I went on a "sleeper" bus to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The "sleeper" has little bunks on it which in theory you can sleep on- but in practice you cannot because the ride it so bumpy that all of the cells in your body are shaking. I tried pretending that I was on a fancy vibrating bed, but that didn't work. It also smelled like pee in there. And we kept stopping all night long and picking up random packages that got put on the floor of the bus...big white packages strewn all over the floor so you had to step on them to get out of the bus. And then stopping at more random places for random things....big rolls of something like carpets being shoved through the window...people making lots of noise and stomping on the roof of the bus. It was all very strange and loud and smelly...but we did arrive in Agra around 6:30am, just in time to see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal!
I saw the Taj with a guy from Ireland and a girl from Austria. It is quite an impressive sight! The 3 of us shared breakfast on a rooftop overloking the Taj and we spent the day together. I wanted to leave that night to go to Varanasi because there's really nothing else to do in Agra but see the Taj: no need to stay overnight, and I leave for the US in only a week.
When I got to the train station to book the ticket out of Agra, I was told that all of the trains to Varanasi were full for the next 5 DAYS!! Oh HELL no.......I wasn't having that!! No way in hell that I'd spend 5 days in Agra; I was leaving that night...somehow, some way. I got put on the waiting list, numer 70 in line. Ugh.
I prayed to whatever gods were listening to get me safely to Varanasi that night. I got to the train station when the "full" train was supposed to leave. I prayed and prayed that it would work out, I prayed to be lead to an open seat. I waited until most people were on board, then I hopped onto the train without a ticket. I wandered around from car to car, trying to tune into my intuition. I found an empty "sleeper," closed the curtain, and prayed and prayed and prayed, "Please let this train start moving before they find me!"
I felt they wouldn't kick me off if the train was already on it's way...they just might move me to the really crowed section of the train where you have to sleep in the filthy floor. But if they found me before the train left, I thought they'd kick me out and I'd be stuck in Agra. "Please let the train start moving, please please please" About 15 minuted past, "Please please please....!!!" And the train slowly began. THANK GOD.
The ticket checker did find me about 1/2 hour later. I showed him my waiting list receipt, and bribed him 300 rupees...hoping he would be able to find me an OK seat for the rest of the ride. I was lucky, I was able to stayed in the same sleeper all night, and I payed for the ticket on the train. That seat didn't belong to anyone but me. And the ride was smooth, and I slept like a baby and woke up in Varanasi.
In Varanasi today, I spent most of the day at the main place where they do funerals by the Ganges River. I have never seen anything like this in my life:
The family marhes down the street with the body, which is covered with shiny cloth and flowers and bright powders. They are chanting something with the word "Rama". They bring the body down the steps and put in the the Ganges to "bathe" it, then they bring the body up the steps to the fires where the son of the dead, who is dressed in all white and has a freshly shaved head, is the one to set the body on fire. There are about 20 fires going at once and each of them had a dead body in it! The bodies take 3 hours to burn. At first when I looked, they just looked like campfires, but then I saw a guy actually put a large stick into the fire and pull something out...and that something consisted of a torso, a head, and one dangling arm.
Oh. My. God.
Then I could see all of the bodies. Ribs, intestines, legs, feet, unindentifiable charred organs...I was mesmerized. I stayed for a couple hours, just watching bodies burn...just watching it all go up in flames. You would think it smells bad, but it just smells like campfire to me, not like burning hair or anything like you'd expect. It was incredible. Before they burn the bodies they put rosewater, sandalwood powder, and clarfied butter on the dead. After the fire is done, the son douses it with water from a terra cotta jug and whatever part of the body is left goes into the river. There are also lots of dogs and cows and goats standing around that eat little scraps of flesh that are left around the banks of the river.
Only men are at the funerals...I was told by a local that the reason why is that women can't handle funerals because they cry to much. Hmm. I was crying as I watched today. And I wondered how the grieving process might be different when you are the one to set your loved one on fire and watch them burn for 3 hours, as opposed to not seeing the creamtion happen, or just leaving the body intact. I suppose it really seals the deal, giving closure in a faster way than we are used to in the West.
AND, I was talking with a man who led me to what looked like a gazebo, where you look down on the funerals from above. I was watching from there, and then all of these birds came flying out of the roof of the gazebo. I realized the bird were bats, and the gazebo roof was a bat cave!!
