Auli -> Rishikesh -> Corbett National Park -> Varanasi -> Agra
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I came out of my guesthouse that is pretty close to the river and the ghats. A girl tries to sell me deep – small flower bowl with a wick lamp to float on the river. I see an old woman going around a sacred ficus tree. The tree is colored yellow with turmeric all over the trunk and many small threads circles around the trunk. Making a pradakshina around the trunk of peepul tree, binding a thread around its trunk and smearing turmeric on its trunk is a practice that is followed by women all around India.
A woman goes around peepul tree
I move ahead towards Assi ghat and see several boatmen waiting for customers. A tourist is haggling to get a fair price while the boatman is aiming for the best price. There seems to be an equal mix of tourists and locals on the ghats. A baba chases away a dog that is trying to pull out some of his belongings, and a few seconds later feeds that same dog, unmindful of its deeds. A man is half immersed in the Ganga, praying to sun god. A tourist accompanied by a guide is looking for some bhang and is not able to find any. But I see him on the street next morning, completely doped and acting out of his mind. Several boatmen are asking the people walking on the ghats – “sir, do you want a boat?” There are many boats docked and many more engaged.
A view of the ghats
I move on and see a small animal kingdom ahead. Water buffalos are having whale of a time in the river. Something suddenly surfaces from the water and disappears before I have a good look at it. I presume it is the Gangetic Dolphin, and am glad they have still survived in the polluted water. There is a large population of bank mynahs making a ruckus like they always do. A few parakeets lookout from their holes on the wall. Monkeys squat high on ghats. They seem to prefer top of the buildings to trees.
Water buffalo and Mynahs
I meet a professional photographer on the way. We sit and chat for a while and decide to catch up over dinner. A couple of boatmen walk by and check if we want to go on a boat. A little further, children are playing cricket. The guy with the bat is good; he dishes out two sixers in succession. Sometimes the ball falls in the river and one of the fielders jumps between boats till he can reach for the ball without getting his feet wet. I recalled someone telling me at Rishikesh about street cricket. He showed me an image of a game of street cricket on his camera and said, “for me, this is what the real India is like”.
Monkey business!
I walked slowly for an hour, looking around and seeing the Varanasi that attracts thousands of pilgrims and tourists. I was tired by the time I reached Dasaswamedh ghat and stopped for some refreshments. I was about to return to my guesthouse, but stopped for some more time when I realized that a Ganga Aarathi is about to begin. I watched the aarti for sometime, and tired that I was, returned to have some dinner and end my day.
Read more about Varanasi on paintedstork.com
* Images of Varanasi
* Travelling to Varanasi from Corbett
* Arriving at Varanasi
* Many perceptions of Varanasi
* First day at the ghats
* Boat ride on the Ganges
* An encounter on the ghats
* Photo Essay: Ganga Aarti
* Life on the ghats
* About Varanasi
Auli -> Rishikesh -> Corbett National Park -> Varanasi -> Agra
+Previous: Arriving at Varanasi
+Next: First day at the ghats
+Go to beginning of the series
Varanasi has many faces. For some it is a holy city and a must visit pilgrimage. For some it is a place to experience India’s cultural diversity. Some come here to learn fine arts and a lot many come in search of making a living.
When I announced that Varanasi is one of the places I am planning to visit, many people had questions to ask. My aunts wanted to know if I am going on a pilgrimage, and my mother snubbed them and responded that I am just travelling(him? Pilgrimage? ). My sister-in-law asked me what I am planning to leave behind in Varanasi. Traditionally, a pilgrim to Varanasi leaves behind something very dear to him, indicating a recessive attitude to earthly matters. I told her that this nomadic has no possession but himself to be relieved of. Not true, of course! Varanasi, or Kashi as it was once called, has been a traditional destination of the spiritually inclined and is a must-do pilgrimage for the devout Hindu. My father insisted that I visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple, and called up every day I was there, to make sure I did. I was there at the night of Maha Shivaratri, a festival dedicated to the lord of Kashi. He wanted me to visit the temple then, but I was deterred by the crowd of thousands who would like to be at the temple on the auspicious night, and preferred to postpone my visit. Pilgrims to Kashi have many things to do beyond the visit to Vishwanatha temple or a traditional holy dip in the Ganges. They make offering to the forefathers in heaven, pray to sun god, perform pooja or just meditate.
Ghats of Varanasi
Photographers throng Varanasi from all over the world to capture the essence of India’s religious life. While most of these people come to experience and capture something that they don’t get to see in their daily life – like the bathing in the Ganges, the aartis and other rituals, only a few good men manage to go beyond documenting these activities and capture the essence of the vibrant Varanasi. I had long discussions with a professional photographer and made my preparations of what to expect at Varanasi that can feed my camera. But in the end of my five day visit, I realized that one short visit can serve to be no more than an introduction of what Varanasi is. There are other tourists who come here to witness the India in their minds, to learn music and other fine arts, or just to see the place and enjoy a boat ride.
