An Evening At Ganges.......

An evening at Ganges......!!!!!.....haah..... What to speak about this amazing experience with which I somewhat deliberately encounter almost every day, these days....!!!!....It is the last year of college and may be because of this feeling, majorly, and many other reasons also (:P:P) I happen to land up myself at the very lovely and popular ghat of Benaras : “The Assi”

Well, from fast few months it has been quite a number of times that I have visited the Ghats (specifically “Assi”) in the evening (and a lot many times in the night also) along with college friends(mainly Shashank,Rahul n Amit) and even school friends ( Summer Time)....hehe..

From past 3-4 days the weather in the city has been at its best....the cloudy weather and the cool breeze....wow!!!!....”just love it”....and at the same time trying to “live it”....hehe....just some feelings, experiences & observations of the same:

· -->The very scene of the Ganges, flowing calmly sometimes and sometime vibrantly, leaves an amazing soothing effect....Simply Awesome.....!!!!....may be this is the way our life moves : calmly sometimes and sometimes vibrantly....!!!

· -->I have got addicted to the “Lemon tea” which we have almost every day....sitting on a platform and looking at the Ganges & gossiping, with those sips of khatti-meethi chaay....aaye-haaye....kya kehnaa maalik....a feeling which can’t be described in words....!!.. The way of preparing the tea is different from conventional Lemon Tea.. :) ....Also, we regularly enjoy the “chana,moongfalee,matar,chwudaa and laaee”....with that spicy “chatani”.....:P:P....simple, tasty and best....!!

· -->The lively scene at ghat, different kinds of people, Smokes in the air, Couples gossiping, Romeos roaming, small kids with Galloping Spirits, Chants in the temples....wow..!!..simply making the whole atmosphere mesmerizing....

· -->Har-har Mahadev is what you can listen almost very frequently....!!!!....A sign of bondage with Kashi.....and mast maula nature of Banarasis....hehe..

· -->Apart from the Lemon Tea, the especial chaay by chhotu ustaad at the tea stall, the one on the stairs, is something which is a must to be tasted..u will love it....hehe....

· -->Last time, I literally slept there for 30-35 minutes and hardly do I came to know about how the time passed....I was, within seconds, taken into my World Of Fantasies with the breeze casting a wonderful soothing spell on me.... :)..haaah.....( Actually the weather that day was at its best....mast hawaa chal rahi thi....baadal chhaye hue the....aur maine just apni chaay khatam ki thi.....so mast waali neend aayi..... :P:P....hehe )

There are many such small-2 things which tend to draw our attention and leave a b’ful image being painted in our mind.. :) :)... Life at Ghats Rocks....!!!!....Just check it out at the ghats....:).. [ And at last, the Nights at Ghats.....again an Amazing and Marvelous Experience..!!..Next time about it....hehe.....]

Haanthi-Ghoda paal ki...Jai Kanhaiya Laal ki....

Haanthi Ghoda paal ki ...Jai kanhaiya laal ki....

[Well I wrote this post on the day of Janmashtami though I'm posting it today....hehe..I am back at my lappy after 3-4 days..haah....]

It was “Janmashtami” yesterday and I was at home on my weekends. The day before yesterday, we had the celebrations at BHU temple and Morvi Hostel. We went to witness the moment in the night and had the prashaad and blessings of “Shri Krishna”....in the afternoon we had been to the new temple at Durga-kund.....It was very nicely decorated and the entire atmosphere was enchanting..... :):) ....

Yesterday, when I returned to home I thought that ohhhh..!!!!....this year I missed the Pooja and celebrations in my just next door neighbours “The Mishras”, a typical Brahmin family (they are typical in the sense that they don’t even use onion and garlic in preparing the dishes). Well to my good luck it wasn’t so....the celebration was actually yesterday....wow....!!!!...J.. I was lucky not to miss it....at 12 o’clock in the night I went along with “Maa”....there we had the pooja in the traditional way and then I got the blessings from “Banke Bihaari”....”Govinda”...Dada Ji,Dadi Ji and the entire elders also gave their blessings on this day....like every year we saw the live celebrations in the entire India on television at Mathura, Dwarika, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai and many more places, simultaneously..It was a lovely and charming scene....Then finally we had the “prashaad”....wow..!!

