Flocking to the Holy Ganges

Pilgrims and tourists alike flock to Varanasi. At this holy site on the Ganges River, people bathe to wash their sins away and come to die here as cremation here relieves you of the cycle of reincarnation and your soul goes directly to heaven. But then there are also more than a million inhabitants of Varanasi that use the river as a communal washing machine and bath tub for their daily activities. Walking along the long string of ghats (concrete steps leading down to the river), one can encounter bathers, clothes washing, cremations, water buffalo washing, tooth brushing, etc all in the same holy water the ashes and sometimes whole bodies are dumped into. Towers of wood of every size and many types (different wood carried different significance and cost) are constantly pulled from to build new pyres for the never ending funeral processions marching bodies down the narrow alleyways to one of the main cremation ghats. A spiritual process turned tourist spectacle, as foreigners curiously take in the traditional rituals...and touts and guides offer boat rides and roof tops for better views at a pretty price. It is humbling to sit and watch the ancient tradition, but I found the concentration of tourists (ourselves included, of course) to be disconcerting as we all sat around and watched the cremation take place before our eyes...several pyres burning every time we passed the ghat. The constant frenzy of activity around the ghats, taking place day in and day out is fascinating though.