I took my first visit to Varanasi, one of the most ancient cities of the world. The unbroken tradition of culture, religious rites and way of living of the people there express the ethos and antiquity of Varanasi.
We went to the ferry ghat and sat in a boat, shivering in the chilly, biting, early morning breeze, impatiently waiting for two of our friends who were gheroed by the pandas. The Ganga was slowly waking up from her deep slumber.
A thick blanket of mist covered the entire area and the slow moving boats in the river looked like a vast lake. One of my friends has “Rudraksh mala”, vermillion, a copper pot, small icons of Shiva and Parvati and a small Linga. The other was carrying a camera in his hand.
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A few pandas and beggars were trailing them. The camera slipped out of my friend’s hands into the water. Immediately the Panda came to the rescue he spotted a person who could get the camera. But we had to pay him Rupees twenty. The young, lean boy in half pants plunged into the river and came out with the camera. *
The boat started. It looked as if the sun emerged from the depth of the Ganges; different uses saffron, red, orange and golden yellow rays spread and reflected on the flowing water.
Morning ablution was going on at the bathing ghats. All the tourists were busy taking snaps of temples, ghats, pilgrims chanting hymns and taking bath.
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A few small boats, selling floating lamps and flowers to offer the goddess Ganga, approached our boat. Some of us purchased lamps and floated them on the river.