VARANASI | THE UNIFYING ESSENCE OF AN INCLUSIVE CITY - PART 1
Wanderings in an ancient precinct
A global pandemic, climate change, racial injustice and socioeconomic adversity. In the midst of these turbulent times, I unearthed this older article from a time we could fly across continents to be with family, experience new, messy and interesting places, enjoy street food, and be touched by genuine grace and hospitality without fear. Some heartwarming is good for the soul.
To mark the New Year and celebrate my sister’s milestone birthday, I had the opportunity to wander the narrow, labyrinthine streets and sweeping, chromatic riverfront of the ancient city of Varanasi in Eastern India along the river Ganga.
I spent my days surrendering to a multi-sensory onslaught of sights, smells, sounds and social exchanges – simultaneously delightful and unsettling. The essence of this venerable city and environs (included in UNESCO’s Creative Cities network ) stayed with me long after I boarded my dawn flight out of Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport. As we took off, I caught glimpses of the vermilion sun rising over an already bustling river with boats and hungry river gulls, the antiquated riverfront bathed in hues of gold, and my mind raced to grasp at the core of this transformational experience filled with opposing forces.
In its 5000-year history, the organic evolution of this city known for its famous ghats (wide, continuous steps leading down to the river’s edge) can be traced back to before 500 BC as a series of groves and gardens that attracted ascetics, spiritual thinkers and philosophers, roughly around the time of the Buddha. Between the 12th and 17th centuries it evolved into a bustling and cosmopolitan center for trade, cultural pursuit and religious discourse attracting migrants as well as Royal patronage from all parts of the sub-continent. And now it enjoys its global status as a foremost pilgrimage destination for followers of Hinduism, Buddhism and those in search of Eastern spiritualism. Not to mention a shopping magnet for bridal trousseau among India’s wealthy.
During my explorations in the Old City, I was confronted with traffic-choked streets, vendors pushing arrays of trinkets, sumptuous brocade-laden shopfronts and an over-abundance of hearty (but strictly vegetarian) street food. The ever famous “Banarasi Paan” stalls (little pouches of Betel leaf filled with sweetened betel nut, fennel seeds and syrup) looked messy and delectable, plump somnolent cows brushed past along narrow paths, culture-shocked and traffic-dodging tourists from all corners of the globe walked shoulder-to-shoulder with multitudes of devout pilgrims.
Above this diorama of teeming urban life and strained infrastructure rose the shining star of this place – the disarming hospitality, the inclusive temperament of Banarasis (as Varanasi denizens are lovingly known). Indeed, the biggest asset of the city is its people, going about their daily lives within its ancient walls. Famously known for their “khulapan” – an openness of heart, speech and mind – they are what make Varanasi uniquely old-world and modern at the same time.
My travel companions (my two lovely sisters) and I frequently fell into spontaneous conversations with many local residents. The tea-shop owner anticipated our needs for water or extra napkins before we knew it. A random tourist guide (who we later discovered was a transplant from our home-state of Assam) spent his free hour filling us with local on-ghat gossip. The owners of our homestay treated us like long-lost family friends, instantly putting us in step with the pace of the city. And the septuagenarian proprietor of a hole-in-the-wall “lassi” shop within the old city was so full of grace that, clutching our clay cups overflowing with freshly whipped yogurt, our dusty stone bench in the cramped alleyway felt like the homiest corner of the planet!
We ended our journey with captured moments in our smart-phones of the Old City, a memorable “baithak-style” music performance, the Buddha's sermon grounds at Sarnath and 500 BC antiquities at the Banaras Hindu University museum. Our bags held some brocade, books and hand-painted mementos. But is it possible to memorialize the disarming and genuine graciousness that we encountered in our short trip to this destination, something far more powerful than the physical, other than in our thoughts and memories?
Is there an elevated version of Varanasi that is possible, one that embraces a smart future while preserving its rare heritage?
In part 2 of this series, we will explore how culture and hospitality can meaningfully intersect to re-invent the hospitality experience in the city while nurturing cultural and environmental sustainability.
All photography and text by Sharmila Tankha except banner image
Banner image by Sanchai Kumar / Shutterstock.com