The Holy City – Kaasi ( Varanasi)

North India - Episode 2
Our 1st destination was Kaasi... known as the Mukthi Kshetram. There is even a quote in Tamizh- 'Kasi'yil irakka mukthi' meaning those who dies in Kaasi will  attain Mukthi-liberated from the lifecycle of birth and death. ( Don't try to be smart, I know what you are thinking now. Only blessed souls will get the chance, NOT any Tom, Dick and Harry) 

By the way, this was how we travelled. That's in sleeper class. The dusty round thing is called a fan. ( viral'le vittu suttanum :P)

And I wasn't as cheerful as in the picture for the entire 19 HOURS train journey.Yeah, our train was delayed for an additional 6 hours. I felt like a rat in cage. 

We reached at 9pm. We had difficulties in getting a room, most lodges and hotels are not authorised to allocate rooms for foreigners. With the help of a local guide who popped out from the crowd, we managed to get a room within the Kaasi Vishvanathar Temple. Like 3 minutes walking distance and it only cost Rs350. Great view of Gangga , comfortable  room, cheap, strategic location, foreigners are welcomed and most importantly clean toilets. ( Just that you have to walk through dirty paths to get there- but it’s worth it!)

12am- Once settled down, Vijay and I went to look for shops to get toothpaste and soap bars. On the way back, I turned in to a small dark pathway - got a shock of my life -  to see four men carrying a dead body.If you are imagining what I am writing, you have to get rid of the street lamps, it was pure darkness there. With some light bulbs here and there from the little shops.

For me... this is NOT common stuff, I rarely see a dead body at 12am in Malaysia, let alone at dark! and it was coming towards me! However,  for those who stay in the oldest living city it’s part and parcel of their life to see dead bodies every now and then. I was still in the shock mode, and Vijay went into EXCITED mode!

“Hey, come let’s follow them quietly and see what’s happening”.  I gave him a look with FIRE in my eyes.  Sadly it didn’t work out, end up both of us following the procession. Procession???  Was it even a procession? There were only 8 of them, including the dead body. I was deeply horrified, not because I was scared of ghost but....it is just super creepy! After walking down the dark-dirty pathways... finally we reached somewhere. Owh, that's the very famous Burning Ghat of Gangga -which continuously serves it's purpose 24/7. That's one of the speciality of Burning Ghat of Gangga- she have never stopped working.

“Wow, we have reached the Burning Ghat of Gangga, see we can discover Kaasi by ourself “ – he was almost jumping out of joy. While I was glad that both us of were still alive! Vijay started snapping pictures of the final rites and the surroundings. A few dead bodies burning here and there, both of us were right in the middle. I was thinking that Vijay must have some split personality disorder- of a journalist covering stories on mystics of India.( peeriya journalist'nu nenappu) He was even asking me “ Where are the Agoris, Can I take a snap with them?"

Soon we started to get some weird stares from people there! So I decided to DRAG Vijay back to the lodge.And both of us had weird dreams that night!

Well, thinking about it now am laughing.... sssshhhhhhssssss my mother doesn't know about this, otherwise she will get tension unnecessarily.

Even though we were just fooling around, there is a take away lesson too. Have you actually realized that when someone start's thinking of death, and what happen's when the soul detaches from the physical body,  there is a sign that he/she will lead their way to search GOD? Something to be pondered. I remember reading Ramana Maharishi's life story.. his 1st realization came through death. 

I shall write more about our experience in Kaasi in the next post... till then, see you!

To be continued.