Benaras : snapshots : the end of an epic saga

Benaras- my epic saga (part 3)

The "Ganga Arati" is especially brilliant.
It is a daily hour-long affair, starting at around 6:15pm at the Dashsaswamedh Ghat and the adjacent Rajendra Prasad Ghat, where anxious people throng the area and line the steps ; there are the usual foreigners waiting for a photo-op and also professional photographers (with their characteristic long "zoom" cameras!). It is quite a sight: the crowd..with no one getting into each others way...eager devotees waiting to take a quick dip in the river; boat rides might be particularly interesting since one would get a view of the ghat from the river; but the charges are exorbitant and somehow one just would'nt be in the mood for bargaining.

The arati is performed by seven young "priests",standing in stone diases, their faces betraying no emotions,mechanical to a certain extent.The chants are audio-taped and boom through huge box-speakers.The effect would perhaps have been more interesting had it been a live telecast.


THE "UMBRELLAS" :
Not being overtly religious:If there was one thing that i was going ga-ga over, were the "umbrellas" along the ghats.I don't know what they are called..chattars or whatever, but i was in love with them.Period.
I loved the shape, the form, the fact that they were covered with random chintz prints of cloth and for the fact that the skeletal framework of the umbrellas were a great photo-op...against the covered fabric..layering..the light and shadow..it was an absolute OMG moment!!
...and i must have taken shots of each frame,keeping these umbrellas in mind!centred, off-centred compositions and what not!!

Benaras- my epic saga (part 2)

The Vishwanath-er "goli" (its Bengali for galli..not a pill!) is a narrow maruti-800-kept-horizontally sized galli with rows and rows of shops all along the sides; This is "Benaras" in its purest avatar, the quintessential "goli" is the real charm of the place and if you just about hate the sight of them, then this place is not for you,go to North-West Mauritius, dude!But yes, to be honest, at this point I was expecting to see the galli minus the shops and artifical artifacts, all old and crumbling, like i had seen in images, but guess that's some other galli (wait till i find out)
And i have to mention at this point, that i was actually expecting to see more of the "crumbling-breaking apart- broken apart" part of Benaras, because isnt that what this place is all about?Though its quite an irony and please let me not explain, How!

Here i must add, not all the shops bordered along the tradional..there were artifical stuff too, or perhaps that is the order of the day;that is what people want and prefer to buy; but yes, i was expecting perhaps, yardages of silk weaves, woven sarees and i had to ask for sarees minus the "tikis". Can i please just see the woven ones?

Going back to the galli..The galli must have been pretty long; but the fact that you are also "window shopping" does not make you realise the actual length or the distance that one has to cover...While all along, in the main courtyard of the temple,i did see old crumbling houses; surprisingly all the doors and windows were shut, to perhaps bar the monkeys who are quite a menace;there were some telltale signs of "hanging-and-jumping" monkeys...but anyways.

(P.S-the cows are an added feature; do not mind them)

Benaras- my epic saga (part 1)

Benaras / Varanasi.... I prefer calling it the former;
...and ...Benaras it was...for a week and half.

There is a certain bridge, just 10 minutes off the station of Mughalserai ( i love the name), which heralds the "arrival" of Benaras. while crossing the bridge,the approaching ghats unravel itself amidst the fog and mist depending on which time of the day one chooses to cross over.And, it is a beautiful sight; worth taking pictures of..a "good zoom" was what i had lacked, since i was relying on my digicam minus the "good zoom".Since anyways, Benaras conjures up a memory of images and the old-world charm (a term, im going to use generously, to describe Benaras) that I had seen around; the view was exactly what i was looking for/hoping for...the first sight of the ghat, the stretch of ghats along the river (Ganga, for all you ignorant souls..may there be none) bed and rows and rows of anchored boats (those quaint ones where a slight dis-equilibrium will topple the boat over).


The first station on the other side of the bridge is Kashi (and i don't want to go on to explain its history and its place in history); lets leave it at,"the oldest pilgrim spot" perhaps.A feeling of religiosity creeps in, as we near Kashi and yes it is a huge exaggeration but it is not-too-much considering one is entering Benaras,(and by-the-way) it is "older than history as mentioned in the "Lonely Planet"

And...once one lands in Benaras, one word is apt to describe the place: "crowded" !!
The road outside the station was my first insight and first impression of the place and crowded it was..with cycles, rickshaws, bikes and more cycles,rickshaws and bikes; Though i thought i should perhaps give it a chance since it was a railway station and all bordering areas around it, have that "look and feel" to it: "crowded" to the tee.But no, this was surely an exception.And the most surprising bit is that(or perhaps it is not), none of the vehicles seem to be colliding with each other, not that i wanted them to; they were all in this queer sense of directional motion (whatever that means!) and sense of timing and sense of just-how-much-would-cause-too-much (collision, that is).They were all in perfect harmony with one another,and in prefect unison, ofcourse i did hear few abuses being hurled around (but, anyways).

And i remember asking oh, but where exactly is the "holy- bit"!!
Guess it was around the ghats and the one lakh temples, certainly not around the station.