staying in my AC for as long as I could. Then it was off to internet for more photo-blogging, and over to the pool for reading, swimming, and sipping a delicious chai tea martini. On my way out, I stopped at the resto for a dessert I saw on the menu and wanted the night before, but was too full from the pizza: freshly-made toffee-sesame dipped apple cubes with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream... mmmmm! It was as good as it sounds :) Got changed, posted one more photo-blog, then shared a taxi to the train station with a Belgian girl who was also getting a train at the same time. (She was doing a one-year international study program, 4 months in Belgium, 4 in India and she was off to the last 4 in New York!) Walked up and down long flights of stairs with all my luggage, to the furthest platform in the station to get on my train. I had the upper bunk again on the same side as usual, and this time the little girl who was assigned the lower bunk (whose family was just across the aisle), offered it to me since I had so many bags. She was very sweet and spoke good English (her parents spoke none), and after making sure she didn't mind the upper bunk, I accepted her offer. My first lower bunk for my last overnighter :) Good thing it started positively because the rest wasn't so great. Read a bit and had some snacks, then prepared my bedding and lay down. The train had been swaying quite strongly since the beginning, but I felt it more when I was lying down. And I  also realized how hard the "bed" was. Like a plank. The pillow-case was damp and smelled moldy. When I lay on my back, the aggressive side-to-side rocking of the train was nauseating and nearly threw me right off the bunk. When I lay on my side, I could balance a bit better, but after a few minutes my hip and rib bones were in pain from the solid mattress. The AC would go on and off, and when it did, my skin would go from icy-cold to sweaty within minutes. People around me snored, coughed and farted. Result: I got even less sleep than the 3 hours on the way to Varanasi. But I'm glad I continued reading Life of Pi, because no matter what situation I find myself in, I now always compare it to Pi Patel's predicament, and feel a little comforted. So I lay there, rocking not-so-gently  side-to-side, listening to The Best of Leonard Cohen, and watching the half moon out the window for hours, noticing it inching across the sky, and getting brighter and brighter as the sky grew darker and as the train lights went out one by one.


Woke from one of my short dozes at 6am and sat up. Undid the bedding, had a sip of leftover 7up from last night, got a chai as the train wallah came by, and read. Watched the kids goof around across the aisle, snapped a few pics of them, and 5 hours later, we were in Delhi. Got a tuk-tuk and saw some of Delhi by day for the first time. (In January, I stuck to just the street my hostel was on until going to Rishikesh.) Checked into my room, had a shower, and headed out for lunch.


Papa arrives in two days, and I don't want to do too much sight-seeing without him, so you can expect more photo-blogs shortly :) 


For now, it's back to my room for a nap... my meager sleep is catching up to me.    

Reiki Certified & Hotel Surya

Well, I am now officially certified as a Reiki healer! I went for my first practice yesterday evening, after which my guru signed the certificate and handed it over to me. The woman I practiced on (his wife?) thanked me and told me I had very powerful energies in my hands... but I imagine she says that to all students who practice on her for the first time.  Next week it will be time to practice on papa while he's here, then I'll get an appointment book for practicing on you guys at home! I'm supposed to do a session on myself morning and night for 21 days, and also 30 days of distance healing... good thing I'm unemployed at the moment! After 200 or so treatments, I can go for my master level... maybe while I'm back here next year! Stopped one last time for a delicious salad and mint iced-tea at Brown Bread Bakery, then headed home for an early night of reading and reiki.


To celebrate my new accomplishment, I booked my last night in Varanasi at Hotel Surya (http://www.hotelsuryavns.com), a beautiful building which was originally a Nepali king's palace, built in 1818, and which is away from the frenzy of the old city. It comes equipped with a great restaurant lovely pool and terrace. I headed there almost immediately when I arrived, needing refreshment after walking 15 minutes with my ridiculous amount of luggage through the narrow old city lanes up to the main intersection where I could get an auto-rickshaw. (I vowed in a previous blog not to add any weight to my bags in Varanasi, and what I bought at Open Hand Cafe weighs less than the ashes I dispersed, so I actually left a tiny bit lighter than I arrived.) Pool was great, perfect temperature, even felt a tad chilly in the nice breeze when I got out. Varanasi, like Kolkata, seems to have gotten hotter by the day during my visits. And here, like in K, even the locals are complaining about the heat, still wondering why tourists come at this time of year. (The glacier trek up north with Papa will be fabulous -  bring on the ice!) Speaking of cold, the AC in my room works so well that I was actually able to have a hot shower - forgot what those feel like, and how much I like them!
Relaxing at Surya today and tomorrow, reading, swimming and reiki-ing, before getting aboard my last (yay!) overnight train to Delhi tomorrow night. Once there, I putz around for 2 days, then greet papa at the airport :)


Still loving India, happily and gratefully embracing all the amazing opportunities that present themselves.

