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<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\nWe walked down the ghats, which are stairs leading to the river, we were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things happening – people washing clothes, bathing, burning their loved ones’ bodies, and praying.\u00a0 The incredible thing is that this happens every single day of the year.\u00a0 Some of the ghats had a very somber tone, while a few felt like we were at a mini-carnaval.\u00a0 The interesting thing was that the cremation ghats were not somber at all – they had the busy feel of a marketplace as people bartered for the wood and services of the Untouchable caste members to handle the dead bodies.\u00a0 If we hadn’t known what was in the wrapped cloths, we would not have immediately known that people were saying final goodbyes to their family members.\u00a0 It really spoke to the power that people here feel is connected to this section of the river.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, we watched the beautiful sunset from our rooftop, and were entertained by the little boys playing with their kites.\u00a0 It reminded us very much of scenes from the book ‘The Kiterunner’ as they fought each other and ran after the fallen kites.\u00a0 However, we WERE in India and soon enough the romantical mood was broken by a bloated cow carcass floating up in the river and being attacked by a pack of ravenous street dogs.\u00a0 As they tugged off one of its legs, we knew we were at home.\u00a0 At the end of our stay in Varanasi, we were in love with the city and were well rested for the next ‘leg’ of our journey.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n