'My memorable trip to Varanasi’, in fact, its an expression of my irritation. As I have never been exposed to such an atmosphere in my life ever before, I got astonished after finding such miserable conditions at a pious destination. Varanasi is called a pilgrimage center but the reality is something else. Can it be so filthy? Can such unfair means are desi
red here by the devotees? I really never dreamt of such atmosphere. It really made me astonished to think that how do the devotees come and perform their rituals here. All of you may be wondered after thinking that why I am so much vexed, for what and why too? I’m disclosing every minute details of my trip to holy city of Varanasi.
First I wanna introduce myself, Namaskar! I’m Gajendra Narayan, an NRI from Canada. Since last 20 years, I’ve been residing in Canada along with my family. I have my own business here. After leaving India I didn’t got any chance to visit my old land India. Last month, I had to visit ‘VARANASI’, one of the sacred pilgrimage centres of Hindus in India. Though I’m not too much religious minded, but I’d to visit that place to offer homages in my ancestor’s names. My 60 years old mother was also wished to visit Varanasi as it was her most cherished destination for long. Finally we set off for one of the oldest existing cities of world, Varanasi. Upto India’s capital New Delhi, the journey was safe and comfortable enough.
After passing two days in New Delhi, we boarded a domestic flight to Varanasi. From the airport we hired a cab, the driver, named Ratan Ojha demanded an incredible amount of rupees as fare. I did not want to face any altercation with him and agreed entirely. On our way, Ratan asked me, "Kya aap logon ki kisi hotel mein booking hai"(Have you already booked any hotel room)? As I answered negatively, Ratan politely told me that he knew addresses of many good hotels there. He also sho
wed his interest to provide us a comfortable room. I was impressed a lot by his polite attitude. I agreed with his proposal without any further thinking. I hardly recognised that there was a cunning fox beyond his calm face.
After half-hour drive, we were in front of a deluxe hotel. Ratan took the initiative to introduce us to the hotel owner, Piyush Chaddha. He also showed a fake gratitude to arrive to his hotel. Then he showed us the rate chart of hotel rooms. I selected an Air-conditioned room as it was too hot then. We are almost habituated with the climate of Canada. After a long time, India’s subtropical humid weather did not suit us. When me and my mother were moving towards my room after the full payment to the hotel owner for 2 days(as it’s the rule here), and to Ratan also, I found that Mr. Chaddha was giving a currency of rupees 1000 to Ratan. I understood Ratan’s trick immediately that why he was so eager to help us? Earlier, I thought him as a noble heart, but later I recognised him not more than a tout. As I was a visitor here, so I thought better to keep mum. It was just the beginning of my horrible experiences here.
Next day, in the early morning, we first went to take bath in the ‘Ganges’, the biggest river of India. I heard that Varanasi is situated at the confluence of ‘Ganges’, ‘Varuna’ and another river named ‘Assi’. I thought that it would be a very beautiful place and must have a scenic beauty. But to my surprise, I found just an opposite picture that never appeared in my mind. After reaching the ‘ghats’(banks), we found that there was no proper system of taking bath . Men and women were taking bath almost in the same place. There were no changing place too. Such a civic sense amazed me. Apart from that, I found the water is too mu
ch filthy. Rotten garlands and other useless dirty things were floating in the water. I understood that if we would take bath here, then we would surely suffer some skin diseases. Even sitting in Canada, I heard a lot about the ‘Ganga Action Plan’ but I found here that how much progress had been done in reality. We went back to our hotel and took our bath. Then we started for the ‘Kashi Vishwanath’ temple, which is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The drama started while we were atleast 1 km away from the temple. The road to the temple were too narrow and crowded with rickshaws, cycles, scooters, bikes and the most irritating —BEGGARS, COWS and COWDUNG. We were obstructed frequently to move freely. I gave two of the beggars some cash, that created too much vexation. Oh my God, what the biggest mistake I made, suddenly a large of other beggars came and demanded money on the name of God. What a strange matter? They were almost half-naked, dirty, starved for long periods. It’s unimaginable in one word. Such a stinking smell was coming out from their body that any well person would vomit. We got rid of them anyhow and moved towards the temple.
