The Holiest of Hindu Cities

 

A twelve hour train ride from Howrah Station in Calcutta brought us to Varanasi. The first-class seats in an air-conditioned chair-car made the trip comfortable but we decided our future train rides would be second class; we would be better-adjusted to India by then. Passing cultivated fields and unending towns and villages, we played Scribbage; its fist-full of lettered dice easy to travel with. At each stop, street venders boarded the train to sell chai, cold Limcas, Charm cigarettes, and a variety of crispy snacks. The one that we sampled, Chris said, "tasted like cardboard with a splash of lemon".

 

It was after 9 p.m. when we arrived in Varanasi, the holiest of Hindu cities and situated on the Ganges River.

A taxi brought us to the Veranda Hotel. Our intended destination was another mile, near the river, but Indian taxi drivers always deviated to their friend's or family's shop or business where they were assured a 'take'. Tired, we accepted a room there for a rather expensive fifty Rupees ($5.00 U.S.). Like the train, however, our room was quite comfortable and exceptionally clean. It also boasted a private bath and a radio. We enjoyed hot showers and a room-service meal.

 

Chris and I downed a breakfast of tea and toast, checked out of the Veranda, then rode a rickshaw toward the river, seeking a room closer to the waterfront. The morning streets were already choked with ox-drawn carts, bicycles, sacred cows, and people shuffling to and from the waterway.

 

Ghats; those sprawling concrete steps leading right into the Ganges, lined the town which skirted the northern bank of the smooth river. Besides washing themselves, doing laundry, watering their work-animals, and launching their boats, Hindus used the ghats to worship the morning sun, some in chanting rituals; others, silent meditation. Darashwamed was the prominent ghat, and the city seemed to revolve around it.