The "Accidental" explosion

Well, we all survived an accidental explosion on the ghats* yesterday afternoon. It was pretty awful. I felt the concussion of the blast 3/4 of a mile away. You hear loud crashes all of the time in india, so at first I thought it was a firework exploding. Maybe it was a little too loud for fireworks, but it was so far away I couldn't tell.

As I approached the site I was overcome by a pannicky crowd running away in fear and screaming "bomb." I stepped to the side to let running scared people pass and waited... and waited... Apparently the second bomb threat was just a misunderstanding. This may sound like no fun, but it was actually ok - And what a bonding experience! You never know a culture until you stand with them all shaking in your mutual boots and flip-flops, not knowing if you are going to be incidental damages in a pissing fight between the powered and the powerless.

I slowly made it up the steps of the nearest ghat and ran smack into Annabelle and Michele at the Internet spot. Annabelle said that she saw lots of bloodied people being ferried away from the disaster spot. The internet cafe is up on a hill 1/4 mile behind the location of the blast. AB was outside, so she heard and saw it all. Michele was at the computer. She didn't hear or feel a thing. We've never actually seen an ambulance in india let alone varanasi, so it was the auto rickshaws that helped carry the wounded to the local hospital.

In the end, the news was that the propane tank of a food wallah had exploded. At least four people died. No sure how many wounded. There is a little history of terrorism in the area related to a group called the "naxalites" and a Maoist organization from Jharkhand, all signs point to negligence and a terrible accident. To be honest, we really don't know, so unless we hear differently, we are going with tragic accident.

Besides the occasional explosion, Varanasi is great. My head is in my hindi notebooks. The climate here is much more conducive to learning and there are many many more people here to interact with.

I'll stay and study for a few more days while Michele and AB go to Bodh Gaya and the birth of Buddha and you guessed it: Buddism. We'll hook up late next week in Kolkatta.

*Ghats are like temples with a series of stairs that lead down to the holy river ganga. In varanasi, the ghats function like the boardwalk at coney island. They attract everyone from homeless postcard selling chillun' to naked sadhus (holy men) to dhobis (clothes washers) to djembe and didgeridoo playing hippie koreans to big ass water buffaloes.

UPDATE: I did get it confirmed from three separate sources that the explosion was in fact a bomb. The newspaper reported that someone left a bomb in a bag underneath a chaiwallah/paanwallah's stand. Another bomb was found that did not explode (possibly explains the second bomb ruckus that I witnessed). 7 people were killed in the explosion... bummer.