The drive with Vikram was smooth as usual and upon arriving in Delhi, he met with one of the members of his team, who delivered our Chabad/India Kosher Travel meals for the next two days.
We had a smooth flight on Jet Airways to Varanasi and arrived there in the late afternoon, and as usual there was a local guide together with a driver to meet us at the airport. When I asked the guide to outline our 36 hour stay in Varanasi, he explained that we had arrived at a very wonderful time as it was the second day of a Hindu holy festival dedicated to some particular god and that as such, there were many pilgrims who had arrived in the city to celebrate.
He had planned to take us to the Ganges that evening to witness a holy prayer by 7 Hindu priests and then, if we desired we could bathe in the Ganges.
In the morning, we would be getting up before sunrise, take a boat ride in the river, witness sunrise as the many pilgrims would be dunking in the waters and if we were lucky, we would be able to witness a cremation, which happens 24 hours a day in the river.
And then we would take a one hour drive out of town to visit the temple where Bhudda first preached. We would then return to the hotel and early on Friday morning we would go to the airport to catch our two flights to Rishikesh where we hoped to spend Shabbat with Chabad.
We gently explained that thus far on the trip, we had been exposed to many Hindu customs and traditions, and that we actually had some issues in our own tradition and law with actually entering into the temples or being present at prayer services of non monotheistic religions, and while we did not wish to put a wrench into his plans, there was little that he described that would be permissible to us.
For the Orthodox Jew, the restriction against entering non monotheistic temples, means that the itineraries created for travel to the Far East, especially, has to be previewed carefully. Otherwise, one might run into days like this. In our extensive travel throughout the Far East, including Vietnam, Thailand, China and Japan, there had always been non religious options to fill our day. Our travel to Varanasi was our very first time in a place where there was little significant to see that did not involve this challenge to our religious principles.
We suggested that while we check into the hotel and unpack, that he revise the plans for us and create some reasonable alternative. We were staying at the Taj Gateway Hotel, a very nice and well maintained hotel, run by the famous Taj Hotel group in India.
At the hotel, we met with the chef and he, like all the others that we had met on the trip, was very eager to accommodate our kosher needs and he advised that he would be personally responsible to ensure that our every detail was followed to the T.
We met again with the guide and decided that we would go with him to the centre of town in the evening to see the crowds of pilgrims, and then in the morning we would accompany him on the river boat cruise to see sunrise. Following that, he suggested that we visit the University, one of the largest dormitory universities in India, and then visit a local market. We would end early because it seemed that there was little to do in this city that was not Hindu related. Besides, we had been on the go for a couple of weeks and welcomed the idea of one afternoon off where we could relax by the beautiful pool on the Taj grounds.
We had dinner in the hotel dining room and the chef came over to personally check that we were pleased with his attention to the details of kashrut.
We drove with our guide to the centre of town, not far from the entrance to the Ganges. Our first reactions were that this was without a doubt one of the most run down towns we had ever seen, we were overwhelmed by the number of people crowded into this small area, and that we were caught in one of the worst traffic jams that we had ever experienced.
We finally got out of the car and began walking thru the streets. It was a madhouse and pure pandemonium. Cars, bikes, mopeds, tuktuks all beeping on their horns at the same time. Cows everywhere, even inside a very nice material store on the Main Street.
Male, female and small children begging all over and “holy”men who would approach you to take a picture with you and then ask you for money.
We do not mind crowds at all but this was way over the top, uncontrolled and not a pleasurable experience at all. We returned to the hotel and got a very short night’s sleep as Thursday morning would be the pre-sunrise boat ride on the Ganges.
In the morning, we awoke at 4:45 AM in order to leave the hotel by 5:15 so that we could be at the river edge well before sunrise. There was little traffic getting thru town at this time of the morning, but as we approached the area where we would have to leave our car and begin walking to the river, all of a sudden, from all directions, there were pilgrims with towels on their way to the river to immerse themselves in its waters.
It was explained to us that at least once in the life of a Hindu, he would be expected to make this journey, similar to a Muslim traveling to Mecca. When we reached the end of the road, there were a number of steps from where one descends to the river’s edge, and there were hundreds of people assembled, many praying, many undressing to immerse in the waters, many chanting some prayer and many paying homage to this or that holy man sitting near the river.
All along the river’s edge there are “ghats” or steps that allow those wishing to immerse to make their way right down to the river. Varanasi has many such ghats owing to the many religious pilgrims. Ghats also used by women who bring their dirty clothes to wash in the river and our guide told us that most of the hotels in the area actually have women bring the sheets and towels from the hotel and wash them in the river. And finally ghats are also used to take the ashes from a recent cremation and “offer” them to the holy waters.
We went all the way down to the dock where we boarded our small rowboat. Light was beginning to peek out on the horizon
and you could see many boats like ours rowing up and down the shore. We were not the only ones to arise early this morning; this is clearly a widespread program for tourists like ourselves.
We rowed a way up the river and our guide again asked us whether we would wish to witness a cremation. We again politely declined. He explained that there are two crematoria in Varanasi, and we could see fresh supplies of piles of wood tree trunks that are brought in especially for this ceremony that is holy to the Hindu.
It was nice to watch sunrise over the relatively still waters of the Ganges, and perhaps it is an uplifting experience for some but we failed to be inspired. Both of us felt that we would have rather watched sunrise over a calm, beautiful lake in the Muskoka region of Ontario.
We walked back to the car thru the lanes of the old town and passed a couple of temples and mosques and we were told not to take any photos in this area. When we asked why, we were told that there was a high police presence constantly on guard against any terrorist attack, and the police had requested no photos.
