We were lucky enough to arrive at the banks of the Ganges River during a Hindu celebration, every where you looked was like the pages of a National Geographic magazine. In the Hindu culture this river is considered to be a Goddess, if your ashes are released into the river your cycle of reincarnation is ended and you proceed straight to Nirvana. Daily people pray, bathe, and just generally hang out along the banks of this river. While this river is heavily polluted with trash industrial and human waist and even human remains it still nourishes the people along its banks. This is due to an unusually high oxygen concentration and an unusually high amount of bacteria phages in its waters. Daily you will find people bathing in the river performing rituals of dunking and baptizing themselves with the water as they say prayers. You will find magnificent funeral pyres as families cremate their loved ones and release the remains into the river.