गरम गरम - Warm

Our time in Benares is almost over, next week we head up north to Mussoorie, which should be almost half as warm as it is here. Here it is so warm that walking very much is not good, at least not for me who can’t take the heat. We spend the days going to school and eating, or talking about school and food, and especially talking about Norwegian food. There has not been much in the way of excercise recently, which hopefully will change in Mussoorie, a hill station with apparently lots of opportunities for walking. Can’t wait!

Summer is starting

Weeks fly by in Varanasi! The temperature is now over 40 degrees in the daytime, so going out and doing much is not really possible. However getting up earlier in the morning is more tempting here, going out at around 6-7 am it's only around 25-27 degrees which seems nice and cool compared to daytime!

On Saturday we went on a trip to Allahabad which is 3 hours away by car. There we got to see the Nehrus' home, Anand Bhavan! Amazing feeling to walk in the same house where India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi lived and worked, and where Mahatma Gandhi used to visit. We also went to a place just outside called Sangam, where the holy rivers Yamuna and Ganga meet. On the sangam (river confluence, junction) itself is a very auspicious place to dip, so fellow student Ramu was there to do puja with a priest and to dip in the river. Despite all the thousands of pilgrims who were there it was quiet and had an air of importance, even for a non-religious person!