Varanasi - A beautiful story in itself

Varanasi, previously known as Kashi, is a city as old as time standing by the river Ganges. The holy ‘City of Light’ shines bright during its evening Aarti at the ghats of Ganges. Though I missed this magnificent sight due to time constraint but it’s a must see for anyone travelling to Varanasi. The best time to catch this spectacular sight is during Dev Deepawali, where the entire Ganges is lit up with countless Diyas which float their way across the water.  Not to mention, Kashi Viswanath temple is a place to visit for all those who want to touch base the spiritual history of India. It is said that the 3 tombs of this temple is made of gold. It attracts a huge crowd during Maha Shivratri when the queue for darshan extends for hours together. Even a normal day attracts decent crowd to keep you waiting for half hour atleast. The Varan ‘asi’ , 80 ghaats from where Varanasi derives its name is beautiful with ghats leading down to Ganges waters. Varanasi is one of the seven sacred cities full of religious people who radiate endless energy to celebrate festivals with sanctity. Sawan mela which peaks in the 3 consecutive days just after completion of Rath Yatra is a big festival. 

There is special dish called ‘Naan Khatai’ which is found in all food outlets but only in and around Sawan mela. It is basically a cookie made of aata & little other stuff. Apart from it, the other must try is ‘Batti Chokha’. Baati is roasted Dough of aata with chaana masala stuffing inside & the Chokha is a sabji made by mixing aaloo, tamato, Baingan. Varanasi milk products taste really good, its paneer is one of the best. Leaving apart food items, Banarasi saaree is quite famous across.

Another thing to mark about Varanasi is its galiyan. The city is full of galiyan with hardly one man walking space. I have saved the best for the last. There is kahawat known as ‘Banaras ki Adiyan’. It is very interesting fact to know about Varanasi. It goes this way, “Suppose you start your day at 6 am with 10 min walk & you found a group sitting near tea shop. You go there & join the group with a cup of tea. Suppose you start a topic on your lost bag, you will find the group joining in with more stories of lost bags & it will continue for hours. Someone will leave & someone else will join but the topic continues. Suppose you leave the group, go to office & again visit the tea stall in the evening, you will find a group sitting at the tea stall discussing on the lost bags”. This is Banaras is ‘Adiyan’. So never fail to join adiyan when you visit Banaras & watch the magic happen. The city is full of easy going, happy & religious people who love leisure. Be a part of this beautiful city at least once in life time.

Allahabad is 125 km via road from Varanasi. First thing, try eating Rasgulla at “Dehati Rasgulla”, & take the feel of a soft gulab jamun melting inside your mouth. It damn yummy!!. Second thing to do is to try Cold Coffee at Amber Café. An interesting concept to see in Allahabad is its Jugaad Bridge which they put up during Kumbh mela or Magh mela. It is basically a temporary bridge made of hollow iron cylinders which float on water & are tied up to the river bed with the help of chain. Iron plates are placed over this iron floats & a bridge is made. And trust me trucks, cars ply over these bridges in huge numbers during this melas. By god !! heights of jugaad. My car was moving up & down the road & it was scary to drive over it. But it’s safe and has been approved by government. I heard they had set up 28 such bridges to facilitate transportation during Maha Kumbh in 2013. This kind melas in themselves is an entire topic to cover. 

Few Clicks at Sangam Allhabad: