[New Series: Asians Now] The Unchanging India is Changing: A Festive Atmosphere at the Holy Site

Journalist
Hirokazu Murohashi

I lived in Bangkok for about 10 years and have covered Asia extensively, with a focus on Thailand. Even after returning to Japan, I couldn't forget the chaotic energy, so I settled in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo—a multi-ethnic town that is now a melting pot of Asia—and I write books and articles about foreigners living in Japan.
In this essay, I will write about what I have felt during my days of reporting on themes such as "Asia within Japan" and "Japan within Asia." The first installment is set in India. Everywhere you go in India now, it is overflowing with domestic Indian tourists. From that sight, I could see signs of change in an India I thought would never change.

India does not change.
That was my conclusion after traveling through this subcontinent frequently since 1992.

Certainly, the economy is growing. Over the past 30 years, it has maintained a high economic growth rate, and with the power of its 1.4 billion population—now the largest in the world—it is said that its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will overtake Japan's within this year.

However.
The streets remain chaotic, car horns blare like a torrential downpour, and trash overflows. Despite being called an IT superpower, online reservations for things like trains are difficult to use and full of bugs. In the same places as 30 years ago, I am still approached by the same types of touts and scammers.

The high statistical economic growth rate is not really reflected in the street scenes or the behavior of the Indian people. Regardless of the state of the country's economy, I thought the roots of the Indian people were as unchanging as the flow of the Ganges River.

Overflowing tourists
Fewer cows

But last year, when I visited Varanasi, a city on the banks of the Ganges, for the first time in seven years, I was made to rethink that. The holy site of Hinduism, which is also a symbol of the "unchanging India," was overflowing with Indian tourists.

You might think, "What's so surprising about that?" but in the India of the past, there weren't many people who could afford to enjoy tourism. Only the wealthy and foreigners stayed in luxury hotels, and budget guesthouses were gathering places for foreign backpackers.

However, this time, when I went to a familiar guesthouse overlooking the Ganges, most of the guests were Indian. The prices have also gone up significantly. The maze-like alleys of the old town look the same as before, but there are more well-equipped hotels.

If you search on hotel booking sites like Agoda or Booking.com, they all seem to be around 5,000 to 10,000 yen. It seems the people staying there are indeed the Indian middle class, mostly neat-looking families, and it is quite crowded.

Previously, even in hotels of this class, cleaning was often insufficient, hot water wouldn't come out, or sheets and towels were dirty, but such properties have decreased, and I felt that the overall level of hygiene has improved. There were also quite a few private lodgings registered only on the major home-sharing site, Airbnb.

I splurged and went to Brijrama Palace. It is a heritage hotel that opened in 2016 after restoring a palace built in the early 19th century, and its appearance, as if one had wandered into a medieval ruin, is magnificent.

Even the lowest-ranked room is equivalent to 40,000 yen per night, a price beyond my means, so I at least enjoyed a vegetarian dinner course.

Because Varanasi is a holy site of Hinduism that forbids the taking of life, a food culture centered on vegetables has taken root, and I thought that a full course meal highlighting that was an approach not often seen in India until now. The other tables were all Indian families.

I think that in the past, the Indians who came to Varanasi were mainly pilgrims. Or, the religious color was so strong that many people visited to die in this city and be washed away in the Ganges River, giving it the true feel of a holy site. The sight of people performing ritual bathing on the riverbank was even solemn.

However, in the Varanasi I visited after a long time, those overflowing the streets appeared to be people there for purely tourist purposes rather than pilgrimage.

Perhaps to meet the needs of such tourists, Dashashwamedh Road, which is the main street of the old town and used to be a shopping street lined with old multi-tenant buildings, had completely changed. Many shops had been neatly rebuilt, unified with a pink exterior, and the cobblestone streets had been maintained, with less trash.

Come to think of it, the cows that used to walk around everywhere have also decreased significantly.

It is said that they were originally raised for farm work and to utilize their milk. Because they are considered sacred animals in Hinduism, they are not culled even when they get old.

It seems that those that were unavoidably released into the wild or abandoned on the streets because they could no longer be supported economically increased steadily, and in the past, such cows would strut through even big cities, lie down on the street to take a leisurely nap, and I often stepped in their poop.

The easygoing Indian people who accepted such a situation are also changing.

Due to the recent overcrowding of cities and the increase in traffic, it seems that complaints about cows have flooded the administration. In urban areas, they are building facilities to house cows and are proceeding with their capture. The number of states establishing penalties for abandoning cows on the streets is also increasing. For this reason, stray cows are decreasing nationwide, but I feel a selfish sense of nostalgia as if an important character that forms the chaos of India is disappearing.

The Vishwanath Temple, which enshrines Lord Shiva, had transformed even more.

I remember this famous temple, which is also the center of Varanasi's holiness, as being like an ancient ruin, but the entire site seems to have undergone large-scale development, and it has become almost like a theme park. Indian tourists were strolling through it, taking selfies together, and looking very happy.

"The Prime Minister changed it"
The scenery of Varanasi

"Modi changed everything."

