67/ 100 Boats Dog
Unwanted Progress
When we visited the Indian city of Varanasi for the first time, six years ago in 2019, we stayed in a charming little guesthouse right in the very heart of the chaos. Whilst quite basic, it had everything we needed and was clean and very affordable. The one thing that has drawn us back there twice since, though, is the enthusiastic owner and now our good friend, Sonu. Also there is a great cafe next door that does a brilliant breakfast.
Sonu’s family have a long history in Varanasi and have lived there for many, many years. Sonu himself was born there and has lived there for his whole life. If there is something you need to know about the workings of the city, he is the person to give you the insider information.
He has worked very hard and made a great business. In a society where the caste system is not supposed to exist, but is evident everywhere, he worked his way up from a boatman to the manager of a very busy and well-loved guesthouse. He will forever be from a lower caste family but he has never let that hold him back from being very successful.
On our last trip we spent a lot of time with him, mulling over life in Varanasi and his own personal ups and downs, of which there were many. This was the our first visit since Covid and it was fascinating to hear about the issues they faced in a country so very different from our own. Just as my own business as a wedding photographer has changed in many unanticipated ways since Covid so too have businesses in India and, just as I still can’t figure out what is driving those changes, Sonu has the same thoughts about the boat business in Varanasi.
Sitting on the banks of the mighty river Ganges boats of all shapes and sizes have long been an important mode of transport for people and goods moving too and from Varanasi. Several thousand pilgrims arrive by boat each day, perched precariously and clad in matching life vests, to perform their religious duties in this sacred city. Then there are tourists such as ourselves from every corner of the world who use the boats to take rides on the river to see the city from a completely different perspective.
Our friend Sonu, along with many of his peers, were trained from a young age to be boatmen. They learned to physically row large wooden boats up and down the river, navigating the currents and other traffic safely, building their knowledge of the best places to land the boats and how to navigate in the thick fog that can lower visibility to just a few metres. These boats have no navigational aids whatsoever – they are simply a wooden boat with oars.
At least, until recently, most of them were wooden boats with oars. Those vessels glided up and down the ghats in complete silence, apart from the gentle murmur from the guides and the boatmen calling the seagulls to create Instagram-worthy photo opportunities. Today that silence is gone. If you were hoping to sit on the ghats at sunrise in serene bliss and perform your daily yoga rituals then you might be disappointed.
On our visit in 2020 all but the very largest boats were human powered. On our visit this year (2025), almost all the boats are powered by an engine. With this being India, a country apparently unbothered by pollution and noise, those engines are very loud and very smokey. Watch the video below with the sound turned on for a little slice of river life today.
This sudden move towards powered boats has had several unwelcome effects:
The once peaceful river is no longer peaceful. When his mind was troubled Sonu used to go down to the banks of the river and meditate at sunrise. He can’t do that now.
The pollution from the boats is now so bad that there is a permanent haze above the river. The government is trying to switch the boats from diesel to CNG to improve the situation and we will have to wait and see how successful that is.
The boatmen and their arm-powered boats are being left moored to the clusters of other unused boats by the shore because Indian people are preferring the faster engine-powered boats. Even the traditional boatmen are reluctantly ditching their oars and retrofitting engines to their boats to keep up with demand. Fortunately tourists apparently still prefer to be rowed around. We certainly appreciated the serenity of gently moving along the shore in complete silence.
The fourth issue is one that is surely a catastrophe waiting to happen. Now that the only thing standing between you and a big pile of cash is whether or not you can buy a boat, there is an influx of completely untrained people acquiring the biggest vessels they can, cramming as many passengers on board and heading downriver. We saw so many near misses on our trip it was mind-blowing. Sonu regularly sends us video clips of boat crashes as he despairs of what has become of his beloved river.
He told us in January that his family too have bought a big two-story boat. If they didn’t then their business wouldn’t be able to compete and they need the income to survive. At least they use well-trained boatmen to drive them.
If you ever go to Varanasi please choose a row-boat for your tour. It is hands-down the best way to see the city from the river.
