Mystic and Holy Varanasi

This holy city has lot to offer.Everywhere around the Godowlia circle, you can see lot of cows as if they own the place.The entire town is engulfed with Chaats right from pani puris, samosas,tikkis,rasagullas,jamuns,hot jalebis etc. If you are chaat lover then you will love the city for no reason.People eat Chaat at any time through out the day.You can gulp down either masala tea or lassis in matka cups.A great alternative to plastic use and throw cups and it adds a tint of earthen taste that one should not miss.If you are a tea lover then you should experience it here.

Godowlia circle is thronged either by Benaras saree sellers or autowallahs. Beware of fake benaras sarees which is very common. Ditch the plans for eating in a fancy hotel,Grab the plates in any street side shops which are more pocket friendly and very tasty.This temple town is night mare for OCD people.Though Ganga looks tad cleaner the town is stained with paan.Try out the paan here yet another item famous in varanasi.

As you walk down the street, seeing the procession of dead body in any place would definitely chills down your spine but not for varanasis. It is quite a normal scene for the people belong here.There are two ghats namely Harishchandra and Manikarnika where dead bodies keep burning 24x7 through out the year.

It is must to see evening aarti to ganga either in the famous Dashaswamedha ghat or Assi ghat.It is just amazing to see how aarti is done to Ganga and treated like a demi god.This aarti is done in all the ghats starting from evening 6.30 and takes almost 30-40 minutes.It is advisable to reach either Dashaswamedhat/Assi ghat at 5.30 pm and take a stroll to find a place for better view of Aarti.

I have read that in kashi "lizards don’t make sound, cows don’t hit ,flowers don’t have smell and dead bodies won’t smell while burning." I can vouch for all the above except flowers don't smell.

There are totally 88 ghats around Varanasi.Each one has its own story, few are cursed and few are celebrated.When Parvati died, different parts of her body flung to different places in India.Her earrings fell in the present day Manikarnika ghat.One of the brahmin member kept this earring.When Shiva found out this he cursed the family and decreed that they will become the lowest of the untouchables.This is the story of Dom Raja,the descendants still doing the job of burning the bodies and living the life of untouchables.

Most of the ghats are used for bathing and for doing puja rituals.As you walk along the ghats, you can see the kids diving into river for taking coins which are thrown into Ganga by devotees, flower sellers and priests.Noisy yet inherent stillness Varanasi is.

How to reach?

Fly to varanasi. Indi go may cost anywhere from 2.3k INR to 4k INr for one way

To roam around varanasi,you can take normal autos/rickshaws as ola cabs are of little help.They charge anywhere from 10/- to 20/- per 1 km.Share autos are also available.

I used Ola to go Sarnath from Varanasi

Miscillaneous

Before entering Kashi viswanath temple, keep your mobile phones and luggages at your stay.Else you can keep in lockers available near temple.

Souvenirs

Apart from religious take away things you can consider buying below items as well

1.Banaras sarees

2.Minakari toys/jewels

3.Relish the taste of paan/chaats

4.Paan mixtures, a lot of different flavours available