Boat ride on the ganges
Locals never call their city as Varanasi. When I asked my boatman Naresh about how they prefer to call their city, he said it is either Benaras or Kashi, in that order.
“So you never call it Varanasi?”
“No, we don’t call it Varanasi”
Pilgrims and tourist have given livelihood to many people like the boatmen in Varanasi. But like everywhere in India, there is more supply of services than demand, and competition is high. You won’t manage to take a walk on the ghats without a boatman offering his services. When you walk on the streets, there are rickshaw-wallas who look at you with a hopeful eye. And the variety of merchandise on the streets varies from simple flowers of offering to expensive banarasi silk. Guidebooks don’t fail to warn the tourist of the dangers from strangers too. Varanasi is a city of many people, many immigrants, pilgrims and travellers. Some one I met mentioned that the city has a charm that holds people when they come in, and they find it difficult to leave. It is hard to disagree, especially when so many people come to Varanasi just to die on the bank of river Ganga.
Read more about Varanasi on paintedstork.com
* Images of Varanasi
* Travelling to Varanasi from Corbett
* Arriving at Varanasi
* Many perceptions of Varanasi
* First day at the ghats
* Boat ride on the Ganges
* An encounter on the ghats
* Photo Essay: Ganga Aarti
* Life on the ghats
* About Varanasi
Auli -> Rishikesh -> Corbett National Park -> Varanasi -> Agra
+Previous: From Corbett to Varanasi
+Next: Many perceptions of Varanasi
+Go to beginning of the series
My train dumped me at Varanasi City railway station early in the morning. As I walked out of the station, couple of auto-rickshaw drivers walked into me and asked “kahan jaanaa hain?” – where can I take you? Outside of the train station was swarming with eager drivers of auto and cycle rickshaws who were looking for customers alighting from their trains.
I was headed to Assi Ghat – an area with many guesthouses popular with backpacking tourists. My guidebook said that a rickshaw trip to Assi Ghat should set me back by Rs.15, but the first person I asked quoted a 40. My tall backpack gave away my identity of a tourist and I was vulnerable to fleecing. A few more inquiries and some one agreed to give me a ride for Rs 25. I took his offer.
Around the train station and in the new city, Varanasi appears no different from any other city. The roads looked wide enough and most of them had dividers. Cleanliness was on par with any Indian city of its size. Hoarding and shops advertising big brand names of clothing and mobile phones were fairly prominent. A few mid-sized malls occasionally popped up in the middle of 2-3 storied buildings. At 7 am, traffic of any kind was almost non-existent on any of the roads. Only thing distinct that I noticed were the posters of sleazy movies that seemed to dominate every empty wall next to the roads!
But the roads got narrower as the rickshaw moved towards my destination. At some point it looked like I had come to a different place altogether from where I started. There were suddenly more people on these narrower roads, which were also getting much dirtier. It looked like the city was transformed to a world of a hundred years ago. The ad hoardings and the taller buildings had disappeared and the ones around here looked old, worn out and fragile. The transformation was more evident with cross roads morphing into small gallis. And there were a lot of small businesses operating on the road-side. We were in the Varanasi old city area, just besides the Ganges River.
As we moved further, the rickshaw driver, it turned out, did not actually know where exactly is Assi Ghat! He stopped occasionally to ask for directions. He pushed on and on and it turned out that Assi Ghat was indeed very far. When it finally arrived, I realized that Rs.40 was a more reasonable amount and compensated him for his ignorance.
Arriving at Assi ghat was a complete shock that I wasn’t prepared for. It was a place filled with filth and garbage all around. I was nearly depressed and wondered if it was a good idea to come here at all. As I walked further, I was more and more convinced that I was at a place where I would rather not be, and was making up my mind to move on from here as soon as I can. But I had to find a place to stay at least for a day before I decided where to go next. This is probably a feeling that every traveller to Varanasi experiences as he arrives. At the end of the first day in the city, I wrote on my personal blog:
“I am now in Varanasi, India’s holiest city. For the first time since I am out of home, which is almost a month, my smile faded. Though temporarily – only for a day or so. The city is gloomy and upset me slightly when I arrived. I contemplated on leaving soon, but survived the gloom and started exploring the town. There is indeed something fascinating about the town. Parts of Varanasi has never kept up with time, and its Gallis and the ghats have probably remained the same as they used to be in pre-independence times. It is interesting, beautiful, and crowded. The gloom comes from the dirt and the pollution that seems to be integrated with this place. It is sad to see the Ganga turned into nothing more than a 100-meter wide sewer. It is the same river that looked so pristine and beautiful and I fell in love with, only a few weeks ago in Rishikesh. There still are many things to experience in Varanasi and I shall stay here for a few more day, though I might leave earlier than I wanted to.”
Read more about Varanasi on paintedstork.com
* Images of Varanasi
* Travelling to Varanasi from Corbett
* Arriving at Varanasi
* Many perceptions of Varanasi
* First day at the ghats
* Boat ride on the Ganges
* An encounter on the ghats
* Photo Essay: Ganga Aarti
* Life on the ghats
* About Varanasi