Varanasi, the shores of the Ganges, 6:00 o’clock in the morning.
Lonely Planet says that one of the best experiences in India is to see the sunrise over the Ganges in Varanasi. So we stumble into an Ambassador early in the morning towards the Ganges. With us, some Czech people. We reach the shores of the Ganges. It is dark and you could cut the fog with a knife. In the waters, the morning faithful get purified of their sins, but probably get full of dirt. We climb a boat and a girl sells some offerings – a candle in a palm leaf. We have to set it free on the Ganges. We buy, we light the candle and we let it flow on the Ganges….Karma reaches new records. Unfortunately the sun isn’t…The fog gets thicker and thicker. We take a stroll next to the Ganges and I remember the Greek Styx legend where the boatman Charon carries the souls of the dead by a boat over the foggy river to the dead world. This is how I am feeling now…From time to time, like in Harry Potter, a boat that is full of tourists appears out of the fog and disappears a few meters ahead. We are told not to take pictures of the cremating ghats. Who sees them? Oh well, the sun was supposed to rise a while ago, the stroll on the Ganges is over…. Karma isn’t that good. read more…
