Category: India 2010
Diwali street show
In October 2010 I arrived to Pushkar in India, alone. There were not many foreigners as the season for tourists hadn’t really started yet so I was the only person staying in my hotel. Maybe also because Pushkar was a small town that many people I had met earlier wouldn’t stop in, ‘it’s too small and there’s nothing to do there.’ they said.
I went partly because of those comments. When travelling, I try to find the small places where I can be far from the tourist-packed attractions, temples and beautiful monuments and instead concentrate on people-watching and genuine realities.
When strolling around Pushkar by night, I accidently stepped into a backyard filled with kids sitting on a big carpet. It was the first day of Diwali, the festival of lights, and there was a little street show being put up for the neigbourhood. The children were thrilled by the show and I spent a wonderfully random night on a carpet, watching the story about the return of Lord Rama and taking pictures.
Varanasi, India
The train ride to Varanasi was an amazing experience, you will see when there will be pictures (but don’t ask when..), the trains in China were luxurious compared to this, there were just bars in these windows, and fans in the roof.. and of course, people everywhere. I was okay on my top bed, enjoying my music for about ten hours, but when it was closing in to morning I started feeling really weak and rarely managed to get to my hotel.. I kind of passed out in my bed and after that I had a 24hour crazy sickness that seems to have passed now. Wow. Namaste India! Large amounts of water and minerals and vitamins are amazing, they save your life and make you feel alive again. Thank you Resorb! Or Electral as they call it around here.
I took a two hour walk today around the really small streets of Varanasi.. I’m really sorry I cannot upload any pictures around here because they are really the only way to really be able to describe this place.. I guess I could just try to write down a list of some of the things I have seen during my small walk and you might be able to figure out the rest yourselves.
- Cows.. big ones, small ones, pregnant ones, dying ones.. everywhere.
- People.. bathing in the most dirty water I have ever seen (the Ganges river), brushing their teeth in the Ganges, searching for money in the Ganges, praying, chanting, smoking charras, giving thanks, cutting their hair, wanting me to take pictures of them, singing, hugging..
- Dead bodies.. waiting to get burned.. burning, being thrown into the river.
- Colours.. wow.
All that, and a lot of cowshit. I guess this is India.