A Walk Along The Ganges: 2000 miles from sea to source

by Dennison Berwick

An enchanting portrayal of rural and urban northern India along the banks of her holiest river, stretching from the Bay of Bengal up into the Himalayas. The pilgrimage took seven months. Dennison Berwick writes, "I wanted to make a great walk, to set off with no prospect of ending for months. I wanted to see the land that had fired the British imagination for generations. I wanted to travel at the pace of rural India, where four out of five Indians live, and to walk in the footsteps of the peasants. And why the Ganga? I was searching for answers to one question: How could a river also be a goddess? For millions of Hindus, the river Ganga is the physical expression of the goddess Ganga; bathing in her waters is both spiritual ritual and necessary ablution. We have learned so well in the West to separate sacred from secular that the very notion of their being indivisible, like the Ganga, seems absurd. However, the Native Indians of Canada have a saving. 'Never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins, ' and this was something I took literally. I was determined to wear village clothes, eat local foods, adopt local customs for washing and toilet and as much as possible speak the language. I felt that meeting India's people and walking through her villages and beside her most sacred river was the only way to learn about the country. Perhaps then, I thought, I might begin to understand something of the relationship between the Ganga and her devotees and might find answers to my question.

Genres: Travel, India, Adventure

418 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2011

Reviews

[Soul longings]

This is a unique kind of book which gives u the opportunity to be a part of the journey where the author walks along the ganges from bay of bengal to gangotri and gaumukh , kudos to the author to complete such a arduous task , The narration style is very candid and it gives u a pleasant feeling to explore unknown places .Reading this book was very spiritually enlivening , The history of places is also described very nicely .
The author begins his journey with lot of zest and has many candid conversation but as he progresses he gets irritated by the similar repetitive questions and also is hindered by lack of sufficient knowledge of local languages , so the last part becomes a bit dry .
its good one time read

[Arie]

This is the story of the author's unique journey, a 2000 mile walk along India's holy river, Mother Ganga; a young man's quest to discover the essence of India, from within.

Dennison Berwick doesn't observe India from inside an air conditioned limousine parked on a dusty roadside along the Ganges. He walks the walk. He burrows deep under the country's skin, strides along its sinewy muscles and, after respectfully removing his sandals, he plunges into the stream of its bodily fluids.
What we get is not a passive visual description of life along the Ganges, but the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the customs and the spirit of India. A detailed personal account of the author's experiences, of his encounters with people of diverse backgrounds, class, and social status, as well as of his trials and tribulations in this hugely diverse, always fascinating, frequently enthralling and often most shocking of countries, told simply, honestly, with humour but with great respect for his subject, without embellishment or hyperbole.

A book to savour, whether you are an armchair traveller or an adventurer who has travelled the world, whether you have a passing interest in India or have already visited the country more than once and thought you knew it. Prepare to be surprised, to be entertained and to discover India, as it really is.

[Ekta Kubba]

This Holy river has always been of interest to me, so I was quite happy to find a book such as this one. Reading it was complete fun, i would say a real walk with the author. I like the style. It seemed sincere and candid without going overboard into gross-out mode or anything. Kind of a mad undertaking, walking over 1500 miles, but he did it and it's pretty inspirational to read about. He didn't observe India from inside an air conditioned car parked on a dusty roadside along the Ganges. He walked the walk. What we get is not a passive visual description of life along the Ganges, but the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the customs and the spirit of India. This is certainly a book to savour. I read this book for the first time in 2013. And since then I read it atleast once in a year, and hope to continue it in future. This book always brings me close to my favourite river, and after reading this i usually pack my bags and start a journey (not on foot, but by bus) to be near the river for a few days. I hope one day i'll walk on the footsteps of Dennison Berwick.

[Neeti Bharatan]

An average read with some peculiar writing style. The author made an interesting journey on foot from West Bengal to the source of Ganges, Gau Mukh. He writes about the India that is not so developed, some of the comments inappropriate in my opinion but captures India and its historical facts nonetheless.

[Word Muncher]

What a quaint little book. The author is aways so calm and so serene and the scenes he depicts, even the people are likewise. I think it's a clever read because it depicts so much, has so much information and is just a means to an ends really and not many people write about a trek in India. My eyes are more open to the country, the people and the atmosphere now.

[Tom Cartledge]

Really nice adventure. Not sure I would have spent so much time in some of the earlier cities without developing them in a little more detail, but all the same a well written book. Very impressive walk along the Ganges.

[Mick Munro]

100

[Lysta Sawson]

The best part about this book was the honesty in its words. Having witnessed the likes of rural India firsthand, I can say that whatever the author says in the book is to its core, true. The fact that despite poverty, several people would be more than willing to share food and shelter with a pilgrim or a traveler, and that such a journey would at every turn be painstaking and frustrating, has been portrayed truthfully in the book. The author doesn't shy away from mentioning both the pros and cons of such an experience with impressive neutrality and attraction. All in all, it was a great experience reading it.
I have taken away half a star as according to my first read, I had expected it to be longer than it originally was. Although the text was presented beautifully, it wouldn't have hurt to be a wee more descriptive (not that I'm complaining).

[Pauline Manya]

I wondered why he hated having to talk to people he met. He didn't like explaining his goal. He could have turned the tables and asked the people he met about their lives. He wasn't physically well prepared for the walk and his health suffered. Commendable for raising funds for charity.

[Raghu Venkatraman]

Finally completed it out of a sense of duty. There are travelogues which pop and there are some that just bore. This unfortunately is one of the latter...