Holy Varanasi!

Wow... so after I wrote the last entry in Satna, I was groped by about 15 men in the span of 2 minutes, when I had to walk to the train station through the festival,the streets jammed with people. Luckily for me the indian woman who ran the internet store with her husband proudly showed me off to her family and children who were in the parade, and then helped me get back, elbowing the ogling Indian men in the ribs, as she cleared a path for me. It didn't help the guys behind me though, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as I clamped the lock shut on the door of the dingy "hotel" i paid for for 6 hours while i waited for that night train to Varanasi. I think that experience woudl have done me in a month ago, but I just sighed and moved forward, hungrily devouring 3 slices of white bread, two bags of chips and a mineral water... the only food they were selling at night there. I did walk into a shady restaurant, and promptly walked right out. Sleeping on the train was, happily, uneventful. I was in a 2ac class compartment (the best you can get, a few dollars more than the 3ac class, and quite a bit more than the general class, but i don't want to skimp out on overnight train rides, don';t want to wake into the night staring into the face of an awestruck local, you know?) And in any case, I was with more families than random men which was nice.  I slept mostly through the night, and then walked into the mess of the train station to be met with 25 rickshaw drivers trying to get my money. so i stood there and said "ok, which one of you wants to take me to my hotel for 25 rupees?" to which they argued it was too little, and i declared, forcefully "i didn't just get to india yesterday. which one of you will it be? or i will take my business to someone who will." and someone did, and then there i was on an old school cycle rickshaw driven by an old man who had to get out and push me up a hill, sweating. i ended up giving him 50 anyway. My hotel in Varanasi overlooked the ghats, for those of you that don't know, Varanasi is the holiest city in india, it is where people take the bodies of their dead and cremate them, and send them down the ganges river. It is also where they themselves bathe in the river, sometimes even drink the water. Lucky told me that a Japanese tourist man was hospitalized for 2 weeks after drinking the water, trying to be "indian." wow. In any case, my hotel had balconies that were attached to each room, and out the back entrance, cages around the hallways to prevent the masses of monkeys from getting in. at night we were told to make sure we shut our balcony doors for that reason. i stepped out last night and heard and saw about 30 monkeys on top of the caged in gates. they are everywhere. I had heard Varanasi would be the most difficult of all of the cities I would visit. This is already untrue, even before I go to Calcutta. Varanasi was beautiful, old looking, but beautiful and pretty serene down in the area of the ghats where i was staying. The people didn't hassle as much, where i was staying was a very holy area, the cremation taking progress 24 hours a day virtually outside my window. apparently they burn the bodies for 3 hours each, costing the family a lot of money, and the boy who described it all to me, who wanted me to see his shop but seemed to genuinely want to educate me, said that 250 bodies are burned there a day, and that the mens chests dont burn because they are hard workers, and the women's pelvis bones dont burn because they are strong to have babies. interesting.The viewing area where i went with the boy was a kind of hospice, people waiting to die there in this room, and i gave some rupees to the woman maintaining it all. Pretty intense place.  people would be chanting late into the night, ringing bells, and doing ritualistic ceremonial lookig things with torches and fire... there were paddle boats going down the ganges by night, candles floating on the water, and an almot full moon (it is full toniht) to complete the picture. I took a sunrise boatride on 2 hours of sleep, it was spectacular. Besides all of these beautiful things the highlight had to be the friends I made while there. 3 french guys and a lovely french couple. The guys I spent the most time with, for 3 days, we were inseperable friends. I met thm as soon as I walked in the door of my hotel that morning, sweating buckets as I had climbed about 6 flights of stairs. Their names were Didier, Romain and Nico. What awesome guys. Gentleman, super funny, so nice, and really made my life a breezy vacation for 3 days. They are just 3 guys that seem to really enjoy life. During the winter they work in the north of france on the ski slopes, and in the summers they work in the south of france in a vineyard. Quite a beautiful life! One was always whistling, The others joking around... Nico's English was the best but I also got to talk to the others a ton as well and after a few days their english was so much better! The 4 of us took autorickshaws for the day to see all the sights, some temples (a couple that didn't let non hindus inside so we couldn't see) and a buddhist neighboring town, and a not so hot lunch that took 2 hours to come out! typical.  