It is said “Varanasi is not a city of chaos but if you come here for once then it seems like that. To understand the sacred and spiritual Kashi of Shiva, you should come here in your leisure time”.

Hey, I am Shweta. I had been here since long time for the purpose of studies. In this article I will share my experience of living in Varanasi for almost five years. Plus, I would love to share stories of Kashi through my lens. If you are a travel enthusiast person like me and love to explore travel stories then you have came to a right place. This article is going to be an unfiltered raw story of people, culture, arts, tales, and popular foods of Kashi.

Varanasi is known by several names. The most common are Kashi and Banaras. Kashi is the ancient name of the city, referred to meaning ‘city of light’ in Sanskrit. Other than these, the names are given based on the city’s significance and uniqueness.

It is also known as ‘City of Ghats’, due to several ghats on the bank of Ganga river.

Although I visited Varanasi since childhood but the real journey began when I went there to study graduation in August 2015. I was unaware of the tales and stories of Kashi. Earlier, it was like a ordinary city for me but as year passed, I realized the peace that came from the every calm corners of its Ghats.

Every Ghat of Varanasi has a unique tale to tell. The series of ghats starts from Assi, that is located on the prominent location of Varanasi; Lanka. The Assi Ghat is called so because there are almost 80+ Ghats on the bank of river Ganga in Kashi and they all are separated only by their names. One of the prominent ghats after Assi is Manikarnika Ghat. It is one of the city’s oldest ghats. This site is a popular spot for traditional Hindu Cremations. It is believed that if one die in Kashi or one’s cremation is done here, his soul attains liberation. Few KM away from this, the popular Banaras Hindu university is located. Established in 1916 by Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya, BHU has a rish history and is one of the oldest universities in India.

It is said “If Manikarnika ghat is the place where even death is celebrated, Banaras Hindu University is where life blooms”.

How can I forget the Evening Aarti of Dashashwamedh Ghat and the early morning Aarti of Assi ghat. This is something that I witnessed and will not be able to forget for lifetime. We went to get a view of popular Ganga Aarti. It was time to start and after seeing lots of crowed, we kept our phones under the bag. It was such a huge step to not divert our focus from that peaceful view. That was so amazing and relaxing to watch.

“In Dhashashwamedh Ghat, the amazing view of Ganga river in the morning and evening Aarti was a beautiful experience for my lifetime. ‘Har Har Gange’, ‘Jay Maa Gange’ melody and Ganga Aarti awakens the spiritual perspective of ones. Namami Gange”!

The most important part of visiting Varanasi is Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirling, that is situated on the Dashashwamedh ghat. It is said that before visiting here, you must go to Kaal Bhairav temple, which is located at Maidagin, Varanasi. The Kashi Vishwanath Temple has a powerful recognition. You must visit there once.

Simply, do not do anything. If chaos is in your head, just sit at any ghat of Varanasi. This is as relaxing as watching a beautiful movie. Whenever, we girls used to get bore or were loaded with college projects, we just used to visit ghats in evening time. It feels like a therapy to go there.

A lot of things were discussed, now let’s talk about some popular street foods of Varanasi. Malaiyo is a special kind of sweet food that is a popular thick drink of Kashi. It is made by whisking milk cream with saffron. You’ll get it in clay Kulhad. Another food is the Chat and Papdi of Banaras Chat Bhandar at Godwaliya and Pani Puri of Bhaukal Chat at Assi. They give super delicious street foods in the entire Banaras. Must try. The Mitti Ki Kulhad wali chay is another unique speciality of Varanasi. Other than these, do not forget to try Banarasi Paan, Lassi of Pahalwaan Lassi, and Ofcourse Cold coffee & Chhola Samosa of VT (BHU campus).

Now, I will talk about the Dev deepawali festival of Varanasi. It is a significant Hindu festival celebrated in Varanasi on the full moon night of the kartik moon, 15 days after Diwali. It marks the victory of Shiva over the demon Tripurasur. This day whole city is decorated by lighting Diyas and seeing Ghats on this day is an overwhelmed experience. But it should be noted that this day ghats are so much crowded.

At the Dashashwamedh ghat, when you go above it in the right side, there is a tourist spot that is Man mahal or Man Singh Palace at Manmandir Ghat. It was built by Maharaja Man Singh of Amer in the early 17th century. It has an observatory too that is built by Savai Jaisingh in 1710.

Varanasi is one of the oldest living and continually inhabited cities. It is said that if the world will start destroying, the last city that will be left is no other than Varanasi. You must once visit there.