Reiki & Ashes

I have just completed my second level of Reiki! This evening, I will go perform my first practice on a patient and receive my Level 1 and 2 certificate. Lucky papa, arriving just in time to be my guinea pig for daily practice :)

The night of day 1, level 1, where I received a balancing and cleansing, provoking the release of negative bottled up feelings, I fell asleep with tears rolling down my cheeks. At the end of day 2, level 1, where I received my first attunement, the channeling of positive energies from master to student, I fell asleep with a smile on my face. Such is the power of this simple yet miraculous medicine.

Yesterday afternoon, after class, I ventured further than before along the ghats. I was headed to Assi Ghat, and asked the man at the front desk of my guesthouse whether walking along the ghats was the simplest way to get there. He said, "Sure, if you're willing to walk in this heat!" It was a 40-minute walk, peek sun, and I did it both ways, but not without a litre of water in each direction! I went to Assi ghat since it's one of the more famous ones, but also because the Open Hand Cafe was there. It's a cafe/boutique that sells goods made by underprivileged locals. Couldn't resist a few purchases. Along the sunny, hot walk there and back along the ghats, I saw a wedding, 3 cremations, a squatting man's dangling penis and balls, and a peeing sadhu. "Unapologetically indiscreet" indeed!

Last night was a very special evening. As you may remember, I have some of my grandmother's ashes with me. Back in Goa, I put a small portion of them in the ocean, as I swam in the waters of the most peaceful, serene beach I had been to. Then, last night, more ashes were offered to the sacred Ganga. I took a dusk boat trip along the river, my wooden boat rowed by the friendly 16-year-old Rahul, who was on summer vacation and rowing for pocket money (I tipped him as much as the one-hour ride cost, Rs100 - $2). First stop was the famous Manikarna Ghat - the burning ghat. This is where families from all over India bring deceased loved ones to be cremated and have their ashes put into the holy river. It is believed that if a body is cremated here, the person will receive instant Moksha, liberation form the cycle of birth and rebirth. Cremations here are quite expensive, at least Rs10,000 ($200) to buy the wood. Therefore, a little further up the river, there's the electric burning ghat, which is cheaper. (This was started in part to avoid half cremated bodies floating along the water - families who didn't have enough money to buy all the wood necessary for cremation. Yikes.) So there I was, sitting in a wooden row boat with Rahul, as darkness fell over the city, watching several cremation fires burning at Manikarna Ghat. It felt like a very bizarre dream. Incredibly surreal. Next, we boated a little further down to an old Tibetan temple, before turning around to head up towards Dasaswamedh Ghat for the 7 o'clock Ganga Aarti - river and fire worship. It was on the way there that I spread Grand-maman's ashes along the river, saying prayers for her as I did so. Rahul, who had been quite chatty up until then (giving me a lot of the info I just shared), gave me a moment of silence. And a beautiful moment it was. As I finished, and we approached Dasawamedh Ghat, I lit the small flower floater I bought from a little girl on the ghat before leaving, and set it afloat with the hundreds of others like it on the Ganga. We stopped, along with dozens of other boats, to watch Ganga Aarti being performed on the ghat (where hundreds of people were sitting), and I just took in the moment. Its energy, its vibrations, its sounds, its magic.
 

Photo-blog

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Fascinating Reiki

Well, although I can't say I love Varanasi, I am really falling for reiki. Went for my second class today, and have decided to go on to level 2.

First, a bit about yesterday. Forgot to mention that I woke up at 5am and couldn't fall back asleep, so I took advantage of the situation and went out onto the guesthouse balcony to watch the sunrise over the Ganga. Beautiful, of course. Went back to my room and managed to fall back asleep till 9, then moved into room #2. After my first reiki class that afternoon, which ended, as I said, with a cleanse and balance of my energies and chakras, I felt every emotion very strongly. At my core, I felt a deep sense of calmness, but at the surface, was acutely aware of the emotions that arose. They were mostly negative, which sometimes felt a little overwhelming. This is normal, my guru told me today, as after a cleansing, the negative emotions we are holding onto must be released. Guess it was working! Today's class wasn't really a class, it was my level 1 initiation (or attunement). It's more or less the channeling of energies and healing powers from guru to student. It lasted over an hour, in a dim room with candles and incense lit. At the the end of the session, I was given the reiki level 1 booklet to read. I was fascinated and hooked. Reiki healing makes so much sense to me, and I had felt exactly the way the book said one might after a cleansing and initiation. My guru had said very little about what was going on during the class, and I was initially a little confused and skeptic. But reading these notes, everything is coming together. Level 1 and 2 are done in 4 days, so I have 2 left, finishing on Friday.

