Varanasi
I have spent only about 5 days in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The reason why I say ‘only 5 days’ is because this is one of those places that I still cannot possibly describe in words. When I was there it took me 3 days to process what was in front of my eyes, and for those 3 straight days I didn’t take one single photograph nor I recorded any video.
The humanity that was unveiled in front of my eyes was such that I had never seen before. India is already a world on its own, and even though I haven’t explored even 1/4th of India I felt as though somebody boarded me on a rocket and transported me to another planet.
It’s a place that attracts you as a magnet with irresistible force and that smashes all its vibrance right in your face the very first second you set foot on it. And you can either resist, or surrender.
If you surrender, as I hope you do, you have to first get rid of the filter through which you see the world. Get rid of judgement. Do not make comparison with what you know - or think you know - about the world. You will start to understand what is laying in front of your eyes, and there is no way you will not want to come back. The rewards for the soul are immense.
This is what I found myself realizing while processing Varanasi.
The odors, the colors, the narrow alleys, the noise, the river Gange and the Ghats, the burning pits, the beggars, the food stalls, the little shops. And this atmosphere of holiness that I have really hard times to explain… You have to see it with your own eyes, you have to be there, in the moment, with your eyes, there is no other way to feel what Varanasi has to offer.
I wanted to take my camera out, but I kept hearing in my head ‘Wait, not yet’…
And so I waited, and then attempted to take the camera out. And again, ‘Wait, no yet’…
And then on my last day, from dawn to dusk, I walked up and down the Ghats and tried to capture what was in front of me. I feel like I didn’t manage to do that at all.
That is one more reason why I wish I could go back to Varanasi as soon as possible.