One of our observations that we made over and again in our walks thru the old sections of towns that we had visited (Varanasi, Pushkar, New Delhi, Udaipur and others), was the contrast between the way these places are maintained and the way old areas of Jerusalem, Acco, Jaffa, old towns in Tuscany, Poland, Croatia and all over Europe, are maintained. This was the first country that we had been to, where millions of visitors walk thru their narrow, winding ancient streets, paths and lanes, and the local tourist authority had done little to improve the infrastructure, the cleanliness, the signage, the facilities available. We thought back to the way the old city of Jerusalem (also with millions of pilgrims) looked immediately after the Six Day War when we first visited, and how it looks today. How much has been invested in beautifying places like the Old City of Jerusalem, and how little had been invested in India. The contrast was remarkable.
We were driven back to our hotel, where we davened Shacharit (said our morning prayers), washed up and had breakfast. Our guide returned to get us at 11 AM and gave us a driving tour of the city, showed us the impressive local university campus and took us to a large scaled map of India built on the floor of a large hall that is called Mother India.
There was not much else for us to do in Varanasi and so we spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool at our hotel.
During that time, we were contacted by Moshe of India Kosher Travel, who advised us that the Chabad House in Rishikesh, where we were to have spent Shabbat, would not be open this Shabbat. We had decided to spend Shabbat there as it was close to our route. However, if no one would be there, it would make little sense to fly all the way there. And so we opted for changing our plans and decided to spend another Shabbat in New Delhi. Moshe and his crew efficiently changed our flights, got us a room at the beautiful Delhi LaLit hotel for Shabbat and Sunday and arranged for a driver to meet us on arrival in Delhi on Friday afternoon and also to be available for us on Sunday.
In retrospect, had we known much about Varanasi before going, we would have cancelled our plans to visit there. Our fault for not doing enough research. And although the rest and relaxation was welcomed, it was the least enjoyable part of our trip to India.
Friday morning we caught our flight to Delhi and checked into the LaLit, which was about a 30 minute walk from Chabad. The hotel was very full, and while the LaLit is a very professional operation, they appeared overwhelmed when we checked in and messed up our check-in process. The result was that they rewarded us with an upgrade to a gorgeous and spacious suite.
Having been in the area two Shabbats earlier, we knew the local geography and easily made our way thru a number of bustling markets to Chabad on Friday evening in time for candlelighting at sunset.
Friday night brought together about 30 travelers, mostly from Israel and mostly young backpackers. There were a few travelers our age and we enjoyed the cameraderie, the conversation and the oasis that is Chabad, every place we visit.
Shabbat morning again brought together about 20 of us and once again I was asked to lain (read from the Torah) for those assembled.
On Sunday, we visited a local market near Chabad that is popular with Israeli backpackers and then had our driver take us to an upscale mall in the south side of Delhi. What a contrast! We had spent two weeks never seeing what we would call a modern shopping area. We had not seen, even in all our many hours of driving from place to place, what we would call a supermarket. We had seen perhaps two or three chain store names such as Bata Shoes, and McDonalds, but they were few and far between.
We are told that there is talk of Costco coming to India. There is no IKEA in India. I read somewhere that Walmart is now surfacing in a couple of areas in India. We did not see any “big box” stores. With a market so huge, it is amazing that such stores have not opened here. The culture here is so different.
We now entered a huge modern mall with all the famous names; Zara, Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica etc., and the place was busy with shoppers, both locals, expats and tourists.
We spent a couple of hours shopping, observing and interacting with some fellow shoppers. We even found a small very upscale supermarket (with service and cleanliness on the scale of a Pusateri’s from Toronto or a Whole Foods) that was part of a department store in the mall, that carried many imported items, with a number of them carrying a kosher symbol. But we stress, this was not the norm, it was clearly the exception to the rule. This was the only place that we found Haagen Dasz Ice Cream with an OU or any Kosher ice cream for that matter.
When we returned to the LaLit Hotel, we witnessed yet another wedding procession. The groom on a white horse surrounded by an entourage of relatives and friends, all wearing matching kippas, being escorted with a band into the hotel, very similar to how we escort the groom in our tradition to the ceremony of “badeken”, putting the veil on the bride. Of course, in our tradition, there is no horse!
Returning for a moment to our experience in Varanasi, during our walk thru the centre of town with our guide, we noticed two shopping malls that appeared empty. Our guide explained that they were built by entrepreneurs hoping to capitalize on the number of tourists. But the locals shunned the mall concept, preferring the rundown, small stalls that dot every city in India. The malls in Varanasi like the Shapuri Mall in the picture below, (the only modern building that we saw in downtown Varanasi) eventually shuttered and closed.
And so ended our visit to Varanasi, a city that we would not include in any itinerary that we would recommend for travel to India....just our own personal opinion....and our pleasant weekend in Delhi.
Before I close this post, lest anyone think that all milk is kosher, here is a package that we found in the upscale food court in Delhi....when we asked one of our guides whether it would be possible for farmers to mix camel milk and cow milk, he replied that there is no government supervision on what the farmers sell, and that even with government supervision, we heard stories over and over of government corruption in India. So beware....
And this is a gourmet food product....”richer than cow’s milk in calcium, iron and vitamin C and lactose free”.....
On Monday, we were to fly to our final destination on this trip, to the centre of the Sikh religion, the city very close to the Pakistani border in the province of Punjab, Amritsar.
More to come.
All the best
Fran and David
No comments:
Post a Comment