Varanisi

I'm on the tail end of three days in the holy city 0f Varanasi on the Ganges. An amazing place that condenses everything about India into an intensity not to be missed. Highlights included a nightime cruise on the Ganges while a huge musical celebration took place on the shore, a long daytime walk along the water, a visit to Saranath, where the Buddha preached his first sermons, and attending a two-hour talk by the Dali Llama attended by three or four thousand people, mostly Buddhist monks and Tibetans with a few western tourists (and I spotted Robert Thurman, Umma's father and an eminent Buddhist scholar from Columbia). Varanasi is a city where Hindus come to die, so there are funereal pyres burning day and night and the culture of death surrounding the city is surreal and a challenge to come to terms with. I've written a slug in my journal but only have time for this quick posting. On to Jaipur tomorrow.