Unmistakably Peaceful, Definitely Worthy - My Experience With Varanasi

Me: Ya, married life is going great. I moved to Varanasi, btw.

Vinayak: Its a peaceful place. I head to Kashi (Don’t get confused, it just another name for Varanasi!) when I need to resort turmoil inside me

Me: really? Thats not surprising, everyone (including my hubby) have told me this, but I haven’t gotten to feel this and get so attached to this place

Vinayak: Roam around the ghats, get lost, you will feel attached to everything. Sit with weird people.. Kashi has stories to tell

Me: I would love to experience this profound impact which the city can leave you with.

Vinayak: Its hard to start, its easy once you start and once you start, you will listen to the city breathe. Every place does has a story to tell, something they leave within you. When you travel to a city you give your time, a part of your life time. Time, you will never get back and city gives you time in its timeline! You can not not get attached.. Its old, treat it like old people, be nice to it.

So, I began today, my expedition in search of this overpowering peace. I went on a bike tour with my hubby to discover the crowded yet cool (temperature wise!) lanes of kashi, narrow but colourful shopping streets, noisy but mesmerising roads, dirty but soulful ghats.

As Mr. Daaku said, there is nothing to see in the city and yet there is everything. Its dirty! But, you have to experience the feel of it – the feel of how it has the potential to create calmness; how it connects you with yourself and to the nature, the feel of how the air on the ghats have an ever lasting impact on your mind. Despite the noise, you will find tranquility.

I am depicting my search in this elaborate city of Kashi by the way of pictures. One step closer in search of eternal bliss, this my Kashi diary…

Satyanarayan Chaat Bhandar, Gadowlia market – a must go

The narrow and crowded roads

Me enjoying the mouth watering chaat

A colorful street – Vishwanath Gali

Rabdi (an Indian sweet dish) – Truly, city for devotees

Shop selling sindhawra – A box to keep sindoor (a red color powder married woman put on the hair parting)

Just another shop in Vishwanath Gali

used to give you blessings

The cloth used to cover the God

Automatic drummer and bell clang-er!

Sweet shop

The famous galiche (carpets)

The yum uttapam and dosas

Making of uttapam

The bio degradable plates they give you for eating!

The hawkers selling food use these leaves for making plates to service. Put a stick (as thin as toothpick) in-between 2-3 leave to make a cone. Bio degradable waste, you see.

Entrance to the ghats

a few buildings near the ghats

random shot

Chowkis and pandits: people do poojas (elaborate form of worship) here

Another shot of the chowkis and pandits

Dashawamedh Ghat: famous ghat for its Ganga aarti

just another vendor selling the best paneer I have seen

Random hotel. You will find numerous near the ghats

Dashaswamedh ghat – the one I went exploring

FireE is considered sacred in India and you take the blessings by putting our hand on it and then on your head

The famous baba

Asking us not to click a picture

Famous paan shop

Word desk for the paan vendor

work desk with him working

Paans used to make the famous Banarasi paan

Deepti arya

Wednesday 4th of May 2016

Lovely write up....ur every late night chat is more intresting den d previous one...

Mrs_Daaku

Thank you :)

A “how-to” guide to better photography – Mrs. Daaku studio

Tuesday 3rd of May 2016

[…] I am sharing this post for all of you out there who want to click good pictures. These are tips and advice right from my friend and an accomplished photographer – Vinayak Harshvardhan. A friend of mine who also inspired me to explore Varanasi. Inspired by his photos and description I began my search for tranquility in the elaborate of Kashi. […]