Varanasi - Off the Beaten Track

steven_ber

Some wonderful info in this thread, I've got to make it a 'sticky', if only to make it easier for me to find when I go to Varanasi.

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yatrayatra

Kashi is certainly a fairly digital city.

You can buy a cellphone and use it to access Internet anywhere in the city with your laptop.

In three days BSNL gives you a broadband connection to your residence promising to deliver 256kbps to 2MBps. I dont know what one actually gets - however, while the speed may vary the supply is almost continuous. It can be considered always "on" for all practical purposes.

Most Internet cafe's have card readers at no extra charge ; burning Cd's is offered by almost all , burning DVD's is a little difficult.

Umm , the locals have caught onto INternet in a big way; they pay Rs 10 per hour at Lanka and have a whale of a time chatting away to glory.

The hottest tourist centre some time back for Internet was Mona Lisa in the Bengali Tola section of the old town - he has 10 machines with LCD screens, headphones with skype and google talk and they do bring coffee/tea/rolls to your table ! 20 Rs and hour only ! And this guy did not have a formal education but has he gone digital !

Some Internet centres are offering to book train tickets online and give you a print out for the ticket. Your passport is valid id. Umm , they have their service charge of, course !

In India - Wifi and WiMax are taking off. Within a year , one can probably buy a card and plug in wirelessly to high speeds of 2MPBps to 10MBps. The pilot project for Wi-Max is coming up in Bangalore, Pune, Chennai - I daresay Kashi will be up on the list soon.

Kashi does need the Wi_Max ; going digital has not changed 5000 years of knowing that pilgrims will always come to Kashi ! That 10,000 sq foot of Dashashwamedh Ghat is guaranteed playing host to 1.1b Indians and growing !

Mahadeva !

robotvoice

re: mona lisa cafe: He was still there (as of last year) and still tends to be the center of the tourist area. Pretty good chinese food too.

Darmabum

is getting a facelift . . . actually more like a new face. When I left in August of last year workers were hurrying (before the swelling Ganga reached them) to complete the new stone ghat just south of the mud ghat that is Asi. Looks like the new ghat will be well above the river level (at most times), and be able to accomodate many more people . . . maybe tryin' to give Dasashawamedh a run for it's rupees.

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Gayamom

Palerider, Darmabum, Yatra, and Robotvoice - Be much more fun if this conversation were held while skipping stones off one of the ghats, but I suppose then we really wouldn't need to have it? With its booming pilgrim/ tourist trade and consequent cash flow, I suspected Kashi had jumped into the digital era with both feet. Good! Just hope a tide of good fortune sweeps along the folks in Bengali Tola and the adjacent tolas as well. Cheers to one and all - GM

Darmabum

. . . I hope this year to be skipping stones or at least just sitting on my perch at Tulsi Ghat (I show up an hour before sunrise, while the stars are still out)(and before the monkey's are awake) just a stone's throw from where I stay . . . there are places in the world I don't/won't return to, as the changes I hear happening seem too much for me to bear, and I want to keep that original feeling . . . Varanasi has changed, but in the almost 20 years I've known her, she may have had her face lifted several times, but the heartbeat remains the same . . . sounds like it's time for you to get back there too . . . 21 years is a long absence for someone who has the memories so indelibly recorded . . . you can see with your eyes the changes . . . close them . . . listen . . . I think you'll recognize what you hear . . .

kayte

try to stay for dev dipali, one week later, possibly two. its the best festival, the ghats are all lit up with oil lamps, beautiful, plus celebrations the traditional varanasi way - crazy!

Khak

Hi
I stayed in a place called Mughalsarai (the largest railway juntion in India)about 25 Km from Varanasi for two years. I used to visit Varansai frequently. Here are my favorite activities in Varanasi

1>attending classical music nights conducted at Sankat Mochan Mandir every year during Mar-Apr
2>walking along the ghats any time
3>sitting on the ghats and watching the river & crowd
4>taking boat ride during dip-deepavali (14 days after diwali)
5>having glass of thick lassi topped with rabri (delicious)
6>walking along the streets aimlessly
7>soaking in 3000 years of history
8>riding back to Mughalsarai at 2 am on my bike

waving monkey

gayamom
i like your style

Paresh

"Sab ki ragon main lahoo bahee hai, apni ragon main Ganga Maiya"

The above quote in Hindi from a song of a movie translates to English like this...

"All have blood in their veins, we have Mother Ganges"

Gayamom,

Could not stop my self from responding after reading your post. It seems that you are really into the city. I spent my 5 years of life at BHU for my education. I saw and felt the city from its depth but still feel that I haven't even explored 1% of it.

Just a few notes for Gayamom's points.

2) Would probably need to hire a graduate student from BHU or SSU to make this happen.
<Paresh> I did this a lot when I used to hang out on Ghats every day. Made a lot of new friends around the globe who were in love with Kashi as much as I am.

3) The mishti paan (betel nut) is supposedly famous (yuck).
<Paresh> Just to clarify, its not the Paan that is famous but the habit of eating paan of people is famous. You can see every second guy having this paan in his mouth. Many years back there was a song by the famous Indian Movie Actor, Amitabh Bacchan. The lyrics of the song goes like(translated in English) "After eating the Benarasee paan...the lock of mind gets unlocked". And this song made the Benarasee paan famous. Personally, I hate that stuff.

4) Try and attend a classical concert, or two or three. If I were lucky, I would be there when the all-night vocal music festival on the ghats were taking place [does it still happen?]. Or when Ram Lila were going on. Or at a venue when the power was cut, the concert lantern-lit, and I'd end up listening to night ragas on the rooftop of a crumbling 18th century zamindar's mahal. [Happened. Who can resist such a city's allure?]
<Paresh> Personally, this is one of my best things at Benaras.

