doors of the past...

Walking on the streets of Banaras is never a dull moment. A lot of chaos ... all kinds of people belonging to different centuries brush shoulders with each other and talk in different languages. Still understanding each other. Some quadrupeds pushing through the human types or chasing them. We were walking towards pizzeria one day when we saw a foreigner running with his fancy running shoes on , with a steady speed meandering through the maze of all the centuries walking on the narrow lane. A dog got curious and started following him with a warning bark. That guy who was wearing smart looking running gear, stopped , bent down, picked up a stone and gestured to hit the dog ....The dog stopped , stepped back and the foreigner resumed his run.

Both of us( Arvind and me) were smiling seeing this how each one on the road is conditioned to this kind of chaos and  everything goes on with a smooth precision.

I found this door on the same street which leads to Assi ghat starting from Nagwa , where we saw the dog chase ...there is something to stop and gaze every few steps .... or I am an eternal romantic....who knows better :-)

Many foreigners live in this side of the town as they come and settle down for studies and for spiritual reasons too. My favorite authors Robert Pirsig and Inez Baraney have lived and walked in these streets of Banaras and i feel a connect when i read their stories. Many of the Hindi laureates have lived in this city and their stories are full of life, a timelessness is what i witness in their works. This city and it's streets are timeless. Modern and ancient exist together and meld together like they were born here... together.

This interesting door was closed and looked like as if the building is abandoned. But i saw one of the doors ajar when we were walking back from pizzeria . Someone certainly lives inside this historical looking home.

There was a sliding iron gate inside this frail damaged yet strong old wooden door to indicate someone has made it habitable for a modern life. Or a life hung between centuries.

Or a timeless life.

This is the feeling i always get whenever i visit the areas around the ghats... there is a certain rhythm in the life in this place which cannot be explained in words. You have to spend an evening on the ghats of Ganges to experience that.

Doors is the topic of today's Thursday challenge and when i saw it on Bikram's blog i was just reminded of this old wooden door from a timeless street in Banaras.

I really want to visit many more old cities of India as the few i have visited till now seem to be having the same kind of soul. A sense of belonging , a sense of being connected and a sense of walking through the same doors we get in such cities...

the eternal beauty of 'subah-e-banaras'.................

Benaras is famous for it's sunrise by the Ganges .

There is a perfect horizon , bordered with water .

flowing water .

The ancient ghats in the opposite side of the sunrise is a perfect backdrop .....the earthy colors of the ghats complement very well with the water , the sun and everything that follows a sunrise........a golden sheen covering everything in sight .....a perfect way to welcome a new day in your life.......

The waters turn to molten gold and it's just ethereal........

 The ghats are ancient , and most of the buildings are ancient too.......some of them are painted brightly and that looks surprisingly good with the rustic sandstone ghats..............

You get to see how so many different kind of people start their day , the pandas ( the brahmins who facilitate prayers for you in almost all the holy places in our country ) arranging their chhatri ...........

This panda we saw brought the chhatri ( Umbrella like canopy ) from somewhere else and fixed it on the axis .....then we saw he brought another chhatri and fixed that one too..........

On the wooden platform where he sits and waits for the people to come after taking the holy dip in the Ganges ....... his chowki ( the wooden platform ) is complete with all the necessary paraphernalia for a puja .....chandan , pani  , aachmani and the mouli ( holy red thread ) he ties on your hands indicating it's time to pay.......

He calls one and all and lures everybody  to do the prayers with him.........at lower dakshina ( fees for the prayers )........ you have to buy your blessings and the panda will help you out ........a facilitator ............

Okay .... you see other things too.......foreign tourists going for boat ride .......

Somebody sleeping like this is the best place to a good night's sleep.......

People brushing their teeth with neem datun , taking a dip in the ganges and then a small prayer , sometimes a loud rhythmic enchanting of mantras.......not everybody has to buy those blessings , you can always have your own way with God ..........

The air feels resonant with humming chants , ringing bells and flowing water and suddenly the quack quack of these ducks ......

You turn and they seem to be asking you something.........food....do you have some ????

These ducks can be seen on Dr. Rajenda Prasad ghaat and they are very friendly........we didn't have any food for them so we had to move away ......to the boatman.....it's time to drift into the waters........

Once you are in the boat you can see the beauty of the ghaats ..........unperturbed by the pandas and the people trying to rub off all the sins into the Ganges and to start afresh for newer sins.........you just see the ascending peaks of mandirs and the waving flags ....... peaceful and serene........

I like the randomly floating boats and always end up clicking the pictures just for the boats.......kids do their swimming practice and you can spot as young as 3 year kids ..........

These chhatris on the ghats are a symbol of banaras ............

Some royal families built palaces by the banks..........now being refurbished as luxory hotels , as we were told by the boat man .........

Sunrise is wonderful............the sun peeps through the clouds ...........

And then comes out in the open..............

The oars keep moving as the waters change color every minute.............

The boat man wants to click our pic.......and in a couple of trials he succeeds ....

This was a boat ride after 12 long years..........we used to go for boating very often during our courtship days ...........it was great to be there again............our perspectives change and we see the world differently .... and it was definitely different this time.......

Happier.