Word: varanasi
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...Varanasi, ministering to the dead is a way of life. Situated on the banks of the holy Ganges River, the ancient city is not only a place of pilgrimage but an auspicious place to die. The elderly and the sick arrive from across India to pass their final days praying at the river, in ashrams or on the street, knowing that dying on the banks of the Ganges will speed them through the cycle of rebirths to moksha, or liberation of the soul. Those who don't die in Varanasi desire to be cremated there, or have their ashes scattered...
...film has placed Das amid a national tempest. In late January, one day before shooting was to begin in the holy city of Varanasi, a group of Hindus stormed the set and burned part of it down. City officials ordered a production halt. Shooting won't resume until fall. Frustrated by the disruption to her work, Das is even more worried about how the uproar has distorted the image of her country. "What is interesting and fascinating about this country is that everything coexists," she says. "You have the extreme fanatics, but there are also very progressive and very open...
Lifting folded palms to the rising sun, silver-haired Veer Bhadra Mishra steps into the Ganges to begin his ritual morning ablution. As the mahant, or spiritual and administrative head, of the second largest temple in Varanasi, the main destination for Hindu pilgrims in India, Mishra is a very important man. Since the 16th century, the job has passed from father to eldest son. Devotees scramble to touch his feet, traders whisper their business hopes, and students seek his blessing before final exams. As a child he learned the sacred chants and rites--including the importance of a daily...
That she does--desperately. The Indian government launched a program to restore the river in 1986. In Varanasi--where 60,000 people gather daily, most for a holy dip--pumps were set up to divert sewage to a new treatment plant downstream. The pumps often stop because of electricity shortages, however, and the treatment facility is ineffective...
...even the Janata leaders predicted a landslide by their party, but many realized in the closing days of the campaign that Congress was in trouble. Opposition rallies were jammed, while Prime Minister's audiences were embarrassingly apathetic. Three times during a rally at Varanasi, the chairman called for a cheer for Indira, and three times the crowd shouted no. In Lucknow, women in the front of the audience started to leave ten minutes after Mrs. Gandhi began to speak. Tired of news broadcasts on the government-run All India Radio, which ignored the opposition's campaign and burbled...