Remembering 121212

A sunless afternoon on the boat to the otherside. What do we find? A Baba's tent with a red flag. He was not there so we sat there outside his tent looking at the illusionary Benaras "this side". Listening to Dire Straits's Planet of New Orleans. Suddenly remembered Viswajeet Ambat's statement "Benaras is like Hotel California, you can check out but you can never leave". I am grounded here. Earthed. Wired. A kite-flying boy with a scarred face came up to us to talk, he came back with us as we returned to the pilgrimage spots and the apparently holy sections of Shiva City, the pedestrian alleyways, the ghats, the places where people come to die, to attain Moksha. This is Benaras. We come only by invitation. Sometimes we leave in a few hours, the city spits us out. Sometimes we stay for months, years. Remembered Mayank Pahwa's story of how he came here just to stay for a couple of days and never left. Same with his girlfriend. Never left. Like the Benaras ghost enters their bodies and refuses to leave.