bodhgaya

i met some other travellers on the train also going to bodhgaya. and together with another couple of travellers i had met at the platform at varanasi, we took a rickshaw to bodhgaya. the french girl marion knew a place to stay away from the centre. it was a little difficult to find, but asking at a shop, the guy there happened to be a good friend of the guy whose ‘hostel’ it was. actually, it was just rooms at his family’s house, newly constructed and so very clean and comfortable. we got lucky again.

bodhgaya was scorching hot too. we got to the temple early in the morning to avoid the midday heat, and even at that hour, the mercury was pushing 30 degrees. the temple and the bodhi tree... the focal point of bodhgaya. the legendary place where the buddha attained enlightenment. the place was peaceful, in contrast to the bedlam outside, with monks sitting near the tree in meditation. inside the temple, there was a small statue of a sitting buddha, and the carvings around the temple illustrated the story of the buddha from when he left his home to when he became enlightened. some tourists were seated near the tree, waiting for a leaf to fall so as to have a treasured souvenir of their visit. failing that, there were people selling boxed sets of bodhi leaves outside the temple. somehow, i was at the right place at the right time to get my authentic souvenir!

the story of the buddha is certainly worth of admiration and veneration. but buddhism, like any other religion, has become trapped in ritual and blind faith. the essence of his message has been lost, and the means to salvation has been reduced to blind recitations of scriptures and meditations. i wonder how many of the monks and lay buddhists that were there had even come close to achieving a sense of inner peace, much less the ultimate goal of enlightenment and the end of suffering. maybe i am little too harsh... i should not criticise and i don't mean to. everyone must choose their way, and there are an endless number of paths to the same goal.

the dutch couple left for gaya, and marion and i were left for a couple of days more. we watched an animated version of the life of the buddha... a little bit informative and a little bit entertaining but certainly not worth the entrance fee. we visited a few other temples... . thai, sri lankan, vietnamese... and a few others. the bhutanese one was definitely our favourite & the japanese one the worst, it was colourless and dour but it did provide a free school for the local kids nearby.

we walked around the village nearby, and got a little peek of the people’s lives away from the tourist centre. come midday, we took our siesta in the ‘hostel’. 40 degrees plus in the sun. too much! time to go to the mountains. i did my research for the trip to nepal and kathmandu. most travellers go from varanasi, but this way was also possible, but more cumbersome. 

varanasi

again, a last minute decision as to when to leave meant that all the sleeper berths were taken for the trains going to varanasi, and i had to get the reserved seating... and even then, i had to change trains at lucknow. a snake charmer came through and did his thing with a cobra... quite a sight to see the cobra striking out. of course, it was all quite safe, probably the snake had been de-fanged or else milked of its venom.

at varanasi, the rickshaw touts were as annoying as ever. and man, it was scorching hot. i got a cycle rickshaw to take me to assi ghat. the poor guy was sweating like mad and had to stop for a water break at a street-side tap. there was a hotel tout when we reached assi ghat and finding my hotel of choice fully booked, i followed him to another hotel a little way away. it looked like rooms in a family house, and clean and friendly enough to stay for a night.

i walked along the ghats till the main ghat where the big evening aarti was being performed. too touristy for me. i walked on towards the burning ghats and found a vantage point overlooking the ghat, nearby the piles of logs and wood ready to be used for the cremations. there were pyres being newly constructed for the next arrivals wrapped in shrouds. walking on, i saw the kids playing cricket on the steps of the next ghat oblivious to the scene of death and ceremony being conducted nearby. life and death, cheek by jowl.

the next day, i moved to another hotel nearer the centre, also close to the ghats. i took a river boat trip to the main ghat from near assi ghat. i haggled like mad and finally he relented. he didn’t look too happy. i asked him to stop so i could take some snaps, but he said that for the price i paid, he would not stop. in fact, he carried on saying that if i had given him what he  had asked, he could also have told me some interesting facts about the ghats, etc etc. he was pissed off. i said nothing. everything about money again. why did he bother taking me if he was going to be in a foul mood? i got off and walked around the ghat and the town a little. by about 11am, it was already way too hot to do anything but take a siesta in the hotel room. in the evening, back to take a walk around the ghats. i met a japanese guy i had seen earlier in haridwar take the same train, and he had his djembe with him. i got to play a little on the ghat near my hotel.

varanasi is a photographer’s dream. photo opportunities at every turn. babas with their orange robes and painted faces, snake charmers, sunrise over the ganga, colourful ghats, etc etc etc. i could have stayed longer than the four days i was there, but the heat was making me wilt.

i took a day trip to sarnath to see the place where the legendary buddha gave his first sermon after achieving enlightenment. and when i got back to varanasi, i managed to get a sleeper berth to gaya junction station, to see the place where the buddha was actually enlightened, under the bodhi tree at bodhgaya.