Varanasi to Sravasti by Jitney
I had no idea that there were places left that take three days to get to. It’s now Tuesday and we are still on the way. Today’s slice of road is a hard drive through the odd mix of agriculture and urban life that dots the sometimes paved, sometimes dirt highway.
10 hours into the drive between Varanasi and Sravasti, I am sure that I have seen the gates of hell. Merciless hours of a tour-bus-view of profound poverty leave me claustrophobic. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I don’t want to be born into most of the lives I saw along the road.
Imagine 500 miles of two lane road. It’s the distance between DC and Cleveland or San Jose to Los Angeles. Imagine tiny stores covering each inch of the roadside. Imagine a wild west feel to the technology and living arrangements.
And still, it’s agricultural. Endless acres of fields of crops. Swamps and rice paddies. Parrots and monkeys. Jungle, farm, city and marketplace all delivered in mid-nineteenth century style.
Annan, who is becoming my encyclopedia of Indian fact, tells me that 60% of the families along this road have television sets. I try to imagine what it must be like to see images of western lifestyles from this vantage point. A marketer might think of it as demand generation.
It looks like a boiler on a steam engine that’s about to explode.
The monsoon season (which just ended) was not kind to the road. The trip takes nearly thirteen hours and shakes my every bone and muscle.
We arrive in Sravasti just as the sun is setting. Passing the hotel, we go to visit the place where Buddha taught for twenty five years. It’s another huge ruin. The town has hosted monasteries and meditators <–Previous – Next–>
