We were out on the Ganges River for over an hour tonight. The Aarti Ceremony was the highlight but there was plenty of other action during the trip. We paddled up and down the river and got to see quite a few other things. We saw people bathing in the river, chanting, girls selling flowers and incense, boys selling hot tea, dead people being washed in the river and cremated, and so on. In the first photo, you can see some people at one of the ghats that we passed. Ghat means ‘steps leading into the water’ or river. Varanasi has some sixty-four ghats which are mostly bathing ghats. Many young girls were selling floating flower candles which you can see some people lighting in the first photo.

You can also see Vicky lighting one in the second photo. We lit the candles and set it afloat in the Ganges after making a wish. My wish was to make it back to our hotel. During our boat ride, we could see thousands of flower candles floating and lighting up the river. Being on the river in a boat kept us away from most of the hawkers, scammers, beggars, and cripples, but not everyone.

You can see one budding young entrepreneur in the third photo. He pulled up alongside our boat in his own boat and sold us some hot tea. We were joined by hundreds of other boats with thousands of people paddling along the Ganges taking it all in. It was quite an evening.