DESTINATIoNS

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The stories youve heard about Varanasi are all true This is the highest place Ive ever stood this is the top of Kenya

A PEEK AT THE LumINOuS ONE CLImbING GIANTS IN KENYA

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NOVICES DAY bOuLDErING ON GWANAK

40 GrOOVE KOrEA December 2011

41 GrOOVE KOrEA December 2011

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DESTINATIONS

GK International

A peek
at the Luminous One
Uttar Pradesh

India

photos and story by COLIN ROOHAN VARANASI, India The stories you hear about Varanasi are all true: monkeys, cows, rivers, ghats, alleys, crowds, smells, corpses, cremations, touts. Every bit of it. The birthplace of the Hindu deity Shiva, this city on the Ganges has appeared in Hindu texts for thousands of years. Varanasi, also called The Luminous One, is a propitious place for Hindus in India and throughout the world. They come to rinse their sins away in the river. It is also believed that dying and being cremated in Varanasi frees a persons soul from its cycle of wandering. A walk or boat ride along the ghats (a broad set of steps providing access to the water) at dusk is the must-do experience of Varanasi. To put it bluntly, life is what transpires at the ghats. They are otherworldly and seem to have a pulse of their own. Theyre a microcosm of India. In my pre-trip research on Varanasi I read mostly about the ghats and the sights they contain, tips on the dos and donts of public cremation etiquette, and how to successfully haggle with boatmen. I also read never, ever, under any circumstance to touch the water of the Ganges for fear of your feeble foreigner skin disintegrating.

To put it bluntly, life is what transpires at the ghats. They are otherworldly and seem to have a pulse of their own.
The Lonely Planet only briefly mentions what is known as the Old City, which is the maze of narrow alleyways bordered with countless shops, temples and guesthouses. If the ghats are the heart of Varanasi, the Old Citys alleyways are its veins. I found I couldnt swivel my head fast enough to keep up with the commotion. One second Id have to squeeze my body against the walls for a loaded motorbike to snake through. The next second Id be stopped dead in my tracks by a massive bull staring into my eyes. This is a travelers playground, a dangerous merry-go-round that throws kids off left and right with no regret. Rules? Nah, who needs them? The Old City has no rules. As a photojournalist and traveler I highly recommend immersing yourself in it. If it werent for clothing labels and government guards toting automatic weapons I may have been confused about which century I was in. Browse the markets and chat with friendly vendors. Enjoy the hand-painted advertisements draped in dust from decades of abuse, while you stroll past sipping a Thums Up. Youll enjoy your experience in Varanasi all the more.
Another world Varanasis Old City area seems divorced from modernity.

42 GROOVE KOREA December 2011