The 43 degrees heat emanating from everything in Benares just fuelled my spirit & excitement of being here for the first time like the way I would want to……. The city is so sure in its character – in its winding dusty lanes, in the sights and smells, the mingling of urbanisation and with the old world charm of weathered Havelis…
Can’t wait to start at 5.30 a.m tomorrow…. There is no room for cynicism about its atypically typical portrayal of ‘clouded by chilams sadhus’, ghats and the mighty Ganges.. It IS charming!
Quizzed Pandey Ji (again, over a cup of tea) on the irony of living through the business of death – the doms, the pundits, the guys who sell flowers and every little ingredient which ensures a definite unfastening of re-birth, the barbers, just everyone. There is also an unusual occupation for some, who only take last photographs of the one about to be mounted on the pier…. All this to make a living, when death faces in you in numbers as large as 200-300 per day….
On that indulgent & ironical note on life and death, more tomorrow!