By Debashrita Roy
Deep through the winding lanes of this city to the meandering sound waves from the ghats
The hazel brown waves of the holy river to the teal waters of Vauna-Assi of many ages past
A land conceived centuries ago, one that has found a calling in every life time
The trees and the relics that stand upright on this holy land belie the age that is stamped on the sandstone and lime
In the centre of existence, balanced on the tip of human elevation, dances the blue skinned destroyer and unfurling the call for devotion
With flowing tresses of the river holy and a crescent moon adorning his head, the Three-eyed deity watches over all the cosmos and its multiple realms
The misty riverbed merges with the serpentine alleyways, painting the canvas in a milieu of the old and new
Now rises a crescendo of voices with a falsetto of the choir from the street- some screaming their trade, all in one cue
Believers are many, tourists galore, wanderers scamper with no urgency, taking in the shores of the bricked walls and the tarred tapestry
It’s the seekers who hit pause, dueling their senses with the breaths of the city, as the heart full and satiated continues to rise and fall
Kashi, it is, the land inhabited since time was born and will be so, long after time is gone
The harbinger of life, a citadel of virtue, for all that one seeks remains out of sight, till you close the outer and unleash the third eye