varanasi

That night there was a big saraswati festival where elaborate puja’s were performed at sunset and groups of kids would march down the stairs carrying giant statues of women made from cow dung and hay all painted up. They would dance around for a while on the stairs, drumming, and throwing paint before launching the massive statues onto little boats and parading them off into the ganga and throw them overboard. It was hilarious and amazing…ive never seen so much action and music and holy shit going down in one place at the same before…it was insanity…all I could do was smile as yet another group of party boys would almost bite it coming down the stairs with an even bigger statue and theyd all be battling it out with the drums and dancing like maniacs while two sets of groups performed elaborate traditional pujas and music blaired over the load speakers.
Indians really know how to take the party to the streets. They rent these wall of speaker sound systems on wheels and then follow it with a generator on wheels and just creep down the road with gangs of dancing boys making ragging party on parade…its enchanting to say the least…and that pretty what the saraswati festival was all about.
Since, weve just been hanging out in varanasi trying not to get sick from the food and walking around the maze of backstreets in search of edibles and photo ops. Varanasi is truly an amazing place…its one of the oldest cities in the world, very lively, colorful, and filled with culture and temples and music. The trippiest thing ive ever scene was here just the other night. It too complicated to explain, but it included a river that melted into the sky, floating boats in outerspace, welding blue stobes lights, and cluster of ancient temples and seven bodies burning in fire towards the heavens.
In fact, varanasi is the place that all hindus bring their dead to cremate them and spread their ashes in the ganga. The most poplular burning place is only a hundred yards from our guest house and there are at least five bodies burning there right now…I don’t even have to look. But I have been, and it’s a bit disturbing to watch bodies roasting up in flames and hear the sound of their blood sizzle. Imagine if it was your job to stand around burning dead bodies all day, beating them with a stick, trying to get them to turn to ash…its some kind of hell over there, that’s for sure. code