Moonlight on the Ganges

I haven't see moonlight on the Ganges yet, but the moon was over the Ganges when we arrived in Varanasi and we walked almost to the Ganges, but not quite. It was late and we were tired. We arrived from Allahabad on the Sarnath Express, a train which expanded my understanding of "express." The Sarnath Express is a very gracious train stopping at every town and village and sometimes in between, apparently to say hello to the cows for there was no one else around. It took it three hours to cover 90 miles so it's average was a civilized thirty-miles-an-hour. It also was two hours behind schedule. There was no food on the train and no food at the stations. On most trains, you are beseiged by foodsellers at the stops, but not on the dignified Saranath Express.

The moon was lovely, a large, orange gibbous moon only two or three days past full. Tonight I did go to the Ganges, but I left before the moon arrived. I arrived just after sunset and as the dusk deepened, a boat in the middle of the river set out one floating fire after another so that eventually, there was a long line of fire floating down stream. When I first arrived, boys were still flying kites, a favorite wintertime sport in Varanasi. As I walked away, I got tangled up in one of the kite strings. The boy was very gracious about it. The river was beautiful, lined with with temples and palaces. People were just hanging out, eating peanuts from the roasted peanut sellers and talking. The buildings collected the all the voices and sent them out over the water. It was a beautiful sound. Then on the shore someone started ringing a bell repeatedly and two men started clapping what looked and sounded like pot lids together, and a drum started beating. Each percussionist had their own sense of the beat and they stuck to it. Then a priest began blessing the Ganges with a peacock fan, then with incense, then with fire in a beautiful tiered lamp holder. Finally, prasad, blessed food was handed out, the beat for a moment grew stronger and more focused, everyone stood up and it was over.

The from a nearby temple I heard chanting, at first just a two-note chant, and then something more like a song. It was amplified and I moved away a little and when it stopped, I realized another priest in a small shrine was chanting. It was beautiful. It was dark now. A few lights shone along the curve of the river, and a few more around me from the shrines, the peanut sellers and the occasional, harsh streetlight.

Varanasi is a beautiful city along the river. Away from the river, it is crowded, noisy and dusty like all Indian cities. Near the river, the lanes tend to be so narrow that only bicycles, motorcycles, cows and goats can navigate them and the traffic is less. We are staying for the moment just a short walk from the river. I am negotiating for Hindi classes down the river in the heart of the old city. If it works out, I will move closer to the school although it is only an alleged 10 rupee ride away. Varanasi is cheaper than Delhi. The bottled water here is 10 rupees instead of 12. It also has a lot of book shops which makes it an expensive city for me. I made arrangements today to have some books shipped home. It was Sunday and the book shipper was closed except for dusting and cleaning. I will bring my stack to him tomorrow or the next day.

It's getting close to supper time. I'm not sure what Ben is doing and if I am eating alone I need to find a restaurant before I get too hungry.