Hi everybody.
Simon E is back. Varanasi and Jodhpur haven't beenmentioned yet, so before telling you the little I now know aboutKolkata, I'll start in Jodhpur...

Jodhpur. Hm.. Can't remember,what I've already told you. I visited the police family, escaped, slepton rooftop. You're all with me still, right? Next morning, I woke up toa beautiful sight. Having hated the city all the day before, I nowloved it. Jodhpur is known as the Blue City - at night, you of coursedon't notice this, but in the morning, waking up on a rooftop. Wow.. Itwas really amazing. Blue everywhere except right in front of me; as Iopened my eyes, the city fort, an amazing building as you'll see onsome pics one of these days, towered up in front of me, completing theperfect view. Blue city, blue morning skies, incredible Indian fort.
Wakingup, I saw other things then just blue houses'n'forts. All night long,I'd been wondering who on Earth I was sharing the mini-rooftop with.Another guy/person was lying opposite me, occasionally rolling about,making the intensely irritating 'rolling-around-in-a-sleeping-bag'noise. Well anyway, I woke up to find out it was this really cool guy.A Brit, he'd taken out some years from his calendar and chosen to cyclearound the World. Yeah, not bike, no motors involved, just cycle. He'dbeen all around Europe, then down through the bloody Middle-East (hehad a police escort on his way through Pakistan), and was now finallygetting out of the heat of Rajasthan's deserts.
Normally, thesedudes are quite... perculiar, to say the very least. But this guy wasgreat, a real adventurer who had all sorts of plans for the time afterthe trip, etc. We talked about real traveling - getting your fingersdirty with the locals rather than just sightseeing - and enjoyed the 30minutes of chatting/eating our breakfast alone on the roof.

That'ssomething great about traveling alone. A couple sitting in a restaurantdon't seem to need anyone to talk to. Therefore, people don't come over- they don't want to intrude. But traveling all on my onesome :) I meetsooo many nice (and weird) people. For the time we talk it's great.Then after an hour, two, maybe several meetings, you exhange e-mails,then go your seperate ways. There's something unique about that sort ofmingling/socializing which you hardly ever do at home, but can't reallyget away from here in India.

Enough of that. Jodhpur wasfascinating because of blue colour, AND because of the many smallstreets packed full of curiosities. I saw bangle-makers (literallymelting wax, inlaying glas pearls, etc to make beautiful and gaudybracelets), and different places full of typewriters. I think some ofthem were like internetcafes: you came there, paid a small fee, thenyou could write out your essays etc. Charming. I got terribly lost mylast evening there, but I've never felt safer or enjoyed hopeless'lostness' so much. :)

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Gettingto Varanasi was no fun. Instead of mere 24 hours (HA!) it took bloody28. Sat in front of your screens at home you're probably thinking: "24hours is so much - how can an extra four make any difference?" Myanswer: try it! You've got Indians burping and farting (like always),you've got beggars coming up to you constantly, you've got this andthat and lack of sleep, and... Well, I like going by train, but 28hours managed to tire me quite a bit. :)
I joined a 30-odd-year-oldSpanish guy in an autorickshaw. We got into town without any greataccidents - the Spanish bloke had been in a full-on collision where hisautorickshaw had flipped over! And this was on his first day in India!:) I found a hotel, got a small smelly room, and relaxed a bit beforegoing to bed at about 3pm! The camel trip + train trip had just takenall energy out of me.

What to tell of Varanasi. The goodthings first: Everywhere and 'everywhen', hundreds of paper kites soarthrough the city sky. Grownups aswell as children do fancy acrobaticsall through the day, some so vigorously that they loose their kites tothe wind. It's fantastic, and when I tried it the day before leaving, Ifound out just how skilled the guys are. It's really quite hard to makethe kite do anything else than just get closer to you or further away.
Whenasking people what they like about Varanasi, a lot of them will answerthat it's the "voyeur-ism" they love. Sitting at one of the many manyghats (= stage'n'steps down to the holy river) they'll observe all thedifferent people walking by, Indian aswell as European. All the sensesare ringing - smells (cowshit and burning bodies), sounds (touts andrickshaw-wallahs trying to get you to use their services), etc.
Ibegun to feel somewhat of a veteran in India. This is of coursecomplete balls, but I've at least been here longer than most, seen moreparts than the majority of travellers that I meet. Seeing people walkaround being Indian or European or whatever it is you're looking for...well, I just don't see how Varanasi is better at this than many othercities I've been to.
And so begins the, sadly, long list of bad things about Varanasi (in my opinion, bien sur!):
Theburning ghats are very very famous and basically what people come tosee. A burning ghat is basically a large area (again stage with stepsdown to the river) with loads of little platforms. The main burningghat in Varanasi had about 14-15 platforms. On these about 200 kgs ofwood is piled, then a corpse is placed on top, then another 50-100 kgsare stacked on top again. And guess what? - then the whole thing is litand the sweet smell of smoke and burning human flesh moves on thebreeze.
As I said, many people find this absolutely fascinating. I found it completely bizarre - grotesque and completely insane.
Peoplemay sit and think: 'But Simon, shame on you, it's just another culture- you shouldn't judge it with Western eyes, but try to understand itfrom their point of view." And you might very well be right. I just...Yeah well, poor people can't afford enough wood. They burn as much ofthe body as there's wood for, then throw the rest in the river. Besidesthat, leppers, pregnant women, children below 13, holy men... peoplewith smallpox - they're all just thrown in the river, no burningneeded. Why? Except the leppers and people with smallpox, they're pure.The burning is to burn away the evil (or something like that) whichresides in all people. This evil isn't in holy men and children, andsince pregnant women carry a pure person inside them, they are alsoholy. The reason why they don't brun the leppers is that they do notwant to contaminate the air with their fumes and illness. Ha!
Anyway,I could tell you much more (for example that many tourist see part ofbodies floating around in the water - while people are having theirmorning wash ten metres away) but I find my stomach turningagain-again. It's simply a part of India that is too mind-bogglinglydifferent in the disgusting way - Simon E has found a part of Indiathat he does not like.

What else about Varanasi.. Well, I thinkthat's about it. Didn't enjoy staying, enjoyed leaving a lot, AND! I'mreally enjoying sitting here, in Calcutta, telling you all about it. :)

Hope you're all well, even after a slightly less cheery blog! :)

Simon E