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What was surprising considering my dream was that I woke up to find two monkeys on my bed, they had both gotten in by opening my large sliding windows and found my sleep intresting, as soon as I woke up they left me and returned from whence they came. I got up and got a shower as my sheets and myself where drenched in sweat and stepped onto the balcony, it was still early, the sun was barely rising yet the city was alive, every ghat was filled with a milling colorful multitude. I rushed out to experience the magic of the moment myself. Thousands of pilgrims, holy people, paupers and inhabitants where practicing their devotions facing the Ganges, some chanting, others prostrating themselves while some looked far beyond them and sat cross legged in the admirable confidence of their faith. As soon as the gods and spiritual cleansing was done it was time to wash the clothes, at once the Ganges transformed itself into a large laundry machine, it was to whom could beat and soap his clothes with the most emphasis and force. Once the clothes were washed and every microbe or bacteria beaten to its death, full attention was given to the body, no part of it was left unwashed, they plunged themselves in the river time and time again, scarping the inside of the ears, brushing their teeth with vigor, picking the nails, clearing the noses in the water, spitting and then last but not least came the animals, long processions of street cows entered the water for their ritual baths with only the head emerging while the monkeys watched-on not keen to participate.
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Varanasi, Thursday the 11th of August

Degrubenc
2005-12-09 17:40:49

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What was surprising considering my dream was that I woke up to find two monkeys on my bed, they had both gotten in by opening my large sliding windows and found my sleep intresting, as soon as I woke up they left me and returned from whence they came. I got up and got a shower as my sheets and myself where drenched in sweat and stepped onto the balcony, it was still early, the sun was barely rising yet the city was alive, every ghat was filled with a milling colorful multitude. I rushed out to experience the magic of the moment myself. Thousands of pilgrims, holy people, paupers and inhabitants where practicing their devotions facing the Ganges, some chanting, others prostrating themselves while some looked far beyond them and sat cross legged in the admirable confidence of their faith. As soon as the gods and spiritual cleansing was done it was time to wash the clothes, at once the Ganges transformed itself into a large laundry machine, it was to whom could beat and soap his clothes with the most emphasis and force. Once the clothes were washed and every microbe or bacteria beaten to its death, full attention was given to the body, no part of it was left unwashed, they plunged themselves in the river time and time again, scarping the inside of the ears, brushing their teeth with vigor, picking the nails, clearing the noses in the water, spitting and then last but not least came the animals, long processions of street cows entered the water for their ritual baths with only the head emerging while the monkeys watched-on not keen to participate.

Mark Twain came to visit and was given a tour of the Ganges on a small boat. The official with him explained proudly, after having sufficiently puffed up his chest, that after the most advanced biological and chemical analysis it was declared by the team of Hindu scientists that the Ganges was so pure that it did not contain a single bacteria. Mark Twain looked over the side of the boat, back at the official ...