Blessed by drops from the Ganges, then paying 100 rupees for it

Varanasi – the city of Shiva, one of the holiest places in India and one of the oldest cities in the world. Mark Twain wrote that ‘Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together’. It is a city centered around 80 ghats lining the Ganges and inviting Indians from all parts to bathe in the brown and trash-filled water said to wash away sins. At the Manikarnika Ghat, I watched the cremation ceremony of five people at the same time, burnt at varying distance from the Ganges relative to caste. All, however, have being freed from the cycle of reincarnation as long as their ashes make it into the Ganges and past the goats and dogs sifting through and looking for something to nibble on.

Life here revolves around the Ganges, as residents come to say prayers, bathe, wash clothes, light candles, take boat rides, wash their buffalo, meditate, and hold festivals along the river. The sight of such religious ferocity attracts visitors from all countries and makes Varanasi one of the destination spots for most travelers to India, especially for those who come searching for a spiritual awakening. The arrival of many laid-back, soul-searching foreigners has also attracted business-oriented Indians and has given Varanasi the reputation of being a city of scams, a reputation that my experience upheld. I spent one day in Varanasi yet felt harassed for money consistently and scammed at least four times.

“I cannot take you physically to Shanti Guest House because rickshaws are not allowed there but I can take you to Yogi Guest House, which is also in your book,” the rickshaw driver told me as I got off the train. I checked, agreed and after putting my bags into the room I headed out to walk to the Ganges, a supposedly five-minute walk from the hotel. After twenty minutes of walking, I came to realize that this was not the hotel I had been told about. There were at least eight guest houses named Yogi and I was staying in the ‘Old Yogi GH.’ I walked back furious and found the hotel packed with tourists, four more who had arrived since I left. I stopped one girl outside the hotel and asked her if she knew that she had also been scammed.
“Yeah, I realized that four hours after I arrived but I don’t really care.”
“Really,” I said, “it makes me rather upset.”
“Well, me too, but they are nice guys and very relaxed, and they set me up with some really nice bud [marijuana] so I don’t mind. I don’t know how long exactly I am staying for but it’s cool.”
That seemed to be the attitude of most guests and the way that Old Yogi got away with this scheme. Foreign visitors did not want to argue but rather get along with the people and attributed the confusion to culture. It made me even more upset that not only was he tricking tourists into his guesthouse but that this scam was only encouraged by their actions in going along with it.

I quickly picked up my bags from my room and walked out of the hotel 1.5 hours after I had dropped my stuff off. Before I could leave, I was pulled back in by the manager, who asked why I was going and demanding 150 rupees for the room I had booked. I refused to pay since I had been blatantly lied to about the room and had only been there 1.5 hours, which began an hour-long argument. His attempts to physically intimidate me or threatening to cancel my visa only made me more upset and eventually we called the US Embassy to resolve the issue. “You can do two things,” she said on the phone, “either call the police who will come and spend the next three hours with the two of you, or pay him the 150 rupees and move on, regardless of who is correct.” Getting involved with the police, however, was not something I wanted to do, considering I had been previously told not even to stop and help a car that had gotten in an accident because the police would eventually come and harass you not only for time and endless questions but money as well.

This was the first but not the last scam. Later it was at the Ganges, when a man put flowers and a candle into my hand, a red dot on my forehead and said a prayer for my family, enforcing at the time that it was free and he was a religious man. After finishing and while wetting his hands with the Ganges and spraying it onto my head, he told me that unless I gave him money there would be a curse on my family. Also there was the boy who worked on the boat given by the hotel to its guests for free morning rides to view the Ganges at sunrise, who pulled at our clothes incessantly asking for money. Or the man who came and stood at my side while was watching the cremations, explaining the different castes being burnt and then asking for money since “the information was not free.” Or the second hotel attendant who had told me the night before that I could keep my bags in my room until I had to leave at 7pm, although checkout time was at noon, yet the next day claiming he told me to put it in the storage room and for that he needed 100 rupees.

It was a frustrating day in Varanasi yet supportive of a trait characteristic of northern Indians as more aggressive and direct than southerners. This trait was expressed to me as early as six months back by my neighbor on the plane ride from the U.S. and then further while living in Jamkhed. A tension seems exist between the north and south that began as early as 1500 BC with the Aryan invasion from Afghanistan. Not only did the Aryans push the Dravidians (an advanced tribe inhabiting northern India at the time) into the mountainous regions of the south but they also brought the caste system, a feature initially based on color (Dravidians were darker skinned). The clearest difference that exists presently is language as southern languages (ie. Tamil) are of Dravidian origin and northern ones (ie. Hindi) of Sanskrit base. The north and south have progressed at different rates as the prosperity of the south has come on trade and the north more on politics. I have not yet been able to travel through most southern states but the change in feeling as I traveled limitedly throughout the north was apparent.