During our last week in Varanasi, we were able to be part of the Holi and Festival of Colors. The evening of the bonfires, we were in our guest house and decided to go and watch the bonfires and fireworks. The fireworks were incredibly loud and sounded like explosions. Just hearing them and not seeing them was quite frightening, so we decided it would be better to see them being lit. We had a guard who opens and closes the gates to the house and he had locked them and then he had eaten or drunken something and we were unable to wake him, so we decided to climb over the fences to get in and out. It must have looked a sight seeing 5 white people climbing over fences! It was alot of fun watching the fireworks and seeing the bonfire go up and watching them was less frightening than just hearing them.
The next day of Festival of Colors the guard was reluctant to let us out because of our safety but we reassured him that we would be fine and we walked up to the YWAM base. As it turned out, we were completely safe and enjoyed the day getting colored and putting colors on others. There was a large police presence but this was because there had been a murder the night before in our area.
Everywhere in Varanesi and Delhi there are large numbers of armed police. We have not seen any violence or felt threatened at all during our time in India. The police are on extra duty due to several incidents and rapes before we arrived and while we are being very careful and watchful, everywhere seems safe at the moment. There was one occasion when a youth was talking to us and the police came and because they didn't recognise him as being local, they took him away. We heard that he had to pay a fine and they let him go. So all in all, a very safe trip to date. Praise God!
The next day of Festival of Colors the guard was reluctant to let us out because of our safety but we reassured him that we would be fine and we walked up to the YWAM base. As it turned out, we were completely safe and enjoyed the day getting colored and putting colors on others. There was a large police presence but this was because there had been a murder the night before in our area.
Everywhere in Varanesi and Delhi there are large numbers of armed police. We have not seen any violence or felt threatened at all during our time in India. The police are on extra duty due to several incidents and rapes before we arrived and while we are being very careful and watchful, everywhere seems safe at the moment. There was one occasion when a youth was talking to us and the police came and because they didn't recognise him as being local, they took him away. We heard that he had to pay a fine and they let him go. So all in all, a very safe trip to date. Praise God!
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