We were having lunch with Helene and Remy in Shree Café. Long time visitors to Varanasi, we’ve become more friendly with them in recent years. Santosh invited us all to take a walk with the family on the ghat.

Helene and Remy stay in the guesthouse above the restaurant and have become very close to the family, but we only get to socialize with them on these Sunday afternoon walks.

Highlights of this afternoon were delicious apple pie and classical Indian dance at Assi Ghat.

A few days later, Gerard and I rose early, when the air was still cool and fresh, to watch the sun rise.

Dawn is one of the more popular times to take a boat ride and watch the golden sunlight shine on the sacred city.

There’s plenty of people about but the atmosphere is more contemplative. A wonderful time to take an uninterrupted walk.

We mentioned meeting up with Krystyna and her companion Karel when we were in Goa. Karel had never been to Varanasi so we arranged to meet while we were here. Gerard and Karel immediately connected.

We were both excited to have the opportunity to spend more time with them. They only stayed a few days but we spent a lot of time together. Karel had done a Krishnamurti translation in Czech some years ago and wanted to visit the Krishnamurti Center just down the Ganga from Varanasi.

We visited it briefly a few years ago but wanted to see it again with them. So we rented a boat and paddled our way downstream

past the burning ghat,

to the beautiful serene compound sitting high on the bank of the river. Karel and Krystyna planned to spend three or more days there.

We joined them for lunch and saw their cottage – simple but beautiful. There were several people from all over staying there, but the conversation was minimal. We found the atmosphere very attractive and may stay there another year ourselves. Karel and Krystyna bid us farewell until our paths cross again….which might well be in Prague. We have an open invitation.