Part One of Three
Prologue
Kashi — The name evokes reverence beyond description across the Nation and beyond, for those who are in the know. Fortunate was I, to have visited this hallowed place in the august presence of my Guru, His Holiness, staying in a serene and calm ashram right on the banks of Ganga. Kashi — Varanasi or Benaras, — indeed was and is a place of awe where the myriad traditions differing in their outward exhibitions melt in unison to be inseparable with Mother Ganga near the famed temple of Kashi presided over by the Lord Kashi Vishwanath. But for now, the story outlined here is a different one — destination was the same, but journey was different -the drive we undertook in September.
“Kashi — that’s the destination” — these were the words spoken, one day, by Dilip, my old friend — old in friendship, young at heart by his enthusiasm and younger in appearance due to technological advances of Hair dressing technology.
“Well, I have been there”, I said.
“Yes, but let’s drive to Kashi from Bangalore”, said Dilip.
Well, if you got the idea that we both started immediately, then hear me out — we planned and replanned so many times such that our friend Sabs challenged that he will do “mundan” — shaving of the head, if we started when we came very close to starting one such time. Fortunately for him, and not-so-fortunate for us, we ended up cancelling. However, came September, both Dilip and I could chalk out an overlapping time and we started.
As a sidenote, worth mentioning that our better halves said that they had better things to do in life though they helped up prepare for the trip — Dilip’s spouse even gave her car, Creta. for us -”Good riddance for a week at least” — Did we hear them saying?
Onward journey — via the heartland of india
D-day arrived and finally we started at noon from Bangalore. Two hours and a few home cooked Parathas (thanks my dear!), we were cruising on the Kanyakumari-Srinagar highway
to our first stop to the city of Nizams, Hyderabad. Given our history of cancellation, we confirmed hotels as and when the journey starts to the next stop and we had a nice stay at one of the hotels at Gachibowli in Hyderabad after covering a distance of little less than six hundred kilometers from our respective homes. Next day, our plan was to reach Jabalpur in the heartland of India, Madhya Pradesh eight hundred kilometres from Hyderabad. Excited we were, for this was an unfamiliar territory and it was indeed our first time to this part of India by road. With a great breakfast done, we were on the way by around eight in the morning.
Indeed it was a pleasant journey all through the Telengana state, the road was excellent with landscape slowly changing.
The sightings on the highways also were a treat to the eyes, from the changing temple architectures, to the cattle on the way and statue like camels all the way from Rajasthan camping on the side
Though the road condition deteriorated in Maharashtra, all the way to Nagpur but finally now we were bypassing Nagpur in the afternoon — one thing we found lacking was the absence of restaurants for long stretches — a puzzle we were able to solve on our return journey. Managed with snacks, bread and water on the way. Food was the least concern at that point since we knew we were going to witness the much heard about “Sound Proof Flyover” of Pench National park — The flyovers are constructed so that animals can pass freely under the flyover without crossing the road thereby reducing the risk of accidents. Moreover, the sound of vehicles muffled by the protective green barricades up the border of the road so as to cause less disturbance.
Interestingly Pench is spread over Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh (MP). Once we entered MP, I called up my colleague and friend, Niraj in Jabalpur and confirmed that we are indeed reaching Jabalpur — well you know, we could change plans anytime :) .
Finally we checked into our hotel at Jabalpur, exhausted but satisfied.
My friend Niraj came along with his cousin to meet us. He made us aware about the local culture and tradition so much so that we were inspired to visit this beautiful state of MP as soon. It was really great meeting him after a long time. We bade farewell to them for a good night’s sleep before embarking last phase of journey to Kashi, the next day.
Madhya Pradesh, which literally means the Central Province and indeed the geographical centre of India is in MP and we found out that it was just a forty-five minute deviation from our route and we decided to explore. There is a structure erected there at the exact place — the “Kendra Bindu” or the Centre Point in the village of Manohargaon in the district of Katni.
Calm and serene was the atmosphere, the centre point as well as the road that leads to this place from the highway dotted with virgin grasslands, quaint villages with cows lazing around without a care, and breath taking natural beauty as you can see — you may want to reserve around at-least ninety minutes for the detour and for the time to spent here including the detour.
From the mesmerizing country roads, back to the National Highway highway again! Indeed the roads are so good here with many stretches concretised. One thing to be careful here though is the stray cattle on the roads, but hey — that’s part of our life, so no surprises!
From the gentle Madhya Pradesh to the final destination state of Uttar Pradesh via PrayagRaj, or erstwhile Allahabad, where Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati meet at the Triveni Sangam.
If you plan to go to Sangam, do reserve a couple of hours at-least. We missed going to the Sangam due to a confusion over the exact destination, and after losing the way and debating whether to try getting to Sangam or not for a while, we decided to skip and go to Varanasi directly. We were already on the historical Grand Trunk Road — Grand, indeed, it is..
We had booked a stay at a hotel, renowned for its hospitality, in Nadesar part of Varanasi. It was indeed a welcoming atmosphere there. Checked in, quick freshen up and dinner, and then slept like a log until early next morning where we had planned to reach the famed Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
