"...this wheel's on fire, rollin' down the road, best notify my next of kin, this wheel shall explode..."

The wheel of life spins crazily around in Varanasi. It is hot in Varanasi ~ 38/39 degrees ~ and the city is punctuated by tranquility and bedlam. I am staying at Asi Ghat, at the southern end of the stretch of ghats that hug the Ganges...hear Tulsi Ghat (recently highlighted in an episode of "The Amazing Race"). It is a short walk to the burning ghats where 100-150 bodies are cremated each day in a timeless ritual. The bodies are wrapped, the waters of the sacred Ganges are sprinkled on the body, the priest performs a series of rituals and then flame from the temple is used to ignite the fire which will burn for 2-3 hours before the remains are finally released into the Ganges. Not all bodies are cremated, however, as we witnessed a wrapped body being towed into the middle of the river by a boat and then released into the flowing waters. This is all performed in a practical, matter-of-fact manner ~ no weepin' and wailin' at the burning ghats ~ amidst the hubub of boatmen selling a trip on the river, kids playing cricket on the ghats, people and pilgrims bathing in the Ganges, laundry being washed and dried at the river's edge and all of this amidst the blaze of colour and the heat of the day. The alleyways leading off the ghats are narrow and filled with shops of all kinds ~ Varanasi is reknowned as a silk production centre and the Muslims are particularly active in this business. The alleyways stretch this way and that for several kilometers and are especially confined around the area of the Golden Temple where there is a heavy security presence ~ communal violence flares up from time to time so there is a heavy military detail with lots of guns about! Sanitation continues to be a problem in the old city...open sewers and the stench of piss walls and latrines is overwhelming from time to time. But Varanasi continues to be a compelling and, at times, a surprisingly peaceful place. Maybe it is the spiritualism that is evident in day-to-day life, maybe it is the magic of the Ganges. There is great good to be had here...delicious apple pie a la mode at Pizza Vaatika, a vegetarian buffet at the Hotel Ganges View (slightly interrupted one evening by a sudden and freak wind/sand storm). But mostly one just walks back and forth along the ghats...watching the puja festivals at the main ghat in the evening, watching the bedlam settle into tranquility in the evening, taking a moment to smoke a bedie overlooking the Ganges. And then it is on to Delhi...a wild 16km trip by tuk tuk through the chaos of Varanasi streets to the train station at Mugalshari...and a 2AC overnight train to Delhi...2AC (an air conditioned "compartment" shared by four people, two upper births, two lower births...sheets, pillow and blanket are provided and there are curtains which one pulls to close off the "compartment from the aisle). This if the fourth overnight train trip...happy journey! And the wheels of the train go round and round...