It’s a game played over large parts of Asia and made famous in The kite runner. Where the elderly men of Shanghai seem to seek tranquility as their almost-lighter-than-air contraptions soar, kite flying in South Asia is a more competitive sport, trying to bring down or cut of your competitors.

In Varanasi, there’s a further element of morbidity added as hundreds of these basic paper squares on wooden frames take to the sky over the banks of the holy river Ganges.
-They fly on the rising heat from the burning ghats, remarked an American who comes here on a regular basis to volunteer at an ashram dedicated to Lakshmi and Shiva.

Here, the last remains of the dead give an extra lift to the play of the living. The ashram and its shrines sit just above Marnikarnika ghat, the most auspicious place for a hindu to be cremated. Those who are fornute enough to draw their last breath in this holy city, or can be brought here by their relatives, escape the continuing cycle of rebirth. According to legend, Varanasi was founded by Lord Shiva himself. The direct ascend to heaven without the need for yet another earthly life was granted by Shiva as a favour to the god Vishnu
. And what Shiva has granted, no man can take away
.

Still, in this city where hundreds are carried through the streets on simple stretchers made out in all their finery to be burned, many will never be touched by the eternal flames at Marnikarnika.
First of all, several groups are exempt from this practice as they are thought not to need that final purification by fire:
– small children
– pregnant women, by virtue of the small children they are carrying
– victims of cobra bites, as Shiva carries a necklace of cobras
– saddhus, whole men considered so pure, no “trial by fre” is necessary
– lepers, who are touched by god

Another consideration is the cost. The price of the several hundred kilos of wood can be exorbitant, especially the camphor or sandalwood that are the preferred means of consumption by fire for those who can afford it.
A cheaper alternative is to be cremated at home and then have your loved ones carry the ashes to Varanasi and scatter them in the Ganges as they pray for an expedient passage into a realm beyond our own.
Cheaper still is the free municipal crematorium powered by electricity and situated a few hundred meters further up the river.

But while those who can and do chose to be consumed by fire on India’s most famous and most sacred burning ghat may pay a hefty price in earthly terms, they do provide that free thrill to young an old in the alleyways around Marnikarnika: An eternally rising thermal to carry your kite high above the city and provide a moment of relief from the laments of this world.