...it had variety of home-made sweet dishes....I just enquired about them & tried to remember them....apart from “charnaamrit”,”maakhan & mishri” and fruits it included raam-daane ki laddooo,posta-daana ka halwa,gud aur saunth ka halwaa,kahrbooje ke beej ka laddoo,naariyal ka laddoo ....awesome yaar....and all these prepared in “deshi ghee”....hmmm....J....India rocks and few things are amazingly awesome....”kaahen maalik....sahii kahat haiin naa....!!!!”

May be from next year I will be missing all these things and joys but certainly these form some of the most wonderful and beautiful memories.....J

“Govinda aala re”....!!!!.. [ :):) ]

the jalebaa and the festival.....!!!!!

This post is about "jalebaa".....kuchh samajh mein aaya....??....nahi aaya na....!!!!!...its all about the "jalebaa" [mind it not jalebi..:P:P] which you can find at each and every corner of Varanasi from the evenings till night on this particaulr day.....aaan..well which day is this..!!....
It all happened today when we were returning from our Saturday Dinner..we happened to halt at Pehelwaan Lassi for the milk..while walking down the streets I noticed this enlarged or rather modified form of jalebi being produced at many places....it struck my mind and suddenly remembered that "oh..we actually have a day of celebration in Varanasi when this thing happens.."..I was not able to recall the name of the festival/celebration....then happened to land at Lassi shop....there I decided, once again after a long many years, to taste that "Jalebaa"....I don't know what sort of feeling was it par jo bhi tha mast tha....hehe.....[ :):) ]....my curiosity finally turned out into a stream of questions which i unloaded on the "jalebaa-producer".....:P:P....
He told me that its a tradition of Banaras and the name is "Rajagga"....amazing...."everytime I get know something new about this place".....hai na simply awesome....!!!!..hehe..
Though I was not able to get the reason for having such celebrations but still seeing people buying jalebaa and that too in large quantity definitely shows the attachment of a Banarasi with Banaras's traditions and culture....This makes me to hold an opinion that its not always about Religion to have celebrations but may be its for them(people) to have some taste of "Meetha" so that the Banarasi's speak "meethi-meethi" bataaein....hehe....chaahe pyaar ki boli bolni ho ya fir "gaali"deni ho....har baat mein ek adaa aur mithaas hai.....hihi....I don't know ki dubara kab milega ab ye mujhe par i'm happy that this time I didn't miss it.....[ :):) ]....Love you meri jaan....muaaahhhh......

Jiyo Banaras

Wow !!!!......I just have it here what I was thinking from a long time....my blog on Benaras....Kashi....Varanasi....tehzeebon ka sheher....City Of Lights....City Of Temples....City Of Ghats....A place of amazing culture and celebrations....A city older than time....Bhole baba ki Nagari.... :):)...
The final years have just knocked, reminding me of the few more months of mine left at Varanasi....22 years have passed in this b'ful city and each & every day I get to know more of it.May be the time from when I started living it the way it is supposed to be, I have developed greater attachment from this place and this eventually makes me somewhat little uncomfortable by the passing by of the thought of leaving this place after few months.....haah....just don't know whats there in store but for the present moment and time being I'm supposed to live it its max and make the most out of it.....bindaas re....:):)...
Just i'll try to share some of the b'ful memories of mine at this wonderful place....some of the interesting places to visit....the temples....ghats....celebrations and festivals....various dishes and khaan-paan....restaurants....mithaaiyaan...."paan,saaris,chaay and chaat"....various organizations and many more things.....hehe.....these all form a major part of my life and teaches a lot in many ways.... :):) .... simply awesome and lovely yaar.... :):)....[ and also keep on exploring it as much as possible.......].....so here I go ....chaliye janaab.....ek nazar humare bhi nagari pe daliye aur mann mein dheron tasveere kaid kijiye....just live the moments and capture them ....!!!!!!!.....hurrrey....Jai Ho....!!!!