Time flies and after a fun filled road ride we reached to the bustling city of varanasi. I referred it bustling as we were stuck in over crowded streets for more than an hour. The people keep coming to this place from all over the place and rightly so, we notice the same next morning. Varanasi is an oldest city and always been referred as spiritual city. People from all walk of life visit the city to take holy dip in sacred river Ganga to get away all the sins of this birth. They also offer prayers to Lord Shiva at Kashi vishwanath temple.
After finding accommodation , late at night at some extra cost we slept hard only for few hours. We were supposed to be in queue to make holy Darshan of lord Viswanath one of the 12 jyotirlingas in India. We woke at 2 AM to take the holy dip in Ganga, only to find many people already Buzzing in the streets. It was not only us but other people too making the streets as well as the ghats crowded. As no mobiles and electronic gadgets were suppose to carry, we could not clicked any picture of late at night. We took dip in Ganga at around 2.30AM and get in the queue for morning rituals at the temple.
After holy Darshan, we went for a boat ride to see the other ghats. As usual even at 7Am in morning the ghats were too crowded as it is visible I the background.
There are many things to explore at Varanasi. But people generally visit the place to take holy dip in river Ganga and seeking the blessings of Lord Vishwanath. To explore the ghats, people always prefer to take a boat ride. Only in the lap of mother Ganga that you will find some peace, else as soon you get to the streets, you may find surrounded by many people. It includes the beggars, the hawkers and other visitors.
Ghats in varanasi are generslly the banks of river Ganga where people the holy dip there were number of them. All of them were always buzzing while harishchandra ghat and manikarnika ghat were meant for the funeral purpose. You may find nu.ber of human body on pyre throught 24*7. Tye easiest way to visit each of the ghats is via boats. Which were easily available in the ghats. They charge nominal price for each individual, but if you are good at bargaining then you are lucky. We finalized a separate boats for us and went for a boat ride.
Tye boat also take ypu to the other side in middle of the low water level for bathing purpose. In case you want to enjoy more in the hanaga water. The scenic besuty of varansi can easily be seen through the boats. Old building, some peculiar culture insight and more so many history to explore number of stories. The smokes in the below picture is from.one of the burning pyre at harsihchandra ghats.
There were many untold stories and you need a good local supports to understand the myths of this place. The more you get curious, the more you fall in love with this place. I happen to enjoy the ride, which is mine first in all these years. Honestly getting into water give you immense peace and make you admire the place. But beware, never mess with holy river while you were on ride as, the river is 60m to 70m deep and any imbalances on boat may risk your life.
We went on sight seeing for 30 min and then went on to the middle of the river for another dip. Our cousins were more interested in water splashes and they enjoyed a little more then expected. It was good outing for everyone, after the pa8n and grief moments at home. And everybody is trying to be happy of their own.
A good hour of boat ride and some fun filled moments inside thr Ganga water, we reached to the point where we started the ride. Again there was no difference and the ghats as usuall looked over crowded. With people taking the dip and the boats man looking for more visitors.
From 2AM till 9AM , I didn't find much difference at the place. Few people prefer to sleep in the ghats at night and they too woke up in wee hours to perform puja. The life in the water is far more differrnt then in land. The land are is over crowded while the water is peaceful place.
Varanasi has alwsys attracted many visitors from around the globe, rightly so because there are many things to explore. This happens to be my second visit and both the times I have different experince. Hope to come back more often to live in a differrnt world. There is more from this trip in coming days.
