BENARAS

                              
Have you seen the spring stoop in empty vessel?

This is how Spring knocks this pious land…

The city unbolts this way,

Unfolds this way and

Unloads this way!!

Here, each day strong shoulders carry the eternal carcass from the dusky and gloomy streets to the shimmering MANDAKANI…

In the city, smoke surges slowly..

Slowly, walk the people…

Slowly, ring the temple bells and

Slowly dozes off the day and emerges the mild evening…

This process binds the entire city..

Everything has stood still today and since ages,

The GANGA unflinching..

The boats on the banks steadfast…

And Tulsidas’ clog untouched..

Endure the city in the brilliance of thousand lit diyas floating in the saintly waters..

And In the aroma of the kullhad tea…

The city has a composition so strange…

It’s half in the godly waters of the GANGA,

Half in the chanting of mantras, 

Half in the burning corpses, and 

Half in the sounds of the shells..

This City stands on pillars of devotion and reality…

DIVES into the sacred water as a devotee,

Burns in the pyre of REALITY!!!

Picture credits: Rajiv Srivastava