Ventured a little further along the ghats today than I had before, discovering new sights and spots. And getting lost in the narrow lanes many times. Didn't think I'd find my way back. But I did.

The intro to Varanasi in my guidebook describes it perfectly, so I'll end with that today.

"Brace yourself. You're about to enter one of the most blindingly colourful, unrelentingly chaotic and unapologetically indiscreet places on earth. Pilgrims come to the ghats lining the River Ganges here to wash away a lifetime of sins in the sacred waters or to cremate their loved ones. Most visitors agree it's a magical place, but it's not for the faint-hearted. Here the most intimate rituals of life and death take place in public and the sights, sounds and smells in and around the ghats - not to mention the almost constant attention from touts - can be overwhelming. Persevere. Varanasi is unique, and a walk along the ghats or a boat ride on the river will live long in the memory."

Like I said, I don't love this place. Its narrow lanes and crowds make me feel a little claustrophobic. The stink, the flies and the dung everywhere are a little irritating. But it does feel a little magic, and it's most definitely unique.     

Day 2 and 3 in Varanasi

Don't have a whole lot to write about today, so I'm going to go back to a few notes I didn't get a chance to share about Kolkata. Can't let you off with a 2-minute post ;)

As much as I loved the city, boy was it ever stinky! I often found myself taking very short breaths, taking in only what was needed to oxygenate my body and prevent me from passing out. Garbage cans aren't very popular in India (except in well-maintained parks), and therefore there is garbage everywhere on the streets. The heat and humidity make the odors particularly, um, fascinating. There are flies, dogs and cows eating from the piles of junk, then shitting it out a few steps further down the road. I also inhaled carefully small amounts of air when I walked by open street-side urinals. So yes, the city stinks. But the stereotype that Indians and their food smell bad is completely off. In fact, I've never seen anyone take such meticulous care of their hygiene as Indians. And I say that because I see it every day. They don't feel too strongly about privacy while bathing! If I'm in a city, I see people at the junction of street and sidewalk vigorously scrubbing their partially covered bodies with such intensity that I wonder how they have any skin left at all. With a bucket of soapy water, they wash away every inch of dirt. And if I'm in a town like Rishikesh or Varanasi, the cleansing takes place on the banks of the Ganga, where sin, as well dirt, is washed away. Teeth-brushing lasts at least five minutes, and clothes washing is just as thorough and public. And as for the food, no India does not stink of curry (and since when does curry smell bad?). When it doesn't smell like rotting garbage and dung, the smell of brewing chai or blooming flowers fills the air.

An item more particular to Kolkata is foot-drawn rickshaws. I had seen and been in plenty of auto-rickshaws (tuk-tuks), had seen many but only ridden in one cycle-driven rickshaw, but in Kolkata, they go one step further. No motor, no bike, just feet (often shoeless). Huge cartwheels have a small bench lodged between them, and two long rods of wood protrude forward from the center of the wheels. The small, skinny, glistening Indian man wraps his hands around these rods and speed-walks or runs through the chaotic streets of Calcutta. It's really quite something to see for the first time (picture the cover of the City of Joy movie if you know it).

Finally, the heat. Kolkata is scorching in April. It wasn't bad the first day I arrived, but that was just the city greeting me with a little mercy. It's so hot that even the Indians are sweating through their clothes and fanning themselves, wondering why someone from Canada would come to their city in the summer. And the men and women who carry umbrellas for a little reprieve don't make pedestrian circulation any easier. The sidewalks - when there are any - are crawling with people, and the low height of locals makes it dangerous for the eyes and face.

Ok, that's it for the Kolkata wrap-up. Back to Varanasi.

Took it easy yesterday, relaxing in my cool room, going out for narrow-lane walks, working on my photo-blog, and booking a level 1 Reiki course which I started today. I'm getting a 3-day private course with a smiley, friendly, oldish Indian man. 

At ten this morning, I transferred my bags into a cheaper, simpler room (only treated myself to AC for 2 nights). There's no bathroom (shared), no TV, no AC, no private balcony overlooking the river. But the room itself is actually much nicer, with shiny, tiled walls and a comfier bed and pillow, and it manages to stay relatively cool considering the heat outside (which actually isn't as bad as I was expecting). Instead of looking out over the Ganga, my room opens up onto the leafy, shady inner courtyard with benches and fountains. Not too bad at all.

Then, at 11, I was off to my two-hour Reiki day 1 class. The first half hour consisted of an introduction to Reiki and basic technique. Then there was 15 minutes for questions, answers, and discussion. And finally, a one-hour cleanse and balancing of my energies and chakras. Pretty fascinating stuff. More about that tomorrow after my initiation.

Room relaxation early afternoon, then Brown Bed Bakery for a delicious "BBB Special Salad".

