Varanasi…..

Varanasi…..

Amidst the narrow roads (if you can call a small piece of tar that!!) And crazy traffic and even crazier people are these old old temples and ghats!….one minute the ghat is empty and the next minute it’s full!….

To drive in Varanasi you need to have the advanced commando course done, you need to finish the Al Qaeda suicide course!, You need to hurl abuses in chaste hindi as fast and possible and most important you should NOT have a valid vehicle or driving licence!….helmet is decoration and seat belts are just useless accessories!!….fill fuel only when the vehicle stops or else ignore the fuel indicator (it probably doesn’t work anyway!!)……our car (apparently one of the well maintained taxi!!) Came with Cellophane tapes attached to the side mirrors and the bonnet!!…..you can just about see the car body in between the dents!!…..once inside just ignore the voices coming from the car (maybe even from that dude who has been kidnapped and kept in the dicky or even your conscience telling you to RETURN!!)….But like our driver said in between the pan chewing and spitting in pan hindi (this doesn’t mean all over Hindi!…but a type of language or vocal sound which comes Outta your mouth when you are eating betel nut and pan and trying to speak Hindi without spit!!!)……so he had mentioned that you will get used to the sound and ignore it eventually!!…. Which is of course what happened!!….

The hot hot weather can be weathered only by drinking the thandai in those small earthern pots!!… Ignore the fact that they haven’t washed anything including vessels or even their hands!…some had remarked that it’s the only way to get a special taste in the drink and the food!..

Then the sweets and Kachoris and the samosas which make a mountain of snacks in every nook and corner!….while every other corner will have the disinterested Gol Guppa or Pani Puri wala!!(since he knows that anyway no one can say no to Puchka!!)….the free flowing dust from the roadside apparently adds a special flavour to these street snacks which is difficult to replicate anywhere else!!

Then the whole world is like our own home ideology is so deep rooted here that everyone feels and behaves like that only!…so you can spit anywhere and you can pee everywhere!!…..all while walking, talking or even eating!!!….

Then the grand looking sarees which appear real and maybe fake or many which look fake but turn out to be real!!…its your luck!…the while we were moving towards the Ganga Ghat I was surprised to see a big board stating that WE HAVE CHIKAN HERE!!….. Just when I thought that it’s a mis spelt chicken (but then so close to the temple is controversial!!) Which is when I found out that it’s a special type of embroidery work which is famous in UP…..it’s of course many times costly than its namesake!!….but beautiful to look at nevertheless….

Now don’t get me wrong (first try to get me right!)….but if things are like this then it’s difficult for old people and kids and tourists to properly enjoy the sanctity of one of the oldest cities in the country…..

Then I saw the assi ghat….this is the example of cleanliness and that change can happen even here…..

No one of course can even explain the surreal experience of watching the Ganga arrthi!…the Arthi starts with a group song, then a collective invocation, then puja with flowers, incense sticks, Dhoop and finally maha Mangala Arthi in all the four directions!….it’s chereographed so well and so well performed that you can just look in awe!……

At the end of it all I was happy that we went as a family and our parents had a nice time…..

All in all Varanasi is an experience which must be done at least once in your lifetime and probably when you are young…..

Until we meet again….in Banaras….