It's quite weird watching the bodies burn on the Ghats at Varanasi. Of course it's no different to what happens around the world when death occurs, but to see the act in the raw brings home the mortality of life.

 In India the funeral usually takes place on the same day as death, vital in a country where temperatures reach 46 degrees. So while you may have been tending granny in the morning, but evening she may be just a pile of ash floating down the Ganges.

 Watching the ceremony is quite moving. The pyre is built by untouchables. Each piece of wood weighed to ensure the right amount is used to consume the body. The body is then brought to the river, borne by relatives. Prayers are said and final goodbyes made. Then the body is washed in the Ganges, which can't be conducive to combustion.

More prayers are said and flowers and powders decorate the body. And then it is laid on the pyre. The oldest male relative has the duty to light the pyre, first walking three times around the body with the burning torch. Things can get a bit frantic here as the torch sometimes burns little to quickly meaning what was meant to be a dignified stroll becomes a frantic gallop.

And then it burns. Three hours later the departed has left the planet in body as well as in spirit, and all that remains is a smouldering pile of ash. It's basic, fundamental and part of the circle of life.