Bird’s eye view:
A straight drive (a la Rohit Sharma) of 350 km today, leaving at 7.00 am, reaching our Homestay at 2.00 pm post-lunch. Nothing to complain of. Yesterday we had passed through Jharkhand and entered Bihar. Today we entered UP. As we passed from J to B, the rough patches on the highway started showing up a bit. I mean, we would have a stretch of silky three-lane highway for a while, and then suddenly start jumping about amongst patchworks and potholes. Average speed was less than 50 kmph. Our Tata Punch has a slightly hard suspension, so it is quite at home over rough patches. Weather was hazy, much to the chagrin of Panna, our official photographer, who likes her pictures to be as crisp as British bacon.
Leaving Bodh Gaya (7.00 am):
Today, there was no cousin to dish out emotional blackmail, so we left on the dot. We had a very pleasant run till 9.00 am, when we simply stopped at a locality called Kans and popped into - hold your breath - Baba Bholanath Shudh Veg Line Hotel. I tell you, road trips can give you flavours of restaurants, and not just flavours of food. The people who serve in these very basic places are so polite and eager to please that it is a pleasure to eat there, even if it a simple alu paratha.
Entering Varanasi (1.00 pm):
This time we had chosen our place of stay with a different objective. We did not want a sightseeing trip. In fact we wanted a subtle in-and-out, to be away in the morning even before the city of Varanasi realised that we had added our faces to the populace. So we booked a homestay beside the Ganges at the south edge of the city, very close to the highway that would take us to Lucknow the next day.
We had planned to catch a spot of lunch before we checked in, but such was the locality, that it took us quite a bit of up and down travel near the spot to finally locate the Cafe Oregano, which, to our delight, turned out pretty decent fare. I know that Varanasi is famous for lassis and kachouris, but believe you me, we were digging into our burger and pasta like we were expecting DJT to increase tariff on fast foods.
Our Lime-Villa Homestay was an oldish villa (with lime whitewash, as expected) run by an enthusiastic lady, who kept a clean and tight house, with full facilities. We love homestays much more than hotels, and the quaint layout of the house, as well as the open terrace with a view of the Ganges that became an evening tea venue, stole our hearts. At Rs 2300/- per night, it was a fair deal.
In the evening, while preparing to go out, we met a couple from Pune who had just checked in. Like us, they were road-trippers, and had been out in the wild from February, having travelled as far east as Manipur, and were now on the way back to their home, wandering around Bihar for the time being. Today, they had arrived from Muzaffarnagar, and were wondering whether to proceed to Siwan tomorrow, or stick around here another day.
We left them to their musings, full of respect and awe. To me, they were no lesser gods than those who were found in the nooks and crannies of Varanasi.
Ganga aarti at Assi Ghat (6.30 pm):
We had not planned to visit the big temple, nor go up to Dasaswamedha ghat, because they were quite far from our homestay. Assi ghat was closer, maybe 15-20 mins by auto. Being among the older siblings of the 84 ghats of Benaras, Assi ghat, like the D ghat, also held a full-fledged aarti every evening. We opted for chairs to sit on during the hour-long session, which was a good decision, said our creaking road-weary bones, although we shelled out 500/- for the privilege.
Ganga aarti is always a great show - the hanuman chalisa, the spectators doing mini Aarti’s, and finally the seven junior priests on the seven pedestals doing the grand aarti with the huge pyramidal lamp structures (they look jolly heavy too).
We wrapped up the evening with chaat dinner at the Prasiddh Banarasi Chaat house - dahi vada, papri chat, tomato chat and lassi (quite thick and tasty). It was a typical Benaras atmosphere. People out for some religious tourism, where gods and tummies are worshipped with equal fervour.
Tomorrow we leave early morning for Lucknow, with a salute to Prayagraj on the way.
Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray
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