From Bombay to Benaras - a solo traveler's guide

On the 7th of March, the full moon in Pisces I got a call to go and visit the sacred city of Varanasi. I personally didn't want to go because I had a lot of work to do but the calls grew stronger, I had to go. So I did and booked my tickets for the 26th of March 2023.

I had a friend who stayed in Varanasi who helped me plan the trip and instead of having me stay at a hostel, had me stay at his home with his parents as a guest! Truly, living in a homestay in Varanasi was a dream come true.

On the day of departure, my flight which was to leave at 13.35 pm left at 16.30 pm instead and landed at 18.15 pm at Lal Bahadur Shastri Airport, Varanasi.

I was welcomed by rains and thunder and ofcourse my friend who came to pick me up on his two wheeler.

We had to wait for a good 30 minutes till we left and then the scooter decided to stop 4 times before we finally made it to his place at Bada Lal pur.

However another lesson awaited us and this time the light at his place had gone and so had the water and this was a troublesome situation for them.

But all I said was, Faith it we'll make it. This is a test, a challenge that the Lord has bestowed upon us and we must accept it with grace.

Within 1 hour the electricity returned and the water was running. Faith, the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.

After resting for the night and enjoying some delicious Aaloo Parathas we planned the itinerary for the next day and went to bed!

We woke up and had our breakfast and coffee and left to explore the temples in Varanasi. We covered Sankat  Mochan Temple, Batuk Bhairav Temple, Bada Ganesh Temple, Kaal Bhairav Temple, Tulsi Manas Temple before heading back home for some lunch and afternoon resting time. We then decided to visit Sarnath but it had shut at 5 pm so we returned to the city and had some local dishes and did some grocery shopping. We then retired for the day and decided to go to Sarnath and the evening Ganga Aarti the following day along with Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

We woke up and had our breakfast and left for Sarnath where we explored the temples and the stupa and the museum. Then we headed back to our home and left for BHU which is the Benaras Hindu University and visited the Kashi Vishwanath Temple there and had cold coffee with Ice cream.

We then headed to Assi Ghat for the Ganga Aarti and I was lucky enough to be able to do the Aarti and watch it live. I was spell bound the entire time.  We then left for Kashi Vishwanath Temple and that had me shook for a really long time. We also saw the Durga Kund and Shree Sankata Devi Temple as it was Navratri season as well. We then headed home after grabbing some dinner at Burger King for a change from the street food.

We woke up at 5 am to go to the Ganga River for the Boat Ride and watch the sunrise by the Ganges. We also caught the morning Aarti before heading into the river. We then walked down the ghats and had some Mango Milkshake and Breakfast of Chole Bature before covering all the 84 Ghats and immersing ourselves in the beauty of Benaras. We also covered the Vishalakshi Devi Shaktipeeth  Temple which was on one of the ghats and had a lot of devotees from the South of India.

We then headed back to have some lunch at home and in the evening just rested before I was to take off for my flight to Bombay the next day.

The last day in Benaras was spent getting ready for the flight, packing up and also saying some hard goodbyes to my host family.

I am immensely grateful to God for this magical experience that he allowed for me to have and to have brought me back home close to him and his glory.

All I'm going to say is, go with love in your heart no matter where you go and it is bound to come back to you in some way or the other.