Varanasi being in the news again, I went down memory lane and refreshed my visit to this eternal city in January 2013. This is more in the form of a travelogue and will be in varying tenses. “I’m travelling to Varanasi by the Ganga Kaveri express. Dry and deserted rural Maharashtra – Men in Dhotis and women too in Dhoti styled saris. 11.00 A.M. heading towards Nagpur at the heart of Maharashtra; the Orange bowl of India. The landscape is dark brown and parched green. This train carries me across the vast plains of Central India, and the Vidharbha Plateau.
3.00 P.M. – I’m at Betul a rustic way side station in M.P. The place smells of cow dung and phenol. Are stereotypes being reinforced? How time forgotten, impoverished the Hindi heart land is? How many times Daddy must have criss crossed this line on duty as a railway man. I’m now carrying his ashes. The travellers here are in no hurry. They are not waiting for a train. Rather it seems to be an afternoon chatting session.
6.00 P.M. Crossed Itarsi. Viewed the magnificent Tawa Bridge.Went past Piparia and heading towards Jabalpur. Heard a flurry of bird cries as they came down to roost on the Peepal tree at the railway platform in Piparia. A fleeting moment against the red setting sun.
14-01-2013 – Sankranthi
7.00 A.M – Still in the train crossing the dew drenched plains of U.P. Women are burning the stone kilns, roasting chapattis on a roaring fire. Varanasi– Performed Daddy’s Puja and witnessed the mighty Ganga. It is mud black in color. The ancient structures stand abutting the Ghats. . In Varanasi there are many Ghats. Each ghat is dedicated to the memory of someone; King, Queen, donor etc. The private Ghats of kings have an imposing facade and appear grandiose when seen from the river.
Our guide tells us that Kashi is the Rudra Bhoomi. Going to Kashi is like going to the grave-yard. We had our darshan of the Kashi Vishweswara. I was not convinced this is the real Benares temple. There is more mystique and aura in the Trayambakeswara of Nashik. We had our lunch at the Kashi Annapoorna Satram. I’m bewildered by the dirt and the shabbiness of the place, Varanasi is teeming with garbage. It wallows in its ancience.
We missed the Ganga harati today. In the afternoon we crossed the Ganga and went to Ramnagar. We saw the museum in the Ramnagar Qila which has many interesting artifacts on display; among them a massive clock which shows the lunar time, the solar time, the almanac time, the months and the days of the week. Another artifact on display is the elephant crown. In the evening we visited the Tila Bhandhar temple and had our dinner at the Kerala cafe. 15/1 – Varanasi is a chaotic place. Today we completed all the important places in the itinerary of a tourist to Varanasi. Here one will find only rarely, a man who does not chew either paan, tobacco, betel or some other stuff.
We started the day with the Kaudi Maa temple followed by the Durga Devi temple, Tulsi Manas Mandir, Sankat Mochan Mandir, Birla Mandir in the BHU campus (Viswanath mandir) Sarnath Thai temple, museum and the stupa. In the evening we witnessed the Ganga Harati and offered prayers at the Kala Bhairava temple.
Is there a sense amidst all the chaos in Varanasi? I and my companion agree that the people in Varanasi are honest and plain. They are polite and give respect. They don’t cheat strangers by taking advantage of their ignorance of this place, the language, its people and their customs.
16-01-2013
The third day of our trip.
There is a general impression that I have gained, the people of Varanasi are honest. They don’t try to con the tourists but the traffic, the by lanes, the crowds of this ancient city are simply mind boggling. We boarded a tourist carrier to Allahabad and rented a small room. We said good bye to our guide at Varanasi. We went to the Triveni Sangam area and took three holy dips in the water of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. The water was ice-cold. As Jawaharlal Nehru describes in his will and testament, I could see the splendid mood of the Ganga against the afternoon sun, although I would want to see it in the morning, in the evening, as well as in the darkness of the night.
The Kumbhmela is more like a massive fair. I could see hundreds of tents pitched in the open grounds. There are priests, babas, sadhus, Godmen, pilgrims, soothsayers, faith healers, onlookers, fakes and all sorts of people. The variety of life in the Kumbhmela makes my head swirl or it could be due to the incessant walking. At the Sangam the Ganga meets the Yamuna and curves to move into its journey towards Varanasi. We visited the Allahabad fort built by Akbar. The fort is occupied by the Army Central command. One thing of interest is the Saraswati coop, a medium sized living area built inside a moat with a tunnel. People of Allahabad call it Ellahabad. Our last stop for the day was the Anand Bhavan and the Swaraj Bhavan. Sarnath – Gautama preached his first sermon here and began what is called by the Buddhists as the turning of the wheel of law. Ashoka constructed a stupa here to commemorate the momentous event. I see several tourists may be North East Indians, Tibetans, Burmese, Bhutanese or others. The chaityas, aharas or the monasteries are spread out over an area which must be more than 20 acres. We visited the Thai temple and the museum hosted by the Archaeological society of India.
The original mast of the pillar constructed by Ashoka which has on its pinnacle the lion head on all the four sides and which is now the official state symbol of the Indian state is preserved here. There is a magnificent 8 feet engraved model of Lord Shiva in the form of Kala Bhairav, extirpating a demon. The lawns and grounds are maintained well here. Tea was very good both at Varanasi and Allahabad. I have returned to my room, preparing to pack my things and board my train which is late in the night. It is winter and the full fury of winter’s rages as Shakespeare says is, out to claim their reward. The warmth of the train is a comforting thought. Thus ends my trip to Varanasi where it is said the funeral pyres never stop burning!