Varanasi

Varanasi view from my guest house . Got a room for like 3 dollars a night amongst green vines . Is so hot and humid , last night lyed on the hot rooftop as the clouds of the night boomed and lighting brightened the skys , the wind blowing monkeys arounds in the trees and the smoke of the burning ghats , the wind rolling the ganga to make waves . A city of cows and goats and monkeys, cowshit , dust , flowers and candles on rivers, alot of sleeping dogs fire rituals and cobbled streets filled with men pissing . underneath it though in all the people I am meeting , what fascinates me is their absolute devotion to the gods, relaxation and ritual being so important to them. sleeping anywhere and smiling anytime , I have also met two really amazing teachers of tabla and yoga , serendipidity or attraction I stayn for a while .

Weddings everyday with the full marching bands with gold cardboard suits parade the street on their way to the mother ganga to ask for her blessings . Crowds of family members bathe in the water near the fires burning their loved ones , rituals to shiva every nite on the ganga with 5 headed cobra statues that hold flames . boats and a river of bones , floating candles and water buffalo . is really hard to describe and all this is just 1 percent of what is happening all the time . I study tabla everyday am getting pretty good , will live here for another month because have started a yoga intensive at a school . AT sunset we do asanas on the rooftop overlooking the city and a large banyan fig tree full of monkeys , the sky full of spires , kites and shiva triads.