Mind on Edge - Meraki - Rasasvada - Fernweh - Dormiveglia - Numinous - Vorfreude: 20th November 2015

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Fresh fruits at our Hotel at Bodh Gaya - Only the small apples are really fruits the rest are wax :)

Horse drawn carriages outside the Maha Bodhi temple.

Near the road side market, Why these horses sport such colours? I don't know.

The old anf inform make the Maha Bodhi temple.

There were vendors on the road selling Buddhist handicrafts and others selling the regular stuff one sees in a temple market. Only a handful of vendors had anything of quality or interesting to offer. With nothing much to keep us here we started the next step of our journey.

Stalls sell a multitude of things at the roads leading to Maha Bodhi temple.

There were quite a few beggars at the entrance and almost all of them were physically disabled, some with arms and legs crooked, giving the impression that the limb was broken and not allowed to mend or allowed to mend in a crooked fashion so as to attract attention and bring in more alms. The world can be cruel.

Mutilated bodies are common at the entrance to the Maha Bodhi temple. Was the mutilation managed by someone who wanted to make money out of these people?

The Maha Bodhi temple is sacred to Buddhists it is here in Bodh Gaya that he attained enlightenment and under a Bodhi tree which exists or trees from its cuttings exist even today. The temple here has been built to mark the enlightenment of Buddha and is visited by Buddhists from around the world. There were so many people from the Orient that it was difficult for us to assign nationalities.

The temple complex is not very large. Pilgrims seemed to have been sleeping within the temple complex as we could see sleeping bags, mosquito nets, pillows, beds on the lawns. There was a conference going on and maybe these people had come here to attend the conference nd were allowed to sleep here. There was a Nepalese woman doing the Parikrama of the temple in their traditional way, she would prostrate, then get up and walk for three paces and then prostrate again, this continued till she went around the temple. If one does not intend to go inside the temple then footwear can be worn around the temple complex. No restrictions on photography but no mobiles, MP3 players, obviously disturbance by noise is not acceptable. There is a fee for cameras though the entrance is free.

At the entrance to the temple

Maha Bodhi temple

Pilgrims, with a wooden plank on which they prostrate stand and then prostrate again and again.

Pilgrims from all over the Budhist world.

Stand, prostrate and then stand again, lift your hand in prayer above your head, take three steps and repaet all over again to make circumambulations around the temple in penance.

Varanasi was not a long distance away but the traffic and the impatient and careless two wheelrs, drivers and pedestrians ensured that we drove slow. The condition of the roads too contributed to the slow pace we were forced to keep.

Luckily we were prepared for food as we had cooked some rice and the curds we had purchased the previous night at Bodh Gaya put together made some delightful curd rice which could be had on the highway.

There were a lot of people in the Varanasi because of the Karthika month and the upcoming Nethra Deepavalli on the 22nd.

Just out of Varansi this guy was riding this motorcycle with two women behind him. He was sitting on the petrol tank of the motor cycle.

Cows eating plastic is a common sight in Varanasi, another way to kill a cow.

Protection from the heavy pollution in Varanasi.

Vehicles move so close to each other it is a wonder that there are not so many accidents.

Once we checked into our Hotel we swiftly got in touch with our contacts here and made arrangements for the next day. walked out of the Hotel took 2 Autorickshaws and went to the Dasashwamedha Ghats for the Ganga Aarthi. We were able to witness the closing part of the Aarthi and then walked around the crowded roads, did some window shopping and took in the various sights that were presented to us. Shops selling Chillums, various Hindu religious materials, Sadhus walking around, pilgrims from all over the Country and visitors from around the world curious and hanging around to understand what was happening before them. Vehicles are not allowed on the road leading to the Ghat so we had to walk about 500 metres to the ghat, BUT we were surprised to see two wheelers on that road beinf driven quite fast considering the large number of people on the road. The lights, colours, shops, eateries was engaging. We returned to the Hotel qute early as we had fixed to leave very early the next morning on a boat ride to see the sunrise from the Ganges and to visit the Kasi Viswanathar temple.

The road going towards Dasaswamedha Ghats, crowded and polluted.

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The road leading to Dasaswamedha ghats - no vehicles allowed only pedestrians

`Ganga Aarthi

Devotees

This Sadhu got upset that I took his picture without giving him money, was obviously popular with the crowd as many people came over to him to get his blessings, was it because of his makeover?