Stalking The Sadhus

Monday, February 18. 7am. It'll be another sunny day, after what was a cold night. Slept in a turtleneck with socks. Somehow, in past very challenging trips to West Africa and India, plus slightly easier visits to Brazil and most recently Indonesia, I've managed to maintain my almost OCD fastidiousness. Marty finds me ridiculous. I've been with him in tropical heat and he wears all the same clothes - all - for a week or more at a time. Well, he's finally won me over. I've been the same underwear, shirt, pants and socks for three days. Not much longer. We shower and change clothes this afternoon. But not here, where there's no hot water.

We're leaving a half day early and going back to Varanasi. This morning we learned that the Sadhus left town early because of the water and mud from the rains. They've gone to Varanasi, so we are too. We're stalking them. At the moment it's 1:30pm and we're waiting for a car to take us there.

As we wait, I'm thinking about religions and the notion that many claim to be the one, true religion. Well, visit a religious event like this and you'll realize, once again, how religions borrow stories and religious rituals from each other. Yesterday, down at the Ganges I listened to a call and response chant that was astonishingly like the Litany of the Saints that's chanted in Catholic churches. A one, true religion to the exclusion of all others? I don't think so.

We have found our way to the hotel that Trip Advisor says is the favorite here, the Suryauday Haveli. It's over a ghat and overlooking the Ganges. Spectacular location and view. The ghats are jammed with people, perhaps many like us are including a stop here as part of a Kumbh visit. All of the photos below are of our evening boat ride on the Ganges past the ghats. The big fires are cremation fires.