Varanassi

Varanassi is:
A spiritual place
A place where they carry the dead through the streets on stretchers chanting.
A place where you can see the dead burning in their funeral pyres.
A place where life begins and ends for many Hindus.
A place where people come on pilgrimage to the sacred holy waters of the Ganges River.
A place where both the bones of the cremated and the skin of the living are immersed for purification and blessing.
A place where the ghats dissappear when the water levels are too high.
A place where the passage ways of the old city are a maze almost impossible to navigate for newcomers.
A place where I met my first expats in India, one of whom is a Sadhu originally from Canada who has lived here since the 70s.
A place where I learned of a beautiful story of adoption, redemption,  love, determination, and generosity that brought me to tears.
A place where I was privileged to sit on a boat in the Ganges and witness a Hindu ceremony that takes place every night to honor the Gods and ask their blessing.
A place where no matter your religion or beliefs,  it's  hard to argue the spiritual gravitational pull of hundreds of years of tradition.
A place where I lit a candle on a floating flower...for my past, my present, and maybe most importantly my future.
A place where I was reminded by a complete stranger that we are never alone - though I have a lot of solo time on this trip, I know my footprints are not the only ones on the beach.

God bless.