Different shades of life on the ghats of Varanasi

Tha ghats of Varanasi are by far the most colourful places where one can come across some of the most fascinating sites.I happened to witness a rather astonishing one today myslef. On one of the burning ghats, where the dead bodies are cremated, I saw a person of foreign origin huddled with a group of 'sadhus' who seemed to belong to the 'aghori' sect and they were huddled together around a small fire and talking in whispers. There were two dogs who were obviously their pets who were also part of the get-together.Tis person who was a foreigner was treating the sadhus with utmost respect as they barely spoke and only nodded a couple of times to acknowledge his actions. I could not figure out if he was talking to them in the local language? Had to be, there is no way those sadhus would understand a foreign language.The sadhus looked filthy, unkempt and unfriendly.Yet, our man was bowing to them every now and then. They were sharing a pipe that was filled with 'pot' or 'ganja' or 'grass', an addictive drug and it was being passed around and each had a couple of drags before handing it over to the other.Our man too shared williingly and from the way he was doing it, it was evident he wasn't a beginner. The entire group was seemingly oblivious to their surrounding.After some time, our man, got up, touched the feet of the leader(apparently) and bowed to the others and moved on.The group meanwhile continued the jig. Now,I have heard and read about researchers actually staying and living with such groups to document their findings on the thought and philosophy of such sects and this may well be the case here too.On the other hand, a lot of foreigners are known to come to Varanai because they are addicts and it's easy to get dope or grass in Varanasi.Little wonder that you will find numerous 'hippies' in Varanasi who remain lodged in the cheaper hotels and guest houses and frequent the ghats to lay hand on cheap dope.It's a old and symbiotic relationship.The hotels don't really care what the guy does as long as he pays and these 'hippies' generally keep to themselves and pay on time (god knows how?).They easily manage to befriend these 'sadhus'on the ghats, who gladly share their pipe with them. You will find the hippie crowd in noticeable numbers in Varanasi and on the ghats.Some of them are well known faces for the locals who will smile at them and say something in broken English, only to elicit a knowing smile from the hippie.It's a old bond between the city and these guys and many of them are known to stay over, long after their visas have expired(if they ever had one in the first place).Nobody really cares.Nevertheless, these hippies are a key component in the ecosystem of the ghats and I guess will remain so for years to come.Mind you though, some of them may look like the hippies but they are actually research students and volunteers who might seem to be on of them for their unkempt look. You will have to take a closer look to know the difference :). It's actually fun doing that :)