Cremation is Education, from Rob

I didn't make the title up. Those silly little Indians love sayings that rhyme.

We went and saw the burning ghats the other night. I really expected more. I had envisioned a pyre 20 feet high, not with a single body, but with dozens. I thought the fire would be so intense I would have to give it a 10 meter radius and that there would be a stench that would send me into dry heaves. Instead there were only multiple small pyres and they didnt seem to give off much smell at all. Not that I really took in a good whiff, but there did seem to be a faint smell of tandoori chicken. It was dark and hard to see what was going on. "Oh my god, is that really a burning body," Glenn whispers. "I don't know, I think its just a log on the fire. C'mon I am hungry, lets find some dinner..." We did eventually get a better look. We climbed up some stairs to a higher ghat where they burn the higher castes naturally. There was one pyre close to the top of the stairs and there was no way to not get a close up look. There was no mistaking it. The sizzle of barbecue. Made me yearn for home. All the presumed family members and friends seemed quite neutral, maybe a bit bored even. I think they welcomed the distraction of a couple of foreigners to their party. There was no tears or moaning, nor women either. They had to be left at home. I really got caught up in the lack of human emotion.

"Lets go Glenn...I think we are a few blocks away from that place in my book. Lets have chicken tonight."