Angels Owls and Dogs

My balcony is in the yellow bit left of the three small arches 3/4 of the way up

So, at about lunch time, I finally arrived in Varanasi and I found a room I liked at the fourth place I went to - a small clean concrete sort of room with a balcony that was directly above the ghat - about 60 feet I would say - and the Ganges - but first I had to evict the mongoose. Then I had a sleep for a couple of hours. 

There are basically four things every visitor does here - the first is wander along the ghats that line the river for a couple of miles and observe what goes on at various times of the day, the second is to visit the so-called "burning ghats" which is where dead people are cremated 24 hours a day, the third thing is to go for a boat ride on the ganges and lastly you can wander the really narrow maze of streets in the old town and do some shopping. There are also a few temples and what-have-you to visit if you're so inclined - which I wasn't really but I did wander into the Golden Temple by mistake one day. A sign says nonHindus may not enter this sacred place but on the other hand if you buy a "passport" you may! I see now how wonderfully Hindu this practice is whereas before I might have been tempted to dark cynicism about money and religion. 

Sun rising over the Ganga

The first thing I did was go down to the ghats and wander along just after sunset. I was  just in time to catch the nightly performance that attracts hundreds of indian Hindu visitors who crowd the steps like fans at a footy match and cram themselves into 20 or 30 boats which line up several deep in front of the platform on which an amazing ceremony takes place. Basically  in front of a small temple wreathed in incense and flowers and candles and garlands and flags and all sorts of little offerings there are 5 guys all dressed up and each on his own mini stage with a sort of flaming torch/candelholder device that is moved about in synchrony with each other and the fantastic loud music, with another person clanging a cymbal and a third  working a small drum, so its crowded, hot noisy and totally engrossing as clouds of smoke and incense drift across everything and the hindu devotees spend heaps on offerings and the like from men moving through the crowds. Naturally there are lots of foreigners there as well and we become legitimate targets for the usual hawkers of postcards and trinkets, balloons, snacks, DVD's, boat rides and personal guides.Many are children and I watched for 15 or 20 minutes one tot who was working the crowd brilliantly at the age of about 4. One guy approached me with several small wire cages and in each one was a most beautiful little owl - he explained that  for 200rupees I could set the owl free and this would be good Karma for me. The music was mesmerizing, drumming in that wonderful indian way (tabla), an accordion like sound (Harmonium) and someone, a male, singing like an angel. I thought it was a recording it was so pure and faultless and effortless but I squeesed through the crowd and discovered there were two musicians sitting on the ground before microphones, one with the drum, the other playing the accordion thing and doing the singing at the same time.  The guy singing had a completely paralyzed and withered right arm so to work the bellows on the harmonium he had to drape the arm over  it and move his shoulder back and forth to make the arm move - incredibly awkward but he was extraordinary.To me he was the star of the  show so I went to see  and hear him again the following night but on the third night  a different singer turned up and he wasn't a patch on this guy.  When it was all over and he stood up he had the most wonderfully happy look on his face. No-one seemed to pay him any attention, they were all struggling to get bits of blessed chopped up vegetable, or to wave  their hands in the smoke from the flaming torches and get themselves a blessing. Every day I understand and see it illustrated  more and more clearly  that the essential fact about Hindu religion is that it is about obtaining blessing and Karma and reward for ones self. The extreme form,The Holy Men have renounced everything the world has to offer to concentrate wholly and utterly on themselves and their path. It is not about "the other"

I slept well that first night, but the second was interrupted by a pack of dogs barking and baying and yelping on the ghat below my room. These dogs are real pests and they add absolutely nothing to the romance of India unlike virtually every other animal and thing you might come across. There are dogs everywhere, universally mangy and flea bitten, constantly scratching themselves, coats patchy and skin broken from fighting each other, they harass people and frighten children and have to be warded off with stones or sticks.  Eventually I got so fed up with  the racket that I decided I had to do something so I got up and after refilling my water bottle, I flung it out across the ghat where it crashed and split open in front of the startled dogs who took off in all directions. The following day I saw kids lighting firecrackers so bought a few for myself, looking forward to dropping them on those damn dogs if they should return but, to my dismay they didn't. But it felt so good to win one!