Varanasi - Tasting the real India

Ok, I admit, this blog is not completely "live" / up to date, it usually runs behind 4 or 5 days, sometimes even more. So when I put the short notice, that all of us were fine after the bomb-blast at Varanasi, the blog said that we ware still at the other end of India ;) After all, things have to happen first, before I can write about them and I am trying to find the right balance between sharing (I hope) interesting and curious incidents and impressions with you and actually being out there, living, going through adventures and learning…

A dear friend of mine described Varanasi in the following way: "Varanasi impregnates you down to the most inner cell of your body". I could not agree more!
Having compared a few hostels we found a more or less decent place inside the labyrinthic and rather trashy old town and explored our path through the tiny and dark ways between the houses. Several times we touched passing by cows as the ways were that narrow -- In India I got a new understanding of space, every square millimetre here is being used by the traffic, passersby and animals -- Of course the locals still rushed through them with their motorbikes showing the pedestrians and what ever living beings crossing their way that they were the chiefs.
Patricia, Agus and I found a very nice and laid back restaurant / terrace with a nice view over the Ganges where we spent many mornings to have breakfast and recharge our energies before loosing ourselves between the crowds at the Ghats. We observed people bathing in the Ganges doing the ritual washings, others making offerings (Pujas), different kinds of monks and priests praying and chanting, and families burning their dead at the "Burning Ghats", spreading theirs ashes into the holy river. I got hypnotized by the naturalism and unalterable serenity (by the noise and frenetic life happening) all these things were happening so closely next to each other. Compared to these practices, the ways things are done in Europe seem very sterile and almost antiseptic.
We were watching a group of young monks celebrating a offering with oil-lamps, torches and candles, doing some kind of synchronized dance, chanting, when we heard the explosion and even felt the expansive wave of the blast. We all had the intuition that this was way to loud and heavy to be a fire-work and when people started coming in our direction -- away from where the blast came from-- we found out what had happened some 200 meters away from us. Two bombs were placed next to the Ghat, were people were watching the periodical evening-ceremony. One bomb went off killing a little girl and injuring 25 persons, the second one was diffused… A pakistani extremist group believed to be responsible for this act of violence. All of a sudden the atmosphere of the city changed completely, the police armed with hitting sticks and the army were present at every corner, closing down parts of the old town. We witnessed some other tourists desperately trying to book tickets to leave town and others panicking. We decide to trust that the worst already had happened and that there was no point in running away from the place we had been enjoying so much.
After a few days things went back to normal little by little and people continued their lives, rituals and ceremonies. We intended to avoid the masses and rented a boat several times in order to see and inhale the atmosphere form some distance. This city has left a strong finger print inside me and when we left we agreed, that we could have stayed there for some more days, weeks or even months.