Varanasi notes - The river

Before we meet, the hopeful says, "Let us meet at the bank of the river. We will first dip our feet and then bathe there, and that can be the start of our relationship." My photographer has been near our proposed meeting point. You can go have a bath, he says, leave me out of it: I saw a dead woman floating there.

***

The next morning we get into a boat, tiptoeing over the green foam on the riverbank. The river smells stale, excrete floats by. Beyond the foam, a swimming instructor teaches students how to swim in water a solid shade of dark gray. In the middle of a monologue, the hopeful describes the spiritually purifying powers of the river. Merely taking its name is enough to cleanse you for seven births. He turns to wash his face with the river water, and then drinks it.

***

I cannot believe they swim in this.

***

Faith nearly kills. Three men from another state enter the river. They have sensitive skin. Two of them turn black, the third cannot move. He is rushed for medical care. None have recovered completely.

***

One man wants water purification through one system. The government wants it through another, and says the man's idea is too expensive. Authority has had a brainwave: let us release turtles in the river. There are two problems. Turtles consume only algae and seaweed. The town doesn't shit algae and seaweed.