The Ganges speaks to them emotionally. They want to become part of that long, unending tradition. Tapping into that tradition is not easy for a westerner. Foreigners who arrive in Benares, the holiest of Ganges cities, with a loved one's ashes are often shocked by the greed. Death in Benares is big business.
Death can be too mechanical and cruel in the West.
It's good to think that the East is full of spirituality, but sometimes there's too much custom and not enough compassion. Hinduism, which has around 330 million gods and goddesses, is a religion of both complexity and simplicity. During the 13-day funeral ceremony, priests sometimes dress up in the dead man's clothes and eat his favorite curries. Yet these rituals can be flexible enough to accommodate a Patsy Cline song. Some priests still refuse to perform the last rites for anyone on the bottom of Hinduism's caste hierarchy, such as India's wretched untouchables, and, of course, foreigners are not allowed to have their ashes placed in the Ganges.