As I was looking out at the Ganges from a temple terrace, an older man who had struck up a conversation said this with pride.

Narendra Modi, who has served as Prime Minister for over a decade, is from the western state of Gujarat, but his constituency is here in Varanasi. And he has invested a large amount of money in this city.

In a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation like India, this is likely an expression of Mr. Modi's ideology, which is considered Hindu supremacist, and it is also likely intended to serve as a model city for his own economic policy, which focuses on infrastructure development. Not only in the center of Varanasi, but also in the suburbs around the airport and railway stations, the main roads have become quite well-maintained.

In addition, he has continued economic policies often called "Modinomics," such as revitalizing the manufacturing industry, digitizing administration, attracting foreign investment, and improving sanitary conditions, which have boosted the Indian economy since he took office in 2014.

Benefiting from this, the domestic tourism industry seems to be quite active among the enriched middle class. Varanasi is a symbol of this, but tourist destinations in other regions are also bustling. This scene reminds me of China about 20 years ago. Since Indians basically travel with their whole family and relatives, the amount they spend is likely quite significant.

A young man who spoke to me at a ghat (bathing place) along the Ganges said he had come on a trip with his family of six from the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

He is still a university student, but he said, "I want to start a business after I graduate. Since Modi created a system to support startups, there are so many more opportunities in this country."

He spoke passionately to me, a stranger, like this. I hope he stays this friendly, but he finally said this because he had to return to his family.

"This is my first time in Varanasi, but it's not very hygienic, and I'm a little embarrassed to show it to you, a foreigner. I want you to come to Karnataka next time. It's completely different."

Is this okay?
Worship as a festival

The young man headed toward the "Puja."

At the ghat at the end of Dashashwamedh Road, worship is held at sunset. It is where monks offer prayers at an altar set up facing the Ganges.

I used to like watching this Puja from the river. When I hired a boat and rowed out, the middle of the Ganges was surprisingly quiet, and the sound of bells rung during the worship would carry across the water. In the twilight, I could see the figures of the monks illuminated by the light of the candlesticks in the distance.

I thought that this scene had surely continued unchanged for hundreds of years. As I drifted quietly down the Ganges, I always saw the "immutable India" in the figure of the city fading into the dusk along with the ringing of the bells.

Okay, let's go again this time... as I walked to Dashashwamedh Ghat, the number of people gradually increased. As I pushed my way through them, it was already a huge crowd.
An incredible number of people were surrounding the altar visible far ahead. It seems they were all tourists who had come to see the Puja.

At the end of the smartphones held in everyone's hands, five men dancing with flashy candlesticks were brightly lit up, looking more like performers than monks. Lively music enveloped the ghat.

Looking at the Ganges, the water surface was already packed with boats. They weren't the small rowboats I used to ride, but rather quite impressive ones equipped with spectator seats on top. Such boats filled the shoreline. A large ferry with flashy electric decorations was also anchored offshore, and its deck was overflowing with people.

Faced with a Puja that had become a complete show with no sense of holiness, I was dumbfounded. Is this okay, India?

I felt skeptical about people who value Hindu culture rooted in daily life watching worship that had turned into a performance, but the commercialization of tradition is a price and a process of economic development.

There are probably people who have doubts about it, but at least the thousands of people in front of me were likely accepting and enjoying this scene.

"India might really be changing..."

In the suffocating crowd, I felt that way.

[Video] Puja worship at the Ganges (Provided by the author)

Middle class grows
Consciousness has changed

While I was naively thinking that "India is immutable," the middle class, which had gained economic power and changed its consciousness, had grown and now clearly overflowed in a form visible even to foreigners.

In the 2024 general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Modi failed to win an absolute majority on its own and barely maintained its position as the ruling party through a coalition. Opposition to Hindu supremacy is also strong, and the administration is by no means rock-solid.

Even so, the economic engine that has started moving will not stop so easily.

The number of people who have come to enjoy tourism and celebrate consumption will likely increase further. This huge and heavy country may finally be about to take off. At that time, people's ways of thinking, lifestyles, and morals should also change significantly.

Hirokazu Murohashi
Journalist
Born in 1974. After working as a weekly magazine reporter, he moved to Thailand. He was enrolled in a local Japanese-language information magazine and covered Thailand and surrounding countries for 10 years. After returning to Japan, he has been active as a journalist and editor specializing in Asia. His themes are "Japanese living in Asia" and "Asians living in Japan."
He currently lives in Shin-Okubo, Japan's largest multinational town. He continues his reporting activities while being closely involved with the foreign community. He gives many lectures at universities, media, and talk events on themes such as "the reality and challenges of multicultural coexistence as seen from foreign communities." He is a part-time lecturer at Musashino University. He also conducts fieldwork walking around multinational towns such as Shin-Okubo.
His books include "The Mystery of Curry Immigrants" (Shueisha Shinsho), "Report: Shin-Okubo" (Kadokawa Shoten), "Ethnic National Route 354" (Shinchosha), and "Japan's Foreign Countries" (Keiso Shobo).

Official Website https://murohashi.jp/
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