Modern India

 There’s a huge university in Varanasi, so we are often greeted by students wanting to chat. Whilst dodging the rain at the most southern ghat, Assi ghat and watching the arti ceremony a young woman was chatting about her course and asking where we had traveled. She then told us how hard it had been for her to convince her parents that she was not going to compromise and she wanted a love marriage with her childhood sweetheart and wanted to work and live independently from their parents. This is modern India where women are now deciding their fate and taking charge.   

Blummin motorbikes

 We’re staying in a hotel overlooking the Ganages. The surrounding complex labyrinth of tiny alleyways are barely wide enough to walk down side by side, and you have to negotiate roaming cows, stall sellers carrying goods, people worshiping, dead bodies being brought to the burning ghats for cremation and one more hazard. Motorbikes zooming along the alleys at breakneck speed, beeping and dashing through. High concentration needed at all times! And thank good for Google maps to guide us back each evening. 

What time do they chant?

 The amazing thing about being up in the hills is the mix of Tibetan, Nepali, Bhutanese and West Bengali all together. The hills are home to many Tibetan monasteries, so it was a real treat to visit some and have the opportunity to be there when they were having afternoon chants. 

Some of the younger monks wandered into the temple with mugs of tea, but were soon chanting along with the sound of the conch and the youngest monk given the task of beating the drum to keep his concentration. These are the magical experiences that travelling offers. 

Can we come to your party?

 After a giant snooze from the mornings sunrise escapade we headed to The Windermere Hotel for high tea. This beautiful old colonial place was originally the boarding house for the male tea planters from the UK. Now it is a beautiful hotel that has become a strange time warp. The walls are covered with old photos of the colonial set, the team planters, the guests at parties, showing the golden age of rule. 

We had a room to ourselves, beautifully decorated and heated by a coal fire. And ate scones, sandwiches and an array of cakes. We asked what was their plans for celebrations for New Year weee and on hearing that they were having a band we asked to join. 

We arrived back there at 10.30pm and sat on the veranda listening to a band and as the time ticked nearer New Year our welcome for the guests and staff became warmer and warmer! We were up dancing with the guests and staff and saw the New Year in sipping champagne and eating cake. Such an incredible evening and then I got the band to sing Happy Birthday to Jenny and all the guests warmly extended their birthday wishes. What an evening! Thank you Windermere Hotel for warmly welcoming us.