THE VARANASI NOSTALGIA

The dewy breeze with a mediocre pace laying hands on my face, bracing my soul made me realize the value of culture while I was sitting on the semi immersed stairs on Ganga Ghat. We planned for this trip two months ago and finally, we were sitting on the stone made stairs talking about the ambiance of the place. The old beauty dating back to 11 BC is known to be the spiritual capital of India is one of the centers for tourism. The 88 Ghats aligned to the holy river receive an enormous amount of pilgrims, visitors, and tourists. The Ghats of Ganga is the place where one meets peace and contentment. The place and the establishment seemed rustic but reflected another kind of late modernity. We walked through the Ghats moving across several stairs spotting foreigners happily gazing at us. The students who were probably locals grouped at the top of stairs, a girl imitating in front of them, maybe imitating their teacher and the group cracked into a burst of big laughter, the river galloped the sound and made it quiet and muffled. The place seemed to be alive as everything was in proper synergy. When we first arrived at The Harishchandra Ghat which also gains fame with the name Adi-Manikarnika Ghat, there were lots of fire blazes around, people were performing final rites. The fire burning the bodies heaved out so much of heat, as I crossed by, feeling the warmth of the fire on my face. Our group was headed towards Assi Ghat, which is the only Ghat left with clay banks. The Ghat looked right over there but we felt an ache in our legs when we reached. There was a huge Peepal tree at the corner of the cemented floor at the end of the Ghat. A tea seller holding his kettle in a bucket with his right hand and pile of paper cups in his left hands moving around selling tea. We sat near the tree looking forward trying to find out the origin of the river. It was almost half-past four and we were tired of the whole day's trip, we decided to buy ourselves the overpriced burgers selling nearby. We sat and ate and started chattering, we talked about our whole days trip and how everything was just fine and well. We talked for half an hour chuckling, giggling sitting on the cold stairs. After a good talk, we decided that we should head towards the Dasashwamedh Ghat were the Ganga Arti takes Place. It is considered as the main Ghat and a tale is told behind the name of Dashaswamedha Ghat that lord Brahma for performing Yajna’s sacrificed ten horses and the popular Ghat gained its name from there. We started walking forward. A boy who must have been around 16 chased us asking that if we needed a boat, we asked him why shall we take the boat? Where do we need to go? He explained that he will do rounds in the river and take us across the river from where we could spectate the lightings and beauty of Ghat and click pictures, after a short debate of five minutes we decided to take the boat. The boy moved the wood boat in the water and pulled it close to the shore so that all of us could hop in. we sat symmetrically on the boat as the boy told us that it would balance the boat and help him paddle properly. The boat moved in the water, the water current was steady and the boy paddled hard and moved the shafts with more power. We leaned out of the boat and dipped our hands in flowing water of Ganga, the water was cold and it felt good, as we came in the center of the river we could have the posterior look of the Ghat. The place seemed to look like the kingdom of Gods, it looked magnificent. We sublimed while feeling everything through our every sense. We started clicking pictures and the joy felt real. All the accumulated tiredness of the journey just went away. We were completely lost in happiness running in the white sands. Happy pictures and scenic beauty made us feel alive. We were wishing we could have stayed longer.