'Varanasi' - if someone said that word a week back – all that came to my mind was... an underdeveloped town of India, narrow lanes buzzing with crowd, river Ganga that's getting hurt by all the population explosion. Had someone asked for more detail – as why would it be so important a city… I would end up giving an answer along the lines that "in ancient times, this might be the best place for mankind to access river Ganga and thus, it became an important seat of civilization and blah blah…"
That was a week back… today...I stand in awe of this city
...to know a place where one feels as though time has stood still….
(despite the muck, the dirt, the crowd…which all remains) one can't ignore the fact that how this teenie weenie city can impact one's senses.
I landed here due to my friend's persistence. “Do you know it will be mega crowded?” “Do you know it's not so clean.” After I realized that my friend really wishes to explore the place…I just packed my bags and went along. Here is where the irony hits... first view of the city and I am floored.
Call it my imagination… but even the air reeked of history! When they say Varanasi is older than history, I knew what it meant. It was like coming home to a place where time has stood still…not because it had to, but because it chose to...because that’s the way it should be. With every breath and every step in that city, I knew I was breathing in history. I could not believe that such a place exists and that in all these years, this timeless jewel that is just 1.5 hours away for me…I had never even thought of exploring!So to all of you out there…who still haven’t been to this place – maybe these lines by Mark Twain might inspire you "Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together!"
What's in a name? Kashi, Banaras, Varanasi... This confusion was cleared by simple yet quite learned boatman whom we met in Varanasi. Kashi is the old name for the city, in today's time - Varanasi is how Hindus call the city while Muslim population prefers to call it Banaras.
A city as old and as fascinating as this - has various studies on its history that date back to 3000 BC and more. Kashi is believed to be built by Lord Shiva. River Ganges which flows from tresses of lord Shiva finds its full mighty form here and has the power to wash away anyone's sins who bathes in it. Not only that, anyone who breathes his last in this holy city is considered to be free of life-death cycle, and becomes a part of Lord Shiva.
Some tips on traveling to this land - from a person who knew nothing about it, but explored it on foot nonstop for two days.
- Stay near the Ghats: When we started to book, all the 4 & 5-star hotels were sold out! At one point I thought my friend and I might have to put up in those neat B&B dormitory set up which are plenty in Varanasi. It has to be luck - last moment found this heritage Haveli run by ITC on the Ghats. None of the places near the Ghat have a bar license, and almost all have "not so great" kitchen. However, all this pales when one has a good location. Else, any hotel away from the Ghats is similar to just another hotel, another city anywhere. Staying at the Ghats makes you stroll through the Ghats whenever you wish to - the reason why one is there!
- Evening Aarti: It's an orchestrated slow dance, with all the color, show, music, pause, and movement. We watched it while sitting in the boat. It's an experience like none other. A must do. The best aarti is of Dashashwamedh Ghat and Rajendra Prasad Ghat - which are adjacent to each other. Both the Ghats' aarti is more or less similar to one another.
What is important is to soak in, blend in with the chants, the sweet sound of bells, the lights of diyas and the atmosphere which can only be disturbed - thanks to mosquitoes... rub an insect repellent generously on your arms and legs.
- Walk, Walk, Walk: Walking in the streets of Banaras on the weekend of RangBhari Ekadashi might seem brave (the day when Lord Shiva & Goddess Parvati consummate their marriage - locals celebrate this quite elaborately by prayers and celebrations throughout the city; also marks for them to start playing Holi, festival of colors). What seemed bravery was pure ignorance on our part and we soon learned the tradition after getting hit few times by colored balloons. Thanks to Holi, we also saw once a year event of music, dance being performed along with Holi colors on Manikarnika Ghat - the main cremation ghat.
The colored balloons did not deter us from walking through the bylanes of Kashi Vishwanath Temple, and the maze of streets beside the ghats. Only then one comes across the various shops that are unique like we found the most amazing adult coloring books tucked in one of the shops there. While there was another shop that had the most wonderful spray batik paintings. On one of the ghats - there was this 'right out of the movie set' bylane that had grass, leaves, and marigold flowers as the roof, and the sadhus sleeping in line under it... straight out of a photographer's book! There are so many lanes, who knows what you might find in one... so walk to see where it takes you. 
- Try Street Food: After every shop, there is a tiny paan shop.. try banarasi paan - which is light, and easy on the palette. Apart from that - tiny samosas, kachoris with aloo chana, gol gappas, and the tea ... have a distinctive flavor which is quite nice. 
- Shop Sarees / Silk: Beautiful artistry - almost anywhere, everywhere you turn your neck. The map for Varanasi lanes for me is a paan shop, then a sari shop, then a temple, and repeat. There are quite a few shops, but this wholesale dealer Abdul Matin at Pilikothi - walking distance from Ghats has quite a collection and claimed to supply most of the material for Bajirao Mastani movie! You can bargain here, but only a bit. Rest in any other shop anywhere in Varanasi, do not hesitate to slash it by 50% or more... you would be surprised on how quickly they might agree.
- Click: It's a photographer's paradise. No matter from where you click, how you click, you are sure to capture some amazing shots. Shades of Ganges at different time of the day, of people around the ghats, of the aarti, of diyas, of lanes, of sadhus meditating... click away as much as you want and you won't regret. I clicked very few pics, as I thought isn't it captured enough... but having one's own album is something different.
The writer Tahir Shah says in his book - Sorcerer's Apprentice “Enlightenment, and the death which comes before it, is the primary business of Varanasi.”
I really do not know about enlightenment, about nirvana, about moksha, about salvation from sins - all this and more that this city is associated with.
But I do know about enchantment - it left me enchanted and with a desire to know more about it.
