Varanasi: Home of Baati & Blessings

21/1/23 - Varanasi

Early starts for travel days, and we finally leave Rishikesh. It holds a special place.  

Back to Delhi, our least favourite place. We left super early as everyone told us it would take 6 hours. So we weren’t able to squeeze one more yoga class in, only to arrive at the airport hours early. Delhi I won’t be sad to say goodbye to you. 

Off to Varanasi, regarded as the most spiritual place in India. The most sacred place along the Ganges River is where they perform the burning of the bodies for the funeral rituals. 

We land and the temperature is lovely, we begin peeling off the clothing layers. 

Direct to our hotel and into a Tuktuk for dinner. I find a place that has 10 housing reviews, knowing this will excite Belle. We head to Baati Chooka. Order their special and a Veg Thali to share. 

Mind blown. This food is insane, we are both in awe of how have we both not heard of this before. Baati is a ball filled with paneer.. the flour is made of Sattu flour which is made from lentils - so protein! It’s cooked over a fire, so the crispy outside and then juicy inside. The waiter shows me how it’s done, pulled apart tops with a curry, and ghee poured over the top. Heaven.

The Yellow Dahl, Paneer Tikka Masala, mixed veg actually this whole dinner is maybe, big call I know, of the trip. So good that I’ve sent this to Jimmy from the Hanuman. This dish is a Varanasi and Bihar tradition only, so it makes more sense as to why neither of us has heard of this. 

We eat all of this as we’ve been fasting all day. It’s the New Moon and Swami Ji said the best days are too fast on the New and Full Moon. Especially as I’m so high in the moon department. This will keep the emotions at bay…

22/1/23

Our one and only tour booked of the entire trip. 

Begins at 5:30 am with a Ganges boat ride. Watching a city wake up, people bathing, setting up shop, fresh energy, and smiles. A new day, a new beginning, feeling all the gratitude as we wander down this street. Our driver/guide seems super chill and sweet as he begins telling us details of the culture more information about the gods and that on Sundays the shops don’t open. 

We head to the river and all of the Baba’s are setting up their stations for the prayers. We’ve had a few by now and understand the system a little better. 

We try a lemon tea, which out of all the teas I’ve loved over here. This was undrinkable. A slight lemon, mixed with masala herbs and maybe Ganges water was what I could taste. Politely handing this one back he has a giggle, Belle as has the same reaction.

We boat hop to out boat and off we go. Fluro life jackets adored, rebellious thoughts know this will be coming off for photos and I can swim. Not that we want to be drinking the water. I find is such a beautiful contradiction. Like most things. It is the meaning to which we give things. Like the Ganges on one hand is the most holy and spiritual place, to see it in another light, perhaps one of the dirtiest places in the world. So it reinforces - we are our own deciders of what we give meaning to. How much happiness or pain we are choosing to live in. 

The views, a pinch-me moment. We are here. As we row, ok we are being rowed along the banks. It’s explained to us of how people travelled from far and wide to build these amazing buildings here. They are truly incredible.

The skirts are back on and life jackets off, photoshoot on the front of the boat. Seriously the moment, the views - I think we did a great job of capturing this. See for yourself.

The birds swopping probably one of my highlights.

We pass the burning of the bodies. This is intense to see, as anyone can watch this process. To them, death is celebrated in such a different way. From an outsider’s perspective, they seem to be so at peace with death. Perhaps their beliefs that souls will continue from here. Or that they are at rest knowing this is their final resting place and the souls’ journey ends here. Either way, it feels like a nice relationship with death - if this is possible. 

Up next is our tours of all the temples in Varanasi, again the meaning we give to things is really up to us and our beliefs. One of them looks like a puppet show depicting the story of all the gods. It is truly fascinating. 

The day feels a little longer as I wake up at 1:30am and couldn’t sleep again, thanks New Moon. 

The Shiva temple we visit, is one of. It’s beautiful bright and red in colour to resemble fire and blood. We walked around the base, we tried to do the three times as recommended yet we became more popular than the temple. We say yes to one photo or selfie and boom, pushed and pulled, smile this way, this camera. Feeling like celebrities and still unsure as to where all these pictures end up. The ladies are so grateful and we all smile say Danuvad and we continue our tour.

At the last temple, we find a spot to meditate, well for a moment. While Belle takes off the washroom, I slightly open my eyes, and BAM. There they are waiting to get a selfie, and he grabs my phone and shows me his YouTube, adding me as a subscriber. Ahhh I see how it’s done now. 

Lunchtime! We ask the driver for recommendations or his favourite place. He takes us somewhere as it’s empty and has a Chinese menu. Not wanting to waste a meal, we opt to head back to Baati Chooka!

Again equally as impressed by the food. 

The last part of a walking tour is to see the burning of the bodies up close and then the Aarti. The final fire ceremony. 

The bodies are confronting me as I feel a lot of energy being here. We see the bodies strapped to a bamboo stretcher, wrapped in cloth and offerings of flowers and incense covering. Explained by a bystander where the casts are situated, the Brahman cast which is the highest is in the centre on a round cement placement and costs around 20000Rp; the lower casts are less money and at different layers. So 3 can be happening at the same time. 

