La orilla de los vivos

Asha is a low caste widow living in a remote village. One night she dreams that her death is near her and she decides to go to Varanasi to free her soul. However, when she reaches the bank of the Ganges, nothing is as she expected. Neither the city is so divine nor will its death be immediate. The holy Varanasi blends with the underworld Varanasi, just as life blends with death and despair with hope. The temples are full of devotees, false saints and pimps. Girls become offerings to serve the gods or how many men pay for them. Violence between Hindus and Muslims rages through the streets that inspire poets. As her finale drags on, Asha grapples with the weight of her beliefs and the memories that seep through the cracks in her memory: a dramatic childhood as an unwanted girl, her dismal marriage, some small rebellions and outbursts of self-love. The trip to the city becomes a trip to the center of herself. When Asha understands that her forgiveness undoes the knots that prevent her from freeing herself from her, everything makes a new sense. The best way to die, she suspects, is to learn to live.