'Autorickshaw'
Varanasi, the city of Shiva, is one of the holiest cities in India. Hindu pilgrims come from across the country to wash away their sins in The Ganges River, and it is regarded as the best place for a Hindu to die, as it offers a chance to escape the cycle of rebirth. The burning of dead bodies is an everyday occurence along the riverfront, with the creamtion process in full view of everyone, including me this morning. I don't think I'd ever seen a dead body before this morning, but today I saw 5, in various states of decomposition, washed up on the shore, metres away from others bathing and swimming.
The thing is, the whole place kind of smells like poo, which takes away from the holiness a touch. The smell isn't surprising though when you look at the stats on the river. Every day around 60,000 people take a dip along a 7km stretch of the river, with around 1.2 million people living within that area. Along this same distance, 30 sewerage outlets spew their contents into the river all day, every day. This results in the Ganges water being so polluted it is septic, ie no dissolved oxygen exists. Water samples from the river show that the river has 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria per 100ml, compared to Sydney's reading at less than 500!
No comments:
Post a Comment