A summer weekend trip to Varanasi and Sarnath

In the hot summers of June 2018 I made another trip to Varanasi. Touching down for the third time. This time I was accompanied by a friend from my PG back in Allahabad. We started from Allahabad on Saturday at around 4 pm on board the UPSRTC bus. Thanks to the ongoing highway development projects the usual 3 hours journey to cover the 125 kms took nearly 4 hours. Yet we were not dropped at the Varanasi Cant. Bus station. The buses to and from Allahabad now terminate 4 kms before the bus station ever since the disastrous accident - the collapse of the under construction flyover took place. Next I was to look for auto to Dashashwamedh Ghat nearby which I had booked a guest house. We found an auto that agreed to take us for ₹20/- per person on sharing basis. It took around 30 minutes to reach our destination. The famed Ganga aarti had just ended and a sea of people was returning from the ghat.

Crowd at Dashsshwamedh Ghat

An exam trip to Varanasi

Varanasi or Benaras, situauted on the bank of the Ganges is considered to be one of the oldest inhabited cities on Earth. The first time I had set foot on this holy land was in August 2017 when my train decided to change it's route on way to Delhi. I had to get down here and continue my journey to Allahabad on bus. However it was not long when I got my second opportunity to visit this famed city. CSIR NET December 2017. As I was staying in Allahabad, Varanasi was the closest exam centre. Though I was on tight schedule I managed to visit a few spots within the approx. 24 hours I was in the city. So this is my encounter with the holy city.