Namaste Banaras, Day 2.

Day 2.

Last night while going for dinner I got a call from the Hostel Manager, he had sent another girl to the same place he recommended me and wanted me to wait for her as I hadn't gone too far. I immediately saw a woman power walking towards me, I waved at her assuming she was the woman the manager was talking about, she indeed was, Marianne, her name reminds me of the eponymous song by Leonard Cohen, a legend we lost this year.

The place recommended was a small dhaba and we were misfits there, I was expecting that because I had asked for a good and a cheap place. No touristy place is cheap. I asked Marianne if she's immune to Indian food and she responded thay she's been eating street food for a month now. The food as expected was a bit spicy for her and we had to look for something sweet, amidst all the closed shops we found an ice-cream vendor going back home. A kulfi in this chilling weather was the odd thing to have, but then what is adventure without a pinch of oddness?

I woke up around 10, did not even realise it was this late, untill I saw my phone, the weather outside was still too foggy. I walked from across all the 84 ghats and came back, last I checked my google fit showed I had walked 13 kilometres, the three kilometres back to the hostel weren't tracked, dead batteries.

I observed during this walk that the ghats are like a fair, with peculiar people doing odd things. A Japanese group offering haircuts to locals in return for anything they could offer; A french couple carrying on a photography project where the clicked portraits of people and gave them prints provided they answered a few questions (Name, Age, If they had a dream?) I saw a lot of middle aged men confused at the question about their dream, "I want my family and kids to be happy" was the most common answer. I got my portrait printed too.

A few more interesting conversations happened but they deserve their own posts.

I ended my walk with the famous Ganga Arti on Dashshwamedh Ghat, A crowded yet enjoyable thing to do. The plan for tonight is to have a bonfire on the rooftop, I might go for another walk at midnight. 

I hope you have a great start too.