Sensory Overload

Wow. It has been an intensely emotional 2 days. I have had to do a lot of contemplating to even decide what I wanted to share at this moment. I guess I am approaching sensory overload and it has to be experienced to be believed.

Yesterday, Saturday we went to visit a school. Yes, children do go to school Saturday but only the older ones. I visited a 6th grade class and they were playing Chinese whispers.. I gave the whisper California and that opened up some great conversations about my state. They were very interested and all knew about Disney. This school is moving to a non grade system and focuses on the whole child and not just pushing on academics. I interviews several students and they all agreed that they learned better this way. I loved the philosophy and we have been invited to go back and teach there for a period of time. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Said she thinking!

Later that day, a group of us went to a rural village to experience the real culture. It was fantastic. WE visited the school, the building were all of the laws were made, we met the leader who was a former MP (member of parliament), went to a pickle factory, visited the people in their homes, watched sari material being woven, and got followed all afternoon by a group of interested children. In short, we had a true experience. So far this was my most favorite day.


The evening turned out to be one of the scariest adventures and I will not go into too much detail, but basically a small group of seven of us took rickshaws into town to the banks of the Ganges to see the cremation ceremony for the Hindu religion. The burn the bodies after first washing them in the Ganges to wash away the impurities and ready them for a new life. They then remove all knots from clothing and the burial shroud and they are placed on a pyre (wood fire) and set alight, or cremated. Their skull is opened first so they remain fully open and this is done by the oldest member of the family. The family sit around as this is happening however, women are not allowed incase they cry as this is not a sad occasion. Family members shave their heads completely when someone dies and if their father is still dead, they shave moustaches too. The cost for this is 600Rupees where an organized cremation is 5 times that. The man who owns the cremation parlor is actually from the lowest caste but it is said that he got (his ancestors) got the first fire from Lord Vishnu so even the kind has to bow down to him and ask for fire. He is very rich! The burning ceremonies go on all day and ever day. People bring their dead to Varanasi for this purpose or they come here to just die. When we entered the observation tower we actually walked through these people who were awaiting their freedom to their next life. I was emotionally drained after this and was glad to take the crazy rickshaw back to the hotel to get an early night and be ready for our 5:00 am boat ride the next morning to see the sunrise and celebrations on the river.

India is truly the most fascination and thought provoking place that I have ever been to. The filth and poverty chokes you. Everywhere is piles of cow dung and garbage. It is a maze of dark alleys yet adorned with the most beautiful temples to Vishnu, Shiva or Braham. You are continuously surrounded by hawkers selling their goods – even at 5:00 am.! We rowed along the river edge and saw lots of people bathing in the waters to cleanse their souls. Yesterday we met a gentleman, Professor Vir Bhadra Mishra, who enlightened us about the plight and environmental concerns of this great river, Ganges or the Goddess Ganga. He himself had contracted, Hepatitis and typhoid through using the water for ritual purposes – and he is extremely intelligent. There are 60,000 dips in the river daily and one extremely religious day every 12 years over 8 million people come to bathe. He is trying to raise money and awareness so the river can be cleaned and to prevent the pollution from dead bodies (ritual), industrial waste, garbage, and open sewers. They are also trying to educate children in schools. His parting quote was,
“Not the longest, nor the mightiest, but definitely the most spiritual river.” I could see that first hand this morning and I hope you enjoy the photos. I chose not to post the dead body photo but you can imagine how I felt to know that the family of this man could not even afford the common burning pyre and he was returned to his god by being thrown in the river. Just down from this, was a girl brushing her teeth in the same water and next to her were some boys who were washing towels and sheets and spreading them out on the steps of the ghats to dry. It reminds me of the Mekong and the boat people I saw in Vietnam and how they use their river also for all aspects of life.

We have 2 hours of rest now and then we are off to Sarnath, which has exquisite Bhuddhist stupas, temples and monasteries and is where Bhudda, the great sage, attained enlightenment (Bhudda-hood). Anew order of religious doctrine (Dhamma) and a new order of monks (Sangha) was laid.

We have an official dinner this evening complete with sitar and tabla music presentations.

Signing off for now………………………….