Varanasi and Kolkata

We first flew into Kolkata. Wow how different India is from Thailand. Just crossing the street here is gambling with ones life. Oh my god, and the horns. Always blaring. They don't have side mirrors here so honking is how you let the person know where you are. In Kolkata we went to a temple and saw a lamb sacrificed. It was a very interesting and powerful thing to experience. It has been almost a month now since I saw it ( I have been crazy busy here in India with limited internet access) and I still feel strong emotions thinking about it.
It is interesting too because this is where we first experienced begging. We had no idea what was ahead for us in Varanasi. But I'm getting ahead of myself. That same day we went to the Victoria Memorial. It was so beautiful. Outside was great architecture and inside had so many fascinating things. Sadly we were only there for a short while. Some of the cool things they had were old weapons used from that time period and some lovely pictures of Hindu gods. Of course we saw many more of those in Varanasi.

When we arrived in Varanasi it was poring down rain. It made us feel right at home. It was interesting because while there were a few cows in Kolkata, they were not like in Varanasi. There there were cows everywhere you looked just chilling in the streets. One of the days we had an assignment to be a cow for the morning and meander around the streets and look around and not actually do anything. It was a really fun assignment and me and another girl just followed a few cows around and met a guy who had cows in the back of his house that he introduced us to.
The first night we were there was Shivaratri, which celebrates Shiva's marriage to Parvati. Originally the leaders were not going to let us go out because the men drink a drink that is a mixture of who knows what and they didn't want the women out in that environment. But we had enough men with us that they decided it would be okay for us to go out.It was such an amazing experience, but also a very crazy one. There was a large parade with painted elephants and lots of children dressed up as different Hindu gods and goddesses. Also there were lots of little bands marching and as soon as they would see that there was a large group of white people they would stop and show off until someone would come by and make them keep going. It got really crazy though when a group of people were there and dancing. There were so many people. The girls were surrounded by our guys and then a ton of Indian guys outside of them.
While there we saw many religions events going on along the Ganges like funerals and recently married couples going down. The water is so crazy to look at. The brown is a color I have never seen in water before. There is so much garbage going into it and so many people bathing and drinking it as well.
Walking along the Ghats, the steps around the Ganges, is an experience in itself. You see so many different types of people, tourists, locals, people making pilgrimages, and the many many trying to sell you something. Evey other step you here a hello and boat boat. Walking around Varanasi, I even met a guy who tried to sell me a goat. It was a cute goat and I told him that I couldn't, I didn't have a way to take it home, but he didn't listen just offered me better prices.
Another new and interesting experience is seeing monkeys all over the city climbing telephone wires and on rooftops. Also there are goats everywhere and they, like the cows have the coolest coloring.
Varanasi is an interesting place where I met some cool people and saw some lovely temples and structures, but it was also a very sad place because there are so many beggars and people that are trying to make their way through life, many of which are children. Also the dogs there were just so sad looking. Many had mange or some other disease and were starving. That was really hard to look at.
Overall though it was a fun place to explore and meet people.