Varanasi

She

lies awake on the deathbed looking with her still eyes on the door which led to

the world outside her purview, she has never stepped out and she never desired

to… but today she waits for her grandson to fulfill the promise, which only he

can afford, to take her to a place that can solace all her pain and can instill

the belief of reaching the lord… the only place she wants to reach before she

exhales her last breath, a place she knows she will get "Moksha"

(salvation). A place we know as "Kashi" "Banaras" or “Varanasi”!

What made her believe in it so much? What made her assume that it will lead her to

heaven for sure? Was it the temple hymns, Ganges

shine, mantra’s rhyme, what? The Ghats that she played onto, the thin lanes she

ran barefooted, the Katthak thap, the music class, the roadside chat, the noise

of bells… somehow she could never disconnect herself from all these and no one

can, no one ever will. Monoo’s great granny always wanted to return to this

place and when his father shared this reason as to "why he chose to settle

down here”, monoo found it weird but acknowledged that it was indeed the best

thing his father did.

Monoo always wished that he could

recollect his childhood in that city but couldn’t. All he could vaguely

remember was that how his dad lifted him to help him reach the Bells of the

old Vishwanath Temple - the holy shrine of Lord

Shiva. His dad told him "Shiva used to reside in Varanasi". He couldn’t comprehend

because he thought Shiva stayed on the Himalayas.

Though it was a usual practice of his dad to take him to Durga

Markande mahadev and many more, the one close to his heart was Sankat Mochan

Temple, dedicated to Lord

Hanuman, as he loved him as a lord and liked the presence of Monkeys in the

temple. All these temples were built in different period by different people,

based on their beliefs. Today temples have instilled the belief stronger with

miracle time and again.

Monoo’s favorite pastime during his

teenage was sitting at one of the 100 Ghat’s with dangling legs sharing

the heartache with his only friend Mantu every morning. As it was the custom

for them to acknowledge the sunrise together during summer vacation and then

cross the Ganges to take a dip on the other shore of Ganga.

And sometime stand with folded hands during the grand Ganga Aarti, which

brought tears to his eyes.  Few things which is a must do by everyone who

travels there. There were numerous ghats and every ghat had its own story to

tell like Dashashwamedh Ghat where, Lord Brahma sacrificed ten horses in a

yajna here. But Monoo was more attached to Manikarnik Ghat and felt at peace

watching the dead bodies being cremated. (One of the story about it is that

Lord Shiva asks the soul whether it has seen the earrings.) Some of the other

important Ghats were Harishchandra Ghat , Tulsi Ghat  and Assi Ghat.

Monoo always had an inclination

towards Art and Literature. He grew up listening to the stories of great

writers who lived in this city from Kabir to Tulsidas who wrote much of his

Ramayana here. He was inspired by many contemporary writers like Jayshankar

Prasad, Munshi Premchand and Hazari Prasad Dwivedi. And thats when the writer

within him was born, who started writing poetries at the age of fifteen and

there were many other notables who kept on inspiring him. His Mother noticed

that, Monoo ensured not to miss performance on the Ghats

and the old theatre Nagri Natak Mandli, during Ganga Mahatsov, Tulsi

Mahatsov and various other festivals (open music concerts) which celebrated the

traditional styles of classical and folk culture in the city… where culture

poured, artist roared.  Pt. Ravi Shankar,

Maharaj, were the strong pillars who kept alive the art of Varanasi. His Mom

could see the artist within him yearning for a guiding light and he was sent to

lane where culture lied, he began his theatre journey and quenched his thirst

of being the true "Banarasi"

Monoo couldn’t make it to his dream

university where his mother, sister and brother finished their EDUCATION from;

the Banaras Hindu University

established by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya in 1916.  The University has the

largest campus in Asia with only the main

campus spread over 1300 acres. People from all over the world came to study the

hundreds of courses they offered in various disciplines; whether it’s the

modern disciplines of technology or the old Vedic studies. What surprised him

the most was various scholars from Germany who studied the Sanskrit

Vedic studies. The Bharat Kala Bhavan, virtual treasure trove of Hindu and Buddhist history was his favorite

place to hang out along with ’Maitri’- a café for young couple to hang around.

Monoo headed to Bangalore after he finished his schooling in

1999 and took up a management course. He is well settled today in one of the

posh localities of Bangalore but what he still yearns for are the little

things of his hometown Kashi… the traffic which never stopped, the narrow

lanes to the Ghats which even let the scooter pass... the famous banarasi pan

which he couldn’t try, the roadside spicy chaats which made him cry! What he

misses the most is the people of banaras, who are majorly very content with

life and are happy with what they have. They value their principles and rituals; they look

for happiness in small gestures. Not that they are far from modernism; but they

still have that Indian-ness in their mannerism. They still reach out on

your call; even if you are a stranger they won’t mind helping you at all. They

welcome you with open arms to their home which is called Varanasi,

Banaras, Kashi…

And that’s why Monoo wants to go back

"Home" to a city which is

old asall of them put together” - Mark Twain

I tribute my 25th review to my city of Origin.