I've been feeling very creatively inspired here, and have continued to work on my community plans. And I can hardly contain my excitement! My ideas are piecing together beautifully. After much brainstorming and scribbling and scratching out, I've also come up with what may be the final name for the community and the title for my book... but you'll have to wait to find out what those are!

Be patient. You will know when it's time for you to wake up and move ahead.
That very acknowledgment will prompt change and carry you to the next step in your journey.
-Ram Dass      

Holy Cows and Holy Ganga in Varanasi

Arrived in Varanasi at 6am yesterday. Back to Saturday evening...

Didn't go to New Market after writing my blog, wasn't up for the crowds and chaos. Sat in Blue Sky AC for a snack, then gathered my bags at Galaxy. As I was preparing to leave, the friendly manager gave me a pack of mini chocolate bars for the train - how sweet! It takes so little to be warmly remembered. Got a taxi to Howrah station, found my train, found my bunk. Again, I was on the side that had only two bunks and for once, I had the lower bunk which I was happy about. But a guy sitting nearby told me his mother had been assigned the upper bunk but had problems with her knees and would I mind switching with her? Of course, no problem. So back to my regular upper bunk spot, piled my bags at one end, and lay down for some yoga music and Life of Pi. Still loving the book. I couldn't fall asleep when I tried around 10:30, tossing and turning, the bright fluorescent ceiling lights shining onto my upper bunk (forgot to put my eye-mask in my little accessible bag). But I didn't care. I didn't care if I didn't sleep at all that night. I was comfortable, the train AC was working well, and the antibiotics had taken effect. I couldn't have asked for more.

Only ended up sleeping about 3 hours that night. Woke around 4am and hardly slept again until the train arrived at 6. Having read about the rampant Varanasi tuk-tuk scams, I was very clear with my driver (despite his speaking no English) about where I wanted to go and how much I wanted to pay. A few minutes after taking off, we got stuck in a massive traffic jam going through a bus/truck lot (first real jam since I've been in India, not bad). My crazy driver aggressively swerved through the mess when he could squeeze by, getting honked at wildly, and turned the motor off when there was nowhere to go. Which was often. I was glad the temperature hadn't reached its midday peak yet - would have been unbearable. Finally got to the drop-off spot about an hour later (14km). Tuk-tuks cannot go into the narrow lanes leading to the riverside ghats and guesthouses, so I had a 15 minute walk to Ganpati GH. Luckily, people pointed me in the right direction, or I would have never found my way through the narrow lanes. Bags are now heavier than ever, and I am determined not to add anything to them in Varanasi. Had to stop several times along to the way to put some down and regain my strength. Finally made it, only to be told that my booking confirmation e-mail had not been received. I knew I had sent it, but there must have been a computer glitch. Neither their fault nor mine. But I was hot, tired, and therefore irritated. They had a few options for me: a non-AC room, a room in a neighboring building that also belonged to them, or wait until 10am to see if another non-confirmed guest shows up or not. If not, it's a room like the one I wanted. I said I'd wait. It was about 7am. Went to their lovely patio overlooking the Ganga (nice to be back by it!) and read some magazines that were lying around. Walked around to other balconies on different levels of the GH, and marveled at the amount of activity on the ghats. There were so many boats and people, so much color. Received a call from Meera, had a nice chat, then went to the rooftop for a glass of orange juice at the resto. Desk guy came to find me around 9, telling me they had received a cancellation, and I could have the room I wanted. Yay! Waited till 10 while the room was being cleaned, then collapsed on the bed for a nap. Went out to explore a little a couple hours later, stopping for lunch at Brown Bread Bakery, an organic cafe that supports a school for underprivileged children and a women's empowerment group. Walked along the narrow lanes - shit, flies, cows and garbage everywhere, and realized it was easier to navigate the streets of Calcutta than the tiny back lanes of Varanasi. Quick stop at internet before going back to my AC room for another nap - exhausted after last night's limited sleep. Relaxed and read before hiking up the many flights of stairs to the rooftop restaurant for dinner. It was dark, and the view of the river and ghats was beautiful. There were religious chants coming from the loudspeakers as Ganga Arti (candle-lighting as offerings to the river) was being performed at a nearby ghat. Had a yummy salad and rice pudding while reading Life of Pi. Back in my room, I read more about Varanasi in my guidebook, watched a little TV, observed the moth flying around and the several geikos crawling on the wall, then had a great long sleep. AC was mediocre, but at least allowed me to pull a sheet and light blanket over me while I slept. Felt great!

Up at 10 this morning, off for breakfast (Ganga view again) and internet, then a short cool-room break. (I only have the AC room till 10 am tomorrow, so taking full advantage of it. Then it's 5 days of heat.) Lots of time to explore this strange and magical city, described by Mark Twain as: "older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together".