Exile on the Ganges

Burn Night Foursome (Tami Quest, The Man, Holiday and Claudia)

Planet Burning Man swung into Indian orbit and we were able to catch a ride, even if only briefly. Perhaps it was a case of being in the right place at the right time or maybe (if you're a believer like me) the spirit of the Playa can be tapped anywhere as long as the good citizens of Black Rock City have come together in fun-loving convocation. If it's the former, Tami and I sure are lucky. Varanasi is one fortuitous waypoint for a co-celebration. There is much about this ancient city on the Ganges that complements the ethos of "letting go" found in late August on the Black Rock Desert. Western preconceptions about personal space, cleanliness, decorum and sometimes, sanity get called into question continually.

The main reason Indians come to Varanasi, though, is to be released from mortal life. I can think of few endeavors of comparable sacredness. As a non-Hindu, non-Indian, I feel privileged to spend time here to watch and learn about the ephemerality of human existence. When you sit above one of the cremation platforms, the continual flow of bodies borne by family and friends to a final passage leaves little room for illusions of clinging self-importance. Some lessons transcend borders and culture, though, and my time with my fellow Burners has bequeathed me a few insights about graceful liberation of my own. Armed with that wisdom, Tami and I plunged into some of the ritual celebration that makes Varanasi special and gave it our Black Rock best.

We came up with the idea to co-celebrate about a month ago. (See this post.) Our invitations to other exiled Burners posted on Lonely Planet's chat site and Burning Man E-Playa yielded a nice handful of encouraging messages from around the globe but no respondents were in the vicinity of Varanasi during the actual event. That didn't slow us down a bit. Each day as you were on the Playa, we talked about you and whatever you might be doing. From 12,000(+) miles we were able to get right into the rhythm of things.

When we arrived in Varanasi, we set to work building our own "Man" and craft to float him down the sacred river. Actually, I had visions of sketching out a man and giving to plan to a local carpenter but after one surprisingly frustrating, three-way (interpreter included) exchange at a building supply store, I could see the chance of getting what we wanted was slim. That evening, I walked all over the old city of Varanasi scouting materials to build him ourselves. The first breakthrough came in the form of a large woven basket. I thought I could use that as a boat. After that, the other pieces fell into place. Our work area was the terrace of our guest house immediately overlooking the Ganges. Very, very nice.

I won't go into too many of the details here. Our Burn photos tell some of the story and Tami covered the unfolding events wonderfully on her blog. We burned our man a few days after the main event back home. That worked out perfectly as our burn night had a full moon, a partial lunar eclipse and a cast of supporters both in our boat and on the shore. After a few hitches, the Man burned better than we'd hoped. As you can see, it was a rousing success. :)


Link to our Burn Photos

The important thing I want to communicate is this: At the appointed time (Burn night for you, the next morning for us), each and every one of you, our Burning Man friends, whether you were on the Playa this year or not, had your name spoken aloud on the banks above the Ganges. Call it a prayer, if you will. For a short while this past weekend, you were with us in a special place.

A year from now, chances are slim we'll be either in Varanasi or in Black Rock City. Perhaps the question at the beginning of this post is correct also with the second answer. With luck, we shall find out.

Thanks for another great Burning Man.












Now......bring on the photos so we can see what kind of trouble you got into!