There is one festival which is called "Ganga Mahotsava" (Great Ganga Festival). This attracts a major crowd and these days many movie stars(at least Bhojpuri) perform here. I am sure this is not the one Gayamom is talking about.

There is another one called, Dhrupadh Mela and not more than 200 people come there. The venue is at Tulsi Ghat. If you are interested in Music and can feel the Dhrupad Music, nothing can be better than that. This concert starts at evening and goes till dawn. About the feel of it, one has to do it on his/her own. I think Gayamom known what I am talking off

6) Try and visit Sankat Mochan Foundation (still around?) and find out about progress on cleaning up the Ganges River. Their guesthouse, Amar Bhavan near Assi Ghat, was a delightful place for rooms and great conversation. Still open?
<Paresh> Sankat Mochan and Amar Bhavan, both are there. There was a bomb blast at Sankat Mochan temple few years back. But both the places are intact and still preserves the same feeling.

7) Visit BHU (as previously suggested). If I were a young woman, then avoid ill-mannered BHU students at all costs. At my advanced age, relax and enjoy the campus, once a pre-eminent center of British colonial education.
<Paresh> Oh!!! never realized that people used to think of us as ill-mannered. .

8) Learn more about Sanskrit scholarship, of which Varanasi is an old (think in terms of millenia) center. Are any of the old masters still alive? Doubt it. they were quite elderly when I was in Varanasi. Have the old schools survived or after 1000s of years, is this learning tradition now dead?
<Paresh> People come, go but the tradition and place is same. Kashi has been the center of knowledge from the ancient time. I am not talking of the knowledge of modern supercomputers but of the different kind. This can never be dead there.

9) Contrive a visit with the local journalists. A lively bunch of scalliwags when I was there. They'll tell you what's what and know where the good cheap eats are.
<Paresh> With time the politics and crime is becoming worst. So, it better to not to opt for a political Journalist.

12) Are the old kabiraj's still around? Practitioners of a traditional form of medicine. I visited the office/ apothecary of a kabiraj, grandson of a very famous 19th century kabiraj. Fascinating man. His office was straight out of Dickens. All gone? Replaced by an Apollo Hospital or similar chain? Which would be better for those who are sick, but worse for those who just want their imaginations exercised.
<Paresh> The Kabiraj is still around. But now there are many of his kind. It is difficult to find for a new person who is the real one. But yes, people now trust more on the places like Apollo Hospital.

13) Avoid druggy Westerners. You can hang with them in your own hometown. Instead, contrive to meet the urbane, cultured and impoverished denizens of this town. The old families, well, I imagine the old Italian trading familes must have had the same aura. They are descendents of a continuous civilization that has existed for a very, very long time. They've been dealing with tourists for most of that time, so don't expect them to be too excited by your arrival.

Skip this advice if you're into that scene, in which case, no offense intended. [Just, why do in old, anciently corrupt and serpentine Varanasi what can be done so much more safely in Amsterdam? Never understood that. Unless it's Siva Ratri, in which case please stay indoors, unless you really know what you're doing.]
<Paresh> Well, I would say it depends. In fact locals have not so good image of the white people(that is how the recognize all the foreigners ) because of drugs and all that. Many drugs are easily available at Varanasi as compared to the other cities of India. I know many people who just love the taste of the marijuana available at Varanasi than any other place at world. Moreover, its so cheap that just for INR 50/- you can celebrate a whole party!!
Mind it, I am telling this just to share the fact and not to publicize or encourage someone.
In case you want to get high, believe me, attend the Dhrupad Mela which I mentioned above under point number 4. The effect would be more that the strongest dope that you have ever taken.

14) Give alms to the widows and bestow a smile upon them too. Their lives are hard. Are there respite houses where a large gift of warm blankets or shawls would be welcome? Mother Theresa was doing this work, I think. Seek this out
<Paresh> This is all gone now, Gayamom. These things are rarely visible. There are many people asking for a lot of things roadside. There are many other efforts also. But you need to look something similar to your taste.

<Paresh>The breach of digital electronics is obviously there but these are not the deriving force behind the city. Still, the world known professor of BHU from Micro Biology, Nuclear Physics, Material Sciences or from Quantum Mechanics start their days by paying their respect to Load Siva.

There are a zillion things which I can list here. But I think many of the things that can be done in few days have already been listed here. If you get some more time at that city then I am sure you will not be needing any of these suggestions. Kashi has great driving force which has raise Great Humans throughout the whole of history.

Happy Kashi Yatra ....The Yatra Begins...

Paresh

There are many water falls around Varanasi. They are awesome. The best one is Lakhaniya Dari. In case anyone wants to be there, I have written a blog on it:

http://travel-paresh.blogspot.com/20...ere-water.html

sholzer

you can also go to rajghat the last ghat where theres a huge complex of Krishnamurti schools. there is also a retreat center http://www.kfionline.org/studycentres/rajghat.asp you can contact then for a stay.

Paresh

Beyond RajGhat, there is another very old ghat that people hardly know. It is called Adi Keshav Ghat. To reach here you have to take a left before the RajGhat Bridge. Ask for Vasanta Ashram for the people around and they will tell you. This road ends on Ganges and there is the Adi Keshav Ghat.

Almoraboy

hello,

does anyone know ow many tourists visit varanasi every year? any approximate statisctics will do or any helpful links on the same will also do. This is to help someone on a college project.

Thanks in advance.

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ananda2193

Look here, scrool down to around page 87-93,

http://www.tourism.nic.in/statistics/ITS2006.pdf

and here to page 40,


http://www.tourism.gov.in/survey/up.pdf