Varanasi

Posted by: Googie | February 1, 2010

Varanasi

This was my 2^nd time in Varanasi, but the first one didn’t really count as I was a kid then. The first thing that struck me was that the city was just plain filthy. There was garbage everywhere, and people were either littering, spitting or peeing in almost every direction one looked.

Unlike my usual self, I wanted to be indoors as much as possible to 1. Stay away from the filth, 2. Stay protected from the biting cold and 3. Stay with the nice people at home. However, walking along the Ganges on the various ghats was definitely a good experience. Nicole, Jana & I went to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, but Jana & Nicole were not allowed inside because they were not Hindus.This pissed me off no end, and I would never even have entered the place had I not promised Meera aunty that I would make a small pooja worth 51 Rupees when there.

Flying kites with the kids at the ghats

With Nicole and my new saviour - the ear-muffs!

I went to the Banaras Hindu University on one of the days, and met many of Jana’s students. BHU has a sprawling campus, but it could surely be better maintained. Compared to the rest of the city however, it was a welcome change to be away from rubbish for a bit.

Jana with her students at BHU

Watching the Ganga Aarti from a boat

Some guy called Kevinos Padre was painting a Shiva at one of the ghats

At the stupa in Sarnath

4 days in Varanasi went by in a flash, and it was already time to leave. I asked Jana to come to Delhi with me and she agreed. I could tell that she was feeling very suffocated within Varanasi and traveling outside for a short time would do a lot of good for her.