Arti Ceremony, Varanasi, INDIA

The guide picked me up at 07.30 this morning for the morning boat tour ... wow!  There's one extra, but you can imagine how many shots I actually took.  Like a good many more places, India is beautiful when the sun is out.  Summer is clearly approaching as I didn't even need a sweater, although I did tie mine around my waist, just in case.

We were done at 08.30, then back to the Guesthouse for breakfast, after which I did my post-processing, followed by a solo tour of the nearby palace which used to belong to the maharajah of Jaipur.  Copying his palace there, he also built an observatory here, albeit at a smaller scale.  While there, I watched a colourful animated slide show on the legend of the Descent of the Ganges, or how the Ganges river began.  It was in Hindi, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  Then back to the hotel for a nap to prepare for the afternoon tour.

At 15.30, guide no. 2 picked me up for a walking tour of the local Chowk.  In truth, I dreaded it because it meant walking on the filthy alleys and risking a sideswipe from ill-mannered scooter drivers.  It turned out to be okay except for some really uncomfortable parts where I could literally smell the spirit of Varanasi.  We entered some food shops where I steadfastly kept to my resolve not to buy anything.  At the risk of being called a snob, I could not, in turn, risk getting sick with a stomach (or other body part) problem.  I did oblige him by taking some photographs.  After almost two hours of slentering this way, we ended up at the ghats for the evening ceremony, called Arti.  We had to be early to make sure we could sit while waiting.  After about 15 minutes, we agreed that I could get a better view by waiting somewhere higher, and I found just such a spot and decided to wait there, even though there were no chairs.  The guide stayed where he was, and then, just before it started, he walked to where I was and we agreed that I would just stay there throughout and wait for him when it finished.

The ceremony (read: show) was more than worth the wait!  The colours, the rituals, the chants -- more than I had bargained for.  Aside from taking several shots, I even managed to make three videos, one of which lasts almost a quarter of an hour.  I guess I'll have to post that on YouTube if I want to share it, so that'll be a project when I get back home.

Which won't be yet, because after India, I'll be on a business trip even further away.

By 19.15, more than an hour after it began, we walked back to the Guesthouse.  The guide was actually a young man with a high level of professionalism.  He even took the trouble to summarize everything we did and saw and all the places we went to, and reminded me of some of the important cultural elements he had explained to me throughout.  He would make a very good teacher, but I doubt he wants to go in that direction.

A late dinner, but by then I had downloaded all the newest shots.  Internet is weak but I managed a good chat with AW.  Tomorrow, the Rajput will take me places where no Ellaphant has gone before, so the lack of Internet is a good excuse to call it a day.