Varanasi is the holiest city in Hindu tradition. If you die there, you achieve moksha: liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. Many people come to Varanasi to do just that, and on any given day, dozens of bodies are set upon a funeral pyre of sandalwood, and cremated publicly along the banks of the Ganges. No photography is allowed at the burning ghats, but anyone can come bear witness. It's a haunting city with magic light, and every year, a handful of toursists just disappear. It was my...
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Varanasi is the holiest city in Hindu tradition. If you die there, you achieve moksha: liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. Many people come to Varanasi to do just that, and on any given day, dozens of bodies are set upon a funeral pyre of sandalwood, and cremated publicly along the banks of the Ganges. No photography is allowed at the burning ghats, but anyone can come bear witness. It's a haunting city with magic light, and every year, a handful of toursists just disappear. It was my feeling that some people come to Varanasi to do just that: disappear.
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