As we reached to the temple premises, I got surprised after seeing the dirty surroundings. Here and there, I found stealthy water, rotten garlands and buzzing of flies over that which hurt my sacred feelings about temple that I hold till date in my mind. Even the congregation of ‘Pandas’ inside t
he temple made me surprised a lot. One question usually came to my mind whether this is a temple premise or something else. The climax of the drama arrived as I went to offer my homages to Lord Shiva, I was obstructed by the ‘pandas’ presented there. While I enquired them about the reason, they replied arrogantly that here nobody was permitted the opportunity to offer their ‘pujas’ independently. In addition, they even charged an incredible amount to offer our homages.
What a strange thing? My ancestors. My family members. But puja would be performed by others, prayers would be offered by others whom we didn’t know ever. As there was no other alternative, we had to depend upon the ‘Pandas’. Jostling, pushing and unnecessary shouting of ‘Pandas’ as well as by the beggars for alms turned the temple complex really hard to offer prayers in a peaceful mind. My aged mother felt uneasy here. I managed to get the ‘prasad’ earlier by just giving bribes. Then, as fast as we could, returned back to hotel. My mother and me too, came here with lots of hope. All of them were in vain. In the name of religion, only a black business is going on. The so called ‘Brahmins’ are nothing but a corrupted group. I would like to refer those ‘pandas’ as tout and nothing else.
In the afternoon, we reached to Varanasi airport for boarding a flight back to New Delhi. On our way back, I and my mother only left some sigh to each other and remained silent. While we were in the Immigration section, one official asked me, "How do you find Varanasi? Hope it entertains you a lot." It added the last chapter of amazement to me. Being an Indian, that person had no idea what was going on in the name of religion and other civic amenities in his own country. By the way, I did not want to make him hurt. So I just gave him a smile and replied "A MEMORABLE JOURNEY".
red here by the devotees? I really never dreamt of such atmosphere. It really made me astonished to think that how do the devotees come and perform their rituals here. All of you may be wondered after thinking that why I am so much vexed, for what and why too? I’m disclosing every minute details of my trip to holy city of Varanasi. First I wanna introduce myself, Namaskar! I’m Gajendra Narayan, an NRI from Canada. Since last 20 years, I’ve been residing in Canada along with my family. I have my own business here. After leaving India I didn’t got any chance to visit my old land India. Last month, I had to visit ‘VARANASI’, one of the sacred pilgrimage centres of Hindus in India. Though I’m not too much religious minded, but I’d to visit that place to offer homages in my ancestor’s names. My 60 years old mother was also wished to visit Varanasi as it was her most cherished destination for long. Finally we set off for one of the oldest existing cities of world, Varanasi. Upto India’s capital New Delhi, the journey was safe and comfortable enough.
After passing two days in New Delhi, we boarded a domestic flight to Varanasi. From the airport we hired a cab, the driver, named Ratan Ojha demanded an incredible amount of rupees as fare. I did not want to face any altercation with him and agreed entirely. On our way, Ratan asked me, "Kya aap logon ki kisi hotel mein booking hai"(Have you already booked any hotel room)? As I answered negatively, Ratan politely told me that he knew addresses of many good hotels there. He also sho
wed his interest to provide us a comfortable room. I was impressed a lot by his polite attitude. I agreed with his proposal without any further thinking. I hardly recognised that there was a cunning fox beyond his calm face.After half-hour drive, we were in front of a deluxe hotel. Ratan took the initiative to introduce us to the hotel owner, Piyush Chaddha. He also showed a fake gratitude to arrive to his hotel. Then he showed us the rate chart of hotel rooms. I selected an Air-conditioned room as it was too hot then. We are almost habituated with the climate of Canada. After a long time, India’s subtropical humid weather did not suit us. When me and my mother were moving towards my room after the full payment to the hotel owner for 2 days(as it’s the rule here), and to Ratan also, I found that Mr. Chaddha was giving a currency of rupees 1000 to Ratan. I understood Ratan’s trick immediately that why he was so eager to help us? Earlier, I thought him as a noble heart, but later I recognised him not more than a tout. As I was a visitor here, so I thought better to keep mum. It was just the beginning of my horrible experiences here.
