Last month I got a chance to visit " Shiv Ki Nagari" Kashi. As I was there for only one day and have to attend GD-PI of FMS-BHU, but still I wanted to explore the city as much as I can. With just 6-7 hours in our hand, we (me and my dad) started exploring one of the oldest cities in the world.
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| Main Gate Of BHU |
Varanasi or what locals say Banaras has many faces as a city. It is a colorful blend of religion, culture, spirituality, food and so many other things which symbolize India. Roaming in those narrow lanes, being a part of the chaos of the city made me feel real India.
Our first stop after leaving from BHU was Guru Ravidas Mandir, which is the birth place of Guru Ravidas ji. It is a small temple near BHU and it is said that Guru Ravidas used to live and do Bhakti at this place.
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| Guru Ravidas Mandir (that's my dad!!) |
Our next destination was Kashi Vishvanath Temple and the first thing that I noticed that the whole place was swarming with devotees from all across India. Mobiles and cameras were not allowed in the temple premises. After an hour of jostling with the crowd we had our darshan and pooja. Another thing that I noticed there, the whole place was so dirty and walking barefoot in the temple for a non-religious person like me was a torture.
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| Main Gate of Kashi Vishvanath Mandir |
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| Shop selling prasad near mandir |
After that came the most exciting part of the whole trip The Boat Ride. After a lot of bargaining, we reserved a boat for one hour at the price of 150 per person. As we started our ride, boatmen went on with the stories and history of every ghat that we came across. Various activities were going on the ghats and it was a really captivating view.
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| Various Activities going on Ghats |
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| Munshi Ghat |
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| Such a Captivating view |
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| Manikarnika Ghat |
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| Tilted Shiv Mandir |
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| Beautiful and Serene |
As we had our train at 7 pm, we missed Ganga Aarti (may be some other time sad na!) and decided to roam around the market before going back.
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| Droolworthy Right!! |
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| A Shop selling Brassware |
Unfortunately, we were too short of time and missed many things, but I still experienced the essence of Banaras. In spite of its overcrowded temples, dirty lanes and weird traffic rules Banaras have this old world charm which didn't fail to amaze me. I wish I could spend some more time roaming in those narrow lanes and can feel real Banaras.
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