Benaras, beyond ghats
A voyage unlike any other, enriching and soothing
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Benaras is not a place, it is a universe that reveals itself without inhibition. Crowds, chaos and cacophony are constant companions in this Uttar Pradesh city, also known as Varanasi/Kashi, as is the affable attitude of its people. Their urge to help smilingly, with politeness, is a takeaway hard to resist. “Benaras ke logon ki ek khasiyat hai, woh kisi prakaar ke mukhote nahi pehante (The people of Benaras are special in that they don’t wear any masks),” avers Umesh Kabir, a scholar and artiste of the Kabir tradition.
An engagement with the place and its people manages to bring about a daarshnik (philosophical) disposition that tends to overtake both sense and sensibilities. For me, it manifested in myriad ways when I visited the Rajghat Besant School.
Spread over 400 acres on the outskirts of Benaras on the banks of the rivers Varuna and Ganga, J Krishnamurti established the Rajghat Education Centre in 1928. The sprawling campus houses the school, the Vasanta College for Women and Krishnamurti Study Centre and rural units involved in community services. Standing on the greens, under a resplendent sky, it seemed to be the perfect ambience to connect with Krishnamurti’s ideas on learning.
A meeting with Prof Padmanabhan Krishna, trustee of the Krishnamurti Foundation India, turned out to be the highlight of the day. In addition to performing his duties as the rector of the centre and principal of the school for 16 years, Prof Krishna has written extensively on various aspects of the teachings of J Krishnamurti. I couldn’t help asking, “What did it feel like listening to him, being in his presence?” Prof Krishna’s response — “I felt that I was meeting Socrates of Asia.”
The start of my subsequent day got dictated with a reminder of the idiom, ‘pehle pait puja, phir kaam dooja’. With single-minded devotion, I went around seeking gastronomic pleasures for my palate, with an insatiable yearning to savour the city’s famous street foods. From relishing the regular aloo tikki, golgappa, dahi bhala, papri chaat to tomato chaat, crispy palak chaat and finishing with kesar faluda kulfi ‘kulladh wali’ at Kashi Chaat Bhandar; to having the quintessential Benarasi breakfast of aloo-chana kachori, badi kachori and jalebi made in desi ghee at Ram Bhandar, Kashi’s oldest sweet shop, admittedly, food binging in Benaras turned out to be a memorable experience.
A word of caution for late risers: the specialty naashta is only available from 7 am to 9 am, across Benaras!
Catching the early morning choreographed aarti at Assi Ghat provided the perfect opportunity to gorge on the delicious kachoris and jalebis. Also, walking through the labyrinth of narrow gullis hidden by Ganga’s 84 banks is an appetite-building exercise by itself. It is these meandering lanes that are laden with Kashi ke rattan, its legendary performing artistes, the artisan weavers and historic homes.
An overwhelming feeling while touring Kashinagri is that it leads you towards its magnificence once you abandon control. The magic unfolded with visits to three of Benaras’ most-talked about living repositories: Kabir Chaura, Bhartendu Bhavan and Ustad Bismillah Khan’s haveli. At the 600-year-old Kabir Chaura, school textbook lessons on the Bhakti saint came alive as I walked around the spiritual environs. Along with Umesh Kabir’s eloquent observations on the medieval sage’s life and the historicity of the site, it was not difficult to imagine why Gandhi, Tagore and several other prominent figures chose to spend quality time at Kabir Chaura. It was indeed humbling to stand on such sacred grounds.
Thanks to Umesh Kabir, the privilege of being invited by family members of the legendary Hindi litterateur Harishchandra made my visit to the 300-year-old Bhartendu Bhavan a much-cherished experience. The family shared anecdotes related to Harishchandra’s childhood, about the influences that shaped him, his delectable acerbic wit, and the intriguingly cordial relations he had with the British, given the revolutionary tone of his writings. All of it proved to be much more than an anticipated bucket list fancy. A similar sentiment was experienced during the visit to Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan’s haveli.
While the conversation with Khan Saheb’s grandson was undeniably rewarding, it was the shocking state of the house and the abject penury of its inhabitants that saddened me.
The last day of my sojourn provided just enough time for me to go to Benaras Hindu University and Sarnath. The architectural splendour of both is mesmerising and intimidating, to say the least.
Benaras is a voyage unlike any other, equally enriching and soothing.
— The writer is based
in Chandigarh
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