Semester at Sea: Waterways in India (Part 2)

*This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase through these links (at no additional cost to you) I will earn a small commission. Click here for the full disclosure*

My Semester at Sea adventures in India continued with exploring some of the most important waterways in India: the River Ganges and Kerala’s backwaters.

Riding the Rails

Taking an overnight train from Agra certainly wasn’t the best night of sleep I’ve ever gotten, but it was definitely an interesting experience. After a long day exploring Agra and seeing the Taj Mahal we were exhausted, but even sleeping could only use up so much of our 12+ hour train ride to Varanasi.

We hadn’t paid extra for a private cabin or anything, so changing into comfortable clothes for sleeping was our first challenge with there being so many other people on the train. I placed by backpack up next to my pillow against the wall to keep it safe and tried to sleep until the next morning. Once it got too bright to sleep any longer I played solitaire on my bunk to entertain myself for the remainder of the trip. 

Arrival in Varanasi

We arrived in Varanasi between 12:00-1:00pm, and our hotel had a rickshaw pick us up from the station. After driving for some time into and through the city, we had to get out of the rickshaw and walk the rest of the way as the alleys are too narrow for the rickshaws to get through. It was another 10-15 minutes walk to reach our hotel which was on the banks of the Ganges River. Once we’d checked in, we all showered to refresh after our long train ride. I was pleasantly surprised with the showers as they were the nicest ones we’d had on our whirlwind trip through India. Feeling much more human, we decided to take a walk along the river and the ghats.

Varanasi’s Background

Since Varanasi sits along the flood-prone River Ganges one of the most significant waterways in India, it was built up on the banks away from the flood waters. Ghats have been constructed along the embankments to protect against erosion from the flood waters as well as allow citizens and pilgrims easy access to the river. There are over 80 ghats along the Ganges in Varanasi, but many have fallen into disrepair.

Considered the holiest of the seven sacred cities of Hinduism, known collectively as the Sapta Puri, Varanasi is a major destination for pilgrimages. The Ganges River, personified as the Goddess Ganga, is considered the mother of Hindu worship. By bathing in her waters the faithful purify their souls and bring themselves closer to enlightenment. Many also believe that dying in Varanasi and being cremated on the ghats along the river will break the rebirth cycle allowing them to reach enlightenment. 

Exploring the Ghats

Our hotel was located near one of the burning ghats where Hindu cremations are carried out. Right outside, on the banks of the Ganges, the ceremonial cremations are carried out, and the ashes are put in the Ganges. We were told that holy men, babies, pregnant women, those inflicted with small pox, and cows are not cremated, but are put directly into the river instead. While this seemed a strange practice to us non-Hindu westerners, it is an ancient part of the Hindu religion and culture in India. 

As we continued wandering along the ghats my friend and I bought diyas, small floating bowls of flowers with a candle that you say a prayer over and put into the river from young local girls.

Observing the Agni Pooja

That evening we observed the aarti ceremony honoring the Hindu deity Lord Shiva that’s performed daily at the Dashashwamedh ghat along the Ganges. The priests perform the Agni Pooja (fire worship) in a spectacle that drew crowds with the singing of prayers, ringing of bells, incense, flower petals, and the ceremonial aarti lamps used to carry out the dedications to the Hindu deities. Observers sit on the ghats with many more observing from boats floating on the Ganges nearby. 

After the ceremony our group split up to explore the nearby market area and find dinner. We then headed back to our hotel since they had an 11:00pm curfew there and we had yet another early morning the next day.

Sunrise Ride on the Ganges

Our alarm woke us up early to catch a sunrise boat ride on the Ganges to see the daily ritual of Hindus bathing in its holy waters. Many devout Hindus strive to bathe in the Ganges at least once in their lives and will travel long distances to do so. The guide rowing our little boat didn’t speak very much English so we had some difficulty understanding him when he spoke, but silence suited the dawn hour. You could hardly see the sun until it had risen well above the horizon due to what we assumed to be air pollution. However, golden glow of the rising sun bathed the Varanasi in a warm glow as the city awoke for the day. 

