hey .....i was in banaras last week..........after a loooong time , it was a busy but enjoyable trip n how i wanted to soak in everything i could......got to meet some old friends , could not meet some others......got to see ganga jee at evening as well as at sunrise time..........great experience it is........
i wanted to do so many things there.....having all those yum food....lassi, chaat, kachori sabzi in the morning, jalebis, lal peda, sankatmochan ke laddu, tamaatar chaat....all of these were on my priority list..............
after a long time i had golgappe at godolia, and chaat at kashi chaat bhandar which was a bit diappointing but the golgappas were awesome....the golgappewala got really excited seeing our enthusiasm and started making all the variants he could, it was great fun eating those in biodegradable leaf bowls which is called dona there.........
i visisted the ganga ghaats too after a long time .......actually i don't even rememeber when i was there last time............i only remember when me n arvind used to go there in our dating days........we have done a lot of boat rides in those days......it was so nostalgic and to add to my nostalgia, arvind was home taking care of mithi ....i had gone there with my brother n sister with thier respective spouses........
it was late in the evening and for the first time i could see people feeding atta balls to the fish....on closer observation i could see millions of tiny fish in the water ...in swarms.......and in between a bigger fish would give a silvery glimpse as she would come up to catch the feed.........some people feed fish as a religious ritual, it is supposed to be a punya karma............i had seen this at durgakund lake earlier,but at the ganga ghaat this was my first experience of seeing somebody feeding the fish.........
a little far away from the banks, there were a few boats floating silently.....reflecting the light falling on them from the ghaats, against the black background........the ganga waters become pitch dark after evening and i remember i used to get scared when it got dark during boating......but one look at the illuminated ghaats and you get transported to another world.........i clicked some pictures from my cellphone camera......it just shows a small fraction of what it really was..........
in this pic the boat is tied to a stone railing with a rope which can be seen clearly......many people sleep in thier boats in the night.......strange but true.........whole night under the starry sky floating on water .....sounds utterly romantic.........
these boats which look like house boats are actually bajraas as they are called there and during ganga mahotsav artists perform over the roof of many such boats which are aligned by the banks that day.....the audience sits at the stone steps at the bank ........that is surreal experience........
we used to hire these bajraas for early boating long back, and go to the ganga paar .......it is like a sandy beach on the other side of ganga........we used to play there untill noon , in shallow waters , and then we would change in the rooms inside these bajraas.......the beautiful windows can be seen in these pics...............it is nothing fancy or fashionable.....very earthy and a country feel ........combined with nostalgia, it becomes heavenly...........ask me.......
and then somebody lit a diya on the stone steps leading to water.............oh so romantic........these pics are frustrating me right now...............it is not even a fraction of what it was..........
.
i watched the diya untill it drowned into the water......taking a final dubki.........
could not stay there after that.........
on returning i spotted some of the old shops selling stone figurines, which i used to buy n gift to my outsider friends........and i spotted some stalls selling puja ka saman ......i found they were selling the dry water chestnuts , kuttu or buckwheat and wild rice which is called tinni ka chawal there, all these are eaten during fasting days and banaras is famous for it's fasting cuisine..........it is coming on this blog soon ............i had to buy these without a second thought.........luggage getting heavy?.....no.... no problem .........will tackle it later........
shall write about the sunrise in my next post...getting sleepy now....it is more than an hour past midnight...........and guys don't blame me for my camera..........:D:D.
i wanted to do so many things there.....having all those yum food....lassi, chaat, kachori sabzi in the morning, jalebis, lal peda, sankatmochan ke laddu, tamaatar chaat....all of these were on my priority list..............
after a long time i had golgappe at godolia, and chaat at kashi chaat bhandar which was a bit diappointing but the golgappas were awesome....the golgappewala got really excited seeing our enthusiasm and started making all the variants he could, it was great fun eating those in biodegradable leaf bowls which is called dona there.........
i visisted the ganga ghaats too after a long time .......actually i don't even rememeber when i was there last time............i only remember when me n arvind used to go there in our dating days........we have done a lot of boat rides in those days......it was so nostalgic and to add to my nostalgia, arvind was home taking care of mithi ....i had gone there with my brother n sister with thier respective spouses........
it was late in the evening and for the first time i could see people feeding atta balls to the fish....on closer observation i could see millions of tiny fish in the water ...in swarms.......and in between a bigger fish would give a silvery glimpse as she would come up to catch the feed.........some people feed fish as a religious ritual, it is supposed to be a punya karma............i had seen this at durgakund lake earlier,but at the ganga ghaat this was my first experience of seeing somebody feeding the fish.........
a little far away from the banks, there were a few boats floating silently.....reflecting the light falling on them from the ghaats, against the black background........the ganga waters become pitch dark after evening and i remember i used to get scared when it got dark during boating......but one look at the illuminated ghaats and you get transported to another world.........i clicked some pictures from my cellphone camera......it just shows a small fraction of what it really was..........
in this pic the boat is tied to a stone railing with a rope which can be seen clearly......many people sleep in thier boats in the night.......strange but true.........whole night under the starry sky floating on water .....sounds utterly romantic.........
these boats which look like house boats are actually bajraas as they are called there and during ganga mahotsav artists perform over the roof of many such boats which are aligned by the banks that day.....the audience sits at the stone steps at the bank ........that is surreal experience........
we used to hire these bajraas for early boating long back, and go to the ganga paar .......it is like a sandy beach on the other side of ganga........we used to play there untill noon , in shallow waters , and then we would change in the rooms inside these bajraas.......the beautiful windows can be seen in these pics...............it is nothing fancy or fashionable.....very earthy and a country feel ........combined with nostalgia, it becomes heavenly...........ask me.......
and then somebody lit a diya on the stone steps leading to water.............oh so romantic........these pics are frustrating me right now...............it is not even a fraction of what it was..........
.i watched the diya untill it drowned into the water......taking a final dubki.........
could not stay there after that.........on returning i spotted some of the old shops selling stone figurines, which i used to buy n gift to my outsider friends........and i spotted some stalls selling puja ka saman ......i found they were selling the dry water chestnuts , kuttu or buckwheat and wild rice which is called tinni ka chawal there, all these are eaten during fasting days and banaras is famous for it's fasting cuisine..........it is coming on this blog soon ............i had to buy these without a second thought.........luggage getting heavy?.....no.... no problem .........will tackle it later........
shall write about the sunrise in my next post...getting sleepy now....it is more than an hour past midnight...........and guys don't blame me for my camera..........:D:D.
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