Around 200 bodies are burned each day.  They say there is no smell as the the Shiva temple which is above takes this all away. So many beautiful beliefs here. It’s honestly heartwarming to see all of this take place. The family surrounding each of the body look at peace, there are smiles as they take part in the process.  You can see and feel it is heavy energy yet made light by their beautiful smiles. 

Watching them lift the bodies, seeing the head move and how the lift it into the carefully built fire pits, the family place more wood on the top. Then ghee and more offerings are added. 

As much as this all is, and tears welling in my eyes, I feel happy and privileged to be here. 

The finale of the day is the Aarti. We saw one in Rishikesh and this time we have high seats to view the entire process. We are astonished at what goes into this ceremony and that it occurs every day. There are more than 3000 people here and this is their low season. 

The priests in charge of performing the aarti sport dhoti and kurta well-tied with a long gamcha (or towel). They prepare the set-up by gathering five elevated planks, a layered brass lamp, the idol of Ganga Devi, flowers, incense sticks, a conch shell, and other ritual paraphernalia. It is truly a visual treat to watch.

Early to bed and crash out. Happy for a good sleep.

23/1/23

Heading to Mumbai, the final stop of the trip. How has this been a month already. 

We make the most of our time here and book a yoga class which has a beautiful view right on the Ganges. Our TukTuk driver, or our Varansi dad, we feel he is protecting us. Takes us down, and on the way we stop for chai, and all of these friends are there. They meet here daily and it’s the best chai in town. Special. We are delivered right to the yoga space. It feels just right as part of our intentions this morning was to do our own burning ceremony for our loved ones’ souls. We sit down, meditate, and write letters. Mine are two, one for Nan and one for Josh. Wishing them well on their souls journey. It’s so special and makes me smile. I rip the pages out of my journal and burn them, placing the ashes in the river. The third one is my prayers for my loved ones, family, and friends. You know who you are. 

Our yoga class is intense. I love how each instructor is so different. Many different names for poses and today’s fave is the coconut tree pose.. I’ll be bringing this one into my classes from now on. I’ve told Belle in the past I generally don’t tell them I teach as it can take me out of my practice and begin to feel like a pop quiz. I tell him today, and she has a giggle at the end. Understanding what I meant by it. He tells me to stop drinking alcohol, haven’t had a drink this whole trip. And to eat more food to build my strength, I’ve been eating for the World Champs while being here. And to stop going to the gym, better to practice more asanas and build strength from within, that’s where the power comes from. 

Being here it’s important to be resilient and know who you are. Maybe this is why it’s a fast-track healer. You really have the opportunity to only take on what resonates with you. There is always beautiful learning in others’ views. The real-life win is knowing who you are. Only then when someone says something about you or expresses their opinion of you it washes off and doesn’t affect your zone, your mood or your thoughts about yourself. It’s important to know who you truly are. 

As at the same time the teacher has named me Teacher Victory. I love the constant contradictions of life that are growing for me on this trip.

We head back to our hotel for a breakfast feast, he told me to eat more. 

Nando is amazing and we want to give him more business so we squeeze all our luggage us into the Tuktuk, a 40-minute ride to the airport. Our last check-in trying to sneak all our luggage on board, it was impossible to book our domestic tickets with extra luggage. So I highly recommend travelling with a suitcase of 15kg and then your hand luggage. We are doing all of our shopping in Mumbai so lugging around a 22kg suitcase isn’t ideal. Then add all the Ganges water I’ve collected for my rituals back home. The things that are important to me!

I am glad at the amount of time we spent in Varanasi, as I’d expected it was hectic. It is very spiritual and that generally means a lot of tourists. So I enjoy these places yet I don’t expect quite place to meditate. So I feel blessed we got this morning’s session in.

Plane to Mumbai, I think I’ve found the best airport snack. I did a while fast while we waited in Delhi which is big for me, I realize I snack most when I travel. So I kept to my New Moon fast. Today I found what I thought were macadamias which himalan salt and pepper. Sounds too good to be true. It was.

I read it wrong it’s Makhana balls.. so like corn puff or something. Snack fail.

We land in Mumbai. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is people waiting for luggage. Stand back haha you will not get yours quicker or get your eyes on it better.

As we are driving in, the city feels calm, with pretty lights. A very different feel to Delhi, I think I will love this place more. I mean my experience in Delhi is yet to be desired. 

We research some food to collect on the way home. I know you won’t be surprised when I tell you it’s a Veg Thali. Still not sick of the food over here. I get some fresh strawberries and pomegranate seeds. Brilliant that they open it right up, place it in a tiny bag, and tie it with a thread. 

Our Hotel - the Grand Hotel is situated down a quiet street, a coffee house next door. The building was built in 1926, it has an old school elevator with a wooden door and pull-across cage. The best part is the elevator music. When I design my next house, this will be playing in my bathroom constantly. It’s a chill, slightly catchy and non-invasive tune. Everyone will enjoy showing, putting on make-up. Why is this not a regular household thing? I’ll make it one.

The room is nice and big. Straight to sleep.