Benares – The beginning

The next few posts will be a continued progression of my experiences¹ in the mysterious city of Benares²! Hope you enjoy it.

Benares – The beginning

I’m thinking, How do i even start telling you about this mysterious city of Benares!

How about death?

First day of my Benares visit. It’s Dusk time!

I crossed the Main Ghat and was walking towards the eastern ghats. There it was.

Harishchandra Ghat!

My first encounter with the feeling of death and grief, after I lost my granny. It was a cremation area! I saw one body was being set up over the furnace to be burnt as per the Hindu tradition of the cremation. Few people were involved in the setup including a Pandit. In front of the cremation, the area was a high platform which was connected to the ground by two staircases going from both left and right sides to the centre of the platform. On the centre, there was another Pandit involved in the last processes of the cremation. He was holding a ‘Shankh’.

Near that platform there was another higher platform which was smaller in size. A pier was built over it. On the pier there was a small temple of Shiva having a Shivlinga and a Trishul!

Near the cremation area, there were few more big wide piers where people could stand and sit on the bench which was grounded there.

I was standing right there on that pier overlooking the holy river. The Ganges! But my whole focus from the river shifted once they started burning the body and that’s when the chants started!

I was just feeling empty! It was that feeling of seeing death and the end process, which took everything out of me and made me ’empty’. I couldn’t even move my face, i was just looking into the burning wood which was consuming the body slowly leaving that rusty smell of flesh in the atmosphere.

I could smell it. It was intense. But i could breathe!

Few moments past, i don’t know why but i felt like going to the other side from where the right side staircase was leading to the platform where that Pandit was standing holding a big Shankh in his hand. Just in front of the platform there were couple of benches grounded. Few foreigners were sitting, feeling the same feeling i was.

The sun just set. I started walking back!

While walking back I came across an old man³, he had a magical smile.

As i was crossing him, looking at me he stopped me and said ‘Son! You don’t look from around here! Where have you come from?’

If a total stranger would ask you something like this, you’ll just ignore and walk away. But this old man just didn’t seem like one! That’s the magic of Benares! This old man seemed like an indistinguishable part of Benares! So i couldn’t help myself but reply with a gentle smile.

‘Uncle! I’ve come from Bombay. Indeed not around from here.’ ‘Are you a local?’ I asked.

‘Yes, Here from past 18 years almost. I was in Kolkata⁴ for a long period of time, then destiny took me here and i never left.’ He replied.

All of his more than 50 years of life experiences were reflecting in his talks. We kept on talking for 15 minutes almost. Then i thought to take a picture with him. I asked a passing by foreign lady to take it for me. Luckily she knew, how to operate the camera. In fact more than i did.

Here is our picture and this dog never left –

The mural behind was awe-fucking-inspiring. Made by an artist from USA – Jonny Popovich. Here is the clean shot of the painting taken by me.

Just right next to this mural was another mural of Swami Vivekananda with an upside down mirrored text as ‘TIME WILL REFLECT‘. Artist credit: Sangram Soni. Here is the clean shot of that taken by me.

It was almost 6:15 PM. I started walking again. Just after 5 minutes i crossed a boat which was just merely finished building and in the backdrop there was Ganges. I couldn’t stop myself from popping my camera out and take a picture! Here is that picture –

It became a little coincidental as the guy who fueled my already burning ambition of traveling solo to Benares, turned out (later when i got back to Bombay) that he had also taken a picture of this same boat when the boat crafter had just started building it. Here is his picture –

How insane is that! Crazy right? First i couldn’t believe it was the same boat. But after closely inspecting the photo of my friend, i was sure this was the same boat. When he went on his journey, we didn’t even know each other! But then these co-incidental pictures. Experiencing this co-incident it was pretty dope. I was so fascinated by this co-incident that i created a short story about it and put it on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Himanshu Sachdeva (@sachdevahimanshu) on May 15, 2016 at 11:24am PDT

I started my walk back towards the main ghat again. After 10 minutes of walk across the ghat stairs i reached to the main Ghat (Dashasvamedh Ghat⁵). I had heard about the daily prayers of the local priest groups for the Deity ‘Mother Ganges‘. But it was now that i realized how huge this was. A platform set up for each priest and there were 5 like that.

Big crowd consisting of local devotees and people from all over the world was there. Crowd was split in two. Half was sitting behind the platforms where priests were offering prayers to the Mother Ganges.

The other half which was more fascinating to me was in the Ganges itself. On the boats. Clapping and chanting rigorously. The view was extravagant.

For a moment my feet were frozen into the ground beneath me and my jaw dropped wide open after getting the first glances of this ceremony so enormous. It took me few gasp to come back to my wits.

If you are reading this travelogue and ever happen to be in Benares in future, mark this Aarti ceremony in your bucket list. You can thank me later.

Here is another raw shot of the Aarti ceremony in action. Snake-head burning candelabras, mantras and an atmosphere filled with enchanting sounds of ritualistic brass bells. I had never experienced energy of this magnitude.

When the ceremony was about to finish i saw another local old guy whom i saw in afternoon as well. He was dressed up in an ancient traditional red attire and was dancing like a spelled being. It was wondrous, just seeing this old guy dancing. I took a couple of shots of him too. Here they are –

After i took the above picture, he saw me and he was so generous that he posed upfront for the below picture:

Today’s Ceremony was over.

I started heading back to my hotel which was 2 minutes walk and that was the end of my first day in Benares.

Day – 2…To be continued…

Thanks for reading.

…Himanshu

Footnotes –

1. The above travelogue is from my first solo travel experience. People say solo travels suck. Solo Traveling is hard I would say, cause you are out there by on your own, there is no one else there to take care of you. But i found that that’s the best way to explore the unknown and meet new people. I discovered many places and met amazing people, a few good friends as well. Many of which I wouldn’t have even imagined meeting in my life. Even people from the countries I’d never heard of. But the bottom line, solo travelling is amazing and is full of adventure. If you are up for it.
2. Benares – I love to call Varanasi as ‘Benares’, so you’ll find it like that everywhere in my posts. For more Information on Benares, click here.
3. First Old Man – Great charming man he was. Unfortunately, I didn’t ask his name. You know, sometimes when names don’t matter. It was that type of conversation. Still, I regret not asking his name. Maybe I need to go to the Benares Ghats again to know his name. How is that for an idea?
4. Kolkata – Another fascinating old city in India from my Travel Bucket List. Find more about it here.
5. Dashashwamedh Ghat – This is the main ghat in Varanasi on the river Ganges. Find more about it here.

Credited Artists –

1. Jonny Popovich – An artist from USA – Check him out on Instagram. Jaw-Dropping Art work.
2. Sangram Soni – Check him out on Instagram. Some great work by an Indian artist.

A Quote I’m pondering on lately –

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

― Thich Nhat Hanh

My Travelogues Archives:

Click here to access the list of all my Travelogues.

Do you have any solo traveling experiences?

Please share it in the comments below, i will love to hear about it.