I heard the clean snip of the scissors and gazed up into the mirror of the barber shop into the eyes of a tall, cheery Indian man. With sparking eyes, and eccentric smiles, he and Payton held up my pony tail. Ten minutes later, I was officially bald…
Namaste family and friends!
Megan (the recently bald group member) here. This week was as fast paced and hectic as ever. We began in Agra at the Taj Mahal, and ended in one of the oldest cities in the world, Varanasi. I wish that I could write about the Taj Mahal glowingly, highlighting the incredible architecture and grounds, but in reality my Taj experience was hell. Agra itself is not a very interesting city, and so we booked back to back night trains leaving just the day to explore the Taj. I got horribly sick on the first night train, resulting in a delirious Megan the next day. However, I was not going to miss one of the seven wonders of the world! So I mustered up the little energy that I had and took off with the group for the Taj. After walking around and in the Taj, I was dead tired, so I joined about a hundred or so people sitting right outside of the building while the rest of the group wandered. Eventually, the tiredness overtook me and I just laid down and closed my eyes. Mind you, I had seen several Indians already do this. Imagine my surprise, when five minutes later, I opened my eyes to a concerned security guard in my face saying “Hello? Hello?!” complete with an entourage of other security guards and Indian tourists. Apparently it’s just not okay for Americans to nap on the Taj steps. I almost got kicked out of the Taj Mahal! No matter now sickly I looked, I still got asked multiple times for “one snap” and will now be the focus of many Indian photo albums. Thankfully, Evangeline stepped in to save the day and quickly got us out of the Taj. That night, we boarded our second train and were on the way to the magical city of Varanasi…
Our week in Varanasi was packed full of internships, exploring the city, Hindi lessons, and volunteering. Located along the holy Ganga river, the city is divided into many riverside neighborhoods called ghats. Our group stayed in one of the southernmost ghats called Assi Ghat. This is a fun, tourist oriented ghat and is home to, in my opinion, the best coffee in India. Throughout the week the group took several field trips to other ghats in the city. My favorite excursion was to Manikarnika (or burning) ghat. This is where Indians bring their loved ones to be cremated on the banks of the Ganga. There are bodies burning 24/7, a sad but breathtaking sight. In order to get to this ghat, you navigate through narrow, winding alleyways, which is half the fun of exploring the ghat! It’s pretty much impossible not to get lost at least once! As I made my way through the shops, chai stands, guest houses, and restaurants, funeral processions would hurry by, with a body under an adorned cloth, taking a loved one to be cremated. Death is very public in Varanasi and Hinduism because life is viewed as a continuous cycle of death and rebirth. I was captivated by the daily, hourly even, processions running through the alleys. I took a walk along the Ganga and was in awe of the ancient, beautiful crumbling buildings and temples on my left, and the sea of people gathered along the bank of the Ganga bathing and washing clothes, followed by the river, on my right.
Another great activity we did was take a sunrise boat tour along the Ganga and see all the different ghats from a different perspective. The entire group, even our sickies, made it! Our wonderful Varanasi contact, Anoop-ji provided a lovely talk about the ghats while we drifted. Anoop you’re the bomb. Even at five am, people were by the river doing daily tasks. The boat tour was definitely a highlight of Varanasi for the group.
In terms of internships, the group suffered from quite a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). Shout out to the Scazzero family! Every day, there were options from sitar, to stone carving, to fire dancing! I think we all could have had more time to try them all! I took henna and fire dancing internships and fell in love with both of them almost immediately. I have always been drawn the the detail that goes into making henna, but have never had the motivation to try it myself. The group is now tatted up, I felt like I was running out of skin! My fire dancing internship was equally as cool, although at times it was a bit terrifying! Every night my teacher would giggle and ask “does your mom know what you’re doing right now?” The answer was always no, and followed by more giggles. I loved my internships because I got to see myself improve in the new skills I learned, and I am excited about continuing working on henna and fire dancing back in the states.
Almost every afternoon, we took a thirty minute rickshaw ride to Varanasi’s red light district, to volunteer at a center for the children of prostitutes called Guria. Guria was founded by a remarkable man named Ajeet tried to adopt the children of a prostitutes at age 17. Although the adoption failed, he was inspired to make a change in the red light district. Over the last fifteen years, he has essential shut down the sex trade industry in Varanasi. His organization has rescued about two hundred girls, shut down ten brothels, and jailed countless human traffickers. Ajeet began by trying to educate the girls who were being forced into prostitution but soon learned that all he was doing was creating educated prostitutes. As his organization evolved, he decided to target the children of prostitutes, hoping that they will be able to escape the cycle as they grow up. Guria is an after school center, where kids can come and be happy and play before having to go home and face the hard realities of home. Ajeet uses art and meditation to teach the kids how to “extract happiness from life”. We were all struck by how joyful the kids we worked with were. Our task for the week was to prep the center for the upcoming festival, Diwali. The kids got wildly creative with their decorations and even constructed a small scale version of the ganga, complete with temples, sari factories, and changing rooms. The kids loved being picked up and swung around, and when decoration construction was lacking, it felt like we were being attacked by little monkeys. I was incredibly inspired by Ajeet and his work with the brothels, as well as the fun energy of the kids!
This week has been a whirlwind and we have finally settled into the small city of Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment. It’s nice to have a bit of a rest in between our crazy city adventures. Sending you all blessings and love! Sending some extra special love to my family, and all of those at Garden Way Retirement Community. I’m thinking happy thoughts of you and Papa every day!
Love,
Megan