Well I'm back home. Sorry for not updating at the end--I was running from place to place quickly enough that I didn't really feel like stopping and trying to summarize. Luckily enough, I sent an on-the-fly email to Blair at the end that ended up doing an okay job of it, so I'll just copy and paste the relevant information from that:
I've been to Varanasi, Agra, and Amritsar since getting back, all of
which have been amazing, but also difficult to put into words.
Varanasi is Hinduism's holiest city, so, needless to say, trying to
blog about a place that is some kind of gateway to heaven to a sixth of
the world's population is a difficult task. Briefly, it was really
kind of a distant experience, at least so far as the religion is
concerned, as I had no way of relating, but could only be a spectator
(which is weird when you're specta-ting cremations and bathing), but it was still
amazing. The spirituality of the place was pervasive, as was the
relief that it represents to Hindus (if you die in Varanasi, you are
supposed to be freed from the cycle of rebirth--a good thing for
Hindus). It's one of the few places where I've seen Indians and
tourists alike just relaxing on the ghats (stairs leading down
to the water, where people bathe, do their laundry, swim...all in incredibly polluted water--nothing can live in the Ganges that far
down, as it's so filthy). It was really a special place.
Agra was great for two reasons--the Taj, which is an amazingly
beautiful building, from any angle, in any light. I managed to get
there when it opened, and avoided most of the crowds and got to see it
change color in the sunrise. It was amazing. But in twenty minutes it
was swarmed, so I had to go, figuring I couldn't beat those first
moments. The other amazing thing is how CHEAP Agra is, at least,
counter-intuitively, around the Taj. This goes for all Indian cities
with important monuments--the area immediately around the monument is
dirt cheap, whereas all of the ritzy food and hotels are miles away.
It maaakes NO sense (in best Eddie Izzard impression). So I was eating
amazing Thalis (which is like an Indian food sampler plate that is
usually the cheapest thing on the menu and comes with two-three
curries/dal plus rice, chapati bread (no naan here usually,
oddly--mostly it's roti, which is the dairy free, and therefore
cheaper, version of naan), and sometimes yogurt or other place-specific
bonuses. In Agra you could get a thali for 15 rupess, or about 30
cents. I was slightly suspicious of these, so I sprung for the 25
rupees, or 50 cents. WHAT?! For a filling dinner, and, frankly,
usually the best food around (most of the slightly more expensive
backpacker-tailored places SUCK, with bad indian, and terrible attempts
at continental food, whereas the Thali places are for locals as much as
tourists, meaning better food, and cheaper prices--funny).
Amritsar was also really cool--it's Sikhism's holiest city, with
the holiest Sikh place of worship: the Golden Temple, which is was it
sounds like. I have pictures that I'll post that show the temple, but
it's pretty self-explanatory. The really cool thing about it, besides
the beautiful temple, is the lodging and food. Sikhs are all about
equality, so in every Sikh temple you can eat and sleep for
free--anyone can. (Oh, and Sikhs, though a small percentage of
India's population, are commonly the imagined "quintessential Indian"
due to their state having the highest number of ex-patriots--they're the
stereotypical New York City cabbies with the turbans (the turbans, usually delicately
and beautifully wrapped, being the Sikh giveaway).) So there's free
lodging specifically for foreigners, and the Indian visitors, being
made of hardier stuff, often are just content to sleep on the pavement
in the courtyard. And the dining hall--MAN!--is usually feeding 300
people at any one time--about 40,000 in a day--all free, all staffed by
volunteers! And the food, again, is some of the best you can find
(it's basically a thali). And its open 24 hours a day, though it's
just chai at night. You walk by and all you hear (on the outside, it's
muffled on the inside by 300 people eating and talking) is the banging
and clattering of the metalware plates, bowls and spoons, that the
staffers are furiously cleaning and tossing into piles.
And that's that. Thanks for reading--I hope it provided something of interest, or at least comfort in making sure I was still alive and typing away somewhere. Now off to reenter a world of more practical concerns, like where to live and how to find a job in this market with a philosophy BA.
See you soon,
Dave
