Blog #2 (A Day At Hotel Surya)

Josh Roberts

In Varanasi we stayed at Hotel Surya, built for one of the great kaisers of Nepal. The place was fit for a king in every way - a striking contrast to the streets of India.

Inside the palace walls I eat my buffet breakfast: chocolate pancakes, mango juice, and omelettes to order. Breakfast is followed by a half hour massage session, complete with 'soothing' music and moody lighting. I then head up to my room. Thankfully, Hotel Surya has a subscription for the 'English Movies Pack', so the next hour or so is spent watching Peter Parker run up buildings in a red Lycra suit. After this entertainment it is past midday and time for lunch. The options are numerous and the choice difficult but I settle eventually for a buffalo chicken pizza complimented nicely by a cold coffee with ice cream. Life is not easy.

As I ate breakfast that morning I had an interesting view. The hotel complex is surrounded on all four sides by a high concrete wall. Just outside the wall, is a field. No grass grows in this field, instead piles of rubbish adorn it. Mothers sleep in tents which remind me of the bivouacs we built at 4th Form Camp. Children scavenge the rubbish piles. Outside the palace walls, owners of the market stores pester us. One exploited New Zealander might be enough to keep the family fed for another week. Each inhale fills my lungs with smog. It feels as if acid has been sprayed up my nose like nasal spray, against my will. Except it's not really against my will because I chose to come here. Outside the palace walls, children tug at my sleeves, desperate for one of the bananas I have just purchased for 5 rupees each. I don't give any away. They cost me just 5 rupees each. Upon seeing my watch, a smile lights up on the face of one of the girls. Outside the palace walls, in the streets of India, there are no chocolate pancakes or cold coffee with ice cream. You will not be served buffalo chicken pizza or mango juice. And there is certainly no head, neck and shoulders massage or Spider-Man. In the streets of India, life is not easy. Everything that society has told me is important to desire is non-existent here. But in the streets of India, at every corner, I see hope alongside the chaos and I hear joy amidst all the unsightly noise. In the streets of India, beauty can be found in the simple things.

"Be happy and strong in your life" - Mr Tripathi

"Too much energy in your country is spent developing the mind instead of the heart" - XIV Dalai Lama 

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