That night we joined the couple and went to a music venue literally on a pitch dark tiny side street i never would have been able to go to on my own. We saw a simple sitar/tabla (drum) performance for about 2 hours which was peacful and lovely. On the way home we ran into a festival on the main street with a man breathing fire! And little boys dancing to this bumping bhangra music and dancing like they are literally possessed, almost like a mosh pit for children. kinda terrifying! And all these statues being pushed through the streets, lit with candles and tons of people clustered aroudn tem. i was happy to be able to hold on to the arms of my friends, felt so much safer in a crowd with them. Those tiny little streets are like nothing I'd ever seen before. Just the smallest maze-like alleyways, totally dark! With cows! And cow poop that i stepped in, and then felt it squish between my toes with every step and i couldn't properly clean it up till i got home! ugh! Before we set out we set up a deal with a wheeler dealer type indian guy who ws asking us "hash"? and i said "kingfisher?" (beer) and he looks at me and says, "is possible." so we arranged to meet him at 9 pm in front of this hut where he'd bring the beers for us. beers are not so easy to come by in india, especially in a holy city, but they are not illegal there, just impossible to find a store. but someone will do anything for you for payment. Though he got us small "godfathers" instead, not the deal, but hey whatever. We had some beers in my AC room, the other rooms were full, so i lived it up in style, and all 6 of us had a party! It was so much fun, I hadn't felt that happy in a long time and it just felt so good to be social and to be able to let my guard down with some friends. Yesterday they all left, to go trekking in Nepal, and in a month they might be down my way in the south, we will see, but yu never know. Saying goodbye to them made me absolutely gutted, and when they sped off in a car to take them to the train station, i just cried, i felt so lonely again! Nothing looked the same with them gone.  But I got some dinner at the backpacker friendly restaurant and this morning was led to my rickshaw by a really honestly helpful indian boy who'd helped square away my very difficult to obtain train tickets. because of this 10 day festival it is really impossible to get any seats on trains, so i bought my ticket to calcutta in advance. unfortunately, they had no tix in AC classes till thursday night, so thats when its for. upon arriving today in bohdgaya, however, i think i may try to change it to an earlier day trip instead of overnight, because this place is really small and unless i really get into the meditation thing (this is buddha's town and i htink im gonna do a day meditation tomorrow if i can) im peacing out. it is cool though  because tomorrow i will see the different monastaries of several different countries, there are a lot of asian tourists here and tons of monks everywhere. tonight for dinner i had japanese okonomeyaki! There are tibetan specialties  i will try tomorrow. And i had romy and michelle's high school reunion playin on my tv today! i went back to non-ac accomodation becasue this town is pricey! but i have a tv. and i had the hotel roomboys put up a mosquito screen on my window, threre are bars there for safety but the bugs could still get in. so they got outside my window and actually nailed a net up there for me! so nice. Talked to some old french men tonight at dinner for a few, so many french! But quite alone again here in bodhgaya. hope the meditation works out tomorrow,  and if all else fails ill be out on an overnight train to calcutta thrus. friday afternoon im going to go over to the mother theresa house and see if i can help out at the orphanage for a couple of days. we'll see. and then heading down south! so ready. people say its a lot easier, and not as poor either which might be easier. but boy am i seeing some fantastic and amazing things, and im hoping to meet more amazing people like my french buddies. and Meighan, if you go to school in paris next year, we have invites to go visit them at the wineries! or the slopes, but i don't like to downhill ski! I think i could get into the wineries! Ok well hope everyone is well miss you all! Love Arj