A road trip to Kumbhmela part 2: Seoni to Varanasi

Please Read previous parts of this blog series in the below link:

PART - 1

Varanasi / Banaras / Kashi is a city on the Ganges river. It holds an important place in the Sanatan/Hindu dharm.Varanasi is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world. There are 84 ghats in arc/crescent shaped , 6.4 km ganga river front of varanasi. Among these 5 ghats are considered most auspicious i.e. Asi, Dashashvamedha, Manikarnika,Panchaganga and Adi keshava. Also it is an important shakti peetha too where it's believed Devi's eye fell. Also the earrings of parvati devi is believed to have fallen in manikarnika ghat. I will be writing a detailed blog later on varanasi as it is huge and I was impressed by its rich mythological, religious and contemporary history.

We started from seoni at 6.20 am. Had a rough patchy road and road work till NH44 merge but the roads were excellent thereafter. After a long search for hotels to have breakfast we finally found a MP tourism development corporation 's midway treat in gosalpur enroute at around 9 am. Had poha, idli and parata with chai and continued our journey after a break of about 30 min.

The road had lots of cows and calf coming in middle of the road which lead to reduction in our cruising speed. Finally at 5.00 pm we reached our hotel vanshivat in Mahmoorganj area of Varanasi .The hotel was good and decent. Searching for a hotel in Varanasi with parking facility and elevator facility was a task in itself as all major hotels with those facilities were sold out due to huge influx of devotees due to Kumbhmela. This hotel is newly built and it had fit our bills too. Immediately after check in , we refreshed and decided to visit assi Ghat by toto to watch ganga arthi.

We took a boat by paying 250 rupees per head to cruise and watch ganga arthi. Also we were shown all different ghats from the boat. The boat ride view was so nostalgic and it took me to all those movies I had watched in which Banaras is shown. It was exactly as shown in movies. I felt so elated as I wanted to visit banaras since long time. After the ride we took arthi prasad from priests. Then we walked a bit and took another toto and went near Kashi Vishwanath Mandir. We walked nearly 2 km and then had dinner first before walking into the queue to visit Kashi Vishwanath Mandir at 9.00 PM. The queue moved so slowly. Mobiles, smart watch and sandals were kept in locker all in exchange of buying Pooja thali for Rs.350. This locker system is a buisness in itself. All the shops in the lane were running this business.Some in exchange of buying Pooja thali and some were charging per mobile basis. Even they keep your bags and other belongings for a charge. We had a good darshan of Kashi Vishwanath and Annapurni devi and came out at around 11 pm. Collected our mobile and other things from the shop. There are lot of shops selling brass idols etc.. we bought few Annapurni idols and took a auto and reached hotel at 11.30 pm. Our day ended with a satisfaction that Kashi Vishwanath and Annapurni devi darshan was finally completed.

Note: The streets and bylanes of Varanasi in the mandir area are not clean at all. People eat and dump all the remaining food and waste then and there. Even though the roads are swept frequently it is not enough. I think they should heavily fine the pilgrims and locals for dumping waste. In assi Ghat people were watching Ganga Arthi as though some show is being put up by eating and dumping on those ghats even though management is announcing not to do the same continuously. People have to change on their own or Government has to enforce the change by hook or crook.