تال الله بنارس چشم بد دورحمآ نہ کعبہ ہندستاناست
Ta'aal Allah Banaras chashm e bad duur
Hamana Kaaba-e- Hindustaanast
Well known Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib asks God to save the beautiful city of Banaras from evil eye and then goes on to famously refer to it as the Ka'aba of India in his long poem.
As part of the Zameen Collective group, I got a chance to visit the City of Banaras/Kashi/Varanasi, where we conducted our second workshop 'in-process' on Performance Art in association with Alice Boner Institute, Kashi Vidyapeeth, and Ka Art Gallery and had a chance to visit and interact with students of BHU as well.
Rivers have always played a key role with regard to the flourishing civilization settlements in various parts of the world. When we talk about Ganga, it is not a river system but is revered as a Goddess across India. It nourishes and is the nurturer and provider for millions engaged in farming in the Plains of North India, like a mother hence, Ganga Maiyya.
Banaras/Kashi/Varanasi, is arguably the oldest living city on earth on the banks of Ganges river where death gets normalized, ritualized and almost celebrated.
Religion and death hang loosely in the air as the city grapples with its ancient heritage and struggles with the 'development' agenda as Prime Minister's constituency. Politics and literature with food dominate other aspects of life in the city.
Banaras is considered as 'sacred or holy' but is like any other 'non-sacred/ non holy' Indian city with its usual urban problems except for its association with the 'Death'. According to the legend, the cycle of re-birth is broken and one can attain salvation if one dies here (preferably!) or gets cremated here (available second option). Mid-Ghats are full of burning pyres near the big temples.
Many people come here to die.
We were not one of them!!
We were in the city for its cultural milieu, its art and the aesthetic sensibilities which defined knowledge of its people.
From the railway station, I went to Assi ghat with friends for a cup of morning tea and witnessed the beautiful Subh e Banaras which initiated me for my sojourn here.
The walk around the Ghats at the time of Ganga-arti is special when atmosphere becomes extremely charged. It is difficult not to feel spiritual or connected with the Universe (even if you may be an atheist). The calmness of the river as the dusk settles reverberates with the loud chants of shloks and music.
On the ghats one can also meet people from all around the world, disturbed souls looking for spiritual cleanse or trying to regain their lost connection with the cosmos. The city is famous for its Pandits, who make a living out of 'death' and 'business of spirituality '.
From the ghats when you move towards the city the other special thing that catches attention is the Banarasi food. Our morning breakfast of poori, sabzi, jalebi with choice of chai or lassi completely floored even a hardcore Shahjahanabadi like me!! The heavy breakfast was followed by simple lunch at our host institute'. The evening snacks with cups of tea in small mitti cups and then dinner at one of the many restaurants near Assi ghat. The sweet shop and paan to finally round-off the day meant many calories and pounds which obviously we were not counting.It is not everyday that one visits an ancient city like Kashi/ Banaras/Varanasi and eats the 'bhog'. Since the city is sacred, therefore the food also becomes sacred :)
Banaras inhabitants (Banarasiyas) are known for their wit, poetic sensibilities and largely their love for literature (apart from their religion of course!).
We were staying near Assi ghat and had heard about Dr. Kashinath Singh's novel Kashi ka Assi (2004) on which a film was made recently Mohalla Assi (2018).
We visited the famous tea shop where writers/poets gather and do baithaks over numerous cups of tea and spoke with the tea shop owner and met a kavi (poet) who recited a few of his poems with some hilarious anecdotes about older poets and writers.
Huge number of cows/buffaloes can at any given time or place with their herd can overwhelm you from any direction without any warning. With the living and dead souls loitering it is also a city of the roaming cows!!
The narrow lanes and by-lanes of the old city Kashi/ Banaras are gasping for air as Varanasi is taking over the identity of the city.
At the sprawling BHU campus, students were sincere and eager to learn. And teachers like everywhere else, discussed politics of the country.
As constituency of the Prime Minister, largely people were unhappy with the policies of the government and with their elected representative (in Dec 2018), aren't we all ;) (fingers crossed for 2019!)
On our last day, before we boarded our train we took a memorable boat ride around Ganga Maiyya with unarguably, the best boatman-singer, Bhiman Bhaiya.
And we could not have ended our journey without meeting a Palmist Pandit ji, whom we met by chance and he explained our life and its predicaments with utmost patience to us!!Banaras... is not a city for the weak-hearted.
Its spirit is made from the residue of death where living are searching for their own salvation in its space everyday.
A city which promises salvation to the restless souls.
People say, you either love or hate the city.
I loved the city with its soul' (living and dead both!).
In recent years the Ganges River has drawn attention for its ungodly level of pollution. But the bathers are immune to all this. Nearly 2.5 million of them come each year to Banaras, this holiest of cities, on the banks of the most sacred of Indian rivers.
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