Apart from Varanasi itself, one of the major centres of the Hindu religion, there is also, at Sarnath, just 10 kms away, one of Buddhism’s holiest places, where Buddha gave his first sermon after enlightenment, or so they say. And there it was that we decided to go today. This time we were able to find the bus alright. It was a rickety old thing, but then we didn’t have to endure it for long. Sarnath was pleasant, + made a refreshing change from the hectic chaos of Varanasi. The old temple + stupas were set within green lawns, so walking around them had more the feel of a cool stroll than the usual dusty temple trot. We both had the sensation more of a day’s outing back home than the serious sight-seeing of India. There was just one modern temple, but that too was refreshingly cool rather than having the dusty dinginess that passes for solemn mystery in so many Buddhist temples. The sites were grouped compactly, so it didn’t take too long to make our way around, but then we had to hang around waiting for a bus. Had a Limo – a fizzy lemon drink – to quench my thirst + kill some time, + had an argument with the owner of the café. We had left the money for it on the table + gone, but he insisted we had not paid. I suppose his waiter had pocketed it as a tip, but that was his problem, not mine.
Eventually, with no sign of a bus, + no news of one either, we took up the offer of a shared taxi – one of the scooter taxis, so pretty cramped, back to town. That dropped us off reasonably close to the railway stn, where we wanted to book tomorrow’s train for Agra. We had decided long ago that we would take at least one first-class train trip in India, so as to sample, we hoped, some old-world service + charm. And this seemed a suitable journey for it – long enough so as to be able to appreciate it, not so long as to be too wickedly expensive, and, moreover, at a stage in our trip when we still had sufficient money not to cancel the notion on economic grounds. It was still a steep price, Rs 175 a person, but we were able to hand it over without too much pain.
Caught the rickshaw back to the Lodge, had the usual problem, then walked to the Post Office. The most interesting sight along the way was seeing 2 or 3 bodies carried down to the burning ghat. They were entirely wrapped in a gold-striped cloth, but there was no mistaking what they were. They were carried severally on litters on the shoulders of their relatives presumably, but one other was propped up in the back of a rickshaw – a small concession to the 20th century. There were no obvious signs of grief or even reverence. In fact they all – all the living at any rate – were in rather a hurry, in order to be at the ghat + about their business before sundown, I imagine.
Once our own business at the PO was complete, we tried to make our way down to the ghat, but became hopelessly lost in the back alleys, + eventually found ourselves at an entirely different ghat, a long way out. Stopped off at a different restaurant called Aces, + that turned out to be the best move of the day, for not only were they friendly + courteous, the food was superb.
Come evening, I fell to talking with a trio of travellers, one Irishman, plus a couple comprising an Aussie male + Indian girl. The males in particular were heavily into the wickedest weed – I had thought their conversation strange + now discovered why – + invited me to join them. I was happy to do so, tho’ careful to restrict the amount I took. Too often recently, I have taken too much + not enjoyed the experience. I was slightly disturbed that I had to look out at the Lodge for a man we had met this afternoon who was interested in buying one of the watches. He had told us he would come round at 8, but neither of us could be sure whether he meant morning or evening – we had each taken it a different way. Luckily for me, Val had the matter well in hand, she being coherent + me not so. He didn’t appear, however.
A relatively relaxed and pleasant day, not trying to pack too much in. Which is a definite piece of advice; most of the time, one objective per day is quite enough.
