My company tagline is, Discovering India Differently, and this day, heading away from the main sights of Varanasi, led me to do just that. We headed out of Varanasi, in the words of the song (almost) “To see what we could see,” a soon found ourselves in the countryside where we came across a Gaushala…
Snapshot – Shiva, Snakes and Spirituality, Varanasi
So there we were, sitting on the ghats, on chairs (most pple were sitting on the floor) and in prime position for the arti ceremony thanks to our hosts at #UPTWC16. It was a full moon night, the ceremony was underway, conch shells had been blown, lamps were lit, bells were ringing and devotional songs…
Varanasi, Benares, Banaras or Kashi, regardless its not an easy destination.
Varanasi will chew you up and spit you out and won’t be concerned about the consequences, not even one iota. For through tourists flock there in their masses, to visit the world’s oldest living city, and to absorb, as if by osmosis, some of India’s famed spirituality; as Tahir Shah so succinctly put it, ‘Enlightenment…
Snapshots: Cremations in Varanasi
A man, wrapped in a white shroud, his head freshly shaved, sits mournfully and watches a burning pyre. A bamboo ladder, supporting another body, it’s shape visible under an orange shroud, makes its way to its final immersion in Mother Ganges. A few steps away, flames lick at another pyre, a body visible, a family…