The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
January 24 - Varanasi
Varanasi, on the left (west) bank of the River Ganges, has been a cultural and religious center in northern India for several thousand years. Records of the city go back 8,000 years and it is generally believed to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. Varanasi is holy to Hindus and Buddhists as well as other sects less well-known outside of India.
The culture of Varanasi is closely associated with the Ganges and the river's religious importance. Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath, a few miles away and there are some 2000 temples of various types in the area. Varanasi is even the birthplace of sitar master Ravi Shankar.
All that said, this is a chaotic, noisy and confusing place -- more of an experience than a photo opportunity. The crowds and filth you encounter in the tiny, crumbling medieval lanes of the old town are not for the squeamish or faint of heart. But a cruise along the ghats (steps) of Varanasi at dawn or dusk is intense and mind-altering. We had originally thought we would cruise the river both at sunset tonight and sunrise tomorrow, but we were so overwhelmed after the evening excursion that we really couldn't absorb any more.
I will try to tell more of the story through photo captions -- it will be easier for me and probably make more sense to you. Truthfully one of the most time-consuming parts of preparing this diary every day is sorting through all the photos and trying to decide which ones best tell the tale. Varanasi is a hard place to capture on film (in pixels?) in part because everything is right on top of you and it it hard to get far enough back to capture the shot ... or the car is moving ... or the scene itself is moving ... or the day is foggy. You get the idea.
I have given up on the idea of trying to fully convey what we are experiencing here -- there is too much of a back story on most of it anyway. So I will do the best I can and supplement our own photos with some pilfered off the web to more adequately tell the tale.
© 2009 Restaurant Doctor
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