Benaras | Oldest Living City on Earth

It is called the oldest living city on the earth. Varanasi or Benaras has got an entirely different charm associated with it. It was always my dream to visit Benaras. When I got transferred to Orissa, the very first day I planned for it and booked the train tickets. It takes a little less than a day to reach from Bhubaneswar. I was again a lonely traveler with charming co-passengers. One gentleman from Army, another man who works as a sales manager for a firm and myself. We discussed about various topics. The man from Army is thinking of starting his own school for poor children from his native village near Benaras. The sales executive comes to Benaras more than once in a year. He was plotting a virtual map of Benaras on window pane. In the morning, had couple of teas in train and I reached Benaras within 9. I hade made an exhaustive research before and as the view of the ghats of ganges was matching exactly with the beautiful photos that I had seen, I was elated! I was so much happy when I got down from train and spotted a bull on the platform itself. I knew instantly that I reached my destination. The people of Benaras are generous enough to feed these huge animals. Took a rickshaw from Railway station to old Gaudalia.

A hotel guy was waiting for me there. He took me through the famous Kashi Viswanath alley to my resting place, Yogi Guest House. The alleys of Benaras are famous. I will try but probably can not explain it properly. You should see with your own eyes and you will understand. The alleys are very very narrow. At almost all the turns, you will get a bull blocking eighty percent of the space. People are not afraid and push it and walk away. Only few strangers like you and me will think of some strategy after looking at their long horns!

First day as I was little late, finished lunch quickly and went to the Dashashwamedh ghat, found an umbrella and sat under it. I was amazed to see so many people doing so many activities. The place was full of devotees and tourists as well. Just next to Dashashwamedh was Prayag ghat which was looking like the main ghat of Benaras. In the evening people started to gather near these two ghats for evening prayer. The aarti or prayer was an awesome event. I did not see anything like that before. It was really mystic and wonderful.

The beautiful chants and co-ordination among the temple priests made it perfect. What I liked more was that that there was no push-pull situation in spite of the big crowd. I tried to manage some decent frames with my kit lens. Many tourists were also watching from boats on ganges. The whole event lasted for one hour. When it became darker, I walked towards Harishchandra ghat side. This ghat is being used as cremation ghat. From distance, I watched the fire and came back.

Next day, I visited Benaras Hindu University. The university campus is huge. It has a temple inside it; outside people come to see this. Afternoon, I went to Ramnagar fort which is at one end of Benaras. Came back to the ghats again in the evening and hired a boat this time to get a different angle. Night, I was on the roof and watching the stars. I was recalling the chants and the sound of bells from the temples and do not remember when I collapsed.

Next day was the last. At dawn, I went to watch the morning aarti. That was also very beautiful but no crowd was there at that time.

After the aarti I took a boat and did a short trip along the banks. I walked through the alleyways, some new lanes and new places. I almost forgot or consciously trying to forget the train time. I had to depart in the afternoon. When the train was crossing the river, I stood up and walked to the door and told her that I would come again, soon.