Whirlwind trip to Benaras
Snippet 1 It needs to be recorded that this was my third visit to the ancient holy city of Varanasi and this time around I was neither a tourist nor invited for a wedding ceremony. I was there just for the weekend to conduct 4 workshops in a school on the outskirts of town with my senior. We took the 4:50 p.m. Rajdhani Express from Sealdah station and worked on our presentations till dinner. After dinner and a short nap we had to disembark at Mughalsarai Jn. where we were met by representatives of the school. It was the dead of night, nearly 2 a.m. when we crossed the bridge on the Ganga and saw the panoramic view of the near empty Kashi ghats to our left. This view to me always signals the entry into Benaras.....familiar and strangely comforting. Snippet 2 Our accommodation had been arranged for at the Ramada Inn, a swank 5 star hotel. We were checked in swiftly and shown in to two adjacent suites....which was preposterous. Each suite was enormous and it felt like we were hou...