Varanasi
You are looking at something that has its guts ripped open, raw, exposed, and yet the heartbeat is strong, its lifeblood pulsating in its veins…This is Varanasi, the world’s most ancient city, mystifying, yet captivating, unfiltered, yet appealing.
Varanasi by Night
We took a sunset boat cruise from the quieter end of the Ganges river, working our way expectantly down to merge with the converging crowds and the unrelenting buzz of activity. As ironic as it seems, there is a sense of calm in the midst of all the chaotic clattering, like being in the eye of the hurricane. “Jumping from boat to boat, assisted by an assembly line of unruffled boat-men, who held our hands, we were led us to our comfortable “seats” on top of a make-shift but stable shelter that can be dismantled at will.
The Ganga Aarti is performed daily in the evening, at the Dasashwamedh Ghat and at sunrise on the Assi Ghat (Ghat, meaning stepped embankments). Aarti (also spelt as Aarati) comes from the Sanskrit word “Aratrika“ – meaning a ritual that dispels darkness. This ritual worship traces its origins back to the Vedic time (circa 2000 BCE) and holds deep symbolic value for Hindus. The components of an Aarti ritual include fire, water, flowers, lamps, incense, bells and various other ritual objects.
Varanasi is not for the faint-hearted, nor for the typical tourist. It has no man-made gimmicks that draws the deep pockets. The city is as old and as filthy as can be, with dust forming an invisible screen all around, soot, dung and ashes strewn helter-skelter. Life goes on, even as cremation ceremonies are being conducted round the clock, with rituals and prayers, amid incessant ear-shattering honks of vehicles. You make a conscious decision to come, observe, accept, and quietly leave to go back to your own life in a different world, retiring under the same sun that shines over all, but oh how stark the contrast that sets the voyeur apart from the natives.
Varanasi by First Light
We got up early to board the car at 5 am to ferry us to our boat for yet another cruise at the crack of dawn. The Ganga Aarti is performed once again, but now it is dignified and subdued. While the sun gently rises from its slumber and casts its oblique rays over the horizon, people go about their daily lives, performing their morning pujas, washing their laundry, bathing in the river, while more cremations take place simultaneously, as the flames devoured the dead, sending smoke-screens into the landscape. The boat cruises slowly down the river, even as we take in the moving panorama of life that is happening right before us,
Daily Life on the narrow streets of Varanasi and beyond
The streets are barely wide enough for two people to be alongside with outstretched hands, yet it is shared with cows, motorcycles with their constant heart-pumping blaring, bicycles, dogs and whatever else with legs or wheels. Just beware of cow-dung and be mentally prepared for loud sudden noises that come on every 5-10 seconds from motorcycles weaving past the lanes.
Varanasi Food Trail – not for the queasy
Anyone in their right minds will not ever consider eating street food here, or would they? We left our brains behind, signed ourselves up for a street food trail, and tried them all!
By now, we are well and truly stuffed, but wait…there’s more!
You cannot be neutral to a place like this. It sets all your senses on high alert. How surreal the perfection of societies that run like clockwork and never skipped a beat.,,That sense of solidarity lasted but for a short while. All too soon, I was eager to return to my nice hotel, with impeccable service and facilities, grateful for the respite, to reclaim my sanity and bearings.
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