4.45am!! A ridiculous time to get up, however, we are off to watch the same ceremony as the night before, this time, for sunrise. The performance is towards the river, seven monks dressed in bright yellow silks, parade a variety of flame in the general direction of the Ganges. The light before the sun appears is delighful, it's calm and really pleasant to watch close up, without the hordes. Our guide, Prasan, is an earnest chap, grabbing our attention by holding our arm, or hand, and is very keen to let us know all about his secular section of Hinduism, Brahmin, which would apppear to be a higher grade! We also talk of the caste system, something he's not proud of, and which, he believes, is slowly dying out.

We have another boat journey, the same path as the evening before, only this time, watching the banks full of bathers in various stages of undress, cleansing their bodies with the waters. It is ironic that we Westerners see this river as polluted and filthy yet, they lather up before diving in. You clean yourself to then dive in these waters? This has huge significance to a pilgim and I admire them, that their religion sees beyond the obvious as they celebrate the significance of the waters. It is a ritual bath called Puja, which they perform to the rising sun, this results in the remission of sins and dying here circumvents rebirth! The pyre sites are not in use, although they are 24/7. Most bodies are cremated within 6/7 hours of death. It is a totally different experience to what we know of a funeral. There is an atmosphere of hope, not finality, of celebrating the passing to a better life. It is only immediate members of the family, only male members, as female members are considered to be too emotional, which burdens the passing soul with sorrow. The eldest son lights the pyre for their father, the youngest, if it the mother who has passed away. After breakfast, by which time we've been up for four hours, we do a walking tour of the northern part of the city. This involves pit stops for chai, a view of the city from the largest mosque, where the caretaker insists we see his home and pose for pictures with him, meandering through a myriad of lanes observing this, and that. There are 23,000 places of worship, a lot of them little more that holes in the wall. A Hindu, on abverage, has to do approx two and a half hours of worship every day, however, a working chap can delegate that responsibility to his wife, how convenient!

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Itihaas, where I had a superb tandoori vegetable grill, before heading by tuk tuk to the southern part of the tour where we saw silks and cotton made in to the most beautuful throws, pasminas etc on old looms that have dated back for decades. We also visited a wrestling ring where old men, 65+, joust in a sumo style, having warmed up with weights. Women are not allowed to watch due to scanty apparel, the men, not the women, before the combatants lie down for 15 - 30 minutes to meditate and gather their breath!

Given the traffic of our arrival, we are keen to leave with plenty of time to get to the airport. We left four hours before our flight, typically, we are hanging around the airport for three hours. Much is made of India's choas, however, in our experience, 'planes leave on time, arrive early, have great service and are cheap. The one thing Indians don't do is queue, basically, the queue starts with me, and they stand over you wherever you might be, ATM, checking in, buying a ticket, it's quite unerving, at first. Getting to Kolkata on Indi Go, couldn't be easier. Varanasi was totally unique, and worth the visit. We have the travel book, "1001 places to visit before you die", that's just a thousand left! Sue Perkins programme on the path of the Ganges spoke of dreadful smells and underfoot conditions, I'm pleased to say that the buff bought as a result was a complete waste of time, and I shall be wearing my shoes again!!