The Gift of Manikarnika

The evening I left Manikarnika, I imagined I was leaving a place. In the days that followed, I realised that I had carried it along with me. The smells that had assailed me faded quickly. The sounds of Varanasi receded into memory. Yet the questions raised by that ancient cremation ground remained stubbornly alive. TheyContinue reading “The Gift of Manikarnika”

Varanasi-Divine Chaos

Varanasi, the city of Lord Shiva, stands as a place where chaos and divinity intertwine seamlessly. If ever a place defined chaos in its purest form, it is Varanasi — a chaos that has persisted through millennia, uninterrupted and unmitigated. The origins of Varanasi, also called Benares or Kashi, stretch back to antiquity. It isContinue reading “Varanasi-Divine Chaos”