Next day, in the early morning, we first went to take bath in the ‘Ganges’, the biggest river of India. I heard that Varanasi is situated at the confluence of ‘Ganges’, ‘Varuna’ and another river named ‘Assi’. I thought that it would be a very beautiful place and must have a scenic beauty. But to my surprise, I found just an opposite picture that never appeared in my mind. After reaching the ‘ghats’(banks), we found that there was no proper system of taking bath . Men and women were taking bath almost in the same place. There were no changing place too. Such a civic sense amazed me. Apart from that, I found the water is too mu
ch filthy. Rotten garlands and other useless dirty things were floating in the water. I understood that if we would take bath here, then we would surely suffer some skin diseases. Even sitting in Canada, I heard a lot about the ‘Ganga Action Plan’ but I found here that how much progress had been done in reality. We went back to our hotel and took our bath. Then we started for the ‘Kashi Vishwanath’ temple, which is dedicated to Lord Shiva.The drama started while we were atleast 1 km away from the temple. The road to the temple were too narrow and crowded with rickshaws, cycles, scooters, bikes and the most irritating —BEGGARS, COWS and COWDUNG. We were obstructed frequently to move freely. I gave two of the beggars some cash, that created too much vexation. Oh my God, what the biggest mistake I made, suddenly a large of other beggars came and demanded money on the name of God. What a strange matter? They were almost half-naked, dirty, starved for long periods. It’s unimaginable in one word. Such a stinking smell was coming out from their body that any well person would vomit. We got rid of them anyhow and moved towards the temple.
As we reached to the temple premises, I got surprised after seeing the dirty surroundings. Here and there, I found stealthy water, rotten garlands and buzzing of flies over that which hurt my sacred feelings about temple that I hold till date in my mind. Even the congregation of ‘Pandas’ inside t
he temple made me surprised a lot. One question usually came to my mind whether this is a temple premise or something else. The climax of the drama arrived as I went to offer my homages to Lord Shiva, I was obstructed by the ‘pandas’ presented there. While I enquired them about the reason, they replied arrogantly that here nobody was permitted the opportunity to offer their ‘pujas’ independently. In addition, they even charged an incredible amount to offer our homages.What a strange thing? My ancestors. My family members. But puja would be performed by others, prayers would be offered by others whom we didn’t know ever. As there was no other alternative, we had to depend upon the ‘Pandas’. Jostling, pushing and unnecessary shouting of ‘Pandas’ as well as by the beggars for alms turned the temple complex really hard to offer prayers in a peaceful mind. My aged mother felt uneasy here. I managed to get the ‘prasad’ earlier by just giving bribes. Then, as fast as we could, returned back to hotel. My mother and me too, came here with lots of hope. All of them were in vain. In the name of religion, only a black business is going on. The so called ‘Brahmins’ are nothing but a corrupted group. I would like to refer those ‘pandas’ as tout and nothing else.
In the afternoon, we reached to Varanasi airport for boarding a flight back to New Delhi. On our way back, I and my mother only left some sigh to each other and remained silent. While we were in the Immigration section, one official asked me, "How do you find Varanasi? Hope it entertains you a lot." It added the last chapter of amazement to me. Being an Indian, that person had no idea what was going on in the name of religion and other civic amenities in his own country. By the way, I did not want to make him hurt. So I just gave him a smile and replied "A MEMORABLE JOURNEY".
6 comments:
Uhhhhhhhhh! What a dirty place? Earlier i heard much about varanasi, its temples and ghats, but no one told about its negative aspects. Gajendra ur personal feeling is an eye-opener for those who want to visit Varanasi. I will never visit Varanasi and think those who will read this will do the same.
I have been to Varanasi....seen the dirt, our holy rivers carry. Bt u really can't deny the gushes of the wind there, which gives a complete spiritual feel.
The authorities should certainly plan out staunch plans for cleanliness of this revered pilgrimage destination.
I have been to Varanasi long back and know for sure that the traffic situation is extremely bad there. I have seen the traffic police looking on as mute spectator while cars, rickshaws, scooters, all went past him in completely unorganised way. This was what I saw long back. I was under an impression that things would have improved atleast one percent after so many years but after reading your experience, I am sure it hasn't.
it sounds so true, it has happened to you that too bad. i hope it never happens to you again. Try out pre- booking.
There are perhaps not a single Hindu pilgrimage, where you can find silky roads with people having British ettiquetes... i had been to Varanasi couple of times and undoubtedly a luring place, if not, beautiful. however,the irony is that beauty lies
on the filthy ghats and mazzy lanes and bylanes, the experience is totally unique.
Sadhus and people from various part of India make the place a wonderful one despite of being filthy and congested. Being an NRI i can understand your amazement to see holy place in such condition.
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