It's (Really Not )Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas..

* It's beginning to look a lot like a Varanasi Christmas

Everywhere you go

Take a look at Manikarnika Ghat

Babbas on their mats

With sacred fires and cremation pyres aglow

It's beginning to look a lot like a Varanasi Christmas

 Winter coats on every goat

But the prettiest sight to see

Is the Paan stains that will be, on your own front wall

 

Some dhal and rice and a kite that flies

Is the wish of Padmabandhu Tiwari and Shri Priyanvad Raj Kumar

 

And Bangles of all colours that they'll throw at their brothers

 Is the hope of Saraswati and Somalakshmi Deepika Rai Vidya Kapoor

And Sadhu Ji could hardly wait to get back to sleep again

It's beginning to look a lot like a Varanasi Christmas

Monkey Caps on every child

And the ladies drying out the poo, which they'll burn to cook their food

Have less now because it's also on my shoe

It's beginning to look a lot like a Varanasi Christmas

Every man in a sparkling vest

But what will fill your heart with glee

Is the Paan stains that will be... on your own front wall

Have a Wonderful Christmas! 

Dedicated to our beloved Halfcocks Pariwar who the whole city is missing this Christmas!

*To the tune of Bing Crosby's 'It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas'

Afternoon On The Gunga..

Last week we were blessed enough to have a few friends from Australia breeze into town and spend sometime with us here in Varanasi. This just so happened to coincide with my entire family coming down sick with various illnesses which, of course, made for an extremely long and difficult week and meant that we spent most of our time running off to see Doctors and staying awake throughout the nights tending to our sick little ones.

Thankfully the day before they left my tribe was all feeling much better and so we were able to join them on one of the staples of visiting Varanasi; a boat ride on the Gunga.

The city is such a memorizing place from the water and there is something so special about the feeling of stepping outside of it and peering back upon it as you float down the river. We've been on the water at sunrise, sunset and night, in the hot season and the cold, and each time I find that it's such a different experience than the last with differing colours, water levels, Pujas and atmospheres along the shore line which means that even though it's hugely touristy, it's also amazing.

I won't say too much more, instead I'll post a few of my favourite photos from this most recent trip down the Gunga and let the images do the talking for me.