The juxtaposition of people bathing just feet away from the corpse of a cow or from the burning ghat where the ashes from cremations are put into the river was definitely a strange sight for us. Especially knowing that despite it being one of the most polluted rivers in the world, they believe the Ganges to be cleansing and purifying for body and soul. It was definitely a memorable and eye-opening way to experience a slice of daily life on the waterways in India.

Beyond the Ganges

After our boat tour we met up with an Indian student from Varanasi, whom our friends had met the night before when our group had split up. He was showing us around the city a little bit, taking us to the Golden Temple, the Nepali Temple, and his friend’s teashop. It was a lot of fun to wander around the city with someone who lived there, and he was really helpful with any questions we had.

He also told me I resembled an Indian actress which confirmed what our guide in Agra had told me to explain why I’d been so popular for pictures with people in Agra. All too soon though we had to go back to our hotel to check out and catch a taxi to the airport for our flight to Cochin where the MV Explorer was docked. 

Mumbai

As with our flight from Chennai to Delhi, we found the airport easy to navigate and get through. We made it safely to Mumbai, which was formerly known as Bombay, where we were to catch another flight to Cochin. This is the only place where we had any problems with traveling in India, and also where that .5 of city I mentioned previously comes into play.

We had flown into the domestic airport from Varanasi, but apparently our flight to Cochin was out of the international airport. To get there we were told to catch rickshaws, and we had one rickshaw driver who made our lives difficult. After starting our ride, he tried to increase the fare to an outrageous price, telling us rickshaws weren’t allowed at the international airport and yelling at us. We ended up ditching him and got another rickshaw, whose driver was much more reasonable. It took us about twenty minutes to get to the other airport, where I might add, rickshaws were most certainly allowed. 

I’m counting Mumbai as .5 since we rode around in rickshaws and interacted (perhaps more that we argued) with some of the people there. Luckily the rest of our travel to Cochin was smooth and we arranged for our hotel to have a taxi pick us up from the airport.

We would have preferred to go straight back to our floating home, the MV Explorer, but at the pre-port Semester at Sea told us that we had to go to the immigration office in Cochin before we could re-board the ship. The office was only open from 8:00am-6:00pm and our flight didn’t get in until 8:30pm so we were forced to get a hotel room and go to the ship the next day instead. I really wish the ship’s staff would have told us this sooner, so we could have planned accordingly, but to be fair they might not have known any earlier either.

Cruising Through Kerala

Getting to sleep in a little bit later than the other mornings at 8:15am was a nice change for us. One of my friends and I went on a Kerala backwaters tour offered by our hotel. Kerala, known as the land of coconuts, is situated along the tropical coast of southwestern India. The backwaters are a network of brackish canals, rivers, estuaries, and lakes connecting the area and are among the important waterways in India.

The region is beautiful and boasts much of India’s biodiversity with many native and endemic species of flora and fauna. I found the tour itself to be disappointing because the tour guide didn’t actually do very much during our three hour tour. The sights were wonderful, but the only time he gave us any information was during our one stop along the waterways. While there we were shown a demonstration of how locals make ropes out of coconut husks, how they make coconut alcohol by putting pots over coconut buds, and the trees and plants that grow nutmeg, black pepper, tapioca, and cashews. 

Back to the Ship

When we got back to the hotel, we checked out then headed for the immigration office on the way back to the ship. After so many days traveling all over India, it was pretty nice to be back on the good old MV Explorer! I dropped my bags then went back out into Cochin for a little while to explore and pick up snacks at a market before on-ship time.

Incredible India

I really thought India was a wonderful country with a lot of diversity and contrasts. I would suggest visiting, but only for those who are well prepared to pick their way around cow patties in order to see some breathtaking sights. I was glad to have gotten to see some of the most important waterways in India during my quick trip through the country. Even just people watching by is a great experience as most women dress in beautiful, colorful saris, which is such a bright contrast to the jeans and t-shirts you find in the towns and cities of the US. This is another place I’d really love to return to for more in-depth exploration.

Read more about my adventures on Semester at Sea!

Have you ever visited a city that many religious pilgrims visit?