@All rights reserved by the author
15/02/2026
It was not a guidebook that explained Varanasi. It was a conversation—unplanned, unhurried—with a boatman who had spent his life on the Ganga.
He spoke of the river as if it were a living elder. Not something to be seen, but something to be understood slowly. The ghats, he said, are not steps—they are stories. Every morning, every flame, every chant carries memory forward.
During Shivratri, the city does not transform—it deepens. The temples breathe differently. The night does not sleep. Devotion here is not loud; it is continuous.
He mentioned, almost in passing, that in some akharas and homes, bhang is offered as prasadam of Lord Shiva—received with reverence, within tradition, never excess.
Varanasi does not ask you to believe anything.
It only asks you to sit for a while… and watch what remains when everything else moves.
#Varanasi #Shivratri #IndiaCulture
#SacredSpaces
Rajat Chandra Sarmah
Guwahati, Assam, India
instagram @ rajatchandrasarmah5
youtube: converse with a smile
musingofrajat.wordpress.com 