Arriving at Kathmandu airport and for the first ever in all my years of flying, the aircraft aborts it's landing about 50m above the runway. Nothing dramatic, just the engines suddenly throttling up again, when I expected them to feather or cut, and then we're off and away for another 20 minutes in the air while the cloud clears. The second attempt went uneventfully and generated a round of applause from the back of the plane. Turkish Airlines are pretty decent on the whole. Flew with them to Mongolia as well and they're reasonably priced; Biker Dom gives his thumbs up.
Tending the pyre as it burns down. The full process takes six hours or so.
Loading the pyre with ghee (butter)
Washing the body's feet
Preparing the body
Spectators gallery
Loading the body on the pyre
Smoke obscured spectators
Clearing away the previous ashes and launching 'steam ships'
Bringing the body to the pyre
The galleries opposite the cremation area
Even the monkeys are fascinated
Circulating the body
From one near death experience to the real thing. Steve, Alan and myself spent a moving afternoon at the Pashupatinath Temple. There, they cremate the dead by the side of a small river running through the temple complex. I've been to cremations before, private sober affairs, but this was the Channel 4 documentary version in full view of the public and played out on the steps guiding the river's path. This to some degree has also been commercialised, with water sellers touting for trade and fortune tellers and palm readers doing their stuff for the growing viewers. The cremation itself costs 15,000 rupees, more than many people make in a year; it's big business. Dogs and monkeys fight amongst themselves to see who is top dog at the site (in my mind the monkeys have it, but the dogs are definitely noisier.)
The body is brought to the river bank wrapped in a cloth. Prayers and devotions are performed before the body is taken down the steps to the water where feet and face are washed and the person is 'decorated ' with vermilion red, rice and such like in various phases. At some point the body is ceremoniously fed and given a drink too. The body is moved away from the immediate edge and more prayers are performed, with mourners circulating, hands in prayer. At this stage the wailing starts with very real tears and emotions not held back for the watching audience. And it is an audience. High above the preparation area there's a viewing balcony and across the river, we're sitting on steps, absorbing the atmosphere and taking pictures. It feels weird to be part of a very personal process, but this is normal here, perhaps even expected.
While this is going on, the pyre is built, after first having cleared the embers from the previous pyre. These are pushed into the river unceremoniously, and watching them drift down the river hissing and fizzing like hyperactive mini steam boats, is an interesting sight.
The body is taken and rested on the stack of prepared logs and precut sticks and then more sticks and logs are laid on top with dry straw. And then it's lit. At first nothing much is visible, a little smoke perhaps from the straw as it catches. After ten minutes our so the flames start to appear through the top and by then the smoke becomes more intense. The pyre attendant adds pre-packaged ghee blocks at strategic points to help fuel the process, all the while the feet protrude eerily from the mass of combustibles. It seems to take an age for the pyre to really go up in flames.
Moving to a vantage point on a bridge overlooking the pyre, at one point the smoke drifts in my direction. It may surprise you to learn that there's no unusual smell, no burning flesh, its just wood and straw. I'm guessing that's a result of the things they add to the pyre.
Looking down directly into the pyre through a gap in flames and I can see right to the embers at the base, just above the feet. There should be a leg there, but all I can see is a blackened stick; I realise it's a leg bone. Wow, I'm surprised how quickly the flesh is consumed, but not shocked.
What I did find shocking was the fact that everything is discarded into the river, not just the ashes, but clothes, and even plastic wrappers from things like the decoration rice and vermilion. some of it is recovered downstream by scavengers, but the bulk drifts off to wherever. As a result the river is disgustingly filthy. Upstream there's a small barrier and it is encrusted in plastic and other river-borne detritus. It's truly saddening that the river is treated like a waste disposal facility and it's a real shame for Nepal.
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