Enlightened by the experience…

Varanasi or Banaras (Benares) - the holy city of Ganga, still has the smell of ancient times. It is the major tourist spot in India, which contributes the most, in terms of economy. The city has everything one asks for, good food, great places to visit, quite friendly and diverse environment with a mixture of different climatic conditions.

Roads are always clogged with people, guides trying to sell you a lemon and people from all sort of background come together here. The beautiful Ghats of Varanasi among the other tourist spots is one of the major attractions, especially the evening Ganga Aarti. It wraps up the entire city in its divine feeling.

Ganga Arti in Varanasi

The city has a great history. India has been ruled by many rulers; every one of them tried to set up their establishment at Benares (then), but failed to do so. Not only history but also in the Hindu mythological stories it plays an important role. This everyone knows or must have read in books or on internet and many of you must have noticed while visiting this city.

When I was Delhi, a week ago, the day I decided to go Varanasi to cover the festival, since then my excitement knew no limits. The fact that I love to travel and this was the first time, I was supposed to travel as a journalist, instilled loads of excitement in me. I had a backpack and a DSLR camera, while travelling one should always prefer carrying light luggage. I reached Varanasi on 27^th September 2014 at around 3 am. The ticket was not confirmed and so I couldn’t sleep the entire night and I had loads of work waiting for me in Varanasi.

I realized the very first day that it is not easy at all. It may sound easy but when you are actually on the field, it is tough. First of all, you know nothing about the place, doesn’t matter what research you have done on internet, it never helps. To a certain extent from tourist’s point of view information over internet would help. But as a journalist, you need to be realistic.

People don’t want to talk about serious stuff, they are not even bothered about the problems, they only complain. Police would say, everything is peaceful here, Government officials would pretend as if they are quite busy and the aam janta won’t talk. Every now and then you will be fooled by someone; you will be always given wrong address. You will have no other option than to trust that person. I was fooled four times in a day.

The problem is when people come to know that you are from outside and you are trying to look into their matter, many don’t like it. They would rather prefer their city journalist than someone from outside, doesn’t matter what you are trying to do.

Although it is amusing when you don’t know anything about the place and you end up finding things that you never expected to find out, it gives you a moral boost. I was there for five days; I use to go out every morning around 8 am and come back by 11 pm. I worked nearly fourteen hours a day to explore the city and more than that the stories which was buried deep.

It’s been 80 days as a journalist, and I can see that I am developing an eye for stories. When I joined, I remember how everyone used to tell us, as you move ahead in this profession; you develop an eye for stories. Whatever I was told is coming in use now, before reaching the spot I am arranging the notes so that I ask direct questions to people and don’t lose focus from the story. It is very important to know the right questions that you want to ask. Cross-checking information is the most important. The good part is whenever I come across any information, I always cross-check it.

Idol of Durga at Dashashwamedh Ghat

It feels good at the end of the day when I come back to my room, I know that, I have worked hard and I deserve a sound sleep. It feels good to know that these small-small aspects which we were told in start are coming automatically to me now, when I am at the spot it just comes to me and I do that. Later on, I realize that I was actually doing that.

In five days I managed to cover almost 80% of Varanasi and I have some idea now about the city. The day when I reached here, I had no clue how I am going to cover the city. I was afraid whether I will be able to follow my brief or not. I got really frustrated the first day itself after roaming around the whole day in the hot sun, I felt that I took a bad decision and this is not my cup of tea. But now it feels like I am able to do justice with my brief.

After spending five days in Varanasi, I went to Patna my hometown which is hardly 4 hours from there to cover Dussera. Fortunately or unfortunately I got to cover a stampede followed by a riot on the last day of the festival. As a journalist, they say it’s fortunate to be there in such situation. This has journalism done to me now. Although it was a sad day for the city, several people lost their live deep down somewhere there was a feeling of I don’t know what but whatever it was, it felt good to be able to cover the catastrophe.