After 18 seriously dreadful hours on a train I made it to Rishikesh, yay. My berth was allocated by a lovely Indian family not meaning any harm, but it was right underneath the AC which was on full blast for the whole of the journey – right in my face. That plus me having overindulged in aaaalll sorts of unknown and interesting-looking food the day before didn’t help to make those loooooong 18 hours more pleasant. Uggh. Well I’m here now and I’ve treated myself to a nice place for a change. It’s called flashpacking apparently.
But before I start talking about now I want to rewind a little back and tell you about Varanasi. Probably the most bizarre place I’ve seen so far. It’s basically where you see a dead body dressed in gold being carried to the Ganga while you’re drinking your Lassi or choosing your Indian brass anklet. Hindu people come here to cremate their loved ones. In public. And it’s a massive tourist attraction. I mean, isn’t that just so wrong in more than one way? I had seen enough dead bodies only after an hour that I could picture the cremation and thought it might be a bit more respectful to leave the people to their ritual and mourning without peaking over their shoulder to take that money shot. People come to die in this holy city because they believe it offers moksha which is the release of the cycle of rebirth. Ironically, the city is also called Kashi which means The City of Life.
Hindus also bathe in the holy river Ganga – or Ganges – to wash away their sins. On a side note (let’s not tell them) the water has been declared as excessively polluted to the extent that it is septic and has also been declared as highly unsafe for agricultural use let alone bathing or drinking. The people have such strong religious believes around Ganga that even if they did know it’s potentially poisonous they’d still stick to their traditions which is understandable. That’s perhaps why the new Indian Prime Minister is putting a lot of effort and money in plans and actions to clean the Ganges.
The old city of Varanasi is a huge labyrinth that extends back from the river ghats – there is no traffic other than huge cows as the little alleys are too narrow. And it’s hard not to get lost. So much fun :)!
In Varanasi I also found Sadhus and Aghoras and other Gurus. The ghats are full of people painted in white ash – yes, THAT ash, saffron-coloured clothes and metal tins for spiritual donations. India’s wandering holy men. They have renounced their worldly life, said goodbye to both their material attachments and their families, and now lead a life of celibacy, ascetic yoga, and a search for enlightenment. These holy men live in caves, forests and cemeteries or Hindu temples. Sadhus live of donations as they are believed to heal karma for the greater good. And once you start reading about their believes and how they live you want to know more. It’s so interesting! Have a google yourself if this sounds intriguing, because if I start to copy paste from Wikipedia, it becomes boring :). Here, for the lazy ones: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu
Sadhus also take part in a mass pilgrimage called Kumbh Mela together with millions of other Hindus. They come together to bathe in a holy river every twelve years only. This year it is taking place in Haridwar where I happened to arrive on the train at 3am. At least there where something like a million other people at the train station and beyond and I didn’t feel so lonely in the early morning trying to find a taxi :).
Sadhus also smoke charas, Indian hash, as a form of worshipping Lord Shiva. Shiva is generally pictured meditating alone in the Himalayas, his eyes half closed from the effects of his hash habit.
Which leads me to the next topic. Hash is a major thing here. It’s grown and produced in the Himalayan region and readily available for Sadhus and tourist and all other people alike. Whereas for Sadhus it’s holy, for tourists it’s fun. I don’t wanna know what curse the Sadhus lay on us tourists if we smoke dry all their supply, ha.
So, charas – the Indian Hash – is what’s smoked the most. But you can also get weed, apparently it grows everywhere. Like nettle in Europe maybe. And then there’s also Bhang. A form of cannabis that is eaten, mostly in the form of a Bhang Lassi. India is high!
Lassis are also enjoyed in a drug-free version with millions of different flavours. The Blue Lassi place in Varanasi is one of the oldest and most famous. Lassis are made fresh and it’s quite a show. And it’s so so good! Waah. Maybe that’s what made me sick. I had like five. With banana and coconut. With saffron and pistachio. With mango. Mango and chocolate. Cashew nut.
Continuing on the food train, you get Jaggery which is a raw form of sugar with your teas here. And it tastes nothing like sugar, it’s so good! It’s basically concentrated cane juice. Aah which by the way is so good too!
Then next up is Idli. A South Indian breakfast dish made of steamed lentil-rice cakes served with chutney and sambar.
And the last one for today is Pani Puri. It’s a typical Indian street snack which they call Chaat. All those things on the side of the road you’re told not to eat is Chaat. I did though. Maybe that’s what made me sick. I’ll never know. Back to Pani Puri. It’s a crispy deep-fried hollow ball of something that’s filled with a potato, chickpea and onion mix – that’s the Pani. It’s then eaten by filling the inside with flavoured water which is the Puri to the Pani. The avocado to the sourdough bread. Ha, I wish! But, it’s pretty delicious. Maybe not for a Western stomach so much.
And that’s happy me. Before the street food.
Peanut En Route 