Varanasi

Evil

today, i'm in varanasi, which my indian friend described as "such a spiritual place. Make sure to wake up before dawn and check out the rituals that go on in the morning." and the lonely planet says, "... is one of the holiest places in India, where Hindu pilgrims come to wash away a lifetime of sins in the Ganges or cremate loved ones... The city is an everlasting symbol of hope to past, present, and future generations." i did wake up before dawn as my friend suggested to catch the morning prayers, baths, and other rituals that happen on the west bank of the ganges. in the short time that i was there, i saw two cremations, which always feels sad to witness.

then afterwards, while walking through the old town, i wandered across a little baby lying on a table and the only reason it caught my attention was that an elderly man was bent over it taking a photo and the flash went off in the corner of my eye. i looked over at the baby and realized that it was deceased, with quite an anguished look on its face and large tumor-like thing protruding from its side. i looked behind me and there were two western tourists who saw the baby too and their eyes instantly welled up with tears. (there were no tears in my eyes because i was born without emotion.) i think it's one thing to be told that you're going to be seeing a dead baby around the corner, but it's another to catch sight of one completely by surprise.

the city and the ganges is apparently also holy to buddhists, since buddha used to bath in the ganges. (the place where buddha gave his first sermon after becoming enlightened is only 6 miles from here, which i visited earlier today.) anyway, so there are a lot of japanese buddhists who visit. all the street vendors think i'm japanese, which tends to irk me. they bark out things like nihongo ga hanasemasuka (do you speak japanese?), nihonjin des ka (are you from japan?), and other phrases that i can't pick up (but presumably, they are saying things like "please come to my shop!"). the japanese buddhists are funny because half of them wear surgical masks and about 95% of them are carrying either a digital camera or video camera or both. and there are these guys at the ganges who catch little fish and put them into little jars. they show the capture fish to the japanese buddhists and the buddhists pay the guys a small sum to release the fish. i'm seeing this and i'm like, dude, they're just going to re-capture the fish and do it all over again! i guess maybe i am short on compassion. :)