# @storiesofshabeeb on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BaHMICGABI7
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/61436498-storiesofshabeeb-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/611c84f172.jpg
- **Posted:** 2017-10-11T15:13:08.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Shabeeb Musthafa (@storiesofshabeeb) — https://gondola.cc/storiesofshabeeb

## Caption

•Burning Ghats of Varanasi• •05/09/17•

Yesterday, we witnessed live cremation for the first time. 
At the burning Ghats of Varanasi, dead bodies are brought one after the other and burned with quintals of wood. Several bodies are cremated at a time. Fires constantly burn in this sleepless city, a new one set ablaze when one extinguishes - burning bodies to ashes day in and day out.

We looked around in wonderment and disbelief, goosebumps on our skin, the air around us thick with the smell of death and burning human flesh. Scattered groups of people stood and watched the rituals unfold - families of the dead, villagers who have chosen burning rites as their profession, monks and priests, foreigners and tourists - some terrified, some amused, some taking in the spirituality they find in the rites, some engaged in heated conversations. We watched a foot fall out of a heap of burning wood, and a rib-cage being pushed deep in so that it properly burns.

How indifferent and distant human beings can become to the human body once it is lifeless! Workers laughed in between rites and took casual tea breaks, all while the fire vehemently fizzed out and the sounds of skulls cracking echoed through the night.

That unforgettable day, we inhaled in death and felt its fumes consume our senses like never before. And with our eyes watering, breaths shallowing and hearts praying, we silently retired for the night.

#varanasi #myallindiatrip #india #incredibleindia #rituals #hinduism #aghoris #burningghats #dead #cremation #storiesofshabeeb #mytraveldiary #journal

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## Tags

incredibleindia, storiesofshabeeb, rituals, burningghats, mytraveldiary, hinduism, journal, myallindiatrip, india, cremation, dead, aghoris, varanasi

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