A city so beautiful, even the Ganges changed course and flowed north to be able to swing by it. Lord Shiva located this beautiful city on the tips of his trident, and came here to live the life of a householder with his wife. He is in the very spirit and very soul of the city. With Moksha promised to those that die here, Benarasis, it is said, want to make the most of their last life on earth. Eat, drink and be merry, for never again shall you live. Amazingly, in this day and age, a lot of those ‘eats’ and ‘drinks’ have still not travelled out of the city. With unique flavours, a distinct gharana of classical music, deep-rooted traditions of dance, a spectacular riverfront, a world-renowned seat of learning, a tolerant social fabric as rich as the luxurious saree, and the fabled Benarasi banter, life in Benaras is not the same as everywhere else. What is it like to live here? With local insight, Roli Jindal takes you beyond the tourist guides deep inside the heart of Benaras and shows you how this bustling, crowded city retains its spiritual core and its unique culture, while staying perfectly in sync with modern times. This is a personal, insider view of what life is like in this very interesting city.
