Varanasi- Portraits of A Timeless City

Most of us occasionally get nostalgic about our childhood and adolescence. We yearn to go back to the alleys we played in, the abodes we lived in and the institutions we studied in, just to relive the moments which gave us immense delight and shaped our consciousness. Such a journey however, can be a veritable reality check, as things may turn out to be vastly different from the memories that one carried of them.

I arrived in Varanasi in the year 1976 and stayed there until 1982. I had enrolled for my studies at Banaras Hindu University because my hometown Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), did not have a girls' science college back then. My father's friend was a senior professor at BHU whom he trusted to mentor me; slowly, Varanasi started growing on me.

Now having visited numerous grand universities across the globe, I assert that the sprawling BHU campus is one of the most magnificent of them all. Mother nature seems to have been abundantly benevolent, as if rolling out its best to match the grand vision of Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya, the founder of BHU. For its students it is more than a varsity; it is a temple of learning. Just entering the gates makes one feel privileged; a few years as a student endows him/ her with attributes which prove to be assets for a lifetime. For me, just about everything was so different, so culturally rich and romantic compared to the rather spartan life in the small town I came from. The importance of the river Ganges can never be done full justice to. When my grandfather came to visit me from Aligarh we went for a casual boat ride. He suggested that I take a dip in the Ganges. I resisted - the idea seemed preposterous. He explained the sanctity of the ritual as propounded in ancient scriptures. I did not understand then but in later years I could feel the sense of peace this exalted Hindu ritual brought to me.

When all my friends would get together in Varanasi and talk about the good old days, I would feel a tug at my heartstrings in Geneva. I would yearn to recapture, in a subsequent visit, the magic of the places I had spent many a delightful moment at.

After graduating, I went back to Banaras several times, seeking to reconnect and reminisce. No matter where I went, this leitmotif was recurrent. Lamentably, the outcome of each visit would be woefully short of my expectations. I discovered that unlike the romanticized memories, in reality there was nothing romantic about the place anymore. It was hard to say what had changed more, the city or me. It seemed impossible to ever abandon the memories I had created there in comparatively little time, bit by bit, with pranks, mischief, laughter and with some sadness. With the passage of time, I became more mindful, and convinced, of the fact that somehow the charm of the good old days was best retained as memoirs. Subsequently, I moved to Delhi for higher education.

Fast forward 30 years ...

Life changed rapidly. My career and family started taking precedence over everything and memories slipped into a crevice. My relocation to Switzerland, challenging research work at Organisation europeenne pour la recherche nucleaire, later the distinction and honour of being the only Indian permanent staff in this organisation, motherhood - everything was overwhelming. Handling the present was a priority; I couldn't afford the luxury of visiting the past. Nevertheless, somewhere in between the layers of my mind, Banaras remained a very dear thought.

Rajesh is related to a classmate from BHU. I connected with him on facebook, where I noticed some of the spectacular mind-blowing images he had clicked of Varanasi in different hues.

On a visit to India in October 2014, he came to see me at my home and brought along a wonderful present - one of his creations - a framed collage of several photographs.

I felt that this simple, innocent young man's talent was God-gifted and had this irrepressible urge to promote his artistry. We decided to collaborate.

Initially we had no idea what we wanted to do in partnership but we continued to be in touch. Rajesh, the amazing creative genius that he is, would bombard me with as many as twenty photos a day, inquiring quite boyishly "Ma'am, which one is better?" For me, each one of them was a jewel, the series a visual feast. The idea of a photo book on Varanasi was born.

Both of us, like excited children, continued to dream of the project, without clarity about the path we would embark on. I have a full-fledged career as a scientist, and priorities and commitments push me around almost all the time. I began to develop doubts - was this just my heart's ambition outside the realm of reality? I requested my daughter-in-law Pooja to sift through the hundreds of photos and arrange them in distinct categories. She did her best and our idea took a few baby steps.

I first met Anil Sharma, my dear friend Simmi's husband, in 2009. He shared that he was close to finishing his book "IA's Terror Trail" - Anil was the head of the Cabin Crew on IC-814, which had been hijacked to Kandahar in December 1999. He impressed me with his depth and grasp of the English language. Upon the completion of his book and its release in 2014, he was a free man. We met at family get-togethers and that gave me a chance to speak to him and take steps to ensure that the project didn't just remain a dream. The concept of a Coffee Table Book was slowly but surely promising to become a tangible reality.

Challenges remained. Photos were still in disarray; Anil's stay in Geneva would be a mere few weeks. Over some coffee sessions at CERN, I shared with him the photographs from our impressive repertoire. Fortunately, the discussions and meetings became increasingly productive - we quickly managed to organize the collection and segregate them into relevant themes. Somewhere along the line, the idea of introducing an explanatory text was born. Imagination and excitement then started to run riot. I just had to finish this book.

During my visit to Delhi in 2017, Anil introduced me to well-known astrologer and author, Mr. Vinay Aditya. There I met his wife Archana Aditya and their friend Dr. Gita Sharma. This group of erudite people has been responsible for many books that have been published by Vinay Ji himself. They became increasingly interested in the subject. Soon we were chorusing Mark Twain's famous words: `Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together'.

Discussions about the project ensued and the idea of embellishing the photographs with Sanskrit shlokas and Hindi poems and text was floated. I started studying the Shiv and Ganga Stotras which then became the soul.

Namami Gauge! A tribute to my motherland and Guru Dakshina to my alma mater was born!

No single book, document or even a documentary can capture in its entirety the city of Varanasi, the ethos of this oldest continuously inhabited city and its relevance to the Hindu religion. Outside the pale of religion, this city is a living testament to the quest of every human in search of the true meaning of existence and chronicles this rite of passage at every step, tangible and intangible.

This book by Dr. Archana Sharma, is an excellent effort in providing an interesting introspective commentary with a photo layout which serves as a platform for a deep sojourn into the very roots of the rich past of our country and holds forth an incredible promise for the future. As the Director General, National Museum of India, it is a matter of pride and honour to write a foreword for this book, depicting the very spirit of India carrying forward knowledge, tradition and culture into the 21st century.

Kasi or Varanasi is one of the oldest cities of the world, one of the seven cities which gave salvation to people. No city in India arouses religious emotions of Hindus, Buddhists and Jains as much as Kasi does. Kasi became important centre for trade and commerce when its habitations grew to large size and specialized crafts were developed. Its geographical set up made it a dock of the crescent shape where big trading boats could park. Ganga's Uttara-vahini character or its flow towards north from Shulatankeshvara to Rajghat along the city, not only gained religious importance, but also helped the flow becoming slow as it was against the normal slope towards south-east and thereby forming a natural dock. The entire length of the city from south to north was along the Ganga in between its confluences, with Asi and Varana and therefore the name of the city of Kasi became famous as Varanasi, also called Banaras or Benaras or Kashi.

Multiple growth of the city helped in development of trade and commerce on Uttarapatha in mid-Ganga plain as on one hand, and institutions of education, learning and performing arts on the other. Such growth of the city and its strategic location and affluence strengthened it administratively and caused it become one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas around 1000 BCE and a fully grown kingdom in the time of Lord Buddha in the 6th century BCE.

Treatises of Hinduism have been maintained orally only through rigorous scholarship and Varanasi has remained at the forefront of our rich and varied heritage. It is not only a centre of religious rituals it is also a centre of music par excellence. It has played a key role in spiritual poetry and its craftsmen spin yarns of elegant silk. Fervent worship remains the cornerstone of life at the ghats by the Ganges and Kashi.

Set on the banks of the holy Ganges, visitors, pilgrims and believers are assured of an absolution of their 'sins' with a dip within it. One's soul finds salvation and a recharge in the thousands of temples. The ghats draw one to witness time from the past to the present. And in the event one were to pass away here to the hereafter, it is believed one finds salvation from the cycle of re-birth.

In these stunning 200 odd photographs the photographer brings out a rare and compelling journey into the heart of vibrant India, one that co-exists with a space age dynamic modern nation and on the other hand stands frozen in time but respectful and mindful of it. Both remain unique to what makes India a young and old nation. Among the photographs are rituals at the Ganges, women and children investing their lives by the ghats, the temples of faith strewn in the city and temples of learning like the Kashi Math and Banaras Hindu University.

I congratulate the author, Dr Archana Sharma and her team, for taking this courageous initiative with years of research that has gone into writing the accompanying text that too in English, Hindi and Sanskrit. The readers have an opportunity to broaden their vision and savour Indian heritage and culture while browsing through this unique and tenacious take on the auspicious soul called - Varanasi.

I am sure the readers, once they pick up the book, will be loath to put it down.

**Contents and Sample Pages